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.
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Isaiah 10: FBV
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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
1Woe to those who #[Ps. 94:20] decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who #Jer. 8:8keep writing oppression,
2to turn aside the needy from justice
and #ch. 5:23to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3What will you do on #Jer. 5:29; Hos. 9:7; [Luke 19:44] the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come #ch. 5:26from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
# See ch. 9:12 For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
Judgment on Arrogant Assyria
5Woe to Assyria, #ver. 24; ch. 9:4; [Mic. 5:1; 6:9]the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
6Against a #ch. 9:17 godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take #See 2 Kgs. 18:14-16 spoil and seize plunder,
and to #ch. 5:5tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7But he #[Mic. 4:12]does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8for he says:
# [2 Kgs. 18:24] “Are not my commanders all kings?
9 #
2 Kgs. 19:12, 13 Is not #[Gen. 10:10; Amos 6:2] Calno like #2 Chr. 35:20; Jer. 46:2 Carchemish?
Is not #ch. 11:11; Amos 6:2; Zech. 9:2 Hamath like #2 Kgs. 18:34 Arpad?
# [2 Kgs. 16:9; 17:6] Is not #ch. 7:9Samaria like Damascus?
10As my hand has reached to #[2 Kgs. 19:17, 18]the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11shall I not do to Jerusalem and #ch. 2:8 her idols
#
2 Kgs. 18:34
as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 # [ch. 29:4, 5; 30:18; 2 Kgs. 19:31] When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, #See 2 Kgs. 19:35-37he#10:12 Hebrew I will punish the speech#10:12 Hebrew fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13#ch. 37:23-25; 2 Kgs. 19:22-24For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
15Shall #[ver. 5; ch. 29:16; 45:9; Rom. 9:17]the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his #Ps. 78:31 stout warriors,
and under his glory #[ch. 30:33]a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17 # [Obad. 18] The light of Israel will become a fire,
and #ch. 37:23 his Holy One a flame,
and #ch. 27:4; [ch. 9:18; Nah. 1:10] it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers #[ch. 9:14; 2 Kgs. 19:35]in one day.
18The glory of #ver. 33; [ch. 2:13] his forest and of his #[Ps. 107:33-34]fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.
The Remnant of Israel Will Return
20 # ver. 27; ch. 2:11 In that day #ch. 4:2 the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more #[2 Kgs. 16:7; 2 Chr. 28:20, 21] lean on him who struck them, but #2 Kgs. 19:14will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, #ch. 9:6to the mighty God. 22#Cited Rom. 9:27, 28 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, #[ch. 6:13] only a remnant of them will return. #ch. 28:22Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, #[ch. 31:5] who dwell in Zion, #2 Kgs. 19:6 be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as #Ex. 2:23the Egyptians did. 25For #[ch. 17:14]in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26And #2 Kgs. 19:35 the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck #ch. 9:4 Midian #Judg. 7:25; [ch. 9:4] at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it #[Ex. 14:30]as he did in Egypt. 27And in that day #2 Kgs. 18:14 his burden will depart from your shoulder, and #[ch. 9:4; Nah. 1:13]his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”#10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
28He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through #1 Sam. 14:2 Migron;
at Michmash he stores #Judg. 18:21; 1 Sam. 17:22; Acts 21:15; [ch. 46:1]his baggage;
29they have crossed over #1 Sam. 13:23 the pass;
at #1 Sam. 13:16 Geba they lodge for the night;
#
1 Sam. 7:17 Ramah trembles;
#
1 Sam. 11:4
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30Cry aloud, O daughter of #1 Sam. 25:44 Gallim!
Give attention, O Laishah!
O poor #Jer. 1:1Anathoth!
31Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32This very day he will halt at #1 Sam. 21:1; 22:19 Nob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of #ch. 1:8; 37:22the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold, the Lord God of hosts
# [Nah. 1:12] will lop #ver. 18the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34He will cut down #[See ver. 33 above] the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and #[Ezek. 31:3; Amos 2:9]Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.
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