10:1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes
And to those who constantly record ①harmful decisions,
▷ ①Lit harm
10:2 So as to ①deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor among My people of their rights,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the ②orphans.
▷ ①Lit turn the needy aside from ②Or fatherless
10:3 Now what will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
10:4 Nothing remains but to crouch ①among the captives
Or fall ②among those killed.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
▷ ①Lit under ②Lit under
10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,
10:6 I send it against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My fury
To capture spoils and to seize plunder,
And to ①trample them down like mud in the streets.
▷ ①Lit make them a trampled place
10:7 Yet it does not so intend,
Nor does ①it plan so in its heart,
But rather it is ②its purpose to destroy
And to eliminate ③many nations.
▷ ①Lit its heart so plan ②Lit in its heart ③Lit not a few
10:8 For it says, “Are not my officers ①all kings?
▷ ①Lit altogether
10:9 Is not Calno like Carchemish,
Or Hamath like Arpad,
Or Samaria like Damascus?
10:10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
10:11 Shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
10:12 So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will ①punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the arrogant pride of his eyes.”
▷ ①Lit visit
10:13 For he has said,
“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
Because I have understanding;
And I removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a powerful man I brought down ①their inhabitants,
▷ ①Or those who sit on thrones
10:14 And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.”
10:15 Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a ①club wielding those who lift it,
Or like a rod lifting the one who is not wood.
▷ ①Lit staff
10:16 Therefore the Lord, the ①GOD of armies, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors;
And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
10:17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire and ①Israel’s Holy One a flame,
And it will burn and devour ②his thorns and his briars in a single day.
▷ ①Lit his ②I.e., the Assyrian king’s forces
10:18 And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
10:19 And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number
That a child could write them down.
10:20 Now on that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
10:21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
10:22 For though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return;
A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
10:23 For a complete destruction, one that is determined, the Lord ①GOD of armies will execute in the midst of the whole land.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
10:24 Therefore this is what the Lord ①GOD of armies says: “My people, you who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian ②who strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD ②Lit he
10:25 For in a very little while My indignation against you will be ended and My anger will be directed toward their destruction.”
10:26 The LORD of armies will wield a whip against him like the defeat of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt.
10:27 So it will be on that day, that ①his burden will be removed from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
▷ ①I.e., the Assyrian
10:28 He has come against Aiath,
He has passed through Migron;
At Michmash he deposited his baggage.
10:29 They have gone through the pass, saying,
“Geba will be our encampment for the night.”
Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled.
10:30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah and ①wretched Anathoth!
▷ ①An ancient version reads Answer her, O Anathoth
10:31 Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
10:32 Yet today he will halt at Nob;
He shakes his fist at the mountain of the ①daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
▷ ①Another reading is house of
10:33 Behold, the Lord, the ①GOD of armies, will lop off the branches with terrifying power;
Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down,
And those who are lofty will be brought low.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
10:34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.