Chapter 10

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

1 Woe to those who aenact evil statutes

And to those who constantly record 1unjust decisions,

2 So as ato 1deprive the needy of justice

And rob the poor of My people of their rights,

So bthat widows may be their spoil

And that they may plunder the 2orphans.

3 Now awhat will you do in the bday of punishment,

And in the devastation which will come cfrom afar?

dTo whom will you flee for help?

And where will you leave your 1wealth?

4 Nothing remains but to crouch 1among the acaptives

Or fall 1among the bslain.

cIn spite of all this, His anger does not turn away

And His hand is still stretched out.

5 Woe to aAssyria, the brod of My anger

And the staff in whose hands is cMy indignation,

6 I send it against a agodless nation

And commission it against the bpeople of My fury

To capture booty and cto seize plunder,

And to 1trample them down like dmud in the streets.

7 Yet it adoes not so intend,

Nor does 1it plan so in its heart,

But rather it is 2its purpose to destroy

And to cut off 3many nations.

8 For it says, “Are not my princes 1all kings?

9 “Is not aCalno like bCarchemish,

Or cHamath like Arpad,

Or dSamaria like eDamascus?

10 “As my hand has reached to the akingdoms of the idols,

Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11 Shall I not 1do to Jerusalem and her images

Just as I have done to Samaria and aher idols?”

12 So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His awork on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will 1punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and bthe pomp of 2his haughtiness.”

13 For ahe has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,

For I have understanding;

And I bremoved the boundaries of the peoples

And plundered their treasures,

And like a mighty man I brought down 1their inhabitants,

14 And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a anest,

And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;

And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.”

15 Is the aaxe to bboast itself over the one who chops with it?

Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?

That would be like ca 1club wielding those who lift it,

Or like ca rod lifting him who is not wood.

16 Therefore the Lord, the 1God of hosts, will send a awasting disease among his bstout warriors;

And under his cglory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

17 And the alight of Israel will become a fire and his bHoly One a flame,

And it will cburn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

18 And He will adestroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,

And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19 And the arest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number

That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

20 Now in that day the aremnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob bwho have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly crely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

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

22 For athough your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,

Only a remnant within them will return;

A bdestruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

23 For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, athe Lord 1God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord 1God of hosts, “O My people who dwell in aZion, bdo not fear the Assyrian 2who cstrikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did.

25 “For in a very alittle while bMy indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.”

26 The Lord of hosts will aarouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of bMidian at the rock of Oreb; and His cstaff will be over the sea and He will lift it up dthe way He did in Egypt.

27 So it will be in that day, that 1his aburden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because bof fatness.

28 He has come against Aiath,

He has passed through aMigron;

At bMichmash he deposited his cbaggage.

29 They have gone through athe pass, saying,

“bGeba will be our lodging place.”

cRamah is terrified, and dGibeah of Saul has fled away.

30 Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of aGallim!

Pay attention, Laishah and 1wretched bAnathoth!

31 Madmenah has fled.

The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

32 Yet today he will halt at aNob;

He bshakes his fist at the mountain of the 1cdaughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, the 1God of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash;

Those also who are atall in stature will be cut down

And those who are lofty will be abased.

34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,

And aLebanon will fall 1by the Mighty One.

Chapter 11

Righteous Reign of the Branch

1 Then a ashoot will spring from the bstem of Jesse,

And a cbranch from dhis roots will bear fruit.

2 The aSpirit of the Lord will rest on Him,

The spirit of bwisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and cstrength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,

And He will not judge by what His eyes asee,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

4 But with arighteousness He will judge the bpoor,

And decide with fairness for the cafflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the drod of His mouth,

And with the ebreath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

5 Also arighteousness will be the belt about His loins,

And bfaithfulness the belt about His waist.

6 And the awolf will dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,

And the calf and the young lion 1and the fatling together;

And a little boy will lead them.

7 Also the cow and the bear will graze,

Their young will lie down together,

And the alion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,

And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

9 They will anot hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the bearth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

10 Then in that day

The anations will resort to the broot of Jesse,

Who will stand as a 1csignal for the peoples;

And His dresting place will be 2glorious.

