Isaiah 10
1 Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decrees, —And, busy writers, who make a business of writing mischief:
Woe to them that write wickedness; for when they write they do write wickedness,
2 Turning aside from judgment, the poor, And robbing, of justice, the oppressed of my people, —So that, widows, become, their spoil, And of the fatherless, they make prey.
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, then, will ye do for the day of visitation, And for the devastation, which from afar, shall come? Unto whom, will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your gory?
And what will they do in the day of visitation? for affliction shall come to you from afar: and to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory,
4 Without me, one hath bowed under a prisoner Yea under the slain, do they fall! For all this, hath his anger, not turned back, But still, is his hand outstretched.
that ye may not fall into captivity? For all this [his] wrath is not turned away, but [his] hand is yet exalted.
5 Alas! for Assyria, the rod of mine anger, —Yea, the very staff in their hand, is, my displeasure:
Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my wrath, and anger are in their hands.
6 Against an irreligious nation, will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth, will I command him, —To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.
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 as for him, not so, doth he deem, And in his heart, not so, doth he think, —For, to destroy, is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;
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 For he saith: —Are not, my generals, all alike, kings?
And if they should say to him, Thou alone art 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 hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols, —whose images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria,
As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms: howl, ye idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria.
11 Shall I not as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so, do to Jerusalem and her images?
For as I did to Samaria and her idols, so will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols.
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass—When My Lord shall finish his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will bring punishment—Upon the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria. And upon the vainglory of his uplifted 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 hath said—By the strength of mine own hand, have I effectually wrought, And by my wisdom—for I have discernment, —That I might remove the bounds of peoples, Yea their treasures, have I plundered That I might lay prostrate as a mighty one the inhabitants;
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 And my hand hath found as a nest the wealth of the peoples, And as the gathering of eggs that are forsaken, all the earth, have, I, gathered, —And there was none to flap a wing, or open a mouth or chirp.
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 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or, the saw, magnify itself, against him that wieldeth it? As if a rod, could wield, them who lift it up! As if a staff, could raise, what 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, shall the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Send, among his fat ones, leanness, And under his glory, shall he kindle a kindling, like the kindling of fire;
but the Lord of hosts shall send dishonour upon thine honour, and burning fire shall be kindled upon thy glory.
17 So shall, the Light of Israel, become, a fire, And his Holy One, a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars, in one day;
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 And the glory of his forest and of his garden land, both soul and body, shall it bring to an end, —And it shall be like the wasting away of a consumptive.
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 And, the remnant of his forest-trees, few in number, shall become, —yea, a child, might describe them!
And they that are left of them shall be a [small] number, and a child shall write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, That the remnant of Israel. And the escaped of the house of Jacob Shall, no more again, lean upon him that smote them, —But shall lean upon Yahweh the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
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, shall return, The remnant of Jacob, —unto the mighty GOD;
And the remnant of Jacob shall [trust] on the mighty God.
22 For though thy people, O Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, A [mere] remnant, shall return of them, —A full end decreed, bringeth in, justice, like a flood;
And though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved.
23 For, a full end and that a decreed one, is My Lord Yahweh of hosts executing in the midst of all the earth.
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, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Do not fear O my people dwelling in Zion, because of Assyria, —When with his rod, he would smite thee, And when his staff, he would lift up against thee in the manner of Egypt;
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Be not afraid, my people who dwell in Sion, of the Assyrians, because he shall smite thee with a rod: for I am bringing a stroke upon thee, that [thou] mayest see the way of Egypt.
25 For, yet a very little while, and displeasure shall end, Yea, mine anger, over their destruction.
For yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease: but my wrath shall be against their council.
26 And Yahweh of hosts, will brandish over him, a scourge—Like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, —And his staff being over the sea, He will lift it up in the manner of 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 And it shall come to pass, in that day, That his burden shall remove from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, —Yea, the yoke shall be broken because of fatness.
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his yoke shall be taken away from thy shoulder, and his fear from thee, and the yoke shall be destroyed from off your shoulders.
28 He hath come in unto Ayyath, Hath passed through Migron, —At Michmash, storeth his baggage:
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 passed over the pass, Geba is his halting-place, —Terror-stricken is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul, hath fled!
And he shall pass by the valley, and shall arrive at Angai: fear shall seize upon Rama, the city of Saul.
30 Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah, Answer, O Anathoth!
The daughter of Gallim shall flee; Laisa shall hear; one shall hear in Anathoth.
31 Madmenah, hath fled, —The inhabitants of Gebim, have gone into safety:
Madebena also is amazed, and the inhabitants of Gibbir.
32 While yet to-day, in Nob, he tarrieth, He brandisheth his hand toward The mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.
Exhort ye [them] to-day to remain in the way: exhort ye [beckoning] with the hand the mountain, the daughter of Sion, even ye hills that are in Jerusalem.
33 Behold! the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is about to lop off a tree-crown, with a crash, —Then shall, they who are lifted on high, be hewn down, And, the lofty, be laid low;
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 Then will he fell the thickets of the forest with iron, —And, Lebanon by a majestic one shall fall.
and the lofty ones shall fall by the sword, and the Libanus shall fall with his lofty ones.
