Isaiah 10:1–20:6
10 Woey to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
2 to 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
3 What 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?
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
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—
the staff in their hands is my wrath.
6 I 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 clayc in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samariad like Damascus?A
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images,
kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images
will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?”e
12 But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “IB 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.C,h
14 My 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.
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 liftsD it!
It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!
16 Therefore 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.
17 Israel’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
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19 The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
20 On 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
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.
22 Israel, 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.
the Lord God of Armies
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
24 Therefore, 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. 25 In just a little while my wrath will be spent and my anger will turn to their destruction.” 26 And 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.
27 On 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.A,b
and has gone through Migron,
storing their equipment at Michmash.
29 They 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.
30 Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Anathoth is miserable.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32 Today the Assyrians will stand at Nob,
shaking their fists at the mountain of Daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look, 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.
34 He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
11 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,c
and a branchd from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on hime—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His 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,
4 but he will judge the poor righteouslyg
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with a scepterB from his mouth,h
and he will kill the wickedi
with a commandC from his lips.j
5 Righteousness will be a belt around his hips;k
faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.
6 The 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.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like cattle.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
9 They 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
10 On that day the root of Jesseo
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
11 On that days 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
12 He 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
13 Ephraim’s envy will cease;c
Judah’s harassing will end.
Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
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
15 The Lord will divideA,B the Gulf of Suez.C
He will wave his hand over the Euphrates
with his mighty windf
and will split it into seven streams,
letting people walk through on foot.
16 There 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
12 On that day you will say:
“I will give thanks to you, Lord,
although you were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and you have comforted me.i
2 Indeed, God is my salvation;
I will trust him and not be afraid,
for the Lord, the Lord himself,
is my strength and my song.
He has become my salvation.”j
3 You will joyfully draw waterk
from the springs of salvation,
4 and on that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord; proclaim his name!
Make his works known among the peoples.l
Declare that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things.m
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israeln is among you
in his greatness.”
A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST BABYLON
13 A pronouncemento concerning Babylonp that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.q
Call out to them.
Signal with your hand, and they will go
through the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my consecrated ones;
yes, I have called my warriors,
who celebrate my triumph,
to execute my wrath.r
4 Listen, a commotion on the mountains,
like that of a mighty people!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations being gathered together!
The Lord of Armies is mobilizing an army for war.
5 They are coming from a distant land,
from the farthest horizon—
the Lord and the weapons of his wrath—
to destroy the whole country.D
6 Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.s
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.t
7 Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,
and every man will lose heart.
pain and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.u
They will look at each other,
their faces flushed with fear.
9 Look, the dayv of the Lord is coming—
cruel, with fury and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners.w
10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellationsF
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not shine.a
11 I will punish the world for its evil,b
and wicked people for their iniquities.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogantc
and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make a human more scarce than fine gold,
and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.d
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will shake from its foundationse
at the wrath of the Lord of Armies,
on the day of his burning anger.
and like sheep without a shepherd,f
each one will turn to his own people,
each one will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.
16 Their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;g
their houses will be looted,
and their wives raped.
17 Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,h
who cannot be bought off withA silver
and who have no desire for gold