The Restored Remnant

11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord

Will again recover the second time with His hand

The aremnant of His people, who will remain,

From bAssyria, cEgypt, Pathros, Cush, dElam, Shinar, Hamath,

And from the 1eislands of the sea.

12 And He will lift up a astandard for the nations

And bassemble the banished ones of Israel,

And will gather the dispersed of Judah

From the four corners of the earth.

13 Then the ajealousy of Ephraim will depart,

And those who harass Judah will be cut off;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

And Judah will not harass Ephraim.

14 They will aswoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the bwest;

Together they will cplunder the sons of the east;

1They will possess dEdom and eMoab,

And the sons of Ammon will be 2subject to them.

15 And the Lord will 1autterly destroy

The tongue of the 2Sea of Egypt;

And He will bwave His hand over the 3cRiver

With His scorching wind;

And He will strike it into seven streams

And make men walk over 4dry-shod.

16 And there will be a ahighway from Assyria

For the bremnant of His people who will be left,

Just as there was for Israel

In cthe day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12

Thanksgiving Expressed

1 Then you will say on that day,

“aI will give thanks to You, O Lord;

For balthough You were angry with me,

Your anger is turned away,

And You comfort me.

2 “Behold, aGod is my salvation,

I will btrust and not be afraid;

For cthe Lord God is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.”

3 Therefore you will joyously adraw water

From the bsprings of salvation.

4 And in that day you will asay,

“bGive thanks to the Lord, call on His name.

cMake known His deeds among the peoples;

1Make them remember that His name is exalted.”

5 aPraise the Lord in song, for He has done 1excellent things;

Let this be known throughout the earth.

6 aCry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

For bgreat in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Chapter 13

Prophecies about Babylon

1 The 1aoracle concerning bBabylon which cIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 aLift up a standard on the 1bbare hill,

Raise your voice to them,

cWave the hand that they may denter the doors of the nobles.

3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,

I have even called My amighty warriors,

My proudly exulting ones,

To execute My anger.

4 A asound of tumult on the mountains,

Like that of many people!

A sound of the uproar of kingdoms,

Of nations gathered together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle.

5 They are coming from a far country,

From the 1afarthest horizons,

The Lord and His instruments of bindignation,

To cdestroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the Lord

6 Wail, for the aday of the Lord is near!

It will come as bdestruction from 1the Almighty.

7 Therefore aall hands will fall limp,

And every man’s bheart will melt.

8 They will be aterrified,

Pains and anguish will take hold of them;

They will bwrithe like a woman in labor,

They will look at one another in astonishment,

Their faces aflame.

9 Behold, athe day of the Lord is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

10 For the astars of heaven and their constellations

Will not flash forth their light;

The bsun will be dark when it rises

And the moon will not shed its light.

11 Thus I will apunish the world for its evil

And the bwicked for their iniquity;

I will also put an end to the carrogance of the proud

And abase the dhaughtiness of the 1eruthless.

12 I will make mortal man 1ascarcer than pure gold

And mankind than the bgold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will make the aheavens tremble,

And bthe earth will be shaken from its place

At the fury of the Lord of hosts

In cthe day of His burning anger.

14 And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,

Or like asheep with none to gather them,

They will each turn to his own people,

And each one flee to his own land.

15 Anyone who is found will be athrust through,

And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

16 Their alittle ones also will be dashed to pieces

Before their eyes;

Their houses will be plundered

And their wives ravished.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

17 Behold, I am going to astir up the Medes against them,

Who will not value silver or btake pleasure in gold.

18 And their bows will 1mow down the ayoung men,

They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,

Nor will their beye pity 2children.

19 And aBabylon, the bbeauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,

Will be as when God coverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It will anever be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;

Nor will the bArab pitch his tent there,

Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

21 But adesert creatures will lie down there,

And their houses will be full of 1owls;

Ostriches also will live there, and 2shaggy goats will frolic there.

22 1Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers

And jackals in their luxurious apalaces.

Her fateful time also 2will soon come

And her days will not be prolonged.