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          DASV: Isaiah 10    

1 Woe to those who make unjust decrees,
     and to the writers who write oppressive laws;
2 to turn aside the needy from justice,
     and to rob the poor of my people of their rights,
     that widows may be their spoil,
          and that they may make the orphans their prey!
3 What will you do in the day of punishment,
          when devastation comes from far away?
     To whom will you flee for help?
     Where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing is left but to huddle down with the prisoners,
          or fall among the slain.
      Even after all this, his anger is not turned away,
          but his hand is stretched out still.

5 "Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger,
     the club in their hands is my rage!
6 I am sending him against a godless nation,
     and against the people of my wrath.
      I will give him an order,
     to take the spoil,
     to seize the plunder,
     and to stomp them down
           like the mud in the streets.
7 Yet this is not what he intends,
          nor is this what his heart is planning;
     it is in his heart to destroy,
          and to cut off many nations.
8 For he boasts, "Are not my princes all kings?"
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
     Is not Hamath like Arpad?
     Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached the kingdoms of the idols,
     whose images excel those of Jerusalem and of Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols,
     exactly as I have done to Samaria and her idols?"

12 When the Lord has finished his whole work on Mount Zion
and on Jerusalem, he will say,
     "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria,
           and the haughty of look of his eyes.
13 For he says, 'By the strength of my hand I have done it,
     and by my wisdom;
      for I have understanding.
           I have removed the boundaries of the peoples,
     and have robbed their treasures,
           and like a powerful conqueror I have brought down
     those who sat on thrones.
14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples
     like a bird's nest;
     like one gathers eggs that are abandoned,
           I have gathered all the earth.
      There was not one that flapped a wing,
     or that opened its mouth, or chirped.'"

15 Does the axe boast against the one who wields it?
     Does the saw extol itself over the one who saws with it?
      As if a rod should wave the one who lifts it up,
     or as if a staff should lift up the one not made of wood.
16 Therefore the sovereign LORD of hosts
     will send among his burly warriors emaciation;
      his glory will be incinerated like the burning of fire.
17 The light of Israel will be for a fire,
          and his Holy One for a flame.
      It will burn and devour in just one day
          his thorns and his briers.
18 He will consume the grandeur of his forest,
     and his fruitful field,
           both body and soul.
      It will be like when a sick person wastes away.
19 There will be so few surviving trees in his forest,
     that even a child could write them down.

20 In that day the remnant of Israel,
     and those who survive from the house of Jacob,
      will no longer depend on the one who struck them,
     but they will rely on the LORD,
           the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return,
     the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God.
22 For though your people, Israel,
           be as the sand of the sea,
     only a remnant of them will return;
           a destruction is decreed,
     overflowing with righteousness.
23 For the sovereign LORD of hosts
     will execute complete destruction,
           in the midst of the whole land.

24 Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD of hosts says,
     "O my people who live in Zion,
      do not be afraid of the Assyrian,
     though he strikes you with the rod,
     and lifts up his club against you,
           just as Egypt did.
25 For in a few moments my fury will be over,
     then my anger will be directed to their destruction.
26 The LORD of hosts will beat them with a whip,
          just like he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb.
      He will lift his rod over the sea,
          just as he did in Egypt.
27 In that day his burden will be removed from off your shoulder,
     and his yoke from off your neck,
     and the yoke will be broken because you will be so brawny.

28 He has come to Aiath;
     he has passed through Migron;
           at Michmash he stores his baggage.
29 They are gone over the pass;
     they have taken up their lodging at Geba;
      Ramah trembles;
     Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Shriek, O daughter of Gallim!
     Listen, O Laishah!
           O poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah flees;
     the inhabitants of Gebim run for cover.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;
     he shakes his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
           the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Look, the sovereign LORD of hosts,
          will lop off the boughs with an awful crash.
      The tallest trees will be cut down,
          and the lofty brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
     and Lebanon in its majesty will fall.

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