Isaiah 10

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Woe to those who enact unjust decrees, who compose oppressive legislation	1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees,
2 to deny justice to the weak and to cheat the humblest of my people of fair judgement, to make widowstheir prey and to rob the orphan.	2 Depriving the needy of judgment and robbing my people's poor of their rights, Making widows their plunder, and orphans their prey!
3 What wil you do on the day of punishment, when disaster comes from far away? To whom wil you runfor help and where wil you leave your riches,	3 What will you do on the day of punishment, when ruin comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth,
4 to avoid squatting among the captives or fal ing among the slain? After all this, his anger is not spent.No, his hand is still raised!	4 Lest it sink beneath the captive or fall beneath the slain? For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand is still outstretched!
5 Woe to Assyria, rod of my anger, the club in their hands is my fury!	5 Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath.
6 I was sending him against a godless nation, commissioning him against the people who enraged me, topil age and plunder at will and trample on them like the mud in the streets.	6 Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him To seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets.
7 But this was not his intention nor did his heart plan it so, for he dreamed of putting an end to them, ofliquidating nations without number!	7 But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; Rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few.
8 For he thought, 'Are not my officers al kings?	8 "Are not my commanders all kings?" he says,
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish, Hamath like Arpad, Samaria like Damascus?	9 "Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, or Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the false gods, where there were more images than inJerusalem and Samaria,	10 Just as my hand reached out to idolatrous kingdoms that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 as I have treated Samaria and her false gods shal I not treat Jerusalem and her statues too?'	11 Just as I treated Samaria and her idols, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her graven images?"
12 When the Lord has completed al his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he wil punish the fruit ofthe king of Assyria's boastful heart and the insolence of his haughty looks.	12 (But when the LORD has brought to an end all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the utterance of the king of Assyria's proud heart,
13 For he thinks: 'By the strength of my own arm I have done this and by my own wisdom: how intel igentI have been! I have abolished the frontiers between peoples, I have plundered their treasures, like a hero, I havesubjugated their inhabitants.	13 and the boastfulness of his haughty eyes. For he says:) "By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.
14 My hand has found, as though a bird's nest, the riches of the peoples. Like someone col ectingdeserted eggs, I have col ected the whole world while no one has fluttered a wing or opened a beak to squawk.'	14 My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; As one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!"
15 Does the axe claim more credit than the man who wields it, or the saw more strength than the manwho handles it? As though a staff controlled those who raise it, or the club could raise what is not made of wood!	15 Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood!
16 That is why Yahweh Sabaoth is going to inflict leanness on his stout men, and beneath his glorykindle a fever burning like a fire.	16 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, And instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire.
17 The light of Israel wil become a fire and its Holy One a flame burning and devouring his thorn-bushesand brambles in a day.	17 The Light of Israel will become a fire, Israel's Holy One a flame, That burns and consumes his briers and his thorns in a single day.
18 He wil consume his luxuriant forest and productive ground, he will ravage body and soul: it wil be likea consumptive wasting away;	18 His splendid forests and orchards will be consumed, soul and body;
19 and what remain of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child could write their number.	19 And the remnant of the trees in his forest will be so few, Like poles set up for signals, that any boy can record them.
20 When that day comes, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the House of Jacob will stop relyingon the man who strikes them and wil truly rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.	20 On that day The remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no more lean upon him who struck them; But they lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.	21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22 Israel, though your people are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them wil return: adestruction has been decreed which wil make justice overflow,	22 For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant of them will return; their destruction is decreed as overwhelming justice demands.
23 for, throughout the country, the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth wil enforce the destruction now decreed.	23 Yes, the destruction he has decreed, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will carry out within the whole land.
24 That is why the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth says this: My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid ofAssyria! He may strike you with the rod, he may raise the club against you (on the way from Egypt),	24 Therefore thus says the Lord, the GOD of hosts: O my people, who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian, though he strikes you with a rod, and raises his staff against you.
25 but in a very short time the retribution will come to an end, and my anger wil destroy them.	25 For only a brief moment more, and my anger shall be over; but them I will destroy in wrath.
26 Yahweh Sabaoth wil brandish a whip at him as he struck Midian at Oreb's Rock, wil brandish his rodat the Sea as he raised it on the way from Egypt.	26 Then the LORD of hosts will raise against them a scourge such as struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did against Egypt.
27 When that day comes, his burden will fal from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and theyoke wil be destroyed . . .	27 On that day, His burden shall be taken from your shoulder, and his yoke shattered from your neck. He has come up from the direction of Rimmon,
28 He has reached Aiath, he has moved on to Migron, he has left his baggage train at Michmash.	28 he has reached Aiath, passed through Migron, at Michmash his supplies are stored.
29 They have passed through the defile, they have bivouacked at Geba. Ramah quaked, Gibeah of Saulhas fled.	29 They cross the ravine: "We will spend the night at Geba." Ramah is in terror, Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry your loudest, Bath-Gal im! Pay attention, Laish! Answer her, Anathoth!	30 Cry and shriek, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah has run away, the inhabitants of Gebim have taken cover.	31 Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
32 This very day, as he halts at Nob, he wil shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hilof Jerusalem.	32 Even today he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem!
33 See how the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth violently lops off the foliage! The ones standing highest are cutdown, the proudest are laid low!	33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, lops off the boughs with terrible violence; The tall of stature are felled, and the lofty ones brought low;
34 The forest thickets fal beneath the axe, and the Lebanon fal s to the blows of a Mighty One.	34 The forest thickets are felled with the axe, and Lebanon in its splendor falls.