Isaiah 10

1 “Woe [to] those decreeing decrees of iniquity, And writers who have prescribed perverseness,

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

2 Of My people, That widows may be their prey, That they may spoil the fatherless.

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.

3 And what do you do at a day of inspection? And at desolation that comes from afar? Near whom do you flee for help? And where do you leave your glory?

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?

4 It has bowed down without Me In the place of a bound one, And they fall in the place of the slain.” With all this His anger has not turned back, And His hand is still stretched out.

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.

5 “Woe [to] Asshur, a rod of My anger, And My indignation [is] a staff in their hand.

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

6 I send him against a profane nation, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.

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.

7 And he does not think [it] so, And his heart does not reckon [it] so, For—to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations—not a few.

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

8 For he says, Are my princes not altogether kings?

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

9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

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

10 As my hand has gotten to the kingdoms of a worthless thing, and their carved images, [Greater] than Jerusalem and than Samaria,

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

11 Do I not—as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?”

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

12 And it has come to pass, When the Lord fulfills all His work In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur, And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.

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.

13 For he has said, “I have worked by the power of my hand, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And I have spoiled their chief ones, And I put down the inhabitants as a mighty one,

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.

14 And my hand gets to the wealth of the peoples as to a nest, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs I have gathered all the earth, And there has not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.”

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.’”

15 Does the axe glorify itself Against him who is hewing with it? Does the saw magnify itself Against him who is shaking it? As a rod waving those lifting it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not wood!

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!

16 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Sends leanness among his fat ones, And under his glory He kindles a burning As the burning of a fire.

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.

17 And the light of Israel has been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it has burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier in one day.

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.

18 And the glory of his forest, and his fruitful field, He consumes from soul even to flesh, And it has been as the fainting of a standard-bearer.

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

19 And the rest of the trees of his forest [are] few, And a youth writes them.

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

20 And it has come to pass in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add anymore to lean on its striker, And have leaned on YHWH, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.

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.

21 A remnant returns—a remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God.

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

22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of it returns, A consumption determined, Overflowing [with] righteousness.

Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

23 For a consumption that is determined, The Lord, YHWH of Hosts, Is making in the midst of all the land.

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

24 Therefore, thus said the Lord, YHWH of Hosts: “Do not be afraid, My people, inhabiting Zion, because of Asshur, He strikes you with a rod, And his staff lifts up against you, in the way of Egypt.

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.

25 For yet a very little [while], And the indignation has been completed, And My anger by their wearing out.”

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

26 And YHWH of Hosts is awaking for him, A scourge like the striking of Midian at the rock Oreb, And his rod [is] over the sea, And he has lifted it in the way of Egypt.

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.

27 And it has come to pass in that day, His burden is turned from off your shoulder, And his yoke from off your neck, And the yoke has been destroyed, because of prosperity.

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.

28 He has come in against Aiath, He has passed over into Migron, At Michmash he looks after his vessels.

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

29 They have gone over the passage, They have made Geba a lodging place, Rama has trembled, Gibeah of Saul fled.

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

30 Cry aloud [with] your voice, daughter of Gallim, Give attention, Laish! Answer her, Anathoth.

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

31 Madmenah has fled away, The inhabitants of the high places have hardened themselves.

Madmenah flees; the people of Gebim take refuge.

32 Yet today to remain in Nob, The mountain of the daughter of Zion waves its hand, The hill of Jerusalem.

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

33 Behold, the Lord, YHWH of Hosts, Is lopping a branch with violence, And the high of stature are cut down, And the lofty have become low,

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.

34 And He has gone around the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon falls by a mighty one!

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