19, 20. How will the situation of the corrupt Israelite judges be changed, and what will happen to their “glory”?

¹⁹ “What will you men do at the day of being given attention and at the ruin, when it comes from far away? Toward whom will you flee for assistance, and where will you leave your glory, except it be that one must bow down under the prisoners and that people keep falling under those who have been killed?” (Isaiah 10:3, 4a) The widows and fatherless boys have no honest judges to whom to appeal. How appropriate, then, that Jehovah now asks those corrupt Israelite judges whom they will turn to now that Jehovah is holding them to account. Yes, they are about to learn that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”​—Hebrews 10:31.

²⁰ The “glory” of these wicked judges​—the worldly prestige, honor, and power that come with their wealth and position—​will be short-lived. Some will become prisoners of war, ‘bowing down,’ or crouching, among other prisoners, while the rest will be slain, their corpses covered with the war dead. Their “glory” also includes ill-gotten riches, which will be plundered by the enemy.

21. In view of the punishments that Israel has received, has Jehovah’s anger against them ceased?

²¹ Isaiah concludes this final strophe with a grim warning: “In view of all this [all the woe that the nation has so far suffered] his anger has not turned back, but his hand is stretched out still.” (Isaiah 10:4b) Yes, Jehovah has more to say to Israel. Jehovah’s outstretched hand will not be drawn back until he delivers a final, devastating blow to the rebellious northern kingdom.