Isaiah 9-10

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹³ The people did not turn to him who struck them,
    or seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—
¹⁵ elders and dignitaries are the head,
    and prophets who teach lies are the tail;
¹⁶ for those who led this people led them astray,
    and those who were led by them were left in confusion.
¹⁷ That is why the Lord did not have pity on^[d] their young people,
    or compassion on their orphans and widows;
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸ For wickedness burned like a fire,
    consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
    and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
    no one spared another.
²⁰ They gorged on the right, but still were hungry,
    and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^[e]
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
    and together they were against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.

10 Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
    who write oppressive statutes,
² to turn aside the needy from justice
    and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
    and that you may make the orphans your prey!
³ What will you do on the day of punishment,
    in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth,
⁴ so as not to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain?
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁵ Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it,
    or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
    or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!
¹⁶ Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷ The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and his Holy One a flame;
and it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers in one day.
¹⁸ The glory of his forest and his fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.
¹⁹ The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

He has gone up from Rimmon,^[h]
28     he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron,
    at Michmash he stores his baggage;
²⁹ they have crossed over the pass,
    at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles,
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰ Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!
    Listen, O Laishah!
    Answer her, O Anathoth!
³¹ Madmenah is in flight,
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³² This very day he will halt at Nob,
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of daughter Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest trees will be cut down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴ He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax,
    and Lebanon with its majestic trees^[i] will fall.