Isaiah 10
Common English Bible
Wicked laws
10 Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees,
and keep writing harmful laws
2 to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice;
to make widows their loot;
to steal from orphans!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster comes from far away?
To whom will you flee for help;
where will you stash your wealth?
4 How will you avoid crouching among the prisoners
and falling among the slain?
Even so, God’s anger hasn’t turned away;
God’s hand is still extended.
Assyria as God’s punishing weapon
5 Doom to Assyria, rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the staff of my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him;
against an infuriating people
I direct him to seize spoil, to steal plunder,
and to trample them like mud in the streets.
7 But he has other plans;
he schemes in secret;
destruction is on his mind,
extermination of nation after nation.
8 He says: Aren’t my commanders all kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
10 Just as I took control of idolatrous kingdoms
with more images than Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 just as I did to Samaria and her false gods,
won’t I also do this to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 But when the Lord has finished all this work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish[a] the Assyrian king’s arrogant actions and the boasting of his haughty eyes.
13 He said, “By my own strength I have achieved it,
and by my wisdom, since I’m so clever.
I disregarded national boundaries; I raided their treasures;
I knocked down their rulers like a bull.
14 My hand found the wealth of the peoples
as if it were in a nest.
Just as one gathers abandoned eggs,
I have gathered the entire earth;
no creature fluttered a wing or opened a mouth to chirp.”
15 Will the ax glorify itself over the one who chops with it?
Or will the saw magnify itself over its user?
As if a rod could wave the one who lifts it!
As if a staff could lift up the one not made of wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces
will make the well-fed people waste away;
and among his officials,
a blaze will burn like scorching fire.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire,
its holy one a flame,
which will burn and devour
its thorns and thistles
in a single day.
18 Its abundant forest and farmland
will be finished completely,[b]
as when a sick person wastes away;
19 its forest’s remaining trees will be no more than a child can count.
A few will return
20 On that day, what’s left of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who beat them. Instead, they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the holy one of Israel. 21 A few will return, what’s left of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 Although your people, Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a few survivors will return. The end is announced, overflowing with justice. 23 Yes, destruction has been announced; the Lord God of heavenly forces will carry it out against the entire land.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces says: My people who live in Zion, don’t fear Assyria, which strikes you with the rod and raises its staff against you as Egypt did. 25 In a very short time my fury will end, and my anger at the world will be finished.[c]
26 Therefore, the Lord of heavenly forces will crack a whip against Assyria,
as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb.
He will raise a rod over the sea,
as he did in Egypt.
27 On that day, God will remove the burden from your shoulder
and destroy the yoke on your neck.[d]
The exalted laid low
He has gone up from Samaria,
28 come against Aiath,
passed to Migron.
At Michmash he stored his equipment.
29 They crossed at the pass: “We’ll camp at Geba!”
Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, Daughter Gallim!
Listen, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah has flown.
Gebim’s inhabitants sought refuge.
32 This very day he will stand at Nob
and shake his fist[e] at Daughter Zion’s mountain,
the hill of Jerusalem!
33 Look! The Lord God of heavenly forces
is chopping off the branches with terrible power.
The loftiest ones are about to be cut down
and the exalted laid low.
34 He will strike down the forest thickets with an ax,
and mighty Lebanon will fall.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:12 Or I will punish
- Isaiah 10:18 Syr, Vulg body and soul (that is, completely); MT he will finish
- Isaiah 10:25 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 10:27 Or and his yoke from your neck, and a yoke will be destroyed because of fatness
- Isaiah 10:32 Or wave his hand
Isaiah 10
Authorized (King James) Version
10 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 to turn aside the needy from judgment,
and to take away the right from the poor of my people,
that widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will ye flee for help?
and where will ye leave your glory?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners,
and they shall fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,
and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation,
and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge,
to take the spoil, and to take the prey,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Howbeit he meaneth not so,
neither doth his heart think so;
but it is in his heart to destroy
and cut off nations not a few.
8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish?
is not Hamath as Arpad?
is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols,
and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
11 shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,
so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass,
that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria,
and the glory of his high looks.
13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom; for I am prudent:
and I have removed the bounds of the people,
and have robbed their treasures,
and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14 and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people:
and as one gathereth eggs that are left,
have I gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved the wing,
or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?
as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up,
or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
send among his fat ones leanness;
and under his glory he shall kindle a burning
like the burning of a fire.
17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,
and his Holy One for a flame:
and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
18 and shall consume the glory of his forest,
and of his fruitful field, both soul and body:
and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few,
that a child may write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel,
and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob,
shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;
but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob,
unto the mighty God.
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea,
yet a remnant of them shall return:
the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption,
even determined, in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian:
he shall smite thee with a rod,
and shall lift up his staff against thee,
after the manner of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease,
and mine anger in their destruction.
26 And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him
according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb:
and as his rod was upon the sea,
so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder,
and his yoke from off thy neck,
and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron;
at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29 they are gone over the passage:
they have taken up their lodging at Geba;
Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim:
cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is removed;
the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day:
he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror:
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down,
and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.