10 Woe to those who (A)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who (B)keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
    and (C)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
What will you do on (D)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come (E)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
(F)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

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Woes on the Wicked

10 Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil,
    and writers who have written harm,
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.
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,
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 10:2 Hebrew “claim”
  2. 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”