Bible Strands
Isaiah 10:22
Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses the nation of Israel, announcing that despite their vast numbers, only a remnant will survive the coming judgment and return to God. The words — שְׁאָר (she'ar) denotes a surviving remnant, while כְּחוֹל הַיָּם (kechol hayyam) literally means "like the sand of the sea" to emphasize overwhelming quantity. The thread — This remnant theme resurfaces in Romans 9:27, which quotes the passage to explain God's selective preservation of Israel, and aligns with Isaiah 6:13's description of a remnant remaining after burning. Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that divine judgment operates independently of human population size, and that God's righteous decree will preserve only a fraction of His people.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Cross-references
- Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- Isaiah 6:13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
- Daniel 9:27 And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”
- Romans 11:5 In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
- Revelation 20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.
- Genesis 18:25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- 1 Kings 4:20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Isaiah 8:8 It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!
- Isaiah 27:10 For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.