UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 10

◄ ISA 10 ► ║ ═ ©

10 How terrible it will be for judges who make unjust laws

and for people who make decrees that cause people to suffer.

2 You do not give poor people fair judgments;

no, you deny justice to needy people.

You allow people to seize what belongs to widows,

and you rob orphans of their possessions.

3 You will not be able to do anything to save yourselves

when I send an army from far away to punish you.

You will not be able to run to anyone for help,

and you will have nowhere to keep your valuable possessions safe.

4 You will only be able to stumble along with other prisoners,

or your dead bodies will fall among those whom others have killed.

Even so, Yahweh continues to be very angry,

and he is ready to use his power to punish his people further.

5 Yahweh says, “How terrible it will be for the Assyrians!

I use them like a rod and a club to punish other nations

because I am angry with those nations.

6 I send them to attack nations that make me angry

because they do not honor me.

I send them to take away the valuable possessions that people have

and to subdue them as if they were walking on mud in the streets.

7 However, the king of Assyria does not understand

that he is only a weapon that I am using.

He does not plan to act that way.

Instead, he wants to destroy many nations completely.

8 He boasts and says, ‘I have conquered many kings,

and now they all lead their soldiers as commanders in my army.

9 We conquered Calno just as we conquered Carchemish.

We conquered Hamath just as we conquered Arpad.

We conquered Samaria just as we conquered Damascus.

10 The kingdoms I conquered each worshiped their own gods,

and their idols were more impressive than the ones in Jerusalem and Samaria.

11 I defeated Samaria and its gods,

and I will certainly do the same thing to Jerusalem and its gods!’

12 However, when the Lord finishes everything he plans to do to discipline the people who live in Jerusalem on Mount Zion and elsewhere in Judah, he will punish the king of Assyria, because that king is very proud and looks at everyone with arrogant contempt.

13 That king has said, ‘I have done all this by my own great power.

I have accomplished this because I am so wise and intelligent.

I have made the territories of nations my own territory.

I have captured the treasures that belonged to those nations.

Because I am so powerful, I have defeated kings,

so that they no longer sit on their thrones.

14 I took the wealth of other kingdoms

as easily as someone reaches into a bird’s nest.

I gathered treasures from throughout the world

as easily as someone gathers eggs that a bird has abandoned,

as if no bird flapped its wings or called out or chirped to stop me.’

15 An axe cannot boast that it is stronger than the person who chops with it!

A saw cannot claim to be greater than the person who moves it back and forth!

That would be like a rod waving around the person who picks it up,

or like a wooden club lifting up the person who carries it!

16 Therefore Yahweh, the Lord, the commander of the heavenly armies,

will cause the strong warriors of Assyria to die from a disease that makes them very thin.

He will destroy the things that they are so proud of

as if he were burning them up in a fire.

17 Yahweh, the holy God who is like a light for the people of Israel,

will destroy the Assyrians in a single day.

He will do that as if they were thorns and briars

and he were a great fire.

18 Yahweh will completely destroy the splendid forests and fertile farmlands of Assyria.

The soil will be bare, with nothing on it,

just as a disease can make it so that there is almost no flesh on a person’s bones.

19 So few trees will remain in the forests of Assyria

that even a child could count them.”

20 When that happens, the few people who remain alive in Israel,

the survivors among Jacob’s descendants,

will no longer rely on the Assyrians, who tried to destroy them.

Instead, they will genuinely trust in Yahweh,

the holy God of the Israelites.

21 The survivors among Jacob’s descendants will once again worship Yahweh.

He is the only God who truly has power.

22 Even though the people of Israel now seem to be as numerous

as the grains of sand on the seashore,

only a small number of them will return to their land after being captives.

Yahweh has determined to destroy most of them,

and he will do that to punish them for doing so many wrong things.

23 Yes, Yahweh, the Lord, the commander of the heavenly armies,

has determined to destroy people throughout the world.

24 Therefore, Yahweh, the Lord, the commander of the heavenly armies, says,

“My people who live in Jerusalem on Mount Zion and in other parts of Judah,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians

when they lift up their rods and staffs to hit you

just as the Egyptians hit your ancestors when they were slaves.

25 Very soon I will no longer be angry with you,

and then I will destroy them because I am angry with them.”

26 Then Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies,

will defeat the Assyrians as if he were striking them with a whip.

He will defeat them just as he helped Gideon defeat the Midianites at the rock of Oreb.

He will defeat them just as he destroyed the Egyptian army

when he had Moses lift up his staff over the sea.

27 When that happens, you will no longer be slaves to the Assyrians

and have to work hard and carry heavy loads for them.

You will be healthy and strong and free.

28 The invading Assyrian army has attacked Aiath.

They have marched through Migron.

They have stored their equipment at Michmash.

29 They have crossed through the mountain pass

and set up their camp at Geba.

The people of Ramah are trembling with fear.

The people of Gibeah, King Saul’s hometown, have run away.

30 The people of Gallim should cry out for help!

The people of Laishah should listen to them!

The people of Anathoth are in great danger!

31 The people of Madmenah are running away,

and the inhabitants of Gebim are trying to hide.

32 This very day the invading army will halt at Nob.

The king who is commanding them will defiantly shake his fist

to threaten the people who live in Jerusalem on Mount Zion.

33 Listen! Yahweh, the Lord, the commander of the heavenly armies,

will defeat the Assyrians with his terrifying power,

as if he were cutting off the branches of a great tree.

The Assyrians have great, proud soldiers and commanders,

but Yahweh will destroy them as if they were tall trees he was cutting down.

34 They will be like a thick forest that he was cutting down with an iron axe.

He will destroy them with his great power,

as if he were chopping down great trees in Lebanon.