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10 How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws
    and who make oppressive regulations.
        They deprive the poor of justice.
        They take away the rights of the needy among my people.
        They prey on widows and rob orphans.
What 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?
Nothing’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

“How horrible it will be for Assyria!
    It is the rod of my anger.
        My fury is the staff in the Assyrians’ hands.
I 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.
But 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.
They ask, ‘Aren’t all our commanders kings?
Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
    Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
    Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?’
10 My power has reached kingdoms which have idols.
    They had more carved statues than Jerusalem or Samaria.
11 I will do to Jerusalem and its idols
    what I’ve done to Samaria and its idols.”

12 When Adonay 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. 13 The 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.
14 I’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.”

15 Can 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.
16 That is why Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth
    will send a degenerative disease against brave men.
        A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.
17 Israel’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.
18 The majestic forest and the orchard
    will destroy both body and soul.
    They will be like a sick person wasting away.
19 The trees that remain in the forest will be so few that
    a child could count them.

20 At 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 Yahweh, Qedosh Yisrael.
21 A few, the remaining few of Jacob, will return to the mighty God.
22 Although 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.
23 Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth will carry out this destruction
    throughout the world as he has determined.
24 Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth 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.
25 Very soon I will unleash my fury,
    and my anger will destroy them.

26 Then Yahweh Tsebaoth 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.
27 At that time their burden will be removed from your shoulders.
    Their yoke[a] will be removed from your neck.
        The yoke will be torn away because you have grown fat.

28 They come to Aiath.
    They pass through Migron.
        They store their equipment at Michmash.
29 They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night.
    The people in Ramah tremble; the people in Saul’s Gibeah flee.
30 Cry aloud, you people in Gallim!
    Pay attention, you people in Laishah and miserable Anathoth!
31 The people in Madmenah flee; those who live in Gebim take shelter.
32 This day they stopped at Nob.
    They shake their fist at the mountain of my people Zion,
        at the mountain of Jerusalem.
33 Now look! Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth
    will trim the branches with terrifying power.
        The highest trees will be cut down.
        The tallest ones will be brought down.
34 He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax.
    Lebanon will fall in front of the Mighty One.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 10:27 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.

10 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.

19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

20 And 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 the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

26 And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:

29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.

31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.