Isaiah 10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,(A)
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
to make widows their spoil
and to plunder orphans!(B)
3 What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth,(C)
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain?
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(D)
Arrogant Assyria Also Judged
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—
the club in their hands is my fury!(E)
6 Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.(F)
7 But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind,
but it is in his heart to destroy
and to cut off nations not a few.(G)
8 For he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?(H)
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?(I)
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,(J)
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
what I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he[a] will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.(K) 13 For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples
and have plundered their treasures;
like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.(L)
14 My hand has found, like a nest,
the wealth of the peoples,
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth,
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened its mouth or chirped.”(M)
15 Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it
or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!(N)
16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled
like the burning of fire.(O)
17 The light of Israel will become a fire
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.(P)
18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.(Q)
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.(R)
The Repentant Remnant of Israel
20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.(S) 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.(T) 22 For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, an overwhelming verdict.(U) 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.[b](V)
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”(W) 26 The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.(X) 27 On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.
He has gone up from Samaria;[c](Y)
28 he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron;
at Michmash he stores his baggage;(Z)
29 they have crossed over the pass;
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.(AA)
30 Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!
Listen, O Laishah!
Answer her, O Anathoth!(AB)
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.(AC)
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.(AD)
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
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