Isaiah 10–11

¹⁰Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,

who write oppressive statutes,^*

²to turn aside the needy from justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

to make widows their spoil

and to plunder orphans!^*

³What will you do on the day of punishment,

in the calamity that will come from far away?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth,^*

⁴so as not to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain?

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.^*

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—

the club in their hands is my fury!^*

⁶Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.^*

⁷But this is not what he intends,

nor does he have this in mind,

but it is in his heart to destroy

and to cut off nations not a few.^*

⁸For he says:

“Are not my commanders all kings?^*

⁹Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?^*

¹⁰As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols

whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,^*

¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

what I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he^j will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.^{* 13}For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I have removed the boundaries of peoples

and have plundered their treasures;

like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.^*

¹⁴My hand has found, like a nest,

the wealth of the peoples,

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth,

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened its mouth or chirped.”^*

¹⁵Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it

or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?

As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,

or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!^*

¹⁶Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,

will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,

and under his glory a burning will be kindled

like the burning of fire.^*

¹⁷The light of Israel will become a fire

and his Holy One a flame,

and it will burn and devour

his thorns and briers in one day.^*

¹⁸The glory of his forest and his fruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.^*

¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.^*

The Repentant Remnant of Israel

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.^{* 21}A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.^{* 22}For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, an overwhelming verdict.^{* 23}For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.^k*

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”^{* 26}The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.^{* 27}On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

He has gone up from Samaria;^l*

²⁸he has come to Aiath;

he has passed through Migron;

at Michmash he stores his baggage;^*

²⁹they have crossed over the pass;

at Geba they lodge for the night;

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul has fled.^*

³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

Answer her, O Anathoth!^*

³¹Madmenah is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.^*

³²This very day he will halt at Nob;

he will shake his fist

at the mount of daughter Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.^*

³³Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,

will lop the boughs with terrifying power;

the tallest trees will be cut down,

and the lofty will be brought low.^*

³⁴He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax,

and Lebanon with its majestic trees^m will fall.

The Peaceful Kingdom

¹¹A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall growⁿ out of his roots.^*

²The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.^*

³His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see

or decide by what his ears hear,^*

⁴but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor

and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.^*

⁵Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist

and faithfulness the belt around his loins.^*

⁶The wolf shall live with the lamb;

the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

the calf and the lion will feed^o together,

and a little child shall lead them.

⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

⁹They will not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.^*

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

¹⁰On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.^*

¹¹On that day the Lord will again raise^p his hand to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.^*

¹²He will raise a signal for the nations

and will assemble the outcasts of Israel

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.^*

¹³The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart;

the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not be hostile toward Ephraim.^*

¹⁴But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;

together they shall plunder the people of the east.

They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites shall obey them.^*

¹⁵And the Lord will dry up^q

the tongue of the sea of Egypt

and will wave his hand over the River

with his scorching wind

and will split it into seven channels

and make a way to cross on foot;^*

¹⁶so there shall be a highway from Assyria

for the remnant that is left of his people,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.^*