Isaiah 10
10
Woes on the Wicked
1Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil,
and writers who have written harm,
2to guide the needy away from legal claims,#Hebrew “claim”
and to rob the justice from the poor of my people,
to make widows their spoil;
and they plunder orphans.
3And what will you do at the day of punishment,
and at calamity? It comes from afar!
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth,
4save that they bow down under the prisoners
and fall under the slain?#Literally “except he will bow down under a prisoner and under slain they will fall”; “under” could also mean “in the place of”
In all of this his anger has not turned away,
and still his hand is stretched out.
Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance
5Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger,
and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!
6I send him against a godless nation,
and I command him against the people of my wrath,
to capture spoil
and to carry off plunder,
and to make them#Hebrew “him” a trampling place,
like the clay of the streets.
7But he does not think this,#Or “so”
and his heart does not plan this.
For it is in his heart to destroy
and to cut off not a few nations.
8For he says, “Are not my commanders altogether 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#Hebrew “idol”
—and their images were greater than those of#Literally “from” Jerusalem and Samaria—
11shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols
what I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
12And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion#Literally “the mountain of Zion” and Jerusalem, “I will punish the arrogance#Literally “fruit of the greatness of the heart” of the king of Assyria and his haughtiness.”#Literally “the pride of the height of his eyes”
13For he says,
“I have done it by the strength of my hand
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding,
and I have removed the boundaries of peoples,
and I have plundered their stores,
and like a bull I have brought down the inhabitants.#Or, “those sitting,” that is, rulers sitting on thrones
14And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples,
and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth.
And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp.”
15Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it,
or the saw magnify itself against the one who moves it to and fro?
As if a rod should move the one who lifts it!#Literally “As a rod waving even the one who lifts it up”
As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood!#Literally “As a staff lifting up not wood”
16Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors,
and a burning like the burning of fire will burn under his glory.
17And the light of Israel will become like a fire,
and his holy one like a flame,
and it will burn and devour his thorns#Hebrew “thorn” and briers#Hebrew “brier” in one day.
18And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard completely,#Literally “from soul and to body”
and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.
19And the rest of the trees#Hebrew “tree” of his forest will be a small number,
and a boy can write them down.
The Return of the Remnant
20And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors#Hebrew “survivor” of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on the one who struck it
but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.
21A remnant will return—
the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.
22For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of it will return.
Annihilation is determined,
overflowing with righteousness.
23For the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to make a complete destruction
and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.
24Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts:
“My people who live in Zion,
you must not be afraid of Assyria.
It beats you with the rod,
and it lifts up its staff against you as the Egyptians did.#Literally “in the way of Egypt”
25My indignation will come to an end in just a very little while,#Literally “for still a little a trifle”
and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”
26And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him,
as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb;
and his staff will be over the sea,
and he will lift him up as he did in Egypt.#Literally “in the way of Egypt”
27And this shall happen: on that day,
he will remove his burden from your shoulder
and his yoke from your neck,
and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat.#The meaning of this phrase is uncertain, leading to the conjecture that it belongs with the next verse and by a different word division could mean “he has gone up from Jeshimon”; alternatively, “fat” could be a metaphor for prosperity
28He has come to Aiath,
he has passed through Migron;
at Micmash he deposited his baggage.
29They crossed over the pass;
Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us.
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30Daughter of Gallim, cry out with your voice;
Laishah, listen!
Anathoth is poor.#Or with different vocalization, “Answer her, Anathoth!” which fits the parallelism better
31Madmenah flees!
The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety!
32This day#Literally “Yet today” taking a stand#Literally “to stand” at Nob,
he will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter#Following the reading tradition (Qere); the consonantal text has “house” of Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches#Hebrew “branch” with great power,
and the towering trees#Literally “the haughty of the height” will be felled,
and the tall trees#Literally “height” will be brought low.
34And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe,
and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.
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Isaiah 10: LEB
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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.