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
Lexham English Bible
Woes on the Wicked
10 Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil,
and writers who have written harm,
2 to guide the needy away from legal claims,[a]
and to rob the justice from the poor of my people,
to make widows their spoil;
and they plunder orphans.
3 And 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,
4 save that they bow down under the prisoners
and fall under the slain?[b]
In all of this his anger has not turned away,
and still his hand is stretched out.
Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance
5 Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger,
and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!
6 I 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[c] a trampling place,
like the clay of the streets.
7 But he does not think this,[d]
and his heart does not plan this.
For it is in his heart to destroy
and to cut off not a few nations.
8 For he says, “Are not my commanders altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols[e]
—and their images were greater than those of[f] Jerusalem and Samaria—
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols
what I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
12 And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion[g] and Jerusalem, “I will punish the arrogance[h] of the king of Assyria and his haughtiness.”[i]
13 For 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.[j]
14 And 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.”
15 Does 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![k]
As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood![l]
16 Therefore 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.
17 And the light of Israel will become like a fire,
and his holy one like a flame,
and it will burn and devour his thorns[m] and briers[n] in one day.
18 And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard completely,[o]
and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.
19 And the rest of the trees[p] of his forest will be a small number,
and a boy can write them down.
The Return of the Remnant
20 And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors[q] 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.
21 A remnant will return—
the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of it will return.
Annihilation is determined,
overflowing with righteousness.
23 For the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to make a complete destruction
and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore 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.[r]
25 My indignation will come to an end in just a very little while,[s]
and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”
26 And 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.[t]
27 And 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.[u]
28 He has come to Aiath,
he has passed through Migron;
at Micmash he deposited his baggage.
29 They crossed over the pass;
Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us.
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Daughter of Gallim, cry out with your voice;
Laishah, listen!
Anathoth is poor.[v]
31 Madmenah flees!
The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety!
32 This day[w] taking a stand[x] at Nob,
he will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter[y] of Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches[z] with great power,
and the towering trees[aa] will be felled,
and the tall trees[ab] will be brought low.
34 And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe,
and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:2 Hebrew “claim”
- Isaiah 10:4 Literally “except he will bow down under a prisoner and under slain they will fall”; “under” could also mean “in the place of”
- Isaiah 10:6 Hebrew “him”
- Isaiah 10:7 Or “so”
- Isaiah 10:10 Hebrew “idol”
- Isaiah 10:10 Literally “from”
- Isaiah 10:12 Literally “the mountain of Zion”
- Isaiah 10:12 Literally “fruit of the greatness of the heart”
- Isaiah 10:12 Literally “the pride of the height of his eyes”
- Isaiah 10:13 Or, “those sitting,” that is, rulers sitting on thrones
- Isaiah 10:15 Literally “As a rod waving even the one who lifts it up”
- Isaiah 10:15 Literally “As a staff lifting up not wood”
- Isaiah 10:17 Hebrew “thorn”
- Isaiah 10:17 Hebrew “brier”
- Isaiah 10:18 Literally “from soul and to body”
- Isaiah 10:19 Hebrew “tree”
- Isaiah 10:20 Hebrew “survivor”
- Isaiah 10:24 Literally “in the way of Egypt”
- Isaiah 10:25 Literally “for still a little a trifle”
- Isaiah 10:26 Literally “in the way of Egypt”
- Isaiah 10:27 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
- Isaiah 10:30 Or with different vocalization, “Answer her, Anathoth!” which fits the parallelism better
- Isaiah 10:32 Literally “Yet today”
- Isaiah 10:32 Literally “to stand”
- Isaiah 10:32 Following the reading tradition (Qere); the consonantal text has “house”
- Isaiah 10:33 Hebrew “branch”
- Isaiah 10:33 Literally “the haughty of the height”
- Isaiah 10:33 Literally “height”
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