Isaiah 9:8–10:4

The Lord’s Message against His People

⁸The Lord sent a message against Jacob. 

The message is against Israel. 

⁹All the people of Ephraim 

and the people who live in Samaria will know it. 

With arrogant and conceited hearts they will say, 

¹⁰“Bricks have fallen, 

but we will rebuild with hand-cut stones. 

Fig trees have been cut down, 

but we will replace them with cedars.” 

¹¹The Lord will set Rezin’s oppressors against Israel 

and will stir up its enemies— 

¹²the Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west. 

They will devour Israel with open mouths. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

¹³But the people have not returned to the one who struck them, 

nor have they sought the Lord of Armies. 

¹⁴So in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel 

both head and tail, 

both palm branches and cattails. 

¹⁵Respected and honored leaders are the head. 

Prophets who teach lies are the tail. 

¹⁶Those who guide these people lead them astray. 

Those who are guided by them will be destroyed. 

¹⁷That is why the Lord isn’t happy with their young men, 

nor will he show compassion for their orphans and widows. 

Every one of them is a godless evildoer, 

and every mouth speaks foolishness. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

¹⁸Surely wickedness burns like fire. 

It burns up briars and thorns. 

It sets the underbrush in the forest on fire, 

and it whirls upward in clouds of smoke. 

¹⁹The land is scorched by the fury of the Lord of Armies, 

and the people are like fuel for the fire. 

No one shows concern for others: 

²⁰On the right, one gobbles up food and is still hungry. 

On the left, another eats and is never full. 

Each person eats the flesh from his own arm. 

²¹Manasseh is against Ephraim. 

Ephraim is against Manasseh. 

Together they attack Judah. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power. 

10TH CHAPTER

¹How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws 

and who make oppressive regulations. 

²They deprive the poor of justice. 

They take away the rights of the needy among my people. 

They prey on widows and rob orphans. 

³What will you do on the day 

you are called to account ⸤for these things⸥, 

when the disaster comes from far away? 

Where will you run for help? 

Where will you leave your wealth? 

⁴Nothing’s left but to crouch among prisoners 

and to fall with those who are killed. 

Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, 

and he is still ready to use his power.