Isaiah 9:8–10:4

The Punishment of Samaria

⁸The Lord sent a word against ^pJacob,

And it has fallen on Israel.

⁹All the people will know—

Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—

Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with hewn stones;

The sycamores are cut down,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up

The adversaries of Rezin against him,

And spur his enemies on,

¹²The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;

And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.

For all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is ⁴stretched out still.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,

Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,

Palm branch and bulrush ^qin one day.

¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;

The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For ^rthe leaders of this people cause them to err,

And those who are led by them are destroyed.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord ^swill have no joy in their young men,

Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;

For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,

And every mouth speaks ⁵folly.

^tFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness ^uburns as the fire;

It shall devour the briers and thorns,

And kindle in the thickets of the forest;

They shall mount up like rising smoke.

¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

^vThe land is burned up,

And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;

^wNo man shall spare his brother.

²⁰And he shall ⁶snatch on the right hand

And be hungry;

He shall devour on the left hand

^xAnd not be satisfied;

^yEvery man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

²¹Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;

Together they shall be ^zagainst Judah.

^aFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

10“Woe to those who ^adecree unrighteous decrees,

Who write misfortune,

Which they have prescribed

²To rob the needy of justice,

And to take what is right from the poor of My people,

That widows may be their prey,

And that they may rob the fatherless.

^3bWhat will you do in ^cthe day of punishment,

And in the desolation which will come from ^dafar?

To whom will you flee for help?

And where will you leave your glory?

⁴Without Me they shall bow down among the ^eprisoners,

And they shall fall ¹among the slain.”

^fFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.