THE BOOK OF ISAIAH

 

Isaiah Chapter 10

1 ¶ Woe to those who issue unrighteous rulings, and write oppressive laws which they have decreed;

2 To deprive the poor of justice, and deprive the afflicted among my people of what is right, so that they can prey on widows, and rob orphans!

3 What will you do on the day of punishment, when destruction will come from afar? to whom will you run for help? and where will you leave your riches?

4 Without me they will bow down among the prisoners, and they will fall under the slain. For all this his anger will not be turned away, but his hand will remain stretched out in judgement.

5 ¶ Woe to Assyria, the rod I use in my anger, and the staff in my hand when I am furious.

6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and command him to attack a people I am angry with, to take the spoil, and seize the prey, and to trample them underfoot like the dirt in the streets.

7 However this is not what he intends, or the plan that he has in his mind; but it is his intent to destroy and cut off many nations.

8 For he asks, Are not all my princes kings?

9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? or Hamath like Arpad? or Samaria like Damascus?

10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11 Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols, what I have done to Samaria and her idols?

12 Therefore it will come to pass, that when the Lord has finished all his work on mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the proud heart of the king of Assyria for what he is doing, and the haughtiness of his pride.

13 For he has said, I have accomplished it by the strength of my own hand, and by my own wisdom; for I am clever: and I have abolished the borders of nations, and plundered their treasures, and like a bull I have pushed them from their thrones:

14 And my hand has found the riches of the nations as one finds a nest: and as one gathers eggs that have been left, I have gathered all the earth; and no one moved a wing, opened his mouth, or let out a peep.

15 Should an axe exalt itself above the one who chops with it? or should a saw magnify itself against the one who saws with it? as if a rod could shake the one who lifts it, or a staff could lift what is not wood.

16 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of armies, will send leanness on the well fed of Assyria; and he will kindle a burning like the burning of fire under his glory.

17 And the light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame: and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

18 And will completely destroy the glory of his forest, and his fruitful field: and they will be like a sick man wasting away.

19 And the remaining trees of his forest will be few, so that a child could list them.

20 ¶ And it will come to pass at that time, that those who are left in Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who escaped, will no longer depend on the one who struck him; but will faithfully rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

21 The remnant, those who remain of Jacob, will return to the mighty God.

22 For although your people Israel are as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows.

23 For the Lord GOD of armies has resolved to destroy, in the midst of all the earth.

24 ¶ Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts says this, O my people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian: he will smite you with a rod, and lift up his staff against you, as the king of Egypt did.

25 For in a little while, my anger will cease, and my fury will turn to their destruction.

26 Then the LORD of hosts will raise up a scourge against them as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as he raised his rod over the sea, and lifted it up on the road from Egypt.

27 And it will come to pass in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing.

28 The Assyrian has come to Aiath, he passes through Migron; he has laid down his baggage at Michmash:

29 They have gone through the pass: and lodge at Geba for the night; Ramah trembles; Saul’s Gibeah flees.

30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim: listen to it Laish, answer it Anathoth.

31 Madmenah flees; the inhabitants of Gebim run to save themselves.

32 Today he will stop at Nob: he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of armies, will chop off the branches with terrifying power: and those who stand tall will be cut down, and the haughty will be humbled.

34 And he is cutting down the thick forest with axes, and Lebanon will fall by a mighty one.