Isaiah 10
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 10
Social Injustice
1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and enforce oppressive statutes,
2 thereby depriving the needy of justice,
and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
and make the orphans their prey.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your riches,
4 so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
his hand is still outstretched.
The Lord Punishes the King of Assyria
5 [a]Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the club in their hands is my fury.
6 Against a godless people I send him forth,
against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
and to trample on them like mud in the street.
7 But this is not his intention,
nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
8 For he says,
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?[b]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 As I did to Samaria and her idols,
shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
20 [c]When that day arrives,
the remnant of Israel
and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them[d]
and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 Although your people, O Israel,
may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
as righteousness and justice demand.
23 For throughout the entire land
the Lord God of hosts will enforce
the final destruction that has been decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this:
O my people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
and raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 For it will be only a short time
until my wrath will subside
and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
26 Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
as he did against Egypt.
27 On that day
his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
and fall from your neck.
Sennacherib’s Assault[e]
Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
28 and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
and stored their supplies at Michmash.
29 Once they crossed the ravine,
they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
Listen carefully, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
32 This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
and the lofty ones will be laid low.
34 The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:5 We are now in a different period, perhaps 701 B.C. It is already twenty years since the northern kingdom was destroyed. Judah in turn is about to succumb (Isa 36–39).
- Isaiah 10:9 Some fortified cities of Syria are listed that have already been subdued by the Assyrians in earlier wars.
- Isaiah 10:20 The trial is a hard one, but the promise remains (see Isa 7:3 and the symbolic name of Isaiah’s elder son: Shear-jashub, which means “a remnant will return”).
- Isaiah 10:20 Who struck them: in 734 B.C., Ahaz had imprudently asked the Assyrians for help.
- Isaiah 10:27 The places listed were all north of Jerusalem.
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.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.