Isaiah 10
10
1Tragedy is coming to those who pass evil decrees and who write laws to harm people. 2They pervert the legal rights of the needy, and rob justice from the poor of my people. They steal from widows and cheat orphans. 3What are you going to do on the day you're punished, when disaster falls on you from far away? Who are you going to run to so you can get help? Where are you going to leave all your wealth? 4All you'll be able to do is to bow down as prisoners, or lie among the dead! In all of this he is still angry and his hand is still raised.
5Tragedy is coming to the Assyrians, even though the rod they use represents my anger and the stick they hold in their hands represents my fury! 6I am sending the Assyrians against a nation that has given up on its God, against a people that make me angry. I order the Assyrians to loot them, to take their possessions, and to trample them down like mud in the street.
7But this isn't what is behind the thinking of the king of Assyria. This isn't the plan he has in mind. What he wants to do is to destroy and eliminate many nations. 8He says: “All my commanders are kings! 9We conquered Calno like we did Carchemish; Hamath like Arpad; Samaria like Damascus. 10I was the one who conquered these kingdoms along with the idols of their gods. These kingdoms had images of their gods that were better than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11Why shouldn't I do to Jerusalem and her idols just what I did to Samaria and her idols?”#10:11. Different words are used for idols/images but the meaning is basically the same.
12Once the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he#10:12. “He”: literally, “I.” will punish the king of Assyria for his terrible arrogance and for the conceited look in his eyes.
13For the king of Assyria says: “I have done this in my own strength. It was through my wisdom, because I'm clever. I have wiped out the boundaries of nations and looted their treasures. Like a bull I knocked their rulers off their thrones. 14Like robbing a bird's nest, I took the wealth of the nations. Like collecting abandoned eggs, I collected the whole earth. There wasn't a fluttering wing or an open beak, not even a chirp!”
15Does an ax say it's more important than the person swinging it? Does a saw boast that it's greater than the person sawing with it? It would be as if a rod waved the person holding it, or a walking stick lifted up a person—who certainly wasn't wood!
16So the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a disease on the king of Assyria's strong warriors that will make them waste away; a flaming fire will be set under everything he's so proud of. 17Israel's light will become a fire, and his Holy One will become a flame. It will burn up his thorns and brambles in just one day. 18It will totally destroy its splendid forests and orchards. Assyria will waste away, staggering off like someone sick. 19The trees left in its forests will be so few that a child could count them.
20At that time those who are left in Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer trust in those who turn on them, but they will truly trust in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will come back to the Mighty God. 22Israel, even though your people are as numerous as sand on the seashore, only a remnant will return. The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people. 23The Lord God Almighty has rightly decided to bring destruction throughout the whole country.
24So this is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says, My people living in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrians who beat you with rods and hit you with clubs, just like the Egyptians did. 25Very shortly I will stop being angry with you. Then I will turn my anger on them and I will destroy them.
26The Lord Almighty will lash them with a whip, just as he did when he attacked the Midianites at the rock of Oreb. He will hold up his rod over the sea, just as he did in Egypt. 27At that time he will remove the burden from your shoulders and the yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of the anointing with oil.#10:27. “Anointing with oil:” literally, “before the oil/fat.” The meaning of this phrase is much debated. Some suggest that this means that Israel has symbolically grown so fat that the yoke no longer fits. Jewish tradition however associates it with the anointing of King Hezekiah, and some Christian writers have pointed to Christ as the Messiah, the “anointed one.”
28The Assyrians came to Aiath, passed through Migron, and stored their supplies at Michmash. 29They cross the pass, saying, “We'll stay overnight at Geba.” The people of Ramah tremble in fear; the inhabitants of Gibeah of Saul run away. 30Shout out a warning, people of Gallim! Pay attention, those living in Laishah! You poor people of Anathoth! 31The people of Madmenah, are all running away. The inhabitants of Gebim are looking for somewhere safe. 32Today the invaders stop at Nob, shaking their fists at the mountain of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look how the Lord Almighty is going to chop off the branches with great force. The tall trees will be cut down, the proud trees will be brought crashing down.#10:33. The prophecy now turns to judgment on the Assyrian invaders, who will be “cut down like trees.” 34He will cut down the thick forest with an ax, and Lebanon#10:34. “Lebanon”: a symbolic term for Assyria, see for example Ezekiel 31:3. will fall at the hand of the Mighty One.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 10: FBV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 10
10
Chapter 10
1It will be very bad for people who make cruel laws that are not fair.
2They stop poor people from receiving what they should have.
They do not let helpless people receive justice.
They rob widows of all their things.
They take things that belong to children who have no family.
