Isaiah 10
10
1Just look at those lawmakers who write evil laws and make life hard for the people. 2They are not fair to the poor. They take away the rights of the poor and allow people to steal from widows and orphans.
3Lawmakers, you will have to explain what you have done. What will you do then? Your destruction is coming from a faraway country. Where will you run for help? Your money and your riches will not help you. 4You will have to bow down like a prisoner. You will fall down like a dead man, but that will not help you. God will still be angry and ready to punish you.
God Will Punish Assyria’s Pride
5The Lord says, “I will use Assyria like a stick. In my anger I will use Assyria to punish Israel. 6I will send Assyria to fight against the people who do evil. I am angry with them, and I will command Assyria to fight against them. Assyria will defeat them and take their wealth. Israel will be like dirt for Assyria to walk on in the streets.
7“But Assyria does not understand that I will use him. He does not think of himself as my tool. He only wants to destroy other people. He only plans to destroy many nations. 8Assyria says to himself, ‘All of my officers are like kings! 9The city of Calno is no better than the city of Carchemish. Arpad is like Hamath, and Samaria is like Damascus. 10I defeated those evil kingdoms and now I control them. The idols those people worship are better than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11I defeated Samaria and her gods. I will also defeat Jerusalem and the idols her people have made.’”
12When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do many bad things, so God will punish him.
13The king of Assyria said, “I am very wise. By my own wisdom and power I have done many great things. I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth and their people as slaves. I am a very powerful man. 14With my own hands I have taken the riches of all these people—like someone taking eggs from a bird’s nest. A bird often leaves its nest and eggs, and there is nothing to protect the nest. There is no bird to chirp and fight with its wings and beak, so anyone can come take the eggs. And there is no one to stop me from taking all the people on earth.”
15An ax is not better than the one who cuts with it. A saw is not better than the one who uses it. Is a stick stronger than the one who picks it up? It can’t do anything to the person who is using it to punish someone! 16But Assyria doesn’t understand this. So the Lord GOD All-Powerful will send a terrible disease against him. He will lose his wealth and power like a sick man losing weight. Then Assyria’s glory will be destroyed. It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone. 17The Light of Israel#10:17 The Light of Israel This is a name for God, like “The Holy One” in the next sentence. See “Israel” in the Word List. will be like a fire. The Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that first begins to burn the weeds and thorns 18and then spreads to burn up the tall trees and vineyards. Finally, everything will be destroyed—even the people. Assyria will be like a rotting log. 19There will be a few trees left standing in the forest—so few that even a child could count them.
20Then the people from Jacob’s family who are left living in Israel will stop depending on the one who beat them. They will learn to depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21Those who are left in Jacob’s family will again follow the Powerful God.#10:21 Powerful God See Isa. 9:6.
22Israel, your people are as many as the sands of the sea, but only a few of them will be left to come back to God. But before that happens, your country will be destroyed. God has announced that he will destroy the land. And then justice will come into the land like a river flowing full. 23The Lord GOD All-Powerful really will destroy this land.
24The Lord GOD All-Powerful says, “My people living in Zion, don’t be afraid of Assyria! Yes, he will beat you, and it will be just as the time when Egypt beat you with a stick. 25But after a short time my anger will stop. I will be satisfied that Assyria has punished you enough.”
26Then the Lord All-Powerful will beat Assyria with a whip, just as he defeated Midian at Raven Rock.#10:26 Midian at Raven Rock Or “Midian at the Rock of Oreb.” See Judges 7:25. He will punish his enemies, as he did when he raised his stick over the sea#10:26 he raised … sea See Ex. 14:1-15:21. and led his people from Egypt.
27He will take away the troubles Assyria brought you—troubles that are like heavy weights carried with a yoke on your neck. But that yoke will be taken off your neck. The burden will be lifted from your shoulders.
The Army of Assyria Invades Israel
28 # 10:28-32 Isaiah uses names with double meanings to describe the different ways the Assyrian army would fight against Judah. The army of Assyria will enter near the “Ruins” (Aiath). The army will walk on the “Threshing Floor” (Migron). It will keep its food in the “Storehouse” (Micmash). 29The army will cross the river at the “Crossing” (Maabarah) and sleep at Geba. Ramah will be afraid. The people at Gibeah of Saul#10:29 Geba, Ramah, Gibeah of Saul Towns north of Jerusalem. will run away.
