Isaiah 10:1-4 - Woes On The Wicked

¹ Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; ² to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! ³ What 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? ⁴ They 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.

⁸ Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

⁹ In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. ¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

¹¹ Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! ¹² The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

¹³ Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. ¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. ¹⁵ So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; ¹⁶ but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. ¹⁷ Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope; ¹⁹ Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!" ²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! ²² Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink; ²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

²⁴ Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵ Therefore Yahweh's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.