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
1Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
2to turn aside the needy from justice
and to 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 the day of punishment,
in the storm which will come from 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.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.
5 #
Nah; Zeph 2.13-15. Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger,
the staff of my fury!#10.5 Heb a staff it is in their hand my fury
6Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7But he does not so intend,
and his mind does not so think;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8for he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he#10.12 Heb I will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. 13For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples,
and have plundered their treasures;
like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.
14My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as men gather 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 the axe vaunt itself 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, the Lord of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One a flame;
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.
18The glory of his forest and of his 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.
20In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22#Rom 9.27-28. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23For the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.”
He has gone up from Rimmon,#10.27 Cn: Heb and his yoke from your neck, and a yoke will be destroyed because of fatness
28he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron,
at Michmash he stores his baggage;
29they have crossed over the pass,
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles,
Gibe-ah of Saul has fled.
30Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Hearken, O Laishah!
Answer her, O Anathoth!
31Madmenah is in flight,
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32This very day he will halt at Nob,
he will shake his fist
at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon with its majestic trees#10.34 Cn Compare Gk Vg: Heb with a majestic one will fall.
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