The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 10 Foretelling the Ruin of Assyria

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 10

Foretelling the Ruin of Assyria

5 Woe to Assyria! The rod of my anger, for my wrath is like a staff in his hand.

6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath I will command him to seize their prey, to take their spoil, and to trample them underfoot like the mire of the streets.

7 Though he does not intend it, nor does his heart imagine it, but in his heart he plans to destroy and uproot nations not a few.

8 For he says, "Are not all my princes kings?"

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

10 My hand has reached the kingdoms of the idols, though their carved images were better than those of Jerusalem and Samaria.

11 As I did to Samaria and her idols, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12 Therefore, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his lofty looks.

13 For I said, "By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and spoiled their treasures, and like a mighty man I have brought down those who sat on thrones."

14 My hand has found the wealth of the peoples like a nest, and as abandoned eggs are gathered together, so I have gathered all the earth; yet no one has moved his wing, or opened his mouth, or murmured.

15 Should the axe boast against him who cuts with it? Or will the saw boast against those who pull it? As if a staff moved those who lift it, or a rod lifted up what was not wood!

16 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will cause those who are fat among them to wither, and under his glory he will kindle a fire like a blaze of fire.

17 For the Light of Israel will be like a fire, and his Holy One like a flame, consuming and consuming his thorns and his briers in one day.

18 He will also consume the glory of his forest, and his fruitful field, from soul to body; it will be as when a standard-bearer faints.

19 And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can count them.

20 And it will come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and the escaped of the house of Jacob, will no longer lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

22 For though your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return; destruction is determined, overflowing with justice.

23 For destruction is determined, and the Lord GOD of Hosts will execute it in the midst of the whole land.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of Hosts: Do not be afraid, my people who dwell in Zion, of Assyria, when he strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you like the Egyptians.

25 For yet a very little while, my indignation and my anger will be accomplished to consume them.

26 For the Lord of Hosts will stir up a scourge against them, like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb, and like his rod over the sea, which will rise against them, as it did against the Egyptians. 

27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck: and the yoke shall be broken because of the anointing.

28 He shall come to Aiath, he shall pass through Migron, and shall cast his baggage at Michmash.

29 He shall pass through, he shall lodge at Geba; Ramah shall tremble, and Gibeah of Saul shall flee.

30 Cry aloud with your voice, O daughters of Gallim! Hear, O Laish! O poor Anathoth!

31 Madmenah shall be gone; the inhabitants of Gebim shall flee in droves.

32 This very day he shall stop at Nob; he shall wave his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 

33 But behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the branches with violence, and the tall ones will be cut down, and the lofty ones will be brought low. 

34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the hand of a mighty man.