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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”

10 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

They will only bow down under the prisoners,

    and will fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
    but his hand is stretched out still.

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