Add parallel Print Page Options

10 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
    and those who issue unfair laws.
They deprive the poor of justice
    and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
    and take advantage of orphans.
What will you do when I punish you,
    when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
    Where will your treasures be safe?
You will stumble along as prisoners
    or lie among the dead.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
    His fist is still poised to strike.

Judgment against Assyria

“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
    I use it as a club to express my anger.
I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
    against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
    trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
    his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
    to cut down nation after nation.
He will say,
    ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.
We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.
    Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.
    And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.
10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom
    whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,
    just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”

12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,

“By my own powerful arm I have done this.
    With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
    and carried off their treasures.
    I have knocked down their kings like a bull.
14 I have robbed their nests of riches
    and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.
No one can even flap a wing against me
    or utter a peep of protest.”

15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
    Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
    Can a wooden cane walk by itself?
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,
    and a flaming fire will consume its glory.
17 The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;
    the Holy One will be a flame.
He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,
    burning up the enemy in a single night.
18 The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory
    like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
    it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
    so few that a child could count them!

Hope for the Lord’s People

20 In that day the remnant left in Israel,
    the survivors in the house of Jacob,
will no longer depend on allies
    who seek to destroy them.
But they will faithfully trust the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return;[a]
    yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
22 But though the people of Israel are as numerous
    as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant of them will return.
    The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people.
23 Yes, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    has already decided to destroy the entire land.[b]

24 So this is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago. 25 In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.” 26 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the Lord’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.

27 In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people.
    He will break the yoke of slavery
    and lift it from their shoulders.[c]

28 Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath.
    They are passing through Migron
    and are storing their equipment at Micmash.
29 They are crossing the pass
    and are camping at Geba.
Fear strikes the town of Ramah.
    All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul,
    are running for their lives.
30 Scream in terror,
    you people of Gallim!
Shout out a warning to Laishah.
    Oh, poor Anathoth!
31 There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing.
    The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.
32 The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day.
    He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.

33 But look! The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power!
He will cut down the proud.
    That lofty tree will be brought down.
34 He will cut down the forest trees with an ax.
    Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One.[d]

A Branch from David’s Line

11 Out of the stump of David’s family[e] will grow a shoot—
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    He will not judge by appearance
    nor make a decision based on hearsay.
He will give justice to the poor
    and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
    and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
He will wear righteousness like a belt
    and truth like an undergarment.

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
    the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
    and a little child will lead them all.
The cow will graze near the bear.
    The cub and the calf will lie down together.
    The lion will eat hay like a cow.
The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
    Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
    for as the waters fill the sea,
    so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

10 In that day the heir to David’s throne[f]
    will be a banner of salvation to all the world.
The nations will rally to him,
    and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.[g]
11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
    to bring back the remnant of his people—
those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt;
    in southern Egypt, Ethiopia,[h] and Elam;
    in Babylonia,[i] Hamath, and all the distant coastlands.
12 He will raise a flag among the nations
    and assemble the exiles of Israel.
He will gather the scattered people of Judah
    from the ends of the earth.

13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel[j] and Judah will end.
    They will not be rivals anymore.
14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west.
    Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east.
They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab,
    and Ammon will obey them.
15 The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea.[k]
    He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River,[l]
sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams
    so it can easily be crossed on foot.
16 He will make a highway for the remnant of his people,
    the remnant coming from Assyria,
just as he did for Israel long ago
    when they returned from Egypt.

Songs of Praise for Salvation

12 In that day you will sing:
    “I will praise you, O Lord!
You were angry with me, but not any more.
    Now you comfort me.
See, God has come to save me.
    I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
    he has given me victory.”

With joy you will drink deeply
    from the fountain of salvation!
In that wonderful day you will sing:
    “Thank the Lord! Praise his name!
Tell the nations what he has done.
    Let them know how mighty he is!
Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.
    Make known his praise around the world.
Let all the people of Jerusalem[m] shout his praise with joy!
    For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”

A Message about Babylon

13 Isaiah son of Amoz received this message concerning the destruction of Babylon:

“Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop.
    Call up an army against Babylon.
Wave your hand to encourage them
    as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.
I, the Lord, have dedicated these soldiers for this task.
    Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger,
    and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”

Hear the noise on the mountains!
    Listen, as the vast armies march!
It is the noise and shouting of many nations.
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together.
They come from distant countries,
    from beyond the farthest horizons.
They are the Lord’s weapons to carry out his anger.
    With them he will destroy the whole land.

Scream in terror, for the day of the Lord has arrived—
    the time for the Almighty to destroy.
Every arm is paralyzed with fear.
    Every heart melts,
    and people are terrified.
Pangs of anguish grip them,
    like those of a woman in labor.
They look helplessly at one another,
    their faces aflame with fear.

For see, the day of the Lord is coming—
    the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger.
The land will be made desolate,
    and all the sinners destroyed with it.
10 The heavens will be black above them;
    the stars will give no light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
    and the moon will provide no light.

11 “I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their sin.
I will crush the arrogance of the proud
    and humble the pride of the mighty.
12 I will make people scarcer than gold—
    more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
13 For I will shake the heavens.
    The earth will move from its place
when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath
    in the day of his fierce anger.”

14 Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle,
    like sheep without a shepherd.
They will try to find their own people
    and flee to their own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be cut down—
    run through with a sword.
16 Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes.
    Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

17 “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon.
    They cannot be tempted by silver
    or bribed with gold.
18 The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows.
    They will have no mercy on helpless babies
    and will show no compassion for children.”

19 Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
    the flower of Chaldean pride,
will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God destroyed them.
20 Babylon will never be inhabited again.
    It will remain empty for generation after generation.
Nomads will refuse to camp there,
    and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.
21 Desert animals will move into the ruined city,
    and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
    and wild goats will go there to dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
    and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
    its time of destruction will soon arrive.

Footnotes

  1. 10:21 Hebrew Shear-jashub; see 7:3; 8:18.
  2. 10:22-23 Greek version reads only a remnant of them will be saved. / For he will carry out his sentence quickly and with finality and righteousness; / for God will carry out his sentence upon all the world with finality. Compare Rom 9:27-28.
  3. 10:27 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads The yoke will be broken, / for you have grown so fat.
  4. 10:34 Or with an ax / as even the mighty trees of Lebanon fall.
  5. 11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.
  6. 11:10a Hebrew the root of Jesse.
  7. 11:10b Greek version reads In that day the heir to David’s throne [literally the root of Jesse] will come, / and he will rule over the Gentiles. / They will place their hopes on him. Compare Rom 15:12.
  8. 11:11a Hebrew in Pathros, Cush.
  9. 11:11b Hebrew in Shinar.
  10. 11:13 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
  11. 11:15a Hebrew will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt.
  12. 11:15b Hebrew the river.
  13. 12:6 Hebrew Zion.

Bible Gateway Recommends