Isaiah 10-12
Holman Christian Standard Bible
10 Woe to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
2 to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice,
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when devastation comes from far away?
Who will you run to for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.
Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger—
the staff in their hands is My wrath.
6 I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for My rage,
to take spoils, to plunder,
and to trample them down like clay(A) in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
8 For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria(B) like Damascus?[a]
10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms,
whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 and as I did to Samaria and its idols
will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?”
Judgment on Assyria
12 But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I[b] will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.” 13 For he said:
I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.[c]
14 My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,
to seize the wealth of the nations.
Like one gathering abandoned eggs,
I gathered the whole earth.
No wing fluttered;
no beak opened or chirped.
15 Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts[d] it!
It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn’t wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of Hosts
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and He will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
17 Israel’s Light will become a fire,
and its Holy One, a flame.
In one day it will burn up Assyria’s thorns and thistles.
18 He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19 The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
The Remnant Will Return
20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.(C)
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.
22 Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.(D)
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.
23 For throughout the land
the Lord God of Hosts
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did. 25 In just a little while My wrath will be spent and My anger will turn to their destruction.” 26 And the Lord of Hosts will brandish a whip against him as He did when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;(E) and He will raise His staff over the sea as He did in Egypt.
God Will Judge Assyria
27 On that day
his burden will fall from your shoulders,
and his yoke from your neck.
The yoke will be broken because of fatness.[e]
28 Assyria has come to Aiath
and has gone through Migron,
storing his equipment at Michmash.
29 They crossed over at the ford, saying,
“We will spend the night at Geba.”
The people of Ramah are trembling;
those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.
30 Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Anathoth is miserable.
31 Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32 Today he will stand at Nob,
shaking his fist at the mountain of Daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look, the Lord God of Hosts
will chop off the branches with terrifying power,
and the tall trees will be cut down,
the high trees felled.
34 He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
Reign of the Davidic King
11 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,(F)
and a branch(G) from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him(H)—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,(I)
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
4 but He will judge the poor righteously(J)
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline[f] from His mouth,(K)
and He will kill the wicked(L)
with a command[g] from His lips.(M)
5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;(N)
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.(O)
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,(P)
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together,
and a child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
9 None will harm or destroy another
on My entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the Lord
as the sea is filled with water.(Q)
Israel Regathered
10 On that day the root of Jesse(R)
will stand as a banner for the peoples.(S)
The nations will seek Him,(T)
and His resting place will be glorious.(U)
11 On that day(V) the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west—the remnant of His people who survive.(W)
12 He will lift up a banner for the nations
and gather the dispersed of Israel;(X)
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.(Y)
13 Ephraim’s envy will cease;(Z)
Judah’s harassment will end.
Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 But they will swoop down
on the Philistine flank to the west.
Together they will plunder the people of the east.(AA)
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.(AB)
15 The Lord will divide[h][i] the Gulf of Suez.[j]
He will wave His hand over the Euphrates
with His mighty wind(AC)
and will split it into seven streams,
letting people walk through on foot.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who will survive from Assyria,(AD)
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.(AE)
A Song of Praise
12 On that day you will say:
“I will praise You, Lord,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion(AF) on me.
2 Indeed, God is my salvation;
I will trust Him and not be afraid,
for Yah, the Lord,
is my strength and my song.
He has become my salvation.”(AG)
3 You will joyfully draw water(AH)
from the springs of salvation,
4 and on that day you will say:
“Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim His name!
Celebrate His works among the peoples.(AI)
Declare that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to Yahweh, for He has done glorious things.(AJ)
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel(AK) is among you
in His greatness.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:9 Cities conquered by Assyria
- Isaiah 10:12 LXX reads Jerusalem, He
- Isaiah 10:13 Or I brought down their kings
- Isaiah 10:15 Some Hb mss, Syr, Vg read wave he who lifts
- Isaiah 10:27 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 11:4 Lit the rod
- Isaiah 11:4 Lit with the breath
- Isaiah 11:15 Text emended; MT reads destroy
- Isaiah 11:15 Or dry up
- Isaiah 11:15 Lit the Sea of Egypt
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