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10 Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, 2 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! 3 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, 4 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 Judged5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger— the club in their hands is my fury! 6 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. 7 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. 8 For he says: “Are not my commanders all kings? 9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? 10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 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. 14 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.”
15 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! 16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.
The Repentant Remnant of Israel20 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, 28 he has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron, at Michmash he stores his baggage; 29 they have crossed over the pass, at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles, Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30 Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! Answer her, O Anathoth! 31 Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 32 This very day he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 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. 34 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.
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1. Woe to them that decree. He now attacks the people more closely, as he did in the first and second chapters, to make them feel that they are justly afflicted; for men never acknowledge that they are justly punished till they have been manifestly convicted and constrained. Though they were sufficiently convicted by former proofs, still he found it necessary to come to particulars, that by means of them their hypocrisy might be exposed; for men are so brazen-faced as to think that any excuse shields them, and openly to accuse God. When they had become so shameless, it was impossible for him to rebuke them too sharply, or to carry his accusations beyond proper limits, so as to shut their mouths, whether they would or not. עמל (gnamal) and און (aven) are often joined together in Scripture, as in Psalm 7:14 און signifies vanity and iniquity, but the latter meaning agrees better with this passage. עמל, (gnamal,) on the other hand, denotes vexation, and often the very cause of the vexation, that is, the oppression inflicted by the stronger on the weaker, when they abuse their authority and power. Having formerly shown that the wickedness originated from the governors themselves, (Isaiah 1:10,23,) he places them in the first rank, that they may undergo the punishment of the crimes which they had occasioned. This ought to be carefully observed, for they who are elevated to the highest rank imagine that they are exempted from the ordinary lot of other men, and that they are not bound to give account to God; and therefore he threatens that they will have this privilege, that they will be the first that are punished. Some think that two classes are here described, and draw a distinction between חקקים, (chokekim,) those who decree, and מכתבים, (mechattebim,) those who write 155155 The prescribers. — Stock. “Not the scribes, who write vexatious decrees, but the judges, who cause them to be written.” — Rosenmuller. But I do not approve of this, for he attacks generally, and without distinction, princes and magistrates, who oppressed the people by unjust and tyrannical decrees, in such a manner that they approached to absolute robbery; and therefore he includes every class of magistrates and governors. 2. To keep back. 156156 To turn aside. — Eng. Ver. Others render it, to cause them to turn aside; but the true meaning is, to keep back the poor from judgment, or make them lose their cause. This is the iniquity and oppression which he had mentioned in the former verse, that the poor are deprived of their rights, and are robbed for the sake of the rich, and go away mocked from the judgment-seat, while everything is laid open to plunder. He chiefly mentions the poor, because for the most part they are destitute of help and assistance. While magistrates and judges ought to have assisted them more than others, they allow themselves greater liberty, and indulge more contemptuously in oppressing them. Those who have wealth, or friends, or favor, are less liable to be oppressed; for they have arms in their hands to defend, and even to revenge themselves. But the Lord says that he takes peculiar care of the poor, (Exodus 22:23; Deuteronomy 15:9, 24:15,) though they are commonly despised; and that he takes such care of them that he does not allow oppression inflicted on them to pass unpunished; for it is not without good ground that he calls himself the protector and defender of such persons. (Psalm 68:5.) From this consideration, therefore, the poor and weak ought to derive consolation, and more calmly to endure distresses and afflictions, because they learn that God takes care of them, and will not permit any injustice done to them to pass unpunished. The powerful and wealthy are at the same time warned not to take it as an incentive to sin that they have not been punished; for though no avenger be now seen, still the Lord will avenge, and will undertake the cause of those whom they imagined to be destitute of all assistance. |