Isaiah 10

VIN^{(i) 1} Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; ² to keep back the poor from judgment, and to steal justice from the poor of My people; that widows may be their prey; that they may rob orphans. ³ What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? ⁴ so as not to kneel with the prisoners, or fall among the slain? For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ⁵ Wo to Assur the rod of mine anger, and that rod in their hand, my wrath. ⁶ "I send him against a godless nation. I commission him against the people of my fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud (clay) in the streets. ⁷ But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations. ⁸ For he says, Are not my commanders all like kings? ⁹ Is not, Calno, like Carchemish? Is not, Hamath, like Arpad? Is not, Samaria, like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, ¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her idols? ¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, "I will punish the arrogance of the king of Assyria and his haughtiness." ¹³ For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. ¹⁴ and my hand found, as a nest, the valuables of the people: and as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; and no one flapped the wing or gaped the mouth or chirped. ¹⁵ Shall the axe boast itself against him who hews with it? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield those who lift it up, [or] as if a staff should lift up [him who is] not wood. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, the LORD of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; 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. It will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day! ¹⁸ It will completely destroy the splendor of his forests and fertile fields, as when a sick man wastes away. ¹⁹ And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down. ²⁰ In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on the one who defeated them. They will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. ²¹ A remnant will return— the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God. ²² For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. ²³ The Sovereign Sovereign LORD Almighty, will carry out the complete destruction decreed upon the whole land. ²⁴ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD Almighty, declares: "O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians. They beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did. ²⁵ "Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶ "the LORD Almighty will stir up enemies against you as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. His wrath will come by way of the sea, as he did in Egypt. ²⁷ "In that day your burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat." ²⁸ They enter Aiath and they pass through Migron. They store supplies at Micmash. ²⁹ they pass over the passage: they take up their lodging at Geba; Ramah trembles; Gibah of Shaul flees. ³⁰ Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim, attend, O Laisa, poor Anathoth. ³¹ Madmenah has fled; the people of Gebim take cover. ³² This day they will halt at Nob. They will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem. ³³ Behold, the Sovereign Sovereign LORD Almighty will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be cut down! The tall ones will be brought low. ³⁴ He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax. Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.