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For at that time[a] every one will get rid of[b] the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.[c]

“Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made;[d]
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them.[e]
They will run away from this sword[f]
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
They will surrender their stronghold[g] because of fear;[h]
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.”[i]
This is what the Lord says—
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem.[j]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 31:7 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
  2. Isaiah 31:7 tn Heb “reject” (so NIV); NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT “throw away.”
  3. Isaiah 31:7 tn Heb “their idols of silver and their idols of gold which your hands made for yourselves [in] sin.” חָטָא (khataʾ, “sin”) is understood as an adverbial accusative of manner. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:573, n. 4.
  4. Isaiah 31:8 tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”
  5. Isaiah 31:8 tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”
  6. Isaiah 31:8 tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”
  7. Isaiah 31:9 tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.
  8. Isaiah 31:9 tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”
  9. Isaiah 31:9 tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”
  10. Isaiah 31:9 sn The “fire” and “firepot” here symbolize divine judgment, which is heating up like a fire in Jerusalem, waiting to be used against the Assyrians when they attack the city.