Isaiah 10

1Woe to those who decree wicked decrees and who write the oppression they have prescribed.

2to pervert justice for the needy and rob the afflicted among my people of their rights, so widows become their plunder and they prey on the orphans.

3What will you do on the day of reckoning, and amid the destruction coming from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?

4They will only bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain. Despite all this, his anger has not relented, but his hand remains outstretched.

5Woe to Assyria, rod of my anger and staff—he in their hand—is my indignation!

6I will send him against a godless nation and the people of my wrath, commanding him to plunder spoil, seize prey, and make it a trampling place like clay in the streets.

7But he does not intend that, nor does his heart plan that; his heart instead aims to destroy and cut off nations—not a few.

8For he says, "Aren't my princes all kings?"

9Is Calno not like Carchemish? Or Hamath not like Arpad? Or Samaria not like Damascus?

10As my hand found the kingdoms of the idols and their carved images greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria.

11Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I did to Samaria and her idols?

12When the Lord completes all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and the splendor of the haughtiness of his eyes.

13For he said, "By my hand's might I accomplished it, and by my wisdom—for I am discerning—and I displaced the borders of the nations, plundered their stores and their treasures, and like a champion brought down their inhabitants."

14My hand found the wealth of the nations like a nest, and like gathering forsaken eggs, I gathered all the earth; there was no one who fluttered a wing or opened a mouth or peeped.

15Does an axe boast against the one who hews with it? Or does a saw magnify itself against the one who brandishes it? As if a rod brandished those who raise it, as if a staff raised what is not wood.

16Therefore the Lord Yahweh of hosts will send leanness among his fat ones, and under his glory kindle a burning like the burning of fire.

17The light of Israel will be a fire, and his Holy One a flame; it will burn and consume his thorns and briers in one day.

18It will consume the glory of his forest and his fruitful field, from soul to flesh. And it will be like the melting of a fugitive.

19The remnant of the trees of his forest will be a number that a child can write.

20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors from the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

22For though your people Israel become like the sand of the sea, only a remnant returns to it—a consumption decreed that overflows with righteousness.

23For Yahweh, Lord of hosts, will perform a decreed consummation in the midst of all the earth.

24Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with the rod and raises his staff against you in the manner of Egypt.

25For yet a very little while, indignation will cease, and my anger will turn to their destruction.

26Yahweh of hosts will rouse a scourge against him, like the blow to Midian at the rock of Oreb, and his rod over the sea, as he raises it the way of Egypt.

27And it will be in that day: his burden departs from your shoulder, his yoke from your neck, and the yoke is destroyed because of the anointing oil.

28He came to Aiath, passed through Migron, and at Mikmash deposited his equipment.

29They have crossed Geba's ford and lodged for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

30Shout with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah, poor Anathoth!

31Madmenah has fled; the dwellers of Gebim have gathered.

32Yet this day he halts at Nob. He waves his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33See, the Lord Yahweh of hosts will cut off the bough with terror, and those exalted in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low.

34He will cut down the forest thickets with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.