Isaiah 9:8–10:4

God Will Punish Israel

8The Lord sent a message against the people of Jacob;

it says that God will judge Israel.

⁹Then everyone in Israel, even the leaders in Samaria,

will know that God has sent it.

Those people are proud and brag by saying,

¹⁰“These bricks have fallen,

but we will build again with cut stones.

These small trees have been chopped down,

but we will put great cedars there.”

¹¹But the Lord has brought the enemies of Rezin against them;

he has stirred up their enemies against them.

¹²The Arameans came from the east

and the Philistines from the west,

and they ate up Israel with their armies.

But the Lord was still angry;

his hand was still raised to punish the people.

¹³But the people did not return to the one who had struck them;

they did not follow the Lord All-Powerful.

¹⁴So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

taking away both the branch and stalk in one day.

¹⁵The elders and important men were the head,

and the prophets who speak lies were the tail.

¹⁶Those who led the people led them in the wrong direction,

and those who followed them were destroyed.

¹⁷So the Lord is not happy with the young people,

nor will he show mercy to the orphans and widows.

All the people are separated from God and are very evil;

they all speak lies.

But the Lord is still angry;

his hand is still raised to strike down the people.

¹⁸Evil is like a small fire.

First, it burns weeds and thorns.

Next, it burns the larger bushes in the forest,

and they all go up in a column of smoke.

¹⁹The Lord All-Powerful is angry,

so the land will be burned.

The people are like fuel for the fire;

no one will try to save his brother or sister.

²⁰People will grab something on the right,

but they will still be hungry.

They will eat something on the left,

but they will not be filled.

Then they will each turn and eat their own children.

²¹The people of Manasseh will fight against the people of Ephraim,

and Ephraim will fight against Manasseh.

Then both of them will turn against Judah.

But the Lord is still angry;

his hand is still raised to strike down the people.

10How terrible it will be for those who make unfair laws,

and those who write laws that make life hard for people.

²They are not fair to the poor,

and they rob my people of their rights.

They allow people to steal from widows

and to take from orphans what really belongs to them.

³How will you explain the things you have done?

What will you do when your destruction comes from far away?

Where will you run for help?

Where will you hide your riches then?

⁴You will have to bow down among the captives

or fall down among the dead bodies.

But the Lord is still angry;

his hand is still raised to strike down the people.