Isaiah 10-11

English Standard Version

10 Woe to those who ^(A)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who ^(B)keep writing oppression,
²to 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!
³What 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?
⁴Nothing 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.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(G)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(H)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(I)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(J)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(K)does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
⁸for he says:
^(L)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(M)Is not ^(N)Calno like ^(O)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(P)Hamath like ^(Q)Arpad?
    ^(R)Is not ^(S)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(T)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(U)her idols
    ^(V)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(W)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(X)he^[a] will punish the speech^[b] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(Y)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴My hand has found like a nest
    the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
    so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
    or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(Z)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his ^(AA)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(AB)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(AC)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(AD)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(AE)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(AF)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(AG)his forest and of his ^(AH)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

²⁰^(AI)In that day ^(AJ)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ^(AK)lean on him who struck them, but ^(AL)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, ^(AM)to the mighty God. ²²^(AN)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, ^(AO)only a remnant of them will return. ^(AP)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, ^(AQ)who dwell in Zion, ^(AR)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as ^(AS)the Egyptians did. ²⁵For ^(AT)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And ^(AU)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck ^(AV)Midian ^(AW)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it ^(AX)as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day ^(AY)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and ^(AZ)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”^[c]

²⁸He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through ^(BA)Migron;
    at Michmash he stores ^(BB)his baggage;
²⁹they have crossed over ^(BC)the pass;
    at ^(BD)Geba they lodge for the night;
^(BE)Ramah trembles;
    ^(BF)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter of ^(BG)Gallim!
    Give attention, O Laishah!
    O poor ^(BH)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³²This very day he will halt at ^(BI)Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of ^(BJ)the daughter of Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    ^(BK)will lop ^(BL)the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down ^(BM)the thickets of the forest with an axe,
    and ^(BN)Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of ^(BO)Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
²And ^(BP)the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
^(BQ)He shall not judge by ^(BR)what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by ^(BS)what his ears hear,
⁴but ^(BT)with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall ^(BU)strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and ^(BV)with the breath of his lips ^(BW)he shall kill the wicked.
⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and ^(BX)faithfulness the belt of his loins.

⁶^(BY)The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
⁹^(BZ)They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all ^(CA)my holy mountain;
^(CB)for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰In that day ^(CC)the root of ^(CD)Jesse, who shall stand as ^(CE)a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

¹¹^(CF)In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, ^(CG)from Assyria, ^(CH)from Egypt, from ^(CI)Pathros, from ^(CJ)Cush,^[d] from ^(CK)Elam, from ^(CL)Shinar, from ^(CM)Hamath, and from ^(CN)the coastlands of the sea.

¹²He will raise ^(CO)a signal for the nations
    and will assemble ^(CP)the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
    from the four corners of the earth.
¹³^(CQ)The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
    and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴^(CR)But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
    and together they shall plunder ^(CS)the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand ^(CT)against ^(CU)Edom and ^(CV)Moab,
    and ^(CW)the Ammonites shall obey them.
¹⁵And the Lord will utterly destroy^[e]
    ^(CX)the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over ^(CY)the River^[f]
    with his scorching breath,^[g]
and strike it into seven channels,
    and he will lead people across in sandals.
¹⁶And there will be ^(CZ)a highway from Assyria
    for the remnant that remains of his people,
^(DA)as there was for Israel
    when they came up from the land of Egypt.