Isaiah 10
New Living Translation
10 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
and those who issue unfair laws.
2 They deprive the poor of justice
and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
and take advantage of orphans.
3 What will you do when I punish you,
when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
Where will your treasures be safe?
4 You will stumble along as prisoners
or lie among the dead.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
Judgment against Assyria
5 “What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.
6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation.
8 He will say,
‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.
9 We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.
Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.
And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.
10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom
whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,
just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”
12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,
“By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull.
14 I have robbed their nests of riches
and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.
No one can even flap a wing against me
or utter a peep of protest.”
15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,
and a flaming fire will consume its glory.
17 The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;
the Holy One will be a flame.
He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,
burning up the enemy in a single night.
18 The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!
Hope for the Lord’s People
20 In that day the remnant left in Israel,
the survivors in the house of Jacob,
will no longer depend on allies
who seek to destroy them.
But they will faithfully trust the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return;[a]
yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
22 But though the people of Israel are as numerous
as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant of them will return.
The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people.
23 Yes, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
has already decided to destroy the entire land.[b]
24 So this is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago. 25 In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.” 26 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the Lord’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.
27 In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people.
He will break the yoke of slavery
and lift it from their shoulders.[c]
28 Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath.
They are passing through Migron
and are storing their equipment at Micmash.
29 They are crossing the pass
and are camping at Geba.
Fear strikes the town of Ramah.
All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul,
are running for their lives.
30 Scream in terror,
you people of Gallim!
Shout out a warning to Laishah.
Oh, poor Anathoth!
31 There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing.
The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.
32 The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day.
He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.
33 But look! The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power!
He will cut down the proud.
That lofty tree will be brought down.
34 He will cut down the forest trees with an ax.
Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One.[d]
Footnotes
- 10:21 Hebrew Shear-jashub; see 7:3; 8:18.
- 10:22-23 Greek version reads only a remnant of them will be saved. / For he will carry out his sentence quickly and with finality and righteousness; / for God will carry out his sentence upon all the world with finality. Compare Rom 9:27-28.
- 10:27 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads The yoke will be broken, / for you have grown so fat.
- 10:34 Or with an ax / as even the mighty trees of Lebanon fall.
Isaiah 10
International Standard Version
Judgment on Unjust Lawmakers
10 “How terrible it will be for the one[a] who enacts unjust decrees,
for those who write oppressive laws
that they have prescribed
2 to deprive the needy of justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their rights,[b]
so that widows may become their spoil
and so that they may plunder orphans![c]
3 What will you do on the day of Judgment,[d]
in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you run for help,
and where will you leave your wealth,
4 so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains[e]
or fall among the slain?
“Yet[f] for all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”[g]
Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment
5 “How terrible it will be
for Assyria, the rod of my anger!
The club is in their hands![h]
6 I’m sending my fury[i] against a godless nation,
and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down
like mud in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,
and this is not what he thinks in his mind;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
and to cut down[j] many nations.
8 “Because this is what he is saying:
‘My commanders are all kings, are they not?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms[k]
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols
as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”
Assyria will be Judged
12 “For[l] the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful[m] heart of Assyria’s king and the haughty look in his eyes. 13 He keeps bragging:[n]
‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand,
and by my wisdom,
because I’m so clever.[o]
I removed the boundaries of peoples,
and plundered their treasures;
like a bull I brought down
those who sat on thrones.
14 My hand has found, as if in a nest,
the wealth of the people;
and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the[p] earth.
Nothing moved a wing,
opened its mouth,
or chirped.’
15 “Does the ax exalt itself
over the one who swings it?
Or does the saw magnify itself
in opposition to the one who wields it?
As if a rod were to wield those who lift[q] it,
or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord God[r] of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease
among Assyria’s[s] sturdy warriors,
and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled,
like a blazing bonfire.
17 “The light of Israel will become a fire,
and its Holy One a flame,
and it will burn
and consume Assyria’s[t] thorns and briers
in a single day.
18 The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land
the Lord will destroy—
both soul and body—
and Assyria[u] will be
as when a dying man wastes away.
19 What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few
that a child can count them.”[v]
The Remnant Returns
20 At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return—a remnant of Jacob—to the Mighty God. 22 For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed, 23 because the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies[w] will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughout[x] the entire region.[y]
24 Therefore this is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies says: “My people, you who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you,[z] who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did. 25 In just a little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger then will be directed to their destruction.[aa] 26 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;[ab] and as his staff was stretched out[ac] over the sea,[ad] so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt. 27 At that time,[ae] his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you’ve become obese.”[af]
The Coming Judgment of God
28 “The Assyrian commander[ag] has come upon[ah] Aiath
and has passed through Migron;
he stores his supplies at Michmash.
29 He has[ai] crossed over by[aj] the pass;
his overnight lodging is at Geba.
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laish![ak]
Poor Anathoth!
31 Marmenah[al] is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim take cover.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;[am]
he will shake[an] his fists[ao]
at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion,
at Jerusalem’s hill.
33 Behold, the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
will lop off its[ap] boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest in height will be cut down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest
with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall
by the Majestic One.”[aq]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:1 So 1QIsaa; MT reads the ones
- Isaiah 10:2 Lit. right
- Isaiah 10:2 Or plunder the fatherless
- Isaiah 10:3 Lit. reckoning
- Isaiah 10:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read beneath prisoners
- Isaiah 10:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack Yet
- Isaiah 10:4 DSS MT lack ready to strike
- Isaiah 10:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads is their fury!
- Isaiah 10:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads sending him
- Isaiah 10:7 Lit. off
- Isaiah 10:10 So 1QIsaa; MT reads the idol
- Isaiah 10:12 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read And when
- Isaiah 10:12 Lit. the fruit of the arrogant
- Isaiah 10:13 Lit. saying; so 1QIsaa; MT reads He said
- Isaiah 10:13 Lit. I have understanding
- Isaiah 10:14 1QIsaa MT lack inhabitants of the
- Isaiah 10:15 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads the one who lifts
- Isaiah 10:16 So 1QIsaa MT; other LXX MT mss read Lord
- Isaiah 10:16 Lit. his
- Isaiah 10:17 Lit. its
- Isaiah 10:18 Lit. it
- Isaiah 10:19 Lit. can write them down
- Isaiah 10:23 So 1QIsaa; LXX, MT mss lack Lord of the Heavenly Armies
- Isaiah 10:23 Lit. in the midst of
- Isaiah 10:23 Lit. land
- Isaiah 10:24 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Assyrians, when they strike you with a rod
- Isaiah 10:25 So 1QIsaa MT; MT mss. read end; LXX reads counsel
- Isaiah 10:26 Cf. Judg 7:25
- Isaiah 10:26 1QIsaa MT lack stretched out
- Isaiah 10:26 Cf. Exod 14:16,26
- Isaiah 10:27 Lit. On that day; so 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsac reads On a day
- Isaiah 10:27 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks because you’ve become obese.
- Isaiah 10:28 Lit. He
- Isaiah 10:28 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac LXX read to
- Isaiah 10:29 So 1QIsaa; MT reads They have
- Isaiah 10:29 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks by
- Isaiah 10:30 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Laishah
- Isaiah 10:31 So 1QIsaa Syr.; MT LXX read Madmenah
- Isaiah 10:32 I.e. city where the ephod was stored during the reign of Saul; cf. 1Sam 22:13-20
- Isaiah 10:32 So 1QIsaa; MT reads brandish
- Isaiah 10:32 So 1QIsaa; MT reads fist
- Isaiah 10:33 Lit. the
- Isaiah 10:34 Or fall, along with its majestic trees
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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