Isaiah 10
1 Terrible things will happen to you judges who are unjust and who make unfair laws.
Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decrees, —And, busy writers, who make a business of writing mischief:
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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].
Alas! for Assyria, the rod of mine anger, —Yea, the very staff in their hand, is, my displeasure:
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.
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.
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 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;
8 He says, ‘All of my army commanders will soon be kings [of these nations that I conquer]!
For he saith: —Are not, my generals, all alike, 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.
Is not, Calno, like Carchemish? Is not, Hamath, like Arpad? Is not, Samaria, like 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 hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols, —whose images did excel them 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!’
Shall I not as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so, 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].
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,
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 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;
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 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.
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].
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!
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.
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;
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.
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;
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 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.
19 There will be very few trees left in those forests; even a child will be able to count them.”
And, the remnant of his forest-trees, few in number, shall become, —yea, a child, might describe them!
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 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.
21 Those Israelis will return to their mighty God.
A remnant, shall return, The remnant of Jacob, —unto the mighty 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 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;
23 [Yes, ] the Commander of the armies of angels has [already] decided to destroy the entire land [of Israel].
For, a full end and that a decreed one, is My Lord Yahweh of hosts executing in the midst of all the earth.
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].
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;
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, yet a very little while, and displeasure shall end, Yea, mine anger, over 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 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;
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 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.
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 hath come in unto Ayyath, Hath passed through Migron, —At Michmash, storeth his baggage:
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 passed over the pass, Geba is his halting-place, —Terror-stricken is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul, hath fled!
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.
Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah, Answer, O Anathoth!
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, hath fled, —The inhabitants of Gebim, have gone into safety:
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.
While yet to-day, in Nob, he tarrieth, He brandisheth his hand toward The mount 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.
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;
34 He will destroy the [soldiers of Assyria] like men use big axes to cut down the tall trees in the forests of Lebanon.
Then will he fell the thickets of the forest with iron, —And, Lebanon by a majestic one shall fall.
