Isaiah

10 Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decrees,—And busy writers who make a business of writing mischief:

2 Turning aside from judgment the poor, And robbing of justice the oppressed of my people,—So that widows become their spoil, And of the fatherless they make prey.

3 What then will ye do for the day of visitation, And for the devastation which from afar shall come? Unto whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?

4 Without me one hath bowed under a prisoner, Yea under the slain do they fall! For all this hath his anger not turned back, But still is his hand outstretched.

5 Alas! for Assyria the rod of mine anger,—Yea the very staff in their hand is my displeasure:

6 Against an irreligious nation will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth will I command him,—To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.

7 But as for him not so doth he deem, And in his heart not so doth he think,—For to destroy is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;

8 For he saith:—Are not my generals all alike kings?

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

10 As my hand hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols,—whose images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria

11 Shall I not as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass—When My Lord shall finish his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem I will bring punishment—Upon the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria And upon the vainglory of his uplifted eyes.

13 For he hath said—By the strength of mine own hand have I effectually wrought, And by my wisdom—for I have discernment,—That I might remove the bounds of peoples, Yea their treasures have I plundered That I might lay prostrate as a mighty one the inhabitants;

14 And my hand hath found as a nest the wealth of the peoples, And as the gathering of eggs that are forsaken all the earth have I gathered,—And there was none to flap a wing, or open a mouth or chirp.

15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? As if a rod could wield them who lift it up! As if a staff could raise what is not wood!

16 Therefore shall the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his glory shall he kindle a kindling like the kindling of fire;

17 So shall the Light of Israel become a fire, And his Holy One a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars in one day;

18 And the glory of his forest and of his garden land, both soul and body shall it bring to an end,—And it shall be like the wasting away of a consumptive.

19 And the remnant of his forest-trees few in number shall become,—yea a child might describe them!

20 And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel And the escaped of the house of Jacob Shall no more again lean upon him that smote them,—But shall lean upon Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 A remnant shall return, The remnant of Jacob,—unto the mighty God;

22 For though thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea A [mere] remnant shall return of them,—A full end decreed bringeth in justice like a flood;

23 For a full end and that a decreed one is My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, executing in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Do not fear, O my people dwelling in Zion, because of Assyria,—When with his rod he would smite thee, And when his staff he would lift up against thee in the manner of Egypt;

25 For yet a very little while and displeasure shall end, Yea mine anger over their destruction.

26 And Yahweh of hosts will brandish over him a scourge—Like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb,—And his staff [being] over the sea He will lift it up in the manner of Egypt;

27 And it shall come to pass in that day That his burden shall remove from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck,—Yea the yoke shall be broken because of fatness.

28 He hath come in unto Ayyâth, Hath passed through Migron,—At Michmash storeth his baggage:

29 They have passed over the pass, Geba is his halting-place,—Terror-stricken is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul hath fled!

30 Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah; Answer, O Anathoth!

31 Madmenah hath fled,—The inhabitants of Gebim have gone into safety:

32 While yet to-day in Nob he tarrieth He brandisheth his hand toward The mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold! the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off a tree-crown with a crash,—Then shall they who are lifted on high be hewn down, And the lofty be laid low;

34 Then will he fell the thickets of the forest with iron,—And Lebanon by a majestic one shall fall.