Isaiah 10
10
1Woe#Is 5:8; 28:1; 29:1,15; 30:1; 31:1; 33:1; 45:9 to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
2to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the needy among my people of justice,#Ps 35:10; Pr 22:22; Ec 5:8; Is 61:8; Jr 21:12; Ezk 18:12; 22:29
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.#Ex 22:22; Dt 24:17; 27:19; Ps 68:5; 94:6; Is 1:17,23; Jr 22:3; Ezk 22:7; Zch 7:10; Mal 3:5
3What will you do on the day of punishment
when devastation comes from far away?
Who will you run to for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still raised to strike.#Is 5:25; 9:12,17,21
Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath
5Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger —
the staff in their hands is my wrath.
6I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for my rage,
to take spoils, to plunder,#2Kg 21:14; Jr 49:32; Ezk 7:21; 26:12; 29:19
and to trample them down like clay#2Sm 22:43; Ps 18:42; Ezk 26:11; Mc 7:10 in the streets.
7But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
8For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria#Ac 1:8 like Damascus?#10:9 Cities conquered by Assyria
10As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images,
kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images
will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?” #2Kg 21:11; 23:24; 2Ch 15:8; 24:18
Judgment on Assyria
12But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I#10:12 LXX reads Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”#Jr 50:31 13For he said:
I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;#Jr 15:13; 17:3; 20:5
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.#10:13 Or I brought down their kings#2Sm 22:48
14My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,
to seize the wealth of the nations.
Like one gathering abandoned eggs,
I gathered the whole earth.
No wing fluttered;
no beak opened or chirped.
15Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a rod waving the ones who lift#10:15 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, Syr, Vg read the one who lifts it!
It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!
16Therefore the Lord God of Armies
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and he will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
17Israel’s Light will become a fire,
and its Holy One, a flame.#Is 4:5; 5:24; 47:14
In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.#Gn 3:18; Is 5:6; 7:23–25; 9:18; 27:4; Hs 10:8
18He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
The Remnant Will Return
20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.#Is 1:4
21The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.
22Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.#2Kg 19:30,31; Ezr 9:8,15; Is 11:11,16; 28:5; 37:31,32; 46:3; Jr 23:3; 31:7; Rm 9:27–28
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.
23For throughout the land
the Lord God of Armies
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
24Therefore, the Lord God of Armies says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did. 25In just a little while my wrath will be spent and my anger will turn to their destruction.” 26And the Lord of Armies will brandish a whip against him as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;#Jdg 7:25 and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did in Egypt.
God Will Judge Assyria
27On that day
his burden will fall from your shoulders,
and his yoke from your neck.
The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.#10:27 Lit because of fatness; Hb obscure#Gn 27:40; Dt 28:48; Jr 28:10; 30:8; Lm 1:14
28Assyria has come to Aiath
and has gone through Migron,
storing their equipment at Michmash.
29They crossed over at the ford, saying,
“We will spend the night at Geba.”
The people of Ramah are trembling;
those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.
30Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Anathoth is miserable.
31Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32Today the Assyrians will stand at Nob,
shaking their fists at the mountain of Daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look, the Lord God of Armies
will chop off the branches with terrifying power,
and the tall trees will be cut down,
the high trees felled.
34He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
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Isaiah 10: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Isaiah 10
10
1You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. 2That is how you prevent the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans. 3What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth? 4You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners. Yet even so the LORD's anger will not be ended; his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
The Emperor of Assyria as the Instrument of God
5 #
Is 14.24–27; Nah 1.1—3.19; Zeph 2.13–15 The LORD said, “Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry. 6I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample on the people like dirt in the streets.”
7But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations. 8He boasts, “Every one of my commanders is a king! 9I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus. 10I stretched out my hand to punish those kingdoms that worship idols, idols more numerous than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11I have destroyed Samaria and all its idols, and I will do the same to Jerusalem and the images that are worshipped there.”
12But the Lord says, “When I finish what I am doing on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the emperor of Assyria for all his boasting and all his pride.”
13The emperor of Assyria boasts, “I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled on the people who live there. 14The nations of the world were like a bird's nest, and I gathered their wealth as easily as gathering eggs. Not a wing fluttered to scare me off; no beak opened to scream at me!”
15But the LORD says, “Can an axe claim to be greater than the man who uses it? Is a saw more important than the man who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a man; a man lifts up a club.”
16The LORD Almighty is going to send disease to punish those who are now well fed. In their bodies there will be a fire that burns and burns. 17God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel's holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles. 18The rich forests and farmlands will be totally destroyed, in the same way that a fatal sickness destroys a person. 19There will be so few trees left that even a child will be able to count them.
A Few will Come Back
20A time is coming when the people of Israel who have survived will no longer rely on the nation that almost destroyed them. They will truly put their trust in the LORD, Israel's holy God. 21A few of the people of Israel will come back to their mighty God. 22#Rom 9.27Even though now there are as many people of Israel as there are grains of sand by the sea, only a few will come back. Destruction is in store for the people, and it is fully deserved. 23Yes, throughout the whole country the Sovereign LORD Almighty will bring destruction, as he said he would.
The LORD will Punish Assyria
24The Sovereign LORD Almighty says to his people who live in Zion, “Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they oppress you as the Egyptians used to do. 25In only a little while I will finish punishing you, and then I will destroy them. 26I, the LORD Almighty, will beat them with my whip as I beat the people of Midian at the Rock of Oreb. I will punish Assyria as I punished Egypt. 27When that time comes, I will free you from the power of Assyria, and their yoke will no longer be a burden on your shoulders.”#10.27 Hebrew has three additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.
The Invader Attacks
28The enemy army has captured the city of Ai!#10.28 Ai: This and the other places mentioned in verses 28–32 were located near Jerusalem, along the way by which an invader would come to attack from the north. They have passed through Migron! They left their supplies at Michmash! 29They have crossed the pass and are spending the night at Geba! The people in the town of Ramah are terrified, and the people in King Saul's town of Gibeah have run away. 30Shout, people of Gallim! Listen, people of Laishah! Answer, people of Anathoth! 31The people of Madmenah and Gebim are running for their lives. 32Today the enemy are in the town of Nob, and there they are shaking their fists at Mount Zion, at the city of Jerusalem.
33The LORD Almighty will bring them crashing down like branches cut off a tree. The proudest and highest of them will be cut down and humiliated. 34The LORD will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an axe, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.