Isaiah 9:8-10:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
and it fell on Israel,
9 and all the people knew it—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:(A)
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 So the Lord raised adversaries[a] against them
and stirred up their enemies,(B)
12 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
and they devoured Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(C)
13 The people did not turn to him who struck them
or seek the Lord of hosts.(D)
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—(E)
15 elders and dignitaries are the head,
and prophets who teach lies are the tail,(F)
16 for those who led this people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were left in confusion.(G)
17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on[b] their young people
or compassion on their orphans and widows,
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(H)
18 For wickedness burned like a fire,
consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.(I)
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
no one spared another.(J)
20 They gorged on the right but still were hungry,
and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;[c](K)
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
and together they were against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(L)
10 Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,(M)
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!(N)
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,(O)
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.(P)
Arrogant Assyria Also Judged
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—
the club in their hands is my fury!(Q)
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.(R)
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.(S)
8 For he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?(T)
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?(U)
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,(V)
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
what I have done to Samaria and her images?”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.