John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 10:25

"For yet a very little while, and the indignation [against thee] shall be accomplished, and mine anger [shall be directed] to his destruction." — Isaiah 10:25 (ASV)

But yet a little while. He means not only the siege of Jerusalem, when Sennacherib surrounded it with a numerous army (2 Kings 18:17), but also the rest of the calamities: when Jerusalem was overthrown (2 Kings 25:4), the Temple razed, and the inhabitants taken prisoners. For against those dreadful calamities, it was necessary that the godly should be fortified by these promises.

This ought to be carefully observed, for if we neglect it, as other commentators do, we will not be able to see how the statements agree.

Accordingly, the captivity of the people might be called a consumption, for Babylon was like a grave, and banishment was like death. But when the danger was immediate and urgent, Sennacherib attacked them with his army, and they felt various hardships in that siege, this consolation was necessary. For Judea seemed to be utterly ruined, and to outward appearance, no hope of safety was left.

My fury and indignation shall be spent. The consolation corresponds to this state of things: “The Lord will spare you. For a time, indeed, he will delay and will keep his assistance, as it were, concealed; but he will at last rescue you and will take revenge on your enemies whom he has determined utterly to destroy.”

If it is thought better to interpret כלה (chalah) as meaning to consume or spend, then he says that he spends his anger in the same way that we speak of spending years and our whole life; that is, “I will cherish my anger until I completely destroy the Assyrians.”

But the word finish brings out the meaning more fully, as if he had said, “until I have discharged all my anger.” This is the destruction which he also threatens elsewhere (Isaiah 52:1) to the uncircumcised, for when the hope of mercy has been taken away, he executes his judgment against the ungodly.