Isaiah 10
10
1How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws
and who make oppressive regulations.
2They deprive the poor of justice.
They take away the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows and rob orphans.
3What will you do on the day
you are called to account ⌞for these things⌟,
when the disaster comes from far away?
Where will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4Nothing’s left but to crouch among prisoners
and to fall with those who are killed.
Even after all this, his anger will not disappear,
and he is still ready to use his power.
The Lord’s Message against Assyria
5“How horrible it will be for Assyria!
It is the rod of my anger.
My fury is the staff in the Assyrians’ hands.
6I send them against a godless nation.
In my fury I order them against the people
to take their belongings, loot them,
and trample on them like mud in the streets.
7But that’s not what they intend to do.
Their minds don’t work that way.
Their purpose is to destroy and put an end to many nations.
8They ask, ‘Aren’t all our commanders kings?
9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?’
10My power has reached kingdoms which have idols.
They had more carved statues than Jerusalem or Samaria.
11I will do to Jerusalem and its idols
what I’ve done to Samaria and its idols.”
12When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for all his boasting and all his arrogance. 13The king will say,
“I did this with my own two powerful hands.
I did this with my wisdom, because I am so clever.
I’ve eliminated the boundaries of nations.
I’ve looted treasuries.
I’ve brought down people like a mighty man.
14I’ve found the riches of nations as one finds a nest.
I’ve gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs.
Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.”
15Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it?
Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it?
A rod cannot move the person who lifts it.
A wooden stick cannot pick up a person.
16That is why the Almighty Lord of Armies
will send a degenerative disease against brave men.
A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.
17Israel’s light will become a flame.
Its Holy One will become a fire.
He will burn up and devour the weeds and thornbushes in one day.
18The majestic forest and the orchard
will destroy both body and soul.
They will be like a sick person wasting away.
19The trees that remain in the forest will be so few that
a child could count them.
20At that time the remaining few Israelites,
the survivors of Jacob’s descendants
will no longer depend on the one who struck them.
They will only depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21A few, the remaining few of Jacob, will return to the mighty God.
22Although your people Israel may be
as ⌞numerous as⌟ the grains of sand on the seashore,
only a few will return.
Destruction will be complete and fair.
23The Almighty Lord of Armies will carry out this destruction
throughout the world as he has determined.
24The Almighty Lord of Armies says:
My people who live in Zion,
don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with a rod
or when they raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25Very soon I will unleash my fury,
and my anger will destroy them.
26Then the Lord of Armies will raise his whip against them.
As he struck down Midian at the Rock of Oreb
and raised his staff over the water,
so he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
27At that time their burden will be removed from your shoulders.
Their yoke #10:27 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts. will be removed from your neck.
The yoke will be torn away because you have grown fat.
28They come to Aiath.
They pass through Migron.
They store their equipment at Michmash.
29They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night.
The people in Ramah tremble; the people in Saul’s Gibeah flee.
30Cry aloud, you people in Gallim!
Pay attention, you people in Laishah and miserable Anathoth!
31The people in Madmenah flee; those who live in Gebim take shelter.
32This day they stopped at Nob.
They shake their fist at the mountain of my people Zion,
at the mountain of Jerusalem.
33Now look! The Almighty Lord of Armies
will trim the branches with terrifying power.
The highest trees will be cut down.
The tallest ones will be brought down.
34He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax.
Lebanon will fall in front of the Mighty One.
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Isaiah 10: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 10
10
1You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. 2That is how you prevent the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans. 3What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth? 4You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners. Yet even so the LORD's anger will not be ended; his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
The Emperor of Assyria as the Instrument of God
5 #
Is 14.24–27; Nah 1.1—3.19; Zeph 2.13–15 The LORD said, “Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry. 6I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample on the people like dirt in the streets.”
7But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations. 8He boasts, “Every one of my commanders is a king! 9I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus. 10I stretched out my hand to punish those kingdoms that worship idols, idols more numerous than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11I have destroyed Samaria and all its idols, and I will do the same to Jerusalem and the images that are worshipped there.”
12But the Lord says, “When I finish what I am doing on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the emperor of Assyria for all his boasting and all his pride.”
13The emperor of Assyria boasts, “I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled on the people who live there. 14The nations of the world were like a bird's nest, and I gathered their wealth as easily as gathering eggs. Not a wing fluttered to scare me off; no beak opened to scream at me!”
15But the LORD says, “Can an axe claim to be greater than the man who uses it? Is a saw more important than the man who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a man; a man lifts up a club.”
16The LORD Almighty is going to send disease to punish those who are now well fed. In their bodies there will be a fire that burns and burns. 17God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel's holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles. 18The rich forests and farmlands will be totally destroyed, in the same way that a fatal sickness destroys a person. 19There will be so few trees left that even a child will be able to count them.
A Few will Come Back
20A time is coming when the people of Israel who have survived will no longer rely on the nation that almost destroyed them. They will truly put their trust in the LORD, Israel's holy God. 21A few of the people of Israel will come back to their mighty God. 22#Rom 9.27Even though now there are as many people of Israel as there are grains of sand by the sea, only a few will come back. Destruction is in store for the people, and it is fully deserved. 23Yes, throughout the whole country the Sovereign LORD Almighty will bring destruction, as he said he would.
The LORD will Punish Assyria
24The Sovereign LORD Almighty says to his people who live in Zion, “Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they oppress you as the Egyptians used to do. 25In only a little while I will finish punishing you, and then I will destroy them. 26I, the LORD Almighty, will beat them with my whip as I beat the people of Midian at the Rock of Oreb. I will punish Assyria as I punished Egypt. 27When that time comes, I will free you from the power of Assyria, and their yoke will no longer be a burden on your shoulders.”#10.27 Hebrew has three additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.
The Invader Attacks
28The enemy army has captured the city of Ai!#10.28 Ai: This and the other places mentioned in verses 28–32 were located near Jerusalem, along the way by which an invader would come to attack from the north. They have passed through Migron! They left their supplies at Michmash! 29They have crossed the pass and are spending the night at Geba! The people in the town of Ramah are terrified, and the people in King Saul's town of Gibeah have run away. 30Shout, people of Gallim! Listen, people of Laishah! Answer, people of Anathoth! 31The people of Madmenah and Gebim are running for their lives. 32Today the enemy are in the town of Nob, and there they are shaking their fists at Mount Zion, at the city of Jerusalem.
33The LORD Almighty will bring them crashing down like branches cut off a tree. The proudest and highest of them will be cut down and humiliated. 34The LORD will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an axe, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.