Isaiah 10
10
1You people are in for trouble! You have made cruel and unfair laws 2that let you cheat the poor and needy and rob widows and orphans. 3But what will you do when you are fiercely attacked and punished by foreigners? Where will you run for help? Where will you hide your valuables? 4How will you escape being captured#10.4 escape being captured: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. or killed? The Lord is still angry, and he isn't through with you yet!#10.4 and he … yet: Or “but he hasn't given up on you yet!”
The Lord's Purpose and the King of Assyria
5 #
Is 14.24-27; Nh 1.1—3.19; Zep 2.13-15. The Lord says:
I am furious! And I will use the king of Assyria#10.5 king of Assyria: Probably King Sennacherib who invaded Israel in 701 b.c. as a club 6to beat down you godless people. I am angry with you, and I will send him to attack you. He will take what he wants and walk on you like mud in the streets. 7He has even bigger plans in mind, because he wants to destroy many nations.
8The king of Assyria says:
My army commanders are kings! 9They have already captured#10.9 already captured: Calno (in northern Syria), Carchemish (on the Euphrates River), Hamath (on the Orontes River), Arpad (near Aleppo in northern Syria), Samaria, and Damascus had already been captured by Assyrian kings (738–717 b.c.). the cities of Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria, and Damascus. 10-11#3 Macc 2.18. The gods of Jerusalem and Samaria are weaker than the gods of those powerful nations. And I will destroy Jerusalem, together with its gods and idols, just as I did Samaria.
12The Lord will do what he has planned against Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Then he will punish the proud and boastful king of Assyria, 13who says:
I did these things by my own power because I am smart and clever. I attacked kings like a wild bull, and I took the land and the treasures of their nations. 14I have conquered the whole world! And it was easier than taking eggs from an unguarded nest. No one even flapped a wing or made a peep.
15King of Assyria, can an ax or a saw overpower the one who uses it? Can a wooden pole lift whoever holds it? 16The mighty Lord All-Powerful will send a terrible disease to strike down your army, and you will burn with fever under your royal robes. 17The holy God, who is the light of Israel, will turn into a fire, and in one day you will go up in flames, just like a thornbush. 18The Lord will make your beautiful forests and fertile fields slowly rot. 19There will be so few trees that even a young child can count them.
Only a Few Will Come Back
20A time is coming when the survivors from Israel and Judah will completely depend on the holy Lord of Israel, instead of the nation#10.20 nation: That is, Assyria. that defeated them. 21-22#Ro 9.27,28. There were as many people as there are grains of sand along the seashore, but only a few will survive to come back to Israel's mighty God. This is because he has threatened to destroy their nation, just as they deserve. 23The Lord All-Powerful has promised that everyone on this earth#10.23 on this earth: Or “in this land.” will be punished.
24Now the Lord God All-Powerful says to his people in Jerusalem:
The Assyrians will beat you with sticks and abuse you, just as the Egyptians did. But don't be afraid of them. 25Soon I will stop being angry with you, and I will punish them for their crimes.#10.25 punish … crimes: Or “completely destroy them.” 26I will beat the Assyrians with a whip, as I did the people of Midian near the rock at Oreb. And I will show the same mighty power that I used when I made a path through the sea in Egypt. 27Then they will no longer rule your nation. All will go well for you,#10.27 All … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and your burden will be lifted.
28Enemy troops have reached the town of Aiath.#10.28 Aiath: Probably Ai (Joshua 7.2). They have gone through Migron, and they stored their supplies at Michmash, 29before crossing the valley and spending the night at Geba.#10.29 Geba: Only nine kilometers from Jerusalem. The people of Ramah are terrified; everyone in Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, has run away. 30Loud crying can be heard in the towns of Gallim, Laishah, and sorrowful Anathoth. 31No one is left in Madmenah or Gebim. 32Today the enemy will camp at Nob#10.32 Nob: Perhaps within three kilometers of Jerusalem. and shake a threatening fist at Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
33But the Lord All-Powerful
will use his fearsome might
to bring down the tallest trees
and chop off every branch.
34With an ax, the glorious Lord
will destroy every tree
in the forests of Lebanon.#10.34 Lebanon: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 34.
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Isaiah 10: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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