Isaiah 10

1 Terrible things will happen to you judges who are unjust and who make unfair laws.

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

2 You refuse to help poor people, and you do not allow them to get the things that they should get. You [allow people to] steal things from widows and do unfair things to orphans.

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 When I punish you by sending people from distant lands to cause you to experience disasters, (to whom will you run to get help?/there will be no one who can help you.) [RHQ] Your valuable possessions will certainly [not be safe] [RHQ] anywhere.

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 You will be able only to stumble along as you are taken away with other prisoners, or [else] your corpses will lie on the ground with others who have been killed. But even after that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry with you. He will still be ready to strike you again with his fist.

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

5 [Yahweh says], “Terrible things will happen to Assyria. [It is true that their army] is like a rod/club [DOU] with which I [punish other nations] because I am very angry with those nations [DOU].

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

6 [Sometimes] I send the armies of Assyria to attack a godless nation, to fight against [other] people who have caused me to be angry. I send them to capture people and to seize and take away their possessions, and to trample them like [SIM] people walk on mud 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 the [king of Assyria] does not understand, he does not realize [that he is only like a weapon in my hand]. He wants [only] to destroy people, to get rid of 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 He says, ‘All of my army commanders will soon be kings [of these nations that I conquer]!

For he says, Are not all my captains kings?

9 We destroyed Calno [city] like we destroyed Carchemish [city], We destroyed Hamath [city] like we destroyed Arpad [city]; we destroyed Samaria just like we destroyed Damascus.

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

10 We were able to destroy [all] those kingdoms [that were full] of idols, kingdoms whose idols were greater than the idols in 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 So we will defeat Jerusalem and destroy the idols that are there, just like we destroyed Samaria and the idols that were there!’

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

12 [But, I, Yahweh, say that] after I [have used Assyria to] finish what I want to do to punish the people in Jerusalem [DOU], I will punish the king of Assyria because he has been very proud and arrogant/boastful [DOU].

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 He says, ‘By my own great power [MTY] I have done these things. I have been able to do them because I am very wise and very intelligent. My army removed the barriers [at the borders] of nations and carried away all their valuable things. My army has knocked down their kings like [SIM] a ferocious bull would.

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 Like [MET] a farmer reaches into a bird’s nest [to take away the eggs], we have taken away the treasures of other countries [DOU]. The people were not like birds that would flap their wings or chirp loudly [to protest about their eggs being stolen]; the people did not object at all [to their treasures being stolen].’

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 [But I, Yahweh, say that] an axe certainly cannot [RHQ] boast about being stronger than the person who uses it, and a saw is not greater than the person who uses it. A rod cannot control the one who holds it [RHQ], and a wooden club cannot lift up a person [RHQ]. [So the king of Assyria should not boast that he has done these things with his own wisdom and strength].

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 And [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, will send a plague among the proud soldiers of Assyria; it will be like [MET] a fire that will kill them and get rid of their glory/wealth.

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 [I], Yahweh, who am like [MET] a light for the people of Israel, will be the fire; [I], the Holy One, will be like a flame. [The soldiers of Assyria are like] [MET] thorns and briers, and I will burn them up in one night.

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 There are glorious forests and fertile farmlands in Assyria, but I will completely destroy them; they will be like [SIM] a [very] sick person who shrivels up and then dies.

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 There will be very few trees left in those forests; even a child will be able to 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 In the future there will be only a few people left in Israel; not many descendants of Jacob will still be alive. [But] they will no longer rely on [the king of Assyria], [the king of the nation] that tried to destroy them. Instead, they will faithfully/sincerely trust in Yahweh, 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 Those Israelis will return to their mighty God.

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

22 [Now], the people of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, but only a few of them will return [from the countries to which they were exiled]. Yahweh has decided to destroy [most of the Israelis] and that is what [he must do because he is completely] just/righteous.

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 [Yes, ] the Commander of the armies of angels has [already] decided to destroy the entire land [of Israel].

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

24 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “My people in Jerusalem, do not be afraid of the army of Assyria when they beat you with rods and clubs, like the men of Egypt did [to your ancestors long ago].

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 Soon I will no longer be angry with you, and [then] I will be angry with the people of Assyria and destroy them!”

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

26 The Commander of the armies of angels will whip them. He will do to them like he did when he helped Gideon [and his 300 soldiers] to defeat the [army of the] Midian people-group, and like he did when he showed his mighty power [MTY] [by causing the army of Egypt to drown] in the [Red] Sea.

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 Some day, Yahweh will cause the army of Assyria to stop oppressing you, [his people]; he will end your suffering and your being slaves of the people of Assyria [MET]; he will take away the load that you people of Judah have been carrying, and cause things to go well for you.

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 [The army of Assyria will enter northern Judah] near Aiath [town], they will go through Migron [town] and store their supplies at Micmash [town north of Jerusalem].

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 will cross through a mountain pass and set up their tents at Geba [town]. [People in] Ramah [town] will tremble [because of being afraid]. [The people of] Gibeah [town], where King Saul [was born], will [all] run away.

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 You people of Gallim [town] will cry out [for help]. You will shout to [the people of] Laish [city near Jerusalem] to warn them! [The people of] Anathoth [town] will suffer a lot.

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

31 [The people of] Madmenah [town north of Jerusalem will all] be running away, and [the people of] Gebim [town close to Jerusalem] will be trying to hide.

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

32 The soldiers of Assyria will stop at Nob [city outside Jerusalem]. They will shake their fists [as they threaten the people] on Zion Hill in 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 But listen to this! The Commander of the armies of angels with his great power will destroy [MET] the mighty army of Assyria. [It is as though they are] a huge tree [MET] that he will cut down.

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 destroy the [soldiers of Assyria] like men use big axes to cut down the tall trees in the forests of Lebanon.

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