Isaiah 10

Assyria, Judgment, and the Remnant

1Woe to those who decree unjust decrees,
to scribes who keep writing oppression, 2to deny the poor a hearing
and rob my afflicted people of justice,
making widows their plunder
and the fatherless their prey! 3What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when devastation comes from far away?
To whom will you flee for help?
Where will you leave your wealth? 4Nothing remains but to crouch among prisoners
or fall among the slain.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
his hand is still stretched out.

5“Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger!
The staff in their hand is my fury. 6I send him against a godless nation;
I command him against the people of my wrath,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
to trample them like street mud. 7But that is not what he intends;
that is not what his heart plans.
His heart is set on destruction,
on cutting off nations without number. 8He says, ‘Are not all my commanders kings?

9Is not Calno like Carchemish,
Hamath like Arpad,
Samaria like Damascus? 10My hand has reached kingdoms of idols
whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11As I did to Samaria and her idols,
will I not do to Jerusalem and her images?’” 12When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, “I will punish the fruit of Assyria’s king’s arrogant heart and his proudly lifted eyes.”

13For he says, “By my hand’s strength I did it,
by my wisdom, for I am discerning.
I removed peoples’ boundaries,
plundered their treasures,
and brought down those enthroned like a mighty one. 14My hand found the peoples’ wealth like a nest.
As one gathers abandoned eggs,
I gathered all the earth.
No wing fluttered,
no mouth opened, no chirp was heard.” 15Does an ax boast over the one who chops with it?
Does a saw exalt itself over the one who moves it?
As if a rod could swing the one lifting it,
or a staff lift someone who is not wood! 16Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his well-fed men;
beneath his glory a blaze will burn like fire.

17Israel’s Light will become a fire,
its Holy One a flame,
burning and consuming his thorns and briers
in a single day. 18The splendor of his forest and fruitful land
he will consume, soul and body;
it will be like a sick person wasting away. 19So few trees will remain in his forest
that a child could write down their number. 20On that day Israel’s remnant, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer lean on the one who struck them. They will truly lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will return,
Jacob’s remnant, to the Mighty God. 22Though your people Israel are like the sand of the sea,
only a remnant will return.
Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23The Lord GOD of hosts will carry out the decreed destruction throughout the whole land. 24Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts says, “My people who live in Zion, do not fear Assyria when he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff against you as Egypt did.

25In a very little while my indignation will end, and my anger will turn to their destruction.” 26The LORD of hosts will raise a whip against him, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. His staff will be over the sea, raised as it was against Egypt. 27On that day his burden will leave your shoulder,
his yoke your neck;
the yoke will break because of fatness. 28He has reached Aiath, passed through Migron;
at Michmash he stores his equipment.

29They cross the pass:
“Geba will be our lodging.”
Ramah trembles; Saul’s Gibeah flees. 30Cry out, daughter Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Poor Anathoth! 31Madmenah has fled;
Gebim’s inhabitants seek safety. 32This very day he halts at Nob,
shaking his hand at Daughter Zion’s mountain,
at Jerusalem’s hill.

33Look! The Lord, the LORD of hosts,
lops off the boughs with terrifying force.
The tall trees are felled;
the lofty are brought low. 34He cuts down the forest thickets with iron;
Lebanon falls by a mighty one.