Yesaya 10:17

10:17 The light of Israel ¹  will become a fire,

their Holy One ²  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ³  briers

and his thorns in one day.

Yesaya 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁴  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁵ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁶ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

[10:17]  ¹ tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ³ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).

[27:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”