30Cry out, Bath Gallim#10:30 Bath Gallim Gallim, a city south of Jerusalem. This name means “daughter of the waves,” and might refer to birds that make loud noises by the shore.! Laishah, listen! Anathoth, answer me! 31The people of Madmenah are running away. The people of Gebim#10:31 Gebim An unknown city. This name is like the Hebrew word for “pit” or “cistern,” a hole in the ground for storing water. are hiding. 32This day the army will stop at Nob and prepare to fight against Mount Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look, the Lord GOD All-Powerful will use his great power and chop down that great tree. Their highest officials will be brought down. Their most important leaders will be humbled. 34God will cut down his enemies. Like the tall trees of Lebanon he will cut them down with an ax.
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Isaiah 10: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 10
10
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1Wo unto them that decree iniquitous decrees,
And to the writers who write grievousness;
2To turn aside the needy from judgment,
And to rob of their right the poor of my people;
That widows may become their prey,
And that they may plunder the orphans.
3And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
And in the desolation which shall come from afar?
To whom will ye flee for help?
And where will ye leave your glory?
4Without me they shall bow down among prisoners,
Or among the slain they shall fall.
For all this his anger is not turned away;
But his hand is still stretched out.
5Wo unto the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,
And the staff which is in their hand is mine indignation.
6Against an ungodly nation will I send him;
And against the people of my wrath will I commission him,
To gather spoil, and carry off prey;
And to trample them under foot like the mire of the streets.
7Howbeit he doth not so purpose,
Neither doth his heart so intend;
But to destroy is in his heart,
And to cut off nations not a few.
8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9Is not Calno as Carchemish?
Is not Hamath as Arpad?
Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose graven images did excel those of Jerusalem and Samaria;
11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,
So do to Jerusalem and her images?
12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work,
Upon mount Zion, and upon Jerusalem:
I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria;
And the glory of his high looks.
13For he saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it, it?
And by my wisdom; for I am instructed in wisdom: Yea, I have removed the bounds of people,
And I have plundered their hoarded treasures;
And I have overthrown those sitting on thrones, like a valiant man.
14And my band hath found, as a nest, the riches of the nations:
And as one gathereth eggs that are left,
Have I gathered the whole earth;
And there was no one that moved the wing;
Or that opened the beak, or that chirped.
15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
Shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth
As if the rod should wield them that lift it up;
As if die staff should lift up its master.
16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send
Upon his fat ones leanness;
And under his glory shall he kindle a burning,
Like the burning of a fire.
17And the light of Israel shall become a fire,
And his Holy One a flame;
And he shall burn and consume his thorns
And his briers in one day.
18Even the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field,
From the soul even unto the flesh, shall he consume;
And it shall be as when a sick man fainteth.
19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few,
So that a child may number them.
20And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as are escaped of the house of Jacob,
Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;
But shall stay upon Jehovah,
The Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21Yet a remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob,
Unto the mighty God.
22For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
A remnant of them only shall return.
Destruction hath been decreed,
Overflowing with justice.
23For a havock, even the judgment decreed,
Shall the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, make
In the midst of the whole land.
24But yet thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts:
Fear not, O my people that dwellest in Zion, because of the Assyrian:
With his rod he shall smite thee,
And his staff he shall lift up against thee, after the manner of Egypt
25For yet a very little while, and indignation shall cease;
And mine anger be turned towards their destruction.
26And Jehovah of hosts, shall stir up a scourge for him,
Like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb,
And like his rod over the sea,
When he lifted it up against the Egyptians.
27Then it shall come to pass, in that day,
That his burden shall be removed from off thy shoulder,
And his yoke from off thy neck:
And the yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness.
28He is come to Aiath; he hath passed through Migron;
At Michmas he hath laid up his baggage.
29They are gone over the passage; at Geba they have taken up their lodging:
Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul hath fled.
30Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim!
Listen in the direction of Laish, O afflicted Anathoth!
31Madmena is gone away; the inhabitants of Gebim have fled.
32He will, as yet, remain a day at Nob;
After that he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold the Lord, Jehovah of hosts,
Shall lop the bough with a dreadful crash;
And the high of stature shall be cut down,
And the lofty shall be brought low.
34And he shall hew the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty hand.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.