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Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,

who write oppressive statutes,

to turn aside the needy from justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be your spoil,

and that you may make the orphans your prey!

What will you do on the day of punishment,

in the calamity that will come from far away?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth,

so as not to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain?

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger—

the club in their hands is my fury!

Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

But this is not what he intends,

nor does he have this in mind;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few.

For he says:

“Are not my commanders all kings?

Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols

whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

what I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹² When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. ¹³For 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 peoples,

and have plundered their treasures;

like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.

My hand has found, like a nest,

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing,

or opened its mouth, or chirped.”

Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it,

or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?

As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,

or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!

Therefore the Sovereign, the L ord of hosts,

will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,

and under his glory a burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

The light of Israel will become a fire,

and his Holy One a flame;

and it will burn and devour

his thorns and briers in one day.

The glory of his forest and his fruitful land

the L ord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.

The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.

The Repentant Remnant of Israel

²⁰ On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the L ord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord G od of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord G od of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶The L ord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. ²⁷On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

He has gone up from Rimmon,

he has come to Aiath;

he has passed through Migron,

at Michmash he stores his baggage;

they have crossed over the pass,

at Geba they lodge for the night;

Ramah trembles,

Gibeah of Saul has fled.

Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

Answer her, O Anathoth!

Madmenah is in flight,

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

This very day he will halt at Nob,

he will shake his fist

at the mount of daughter Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.

Look, the Sovereign, the L ord of hosts,

will lop the boughs with terrifying power;

the tallest trees will be cut down,

and the lofty will be brought low.

He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax,

and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

12. But it shall come to pass. Hitherto the Prophet had explained what would be the pride of the Assyrian, after having obtained a victory over Israel; but now he foretells what will happen to the Assyrian himself, and what will be the purpose of God against him. Wicked men do everything in the same manner as if God were not in heaven, and could not frustrate their designs. What else is the meaning of those haughty words, My hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, than this, that he thought that he would vanquish all the gods? But God opposes his designs, and, after having made use of his agency, punishes himself also.

This verse contains two clauses. First, he declares that God will punish a wicked king. Secondly, he suggests that the time is not yet come, in order to encourage believers to the exercise of patience. He foretells that the time which God regards as fit for doing it will be, when he shall have chastised the sins of his Church; in the same manner as if the master of a house were to settle the disturbances of his own family. The object which he has in view is, that believers may not give way to despondency, when they behold a wicked tyrant in such a state of exultation, and may not abandon the hope of salvation, as if it were impossible to restrain him.

I will visit upon the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria. ¹⁶²¹⁶² {Bogus footnote} God promises, in a word, that after having permitted the Assyrian to plume himself beyond measure, he will in his turn be an avenger; for it belongs to him to repress the pride of the flesh, which is connected with sacrilege. Accordingly, the preposition על (gnal) ¹⁶³¹⁶³ Upon. is emphatic, as if it declared that the Assyrian will not be protected by his loftiness from undergoing punishment. Fruit is here taken in a metaphorical sense, for wicked men think that they are happy and prosperous when they swell with pride, as if they gathered some fruit. He places in the foreground the heart, which is the seat of pride, and which, when it swells with haughtiness, pours out fierceness and cruelty. Afterwards, he adds the eyes, by which the inward feelings of the heart are manifested, and which, by being lifted up, are the heralds of secret vice. To whatever extent the Assyrian, in his pride, may elevate himself, God testifies that he has in his own power the means of suddenly changing his glory into dishonor and reproach. Accordingly, he includes contempt, scorn, disdain, and haughty looks, indicative of excessive confidence, which are usually beheld in proud men.

I will visit. He introduces God as speaking, because that which God utters with his own mouth is more impressive, (ἐμφατικώτερον,) than if he spoke by the mouth of the Prophet. Hence draw a general doctrine. God cannot endure the arrogance of proud men, without suppressing it; for he wages incessant war with the haughty and disdainful. (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5.)

When the Lord shall have finished his whole work. Observe how, in order to repress immoderate haste, the Prophet added this by way of limitation; for as soon as we see a proud man, we wonder that the Lord endures him. Isaiah here shows that God endures that proud tyrant, whatever may be the insolence with which he vaunts and exalts himself, because he chose to make use of his agency, and that the seasonable time for the Lord’s destruction of the wicked is not always at hand, but that we ought to wait patiently for it. When he shall have chastised the kingdom of Judah, as if he were bringing the members of the family into a state of submission, he will not be slow or sluggish in punishing a foreign enemy; as a father commonly throws away or breaks the rod with which he chastised his son.

His whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem. By a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, (συνεκδοχικῶς,) Mount Zion is here put for the Church, and Jerusalem is employed in the same sense, in order that by means of the Temple and the royal city, as the head, he might describe the whole body, and by means of the most important part might describe the whole kingdom. He calls it the whole work, because through our foolish haste we would draw away God from his work, though it were only begun. More especially, our wrath against wicked men rages so strongly, that it is difficult to restrain our impatience, if God do not instantly comply with our wish in punishing them. To mitigate this fervor, he bids them allow full and ample time for God’s fatherly chastisements.

The whole work denotes a proper measure. This is a useful and highly consolatory doctrine; for we see wicked men, in a wonderfully arrogant and seemingly triumphant manner, mocking God, and uttering reproaches and slanders against his doctrine, so that hardly any words can express their insolence. If the Lord would comply with our wish, he would immediately hasten to subdue and destroy them. But he wishes first to humble his Church by means of them.

On Mount Zion and on Jerusalem. He does not now speak of Syrians or Egyptians, but of the Jews, of Zion, of the Temple and the habitation which he was pleased to consecrate to himself. Thus, at the present day, there are various diseases of the Church, which the Lord determines to heal and remove. He has indeed begun to do so; but we are mistaken if we think that the work is finished; and he will not cease till he has subdued us, so that we may be moved by the true fear of him, and may submit to his yoke with becoming modesty and gentleness. We need not wonder, therefore, that he gives a loose rein to tyrants, and hitherto permits them to rage against the Church. But the consolation is at hand. When he shall have made use of their agency in chastising the Church, he will visit their pride and arrogance. And we need not wonder if God, by striking his elect first of all, expresses in this manner his peculiar regard for their salvation. Judgment must therefore begin at the house of God, and must afterwards extend to those who are without, who will endure chastisements still more severe.

¹⁶² {Bogus footnote}

¹⁶³ Upon.