Isaiah 10
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 10
Social Injustice
1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and enforce oppressive statutes,
2 thereby depriving the needy of justice,
and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
and make the orphans their prey.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your riches,
4 so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
his hand is still outstretched.
The Lord Punishes the King of Assyria
5 [a]Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the club in their hands is my fury.
6 Against a godless people I send him forth,
against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
and to trample on them like mud in the street.
7 But this is not his intention,
nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
8 For he says,
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?[b]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 As I did to Samaria and her idols,
shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
20 [c]When that day arrives,
the remnant of Israel
and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them[d]
and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 Although your people, O Israel,
may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
as righteousness and justice demand.
23 For throughout the entire land
the Lord God of hosts will enforce
the final destruction that has been decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this:
O my people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
and raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 For it will be only a short time
until my wrath will subside
and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
26 Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
as he did against Egypt.
27 On that day
his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
and fall from your neck.
Sennacherib’s Assault[e]
Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
28 and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
and stored their supplies at Michmash.
29 Once they crossed the ravine,
they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
Listen carefully, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
32 This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
and the lofty ones will be laid low.
34 The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:5 We are now in a different period, perhaps 701 B.C. It is already twenty years since the northern kingdom was destroyed. Judah in turn is about to succumb (Isa 36–39).
- Isaiah 10:9 Some fortified cities of Syria are listed that have already been subdued by the Assyrians in earlier wars.
- Isaiah 10:20 The trial is a hard one, but the promise remains (see Isa 7:3 and the symbolic name of Isaiah’s elder son: Shear-jashub, which means “a remnant will return”).
- Isaiah 10:20 Who struck them: in 734 B.C., Ahaz had imprudently asked the Assyrians for help.
- Isaiah 10:27 The places listed were all north of Jerusalem.
Isaiah 10
1599 Geneva Bible
10 1 Of wicked lawmakers. 5 God will punish his people by the Assyrians and after destroy them. 21 The remnant of Israel shall be saved.
1 Woe unto them that decree wicked decrees, and [a]write grievous things,
2 To keep back the poor from judgment, and to take away the judgment of the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may spoil the fatherless.
3 What will ye do now in the day of visitation, and of destruction, which shall come from [b]far? to whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your [c]glory?
4 [d]Without me everyone shall fall among them that are bound, and they shall fall down among the slain: yet for all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5 ¶ O [e]Assyria, the rod of my wrath: and the staff in their hands is mine indignation.
6 I will send [f]him to a dissembling nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them under feet like the mire in the street.
7 But he thinketh not so, neither doth his heart esteem it so: but he imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.
8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether Kings?
9 Is not Calno as [g]Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 Like as mine hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, seeing their idols were above Jerusalem, and above Samaria:
11 Shall not I, as I have done to Samaria, and to the idols thereof, so do to Jerusalem, and to the idols thereof?
12 ¶ But when the Lord hath accomplished [h]all his work upon mount Zion and Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart [i]of the king of Assyria, and his glorious and proud looks,
13 Because he said, By the power of mine own hand have I done it, and by my wisdom, because I am wise: therefore I have removed the borders of the people, and have spoiled their treasures, and have pulled down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
14 And mine hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one that gathereth eggs that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none to move the wing or to open the mouth, or to whisper.
15 Shall the [j]axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw exalt itself against him that moveth it? as if the rod should lift up itself against him that taketh it up, or the staff should exalt itself as it were no wood.
16 Therefore shall the Lord God of hosts send among his fat men leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of fire.
17 And the light of Israel shall be as a [k]fire, and the Holy one thereof as a flame, and it shall burn, and devour [l]his thorns and his briers in one day:
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful fields both soul [m]and flesh: and he shall be as the [n]fainting of a standard bearer.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may tell them.
20 ¶ And at that day shall the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, stay no more upon him that smote them, but shall [o]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, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet shall the remnant of them return. The consumption [p]decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make the consumption even [q]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 Assyria: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of [r]Egypt.
25 But yet a very little time, and the wrath shall be consumed, and mine anger in their destruction.
26 And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge for him, according to the plague of [s]Midian in the rock Oreb: and as his staff was upon the [t]Sea, so he will lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
27 And at that day shall his burden be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck: and the yoke shall be destroyed because of [u]the anointing.
28 He is come to [v]Aiath: he is passed into Migron: at Michmash shall he lay up his armor.
29 They have gone over the ford: they lodged in the lodging at Geba: Ramah is afraid: Gibeah of Saul is fled away.
30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter Gallim, cause Laish to hear, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is removed: the inhabitants of Gebim have gathered themselves together.
32 Yet there is a time that he will stay at Nob: he shall lift up his hand toward the mount of the daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts shall cut off the [w]bough with fear, and they of high stature shall be cut off, and the high shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut away the thick places of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall have a mighty fall.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:1 Which write and pronounce a wicked sentence to oppress the poor: meaning, that the wicked magistrates, which were the chief cause of mischief, should be first punished.
- Isaiah 10:3 To wit, from Assyria.
- Isaiah 10:3 Your riches and authority, that they may be safe, and that ye may receive them again.
- Isaiah 10:4 Because they have forsaken me, some shall go into captivity, and the rest shall be slain.
- Isaiah 10:5 God calleth for the Assyrians to be the executioners of his vengeance.
- Isaiah 10:6 That is, the Assyrians against the Jews, which are but hypocrites: and in the sixth and seventh verse is declared the difference of the work of God, and of the wicked in one very thing and act: for God’s intention is to chastise them for their amendment, and the Assyrians’ purpose is to destroy them to enrich themselves: thus in respect of God’s justice, it is God’s work, but in respect of their own malice, it is the work of the devil.
- Isaiah 10:9 Seeing that I have overcome as well one city as another, so that none could resist, shall Jerusalem be able to escape mine hands?
- Isaiah 10:12 When he hath sufficiently chastised his people (for he beginneth at his own house) then will he burn the rods.
- Isaiah 10:12 Meaning of Sennacherib.
- Isaiah 10:15 Here we see that no creature is able to do anything, but as God appointeth him, and that they are all but his instruments to do his work, though the intentions be divers, as verse 6.
- Isaiah 10:17 Meaning, that God is a light to comfort his people, and a fire to burn his enemies.
- Isaiah 10:17 That is, the Assyrians.
- Isaiah 10:18 To wit, body and soul utterly.
- Isaiah 10:18 When the battle is lost and the standard taken.
- Isaiah 10:20 This is the end of God’s plagues toward his, to bring them to him, and to forsake all trust in others.
- Isaiah 10:22 This small number which seemed to be consumed, and yet according to God’s decree is saved, shall be sufficient to fill all the world with righteousness.
- Isaiah 10:23 God will destroy this land as he hath determined, and after save a small portion.
- Isaiah 10:24 As the Egyptians did punish thee.
- Isaiah 10:26 Read Isa. 9:4.
- Isaiah 10:26 When the Israelites passed through by the lifting up of Moses’ rod, and the enemies were drowned, Exod. 14:28.
- Isaiah 10:27 Because of the promise made to that kingdom, whereby Christ’s kingdom was prefigured.
- Isaiah 10:28 He describeth by what way the Assyrians should come against Jerusalem, to confirm the faithful, when it should come to pass, that as their plague was come, so should they be delivered.
- Isaiah 10:33 Fear and destruction shall come upon Judah for the princes and the people shall be all led away captives.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
