The woe of tyrants, 1-4. Assyria, the rod of hypocrites, shall be broken for his pride, 5-19. A remnant of Israel shall be saved, 20-23. Judah is comforted with promise of deliverance from Assyria, 24-34.
1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees/
and who write grievousness which they have prescribed,
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment/
and to take away the right from the poor of my people,/
so that widows may be their plunder/
and that they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will you do in the day of visitation/
and in the desolation which shall come from far?/
To whom will you flee for help?/
And where will you leave your glory?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners/
and they shall fall under the slain./
For all this his anger is not turned away,/
but his hand is stretched out still.
5 O Assyrian, the rod of my anger,/
and the staff in their hand is my indignation.
6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation,/
and against the people of my wrath/
I will give him a charge,/
to take the loot, to take the plunder,/
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Although he does not mean so,/
neither does his heart think so,/
yet it is in his heart to destroy/
and cut off many nations.
8 For he says, "Are my princes not altogether kings?
9 Is Calno not as Carchemish?/
Is Hamath not as Arpad?/
Is Samaria not as Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,/
and whose engraved images excelled those of Jerusalem and of Samaria,
11 Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols,/
do so to Jerusalem and her idols?"
12 Therefore, it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he says,
"By the strength of my hand I have done it,/
and by my wisdom, for I am prudent./
And I have removed the bounds of the people/
and have robbed their treasures,/
and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
14 And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people./
And as one gathers eggs that are left,/
I have gathered all the earth,/
and there was no one who moved the wing,/
or opened the mouth, or peeped."
15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who hews with it?/
Or shall the saw magnify itself against him who moves it?/
That would be as if the rod should shake itself against those who lift it,/
or as if the staff should lift itself as if it were not wood.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,/
will send leanness among his fat ones,/
and under his glory he will kindle/
a burning like the burning of a fire.
17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire/
and his Holy One for a flame,/
and it shall burn and devour his thorns/
and his briers in one day,
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,/
both soul and body,/
and they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few/
so that a child may write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day,/
that the remnant of Israel/
and those who have escaped of the house of Jacob/
shall no longer again lean upon him who smote them,/
but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob,/
to the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel are as the sand of the sea,/
yet a remnant of them shall return./
The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord GOD of hosts/
will make a consumption, even determined,/
in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "O my people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite you with a rod and shall lift up his staff against you after the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease, and my anger in their destruction. 26 And the LORD of hosts will raise up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And as his rod was upon the sea, so he shall lift it up after the manner of Egypt. 27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder and his yoke from off your neck. And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing."
28 He has come to Aiath/
He has passed to Migron./
At Michmash he has laid up his baggage.
29 They have gone over the passage./
They have taken up their lodging at Geba./
Ramah is afraid./
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim./
Cause it to be heard to Laish, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah has fled away./
The inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32 As yet he shall remain at Nob that day./
He shall shake his hand/
against the mountain of the daughter of Zion,/
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts/
will lop the bough with terror,/
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down/
and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron,/
and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 10[➚]
[v.3] - Quoted in 1st Peter 2:12
[v.22-23] - Quoted in Romans 9:27-28.