Isaiah 10

1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

Cursed are those who make evil decisions, and the writers who make the records of their cruel acts:

2 to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.

3 What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

And what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the destruction which is coming from far? to whom will you go for help, and what will become of your glory?

4 Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

... For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.

Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment!

6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.

7 But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.

But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations.

8 “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.

For he says, Are not all my captains kings?

9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

Will not the fate of Calno be like that of Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;

11 and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

So, as I have done to Samaria and her images, I will do to Jerusalem and her images.

12 So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

For this cause it will be that, when the purpose of the Lord against Mount Zion and Jerusalem is complete, I will send punishment on the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his uplifted eyes.

13 For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them;

14 My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.

15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.

16 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.

For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, will make his fat become wasted; and in his inner parts a fire will be lighted like a burning flame.

17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: wasting and burning up his thorns in one day.

18 The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.

And he will put an end to the glory of his woods and of his planted fields, soul and body together; and it will be as when a man is wasted by disease.

19 The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.

And the rest of the trees of his wood will be small in number, so that a child may put them down in writing.

20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

And it will be in that day that the rest of Israel, and those of Jacob who have come safely through these troubles, will no longer go for help to him whose rod was on their back, but their faith will be in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

21 A remnant will return —a remnant of Jacob— to the Mighty God.

The rest, even the rest of Jacob, will come back to the Strong God.

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.

For though your people, O Israel, are as the sand of the sea, only a small number will come back: for the destruction is fixed, overflowing in righteousness.

23 For the Lord GOD of Hosts will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

For the Lord, the Lord of armies, is about to make destruction complete in all the land.

24 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as the Egyptians did.

For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, says, O my people living in Zion, have no fear of the Assyrian, even if his rod comes on your back, and his stick is lifted up as in Egypt.

25 For in just a little while My fury against you will subside, and My anger will turn to their destruction.”

For in a very short time my passion will be over, and my wrath will be turned to their destruction.

26 And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against them, as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise His staff over the sea, as He did in Egypt.

And the Lord of armies will be shaking a whip against him, as when he overcame Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his rod will be lifted up against them as it was against the Egyptians.

27 On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders, and the yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.

And in that day the weight which he put on your back will be taken away, and his yoke broken from off your neck.

28 Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.

He has gone up from Pene-Rimmon, he has come to Aiath; he has gone past Migron, at Michmash he puts his forces in order.

29 They have crossed at the ford: “We will spend the night at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.

They have gone across the mountain; Geba will be our resting-place tonight, they say: Ramah is shaking with fear; Gibeah of Saul has gone in flight.

30 Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O wretched Anathoth!

Give a loud cry, daughter of Gallim; let Laishah give ear; let Anathoth give answer to her.

31 Madmenah flees; the people of Gebim take refuge.

Madmenah has gone; the men of Gebim are putting their goods in a safe place.

32 Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

This very day he is stopping at Nob; he is shaking his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.

See, the Lord, the Lord of armies, is cutting off his branches with a great noise, and his strong ones are falling and his high ones are coming down.

34 He will clear the forest thickets with an axe, and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

And he is cutting down the thick places of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon with its tall trees is coming down.