Warning to Unfair Leaders
How terrible for leaders who make unfair laws and write down harsh rules! They keep poor people from getting fair treatment. They take away the rights of poor people. They attack widows and rob children who have no parents. What will you do when God comes to punish you? What will you do when destruction comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you hide your riches? Without me they will bow down as prisoners. They will fall among the dead. But even after all this, God is still angry. His hand is still raised to punish.
Assyria: God’s Tool of Anger
Assyria is the weapon of my anger. They carry my anger like a stick. I will send him against a nation of fake people. I will send him against the people who make me angry. I will order him to steal from them and rob them. I will tell him to walk on them like mud in the streets. But he doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t think this way. In his heart he wants to destroy many nations.
He says, 'Aren’t my commanders all like kings?' 'Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?' 'My hand took over kingdoms that worshiped idols. Their statues were better than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.' 'Won’t I do the same thing to Jerusalem and her idols that I did to Samaria and her idols?'
God Will Punish the Proud King
So when the Lord finishes all his work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria. He will punish him for his proud heart and his proud looks. The king says, 'I did these things by my own strength and wisdom. I am smart. I moved the borders of nations. I robbed their treasures. Like a strong man, I knocked down the people.' 'My hand found the riches of the people like finding a bird’s nest. Like someone gathers eggs that are left behind, I gathered all the earth. No one moved a wing or opened their mouth or made a sound.'
Can an ax brag that it’s better than the person who chops with it? Can a saw brag that it’s better than the person who uses it? That would be like a stick shaking the person who picks it up. That would be like a wooden staff lifting itself up. So the Lord, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will make his strong soldiers weak. Under his glory he will start a fire that will burn. The light of Israel will become a fire. His Holy One will become a flame. It will burn and destroy his thorns and weeds in one day. It will destroy the glory of his forest and his good fields. They will be destroyed completely. It will be like someone getting sick and dying. Only a few trees will be left in his forest. A child could count them.
Israel Will Return to God
At that time, the people of Israel who are left will not depend on the one who hurt them anymore. Instead they will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in a true way. The people who are left will return. Yes, the people of Jacob who are left will return to the mighty God. Even if your people Israel are as many as the sand by the sea, only some of them will return. God has decided to destroy them in a way that is right. The Lord God of heaven’s armies will destroy the land, just as he decided.
Don’t Be Afraid
So the Lord God of heaven’s armies says: 'My people who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians. They will hit you with a stick. They will lift up their weapon against you like Egypt did.' 'In a very short time, my anger will end. I will be angry until I destroy them.' 'The Lord of heaven’s armies will whip him like he killed Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise his stick over the sea like he did in Egypt.' 'At that time, he will take away the heavy load from your shoulder. He will take away the wooden yoke from your neck. The yoke will be destroyed because God chose you.'
The Enemy Comes Closer
He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he has left his supplies. They have crossed the pass. They have set up camp at Geba. Ramah is scared. Gibeah of Saul has run away. Cry out, daughter of Gallim! Let Laish hear you! Poor Anathoth! The people of Madmenah have left. The people of Gebim are running away. Today he will stop at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mountain of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
God Will Cut Them Down
Look! The Lord, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will cut down the branches with great power. The tall trees will be cut down. The proud will be brought down. He will cut down the thick forest with an iron tool. Lebanon will fall by a mighty one.
Influences
- 20:1 — Isaiah 10:1 (KJV)Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
- 20:2 — Isaiah 10:2 (KJV)To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
- 20:3 — Isaiah 10:3 (KJV)And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?
- 20:4 — Isaiah 10:4 (KJV)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.
- 20:5 — Isaiah 10:5 (KJV)O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
- 20:6 — Isaiah 10:6 (KJV)I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- 20:7 — Isaiah 10:7 (KJV)Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
- 20:9 — Isaiah 10:9 (KJV)Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
- 20:10 — Isaiah 10:10 (KJV)As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
- 20:11 — Isaiah 10:11 (KJV)Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
- 20:12 — Isaiah 10:12 (KJV)Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath 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.
- 20:13 — Isaiah 10:13 (KJV)For he saith, 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:
- 20:14 — Isaiah 10:14 (KJV)And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
- 20:15 — Isaiah 10:15 (KJV)Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
- 20:16 — Isaiah 10:16 (KJV)Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
- 20:17 — Isaiah 10:17 (KJV)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;
- 20:18 — Isaiah 10:18 (KJV)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 fainteth.
- 20:19 — Isaiah 10:19 (KJV)And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
- 20:20 — Isaiah 10:20 (KJV)And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
- 20:22 — Isaiah 10:22 (KJV)For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
- 20:23 — Isaiah 10:23 (KJV)For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
- 20:24 — Isaiah 10:24 (KJV)Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
- 20:25 — Isaiah 10:25 (KJV)For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
- 20:26 — Isaiah 10:26 (KJV)And the LORD of hosts shall stir 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 shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
- 20:27 — Isaiah 10:27 (KJV)And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
- 20:28 — Isaiah 10:28 (KJV)He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
- 20:29 — Isaiah 10:29 (KJV)They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
- 20:30 — Isaiah 10:30 (KJV)Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
- 20:32 — Isaiah 10:32 (KJV)As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
- 20:33 — Isaiah 10:33 (KJV)Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
- 20:34 — Isaiah 10:34 (KJV)And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.