3It will be bad for you on the day when God comes to judge people. You will not escape the punishment that he will bring from far away. There will be nobody to help you. There will be no safe place to hide your valuable things. 4You will have to join the people who are in prison. Or you will die with those that the enemy kills in war.
But the Lord is still angry. His hand is ready to hit his people again.
Then God will punish Assyria
5It will be very bad for Assyria! I will use its army to punish my people, because I am angry with them. Assyria will be like a stick that I use to beat my people. That is how I will show them my anger.
6I send Assyria's army against a nation that does not serve God. I command them to attack the people with whom I am angry. I tell them to take that nation's valuable things for themselves. I tell them to walk all over them, as if they were walking on dirt in the streets.
7But Assyria's ruler has other ideas. He does not understand that he is my weapon. He wants his army to destroy many nations, so that they have no power. 8He boasts, ‘All my army's officers are like kings! 9We destroyed Calno as we destroyed Carchemish. We destroyed Hamath as well as Arpad. We destroyed Samaria as well as Damascus.
10The idols of those cities were greater than those in Jerusalem or Samaria. But we won against them all! 11So I will destroy Jerusalem and its idols, in the same way that I did to Samaria and its idols.’
12The Lord God will come to punish Mount Zion and Jerusalem. But when he has done that, he says, ‘Now I will punish the king of Assyria. He boasts in his mind and his eyes show how proud he is.’
13The king of Assyria says this:
‘I have won these battles because of my own strength.
I have been very wise and clever.
I have marched into nations as if they had no borders.
I have taken their valuable things for myself.
Like a wild bull, I have removed kings from their thrones.
14I robbed them of their riches,
like a person who takes eggs from a bird's nest.
I was able to bring all the nations under my power.
None of them could stop me.
No bird could shake its wing at me,
or open its mouth to cry at me!’
15The Lord says this:
‘The axe has no more power than the person who uses it.
A saw is not more important than the person who cuts with it.
A stick cannot lift up the man who holds it.
No, it is the man that lifts up the stick!’
16So the Lord, the Almighty Lord, will punish Assyria's soldiers. They are now fat and healthy, but they will become thin! It will be like a fire that burns them, with all their proud strength. 17The holy God, who is the Light of Israel, will become like a fire. Assyria's soldiers will be like weeds and thorn bushes and the fire will destroy them in one day.
18The Lord will completely destroy Assyria's great forests and its good fields. It will seem like a bad disease is taking away their life. 19Only a few trees will remain in the forests. Even a child will be able to count them!
Some people will return
20At that time, only a few people will remain in Israel. Only a few descendants of Jacob will still be alive. They will no longer expect to receive help from a foreign ruler who is cruel to them. Instead, they will trust the Lord, the Holy God of Israel, to help them.
21A few of Jacob's descendants will remain, and they will return to serve the mighty God. 22Israel's people are now very many, as many as the sand on the shore of the sea. But only a few will remain to return. The Lord has decided to destroy you, people of Israel. His punishment is fair and right. 23The Lord Almighty will destroy the whole land. He is ready to do that, as he has promised.
24So this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian army. They will hurt you, like someone who hits you with a heavy stick. They will be cruel to you like the people in Egypt were long ago. 25But soon I will be angry with you no longer. Instead, I will be angry with the Assyrians, and I will be ready to destroy them.’
26Yes, the Lord Almighty will punish the Assyrians, like someone who uses a whip to beat them. That is how he destroyed the Midianites at the Rock of Oreb. #10:26 See Judges 7:25. He will hold his stick over the sea. He will lift it up as he did in Egypt.
27At that time, the Lord will remove the heavy load that is on your shoulders. He will destroy the yoke that is on your neck. You will no longer be their slaves. The Lord will bless you and make you fat.
28Assyria's army attacks Aiath! It marches through Migron. They store their things at Michmash. 29They go across the hills. They stay at Geba for a night. The people in Ramah are afraid! The people in Gibeah of Saul run away.
30People in Gallim, shout for help! Listen carefully, people in Laishah. Answer them, people in Anathoth. 31The people in Madmenah run away. Those who live in Gebim run to a safe place.
32Today, the enemy has reached Nob and it stops there. He shakes his fist angrily at the people who live on Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem.
33But look! The Lord Almighty is ready to use his great power to destroy Assyria's strong army. He will cut it down, like a tall tree. He will cut off all the branches and knock all the trees down to the ground. 34The Lord will take his axe and he will cut down the trees of that great forest. Even the best trees of Lebanon must fall down! #10:34 The forest with its trees are a picture of Assyria's army and its soldiers.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
MissionAssist 2018