Isaiah 9:8–10:4

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

⁸The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

⁹and all the people will know,

^gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

¹¹But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

^12hThe Syrians on the east and ⁱthe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

¹³The people ^kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴So the Lord cut off from Israel ^lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

^15mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and ⁿthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

¹⁶for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not ^orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is ^pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks ^qfolly.⁶

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like ^ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and ^sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

^tno one spares another.

^20uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

^veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are ^wagainst Judah.

^xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10Woe to those who ^ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who ^zkeep writing oppression,

²to turn aside the needy from justice

and ^ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

³What will you do on ^bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come ^cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

^dFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.