This chapter discusses Assyria, the nation that inflicted divine punishment on Ephraim (Israel) and Syria in 732 BC but was then destroyed itself in 612 BC.

Verses 1-3 The neglect of the poor and needy (These verses really belong with the previous chapter).

20.1
Isaiah condemns unrighteous dominion.

20.2
Their sentences pervert justice and oppress the poor or deprive them of their rights.

20.3
The destruction of Assyria is a type of the destruction of the wicked at the Second Coming.

What will you do to save yourselves from God’s wrath and from the destruction that will come from the Assyrians? Where will you turn for help and where will you put your riches?

Verses 4-7 The wicked will be used to destroy the wicked. See Mormon 4:5

20.4
The wicked will be used to destroy the wicked. Because they reject me some will go into captivity and some will be slain. Notwithstanding these calamities there is more to come.

20.5
Assyria is the rod of my anger, and my wrath is a staff in their hand.

20.6
The real plot of the king of Assyria.

I will send Assyria against the Jews (who are polluted). They will take the spoils and easily conquer them.

20.7
The King of Assyria will not understand that he is God’s tool.

20.8
This is a confident boast of his own might and power. Even his princes were endowed with the power of kings.

20.9
Were any of these cities able to withstand me?

20.10
The nations which I have subdued were professedly under the protection of idol gods. Yet those idols were not able to defend them – though stronger than the gods worshipped by Jerusalem and Samaria.

20.11
Shall I not meet with the same success at Jerusalem that I have elsewhere?

20.12
The boast of the proud king is interrupted by the reassertion of the fact that he is but an instrument in the hand of Jehovah, and that when his work was done he too will be punished for his pride.

20.13
This is the king of Assyria speaking again.  He says, I owe all my successes to my own power, and valour, and wise conduct, and to no other god or man. I have invaded their lands and added them to my own dominions. I have taken their treasures and deprived them of their former power and glory like a mighty one.

20.14
The simile represents the ease with which the Assyrians had rifled the countries of their treasures, and the panic which their approach produced.

20.15
All the metaphors in this verse ask the same question: Can man (e.g. the Assyrian king) prosper against God?

“I readily attest to the reality and greatness of our God, to his goodness and grace, to his justice and mercy, to the truth of his gospel and the power of his priesthood and the authenticity of the calling of his latter-day seers. At the outset of this ministry, I acknowledge that anything I may achieve will be by virtue of the power and the grace and the gift of God. I am not, in Isaiah’s words, the axe that shall “boast itself against him that heweth therewith”; I am not the saw that shall “magnify itself against him that shaketh it.”  With Nephi, I know in whom I have trusted.” – Elder D Todd Christofferson, General Conference, April 1993.

The judgement of the Assyrian king and the final judgement. The next three verses apply to the king of Assyria and to the wicked at the time of the Second Coming.

20.16
The prophet sets out what the nature of Assyria’s punishment shall be. He expresses it by two images – first, that of a wasting sickness; and secondly, that of a fire.

20.17
Some poetic repetition here. The light of Israel and his Holy One both refer to Jehovah. His Power shall destroy the Assyrians like thorns and briers in a fire.

20.18
Assyria will vanish completely.

20.19
To count the killed and wounded after a battle,was commonly the work of the royal scribe. Here the survivors were to be so few (literally, a number) that even a boy who could hardly count would be skilled enough to number them.

Verses 20-34 Hope for the Lord’s people

20.20
The remnant will trust the Lord.

20.21
The remnant of Jacob will return in that day. (Not yet fulfilled).

Those who are left will abandon their idolatry and return to God.

20.22
Only a remnant will be preserved out of the multitude, however great it was. God’s righteous judgement is inevitable and shall overflow the land.

Consumption = fully completed destruction. See D&C 87:6

Joseph Smith: “The Saints have not too much time to save and redeem their dead, and gather together their living relatives that they may be saved also, because the earth will be smitten and the consumption decreed fall upon the world.” (Teachings of Presidents: Joseph Smith, page 247)

Joseph Fielding Smith:” When that day comes, those who have professed to believe in the latter-day work and who have rejected the doctrine of temple building and the ceremonial endowment therein, will find themselves shut out of the kingdom of God.” (Doctrines of Salvation)

20.23
The destruction is fixed in the mind of God, and will be carried out.

20.24
O my people – An expression of tenderness, showing that God regarded them as his children despite the judgments that He would bring upon them for their sins. They were told not to be afraid of the Assyrians even though they would smite them just as the Egyptians did.

20.25
A future day of redemption for the Lord’s Saints.

The anger of God against his offending people shall come to an end; his purposes of chastisement shall be completed.

20.26
The Lord helps us to take courage in the last days bu using examples of past courageous followers.

20.27
Our burdens and trials will be taken from us when the Lord comes.

The progress of the Assyrian army through the towns of Judah

20.28
Progress of the Assyrian armies towards Jerusalem is traced.

20.29
All of these places are close to Jerusalem.

20.30
The progress of the Assyrian army continues.

20.31
These towns or villages are unknown.

20.32
This is still a description of the advance towards Jerusalem. Shaking his hand in menace implies that he is now in sight of Jerusalem.

20.33
The Lord will cut off the King in a terrifying and amazing way. The chief men of the army will be cut down. The boastful will be brought low.

20.34
The army will be cut down like a forest with an axe. Assyria will be cut down by Jehovah.