Isaiah 8:10

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:9-16 The prophet challenges the enemies of the Jews. Their efforts would be vain, and themselves broken to pieces. It concerns us, in time of trouble, to watch against all such fears as put us upon crooked courses for our own security. The believing fear of God preserves against the disquieting fear of man. If we thought rightly of the greatness and glory of God, we should see all the power of our enemies restrained. The Lord, who will be a Sanctuary to those who trust in him, will be a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence, to those who make the creature their fear and their hope. If the things of God be an offence to us, they will undo us. The apostle quotes this as to all who persisted in unbelief of the gospel of Christ, 1Pe 2:8. The crucified Emmanuel, who was and is a Stumbling-stone and Rock of offence to unbelieving Jews, is no less so to thousands who are called Christians. The preaching of the cross is foolishness in their esteem; his doctrines and precepts offend them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Take counsel together - This is an address to the same foreign nations. It refers to the designs which they would form to destroy the Jewish state.

Speak the word - That is, give the command - to overturn the nation of the Jews.

It shall not stand - It shall not be accomplished.

For God is with us - Hebrew 'For Immanuel.' It indicates the confidence of the prophet in view of the promise and the pledge. His reliance was there. Though the enemies were strong and mighty; though the confederacy was formidable; yet his simple reliance was in the name Immanuel! In this he had confidence, in spite of all the violent efforts and designs of the foes of Judah; see Numbers 14:9 :

Only, rebel not ye against the Lord:

Neither fear ye the people of the land;

For they are bread for us;

Their defense is departed from them,

And Jehovah is with us,

Fear thom not.

See also Psalm 46:6-7 :

The heathen raged,

The kingdoms were moved.

He uttered his voice, the earth dissolved.

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. the word—of command, for the assault of Jerusalem.

God is with us—"Immanuel" implies this (Nu 14:9; Ps 46:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Speak the word; declare and fix your purpose, and make your boast of it.

God is with us; the almighty and only true God fighteth for us, and against you. He gives the interpretation of the name Immanuel expressed before, Isaiah 8:8; for though the word in the Hebrew be the same here and them, yet there it seems to be taken properly, and here appellatively.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Take counsel together,.... As Rezin king of Syria, and Remaliah's son, did against Judah, Isaiah 7:5,

it shall come to nought; for, though they came up against it, they could not overcome it, 2 Kings 16:5,

speak the word; what they intended, resolved upon, and determined to do; this is the issue of their counsels:

and it shall not stand; See Gill on Isaiah 7:7,

for God is with us; which is the interpretation of the name "Immanuel": and which shows that the reason why the consultations and resolutions of the enemies of Judah could not take place, so as to destroy it, was because Immanuel, the virgin's son, was to be born in it.

Geneva Study Bible

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Take counsel … nought] “If ye resolve on a scheme it shall be frustrated.” speak the word] a word, i.e. “proclaim your resolution.”

For God is with us] See on Isaiah 8:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Take counsel together; literally, devise a device; i.e. form some plan, even the cleverest possible, against God's people, and the result will be utter failure. It shall not stand (comp. Isaiah 7:7). For God is with us. In the Hebrew, ki 'immanu-El, "for with us (is) God" words declarative of the true meaning of the name which God had made a sign to his people (Isaiah 7:14). It was his being "with them" that could alone save them from their enemies. Isaiah 8:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophet's imploring look at Immanuel does not remain unanswered. We may see this from the fact, that what was almost a silent prayer is changed at once into the jubilate of holy defiance. "Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it, all who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces; gird yourselves, and go to pieces! Consult counsel, and it comes to nought; speak the word, and it is not realized: for with us is God." The second imperatives in Isaiah 8:9 are threatening words of authority, having a future signification, which change into futures in Isaiah 8:19 (Ges. 130, 2): Go on exasperating yourselves רעוּ( with the tone upon the penultimate, and therefore not the pual of רעה, consociari, which is the rendering adopted in the Targum, but the kal of רעע, malum esse; not vociferari, for which רוּע, a different verb from the same root, is commonly employed), go on arming; ye will nevertheless fall to pieces (Chōttu, from Châthath, related to Câthath, Confringi, Consternari). The prophet classes together all the nations that are warring against the people of God, pronounces upon them the sentence of destruction, and calls upon all distant lands to hear this ultimate fate of the kingdom of the world, i.e., of the imperial power. The world-kingdom must be wrecked on the land of Immanuel; "for with us," as the watchword of believers runs, pointing to the person of the Savour, "with us is God."