Isaiah 10

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¹Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; ✦ ²to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! ✦ ³What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? ✦ ⁴They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ✦ ⁵Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! ✦ ⁶I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ✦ ⁷However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. ✦ ⁸For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? ✦ ⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” ✦ ¹⁰As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria; ✦ ¹¹shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? ✦ ¹²Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks. ✦ ¹³For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. ✦ ¹⁴My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.” ✦ ¹⁵Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. ✦ ¹⁶Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. ✦ ¹⁷The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. ✦ ¹⁸He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. ✦ ¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number. ✦ ²⁰It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ✦ ²¹A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ✦ ²²For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. ✦ ²³For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, throughout all the earth. ✦ ²⁴Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. ✦ ²⁵For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.” ✦ ²⁶Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt. ✦ ²⁷It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil. ✦ ²⁸He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. ✦ ²⁹They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. ✦ ³⁰Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! ✦ ³¹Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. ✦ ³²This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. ✦ ³³Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. ✦ ³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Isa 37 ·25 Isa 10 ·18 Isa 9 ·14 Isa 5 ·13 2 Kgs 19 ·10 Isa 30 ·10 Isa 14 ·8 2 Kgs 18 ·7

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 10YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 10David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 10Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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