Isaiah 10:1-34 CEV

[1] You people are in for trouble! You have made cruel and unfair laws [2] that let you cheat the poor and needy and rob widows and orphans. [3] But what will you do when you are fiercely attacked and punished by foreigners? Where will you run for help? Where will you hide your valuables? [4] How will you escape being captured or killed? The Lord is still angry, and he isn't through with you yet! [5] The Lord says: I am furious! And I will use the king of Assyria as a club [6] to beat down you godless people. I am angry with you, and I will send him to attack you. He will take what he wants and walk on you like mud in the streets. [7] He has even bigger plans in mind, because he wants to destroy many nations. [8] The king of Assyria says: My army commanders are kings! [9] They have already captured the cities of Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria, and Damascus. [10] The gods of Jerusalem and Samaria are weaker than the gods of those powerful nations. And I will destroy Jerusalem, together with its gods and idols, just as I did Samaria. [12] The Lord will do what he has planned against Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Then he will punish the proud and boastful king of Assyria, [13] who says: I did these things by my own power because I am smart and clever. I attacked kings like a wild bull, and I took the land and the treasures of their nations. [14] I have conquered the whole world! And it was easier than taking eggs from an unguarded nest. No one even flapped a wing or made a peep. [15] King of Assyria, can an ax or a saw overpower the one who uses it? Can a wooden pole lift whoever holds it? [16] The mighty LORD All-Powerful will send a terrible disease to strike down your army, and you will burn with fever under your royal robes. [17] The holy God, who is the light of Israel, will turn into a fire, and in one day you will go up in flames, just like a thornbush. [18] The Lord will make your beautiful forests and fertile fields slowly rot. [19] There will be so few trees that even a young child can count them. [20] A time is coming when the survivors from Israel and Judah will completely depend on the holy LORD of Israel, instead of the nation that defeated them. [21] There were as many people as there are grains of sand along the seashore, but only a few will survive to come back to Israel's mighty God. This is because he has threatened to destroy their nation, just as they deserve. [23] The LORD All-Powerful has promised that everyone on this earth will be punished. [24] Now the LORD God All-Powerful says to his people in Jerusalem: The Assyrians will beat you with sticks and abuse you, just as the Egyptians did. But don't be afraid of them. [25] Soon I will stop being angry with you, and I will punish them for their crimes. [26] I will beat the Assyrians with a whip, as I did the people of Midian near the rock at Oreb. And I will show the same mighty power that I used when I made a path through the sea in Egypt. [27] Then they will no longer rule your nation. All will go well for you, and your burden will be lifted. [28] Enemy troops have reached the town of Aiath. They have gone through Migron, and they stored their supplies at Michmash, [29] before crossing the valley and spending the night at Geba. The people of Ramah are terrified; everyone in Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, has run away. [30] Loud crying can be heard in the towns of Gallim, Laishah, and sorrowful Anathoth. [31] No one is left in Madmenah or Gebim. [32] Today the enemy will camp at Nob and shake a threatening fist at Mount Zion in Jerusalem. [33] But the LORD All-Powerful will use his fearsome might to bring down the tallest trees and chop off every branch. [34] With an ax, the glorious Lord will destroy every tree in the forests of Lebanon.