Isaiah 10–11

10Woe^y to those enacting crooked statutes

and writing oppressive laws

²to keep the poor from getting a fair trial

and to deprive the needy among my people of justice,^z

so that widows can be their spoil

and they can plunder the fatherless.^aa

³What will you do on the day of punishment

when devastation comes from far away?

Who will you run to for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

⁴There will be nothing to do

except crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

In all this, his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is still raised to strike.^a

ASSYRIA, THE INSTRUMENT OF WRATH

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—

the staff in their hands is my wrath.

⁶I will send him against a godless nation;

I will command him to go

against a people destined for my rage,

to take spoils, to plunder,^b

and to trample them down like clay^c in the streets.

⁷But this is not what he intends;

this is not what he plans.

It is his intent to destroy

and to cut off many nations.

⁸For he says,

“Aren’t all my commanders kings?

⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?

Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?

Isn’t Samaria^d like Damascus?^A

¹⁰As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images,

kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images

will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?”^e

JUDGMENT ON ASSYRIA

¹²But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I^B will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”^{f 13}For he said:

I have done this by my own strength

and wisdom, for I am clever.

I abolished the borders of nations

and plundered their treasures;^g

like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.^Ah

¹⁴My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,

to seize the wealth of the nations.

Like one gathering abandoned eggs,

I gathered the whole earth.

No wing fluttered;

no beak opened or chirped.

¹⁵Does an ax exalt itself

above the one who chops with it?

Does a saw magnify itself

above the one who saws with it?

It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts^B it!

It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!

¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of Armies

will inflict an emaciating disease

on the well-fed of Assyria,

and he will kindle a burning fire

under its glory.

¹⁷Israel’s Light will become a fire,

and its Holy One, a flame.ⁱ

In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.^j

¹⁸He will completely destroy

the glory of its forests and orchards

as a sickness consumes a person.

¹⁹The remaining trees of its forest

will be so few in number

that a child could count them.

THE REMNANT WILL RETURN

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.^k

²¹The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,

to the Mighty God.

²²Israel, even if your people were as numerous

as the sand of the sea,

only a remnant of them will return.^l

Destruction has been decreed;

justice overflows.

²³For throughout the land

the Lord God of Armies

is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.

²⁴Therefore, the Lord God of Armies says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵In just a little while my wrath will be spent and my anger will turn to their destruction.” ²⁶And the Lord of Armies will brandish a whip against him as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;^a and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did in Egypt.

GOD WILL JUDGE ASSYRIA

²⁷On that day

his burden will fall from your shoulders,

and his yoke from your neck.

The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.^Ab

²⁸Assyria has come to Aiath

and has gone through Migron,

storing their equipment at Michmash.

²⁹They crossed over at the ford, saying,

“We will spend the night at Geba.”

The people of Ramah are trembling;

those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.

³⁰Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!

Listen, Laishah!

Anathoth is miserable.

³¹Madmenah has fled.

The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

³²Today the Assyrians will stand at Nob,

shaking their fists at the mountain of Daughter Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Look, the Lord God of Armies

will chop off the branches with terrifying power,

and the tall trees will be cut down,

the high trees felled.

³⁴He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,

and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.

REIGN OF THE DAVIDIC KING

11Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,^c

and a branch^d from his roots will bear fruit.

²The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him^e—

a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

a Spirit of counsel and strength,

a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

³His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge

by what he sees with his eyes,^f

he will not execute justice

by what he hears with his ears,

⁴but he will judge the poor righteously^g

and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.

He will strike the land

with a scepter^B from his mouth,^h

and he will kill the wickedⁱ

with a command^C from his lips.^j

⁵Righteousness will be a belt around his hips;^k

faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.

⁶The wolf will dwell with the lamb,^m

and the leopard will lie down with the goat.

The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together,

and a child will lead them.

⁷The cow and the bear will graze,

their young ones will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like cattle.

⁸An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,

and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.

⁹They will not harm or destroy each other

on my entire holy mountain,

for the land will be as full

of the knowledge of the Lord

as the sea is filled with water.ⁿ

ISRAEL REGATHERED

¹⁰On that day the root of Jesse^o

will stand as a banner for the peoples.^p

The nations will look to him for guidance,^q

and his resting place will be glorious.^r

¹¹On that day^s the Lord will extend his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people who survive—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west.^t

¹²He will lift up a banner for the nations

and gather the dispersed of Israel;^a

he will collect the scattered of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.^b

¹³Ephraim’s envy will cease;^c

Judah’s harassing will end.

Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,

and Judah will not harass Ephraim.

¹⁴But they will swoop down

on the Philistine flank to the west.

Together they will plunder the people of the east.^d

They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.^e

¹⁵The Lord will divide^AB the Gulf of Suez.^C

He will wave his hand over the Euphrates

with his mighty wind^f

and will split it into seven streams,

letting people walk through on foot.

¹⁶There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

who will survive from Assyria,^g

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.^h