Isaiah 10

10What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.H1945H2710H205H2711H3789H5999H37892They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans.H5186H1800H1779H1497H4941H6041H5971H490H7998H962H34903What will you do when I punish you, when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe?H6213H3117H6486H7722H935H4801H5127H5833H5800H35194You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.H1115H3766H616H5307H2026H639H7725H3027H5186

Judgment against Assyria

5“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger. I use it as a club to express my anger.H1945H804H7626H639H4294H3027H21956I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.H7971H2611H1471H5971H5678H6680H7997H7998H962H957H7760H4823H2563H23517But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.H1819H3824H2803H3824H8045H3772H1471H45928He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.H559H8269H3162H44289We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.H3641H3751H2574H774H8111H183410Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.H3027H4672H4467H457H6456H3389H811111So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”H6213H8111H457H6213H3389H609112After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant.H136H1214H4639H2022H6726H3389H6485H6529H1433H3824H4428H804H8597H7312H586913He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull.H559H3581H3027H6213H2451H995H5493H1367H5971H8154H6259H6264H3381H3427H47H352414I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest.”H3027H4672H7064H2428H5971H622H1000H5800H622H776H5074H3671H6475H6310H685015But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?H1631H6286H2672H4883H1431H5130H7626H5130H7311H4294H7311H608616Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory.H113H136H3068H6635H7971H4924H7332H3519H3344H3350H78417The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night.H216H3478H784H6918H3852H1197H398H7898H8068H259H311718The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague.H3615H3519H3293H3759H5315H1320H5263H454919Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—so few that a child could count them!H7605H6086H3293H4557H5288H3789

Hope for the Lord’s People

20In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.H3117H7605H3478H6413H1004H3290H3254H8172H5221H8172H3068H6918H3478H57121A remnant will return;

yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.H7605H7725H7605H3290H1368H41022But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people.H5971H3478H2344H3220H7605H7725H3631H2782H7857H666623Yes, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has already decided to destroy the entire land

.H136H3069H6635H6213H3617H2782H7130H77624So this is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago.H559H136H3069H6635H5971H3427H6726H3372H804H5221H7626H5375H4294H1870H471425In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.”H4213H4592H2195H3615H639H839926The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the Lord’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.H3068H6635H5782H7752H4347H4080H6697H6159H4294H3220H5375H1870H471427In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders

.H3117H5448H5493H7926H5923H6677H5923H2254H6440H808128Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath. They are passing through Migron and are storing their equipment at Micmash.H935H5857H5674H4051H4363H6485H362729They are crossing the pass and are camping at Geba. Fear strikes the town of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, are running for their lives.H5674H4569H4411H1387H7414H2729H1390H7586H512730Scream in terror, you people of Gallim! Shout out a warning to Laishah. Oh, poor Anathoth!H6670H6963H1323H1530H1554H7181H3919H6041H606831There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing. The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.H4088H5074H3427H1374H575632The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.H5975H5011H3117H5130H3027H2022H1323H1004H6726H1389H338933But look! The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! He will cut down the proud. That lofty tree will be brought down.H113H3068H6635H5586H6288H4637H7311H6967H1438H1364H821334He will cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One

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