< Isaiah 10 >

1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,
Woe to them that write wickedness; for when they write they do write wickedness,
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.
perverting the cause of the poor, violently wresting the judgment of the needy ones of my people, that the widow may be a prey to them, and the orphan a spoil.
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 they do in the day of visitation? for affliction shall come to you from afar: and to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave 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.
that you may not fall into captivity? For all this [his] wrath is not turned away, but [his] hand is yet exalted.
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my wrath, and anger are in their hands.
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 my wrath against a sinful nation, and I will charge my people to take plunder and spoil, and to trample the cities, and to make them dust.
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 he meant not thus, neither did he devise thus in his soul: but his mind shall change, and [that] to destroy nations not a few.
8 “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.
And if they should say to him, You alone are ruler;
9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
then shall he say, Have I not taken the country above Babylon and Chalanes, where the tower was built? and have I [not] taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria?
10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms: howl, you idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria.
11 and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
For as I did to Samaria and her idols, so will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols.
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.
And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, [that] I will visit upon the proud heart, [even] upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his 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 said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of [my] understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their strength.
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 will shake the inhabited cities: and I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me.
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!
Shall the axe glorify itself without him that hews with it? or shall the saw lift up itself without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff? but it shall not be so;
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.
but the Lord of hosts shall send dishonor upon your honor, and burning fire shall be kindled upon your glory.
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 shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with burning fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass.
18 The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.
In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and the forests, and [fire] shall devour [both] soul and body: and he that flees shall be as one fleeing from burning flame.
19 The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.
And they that are left of them shall be a [small] number, and a child shall write them.
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 shall come to pass in that day [that] the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob shall no more trust in, them that injured them; but they shall trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return —a remnant of Jacob— to the Mighty God.
And the remnant of Jacob shall [trust] on the mighty 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.
And though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved.
23 For the Lord GOD of Hosts will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because the Lord will make a short work in all the world.
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.
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, Be not afraid, my people who dwell in Sion, of the Assyrians, because he shall strike you with a rod: for I am bringing a stroke upon you, that [you] may see the way of Egypt.
25 For in just a little while My fury against you will subside, and My anger will turn to their destruction.”
For yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease: but my wrath shall be against their council.
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 God will stir up [enemies] against them, according to the stroke of Madiam in the place of affliction: and his wrath shall be by the way of the sea, [even] to the way that leads to Egypt.
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 it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his yoke shall be taken away from your shoulder, and his fear from you, and the yoke shall be destroyed from off your shoulders.
28 Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.
For he shall arrive at the city of Angai, and shall pass on to Maggedo, and shall lay up his stores in Machmas.
29 They have crossed at the ford: “We will spend the night at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
And he shall pass by the valley, and shall arrive at Angai: fear shall seize upon Rama, the city of Saul.
30 Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O wretched Anathoth!
The daughter of Gallim shall flee; Laisa shall hear; one shall hear in Anathoth.
31 Madmenah flees; the people of Gebim take refuge.
Madebena also is amazed, and the inhabitants of Gibbir.
32 Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
Exhort you [them] today to remain in the way: exhort you [beckoning] with the hand the mountain, the daughter of Sion, even you hills that are in 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.
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will mightily confound the glorious ones; and the haughty in pride shall be crushed, and the lofty shall be brought low:
34 He will clear the forest thickets with an axe, and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
and the lofty ones shall fall by the sword, and the Libanus shall fall with his lofty ones.

< Isaiah 10 >