Isaiah 10:1

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; WOE UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES - namely, unrighteous judges. AND THAT WRITE GRIEVOUSNESS WHICH THEY HAVE PRESCRIBED - not the scribes, but the magistrates who caused unjust decisions (literally, injustice, or 'grievousness') to be recorded by them (; ; )....

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 Psalms 7

1-4 These verses are to be joined with the foregoing chapter. Woe to the superior powers that devise and decree unrighteous decrees! And woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter them on record! But what will sinners do? Whither will they flee?...

CHAPTER X _God's judgments against oppressive rulers_, 1-4. _The prophet foretells the invasion of Sennacherib, and the_ _destruction of his army. That mighty monarch is represented as_ _a rod in the hand of God to correct his people for their sins;_ _and his ambitious purposes, contrary to his own intentions, are_ _made subservient to the great desires of Providence_, 5-11. _Having accomplished this work, the Almighty takes account of_ _his impious vauntings_, 12-14; _and threatens utter destruction to the small and great of his_...

WO UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES - To those who frame statutes that are oppressive and iniquitous. The prophet here refers, doubtless, to the rulers and judges of the land of Judea. A similar description he had before given; Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 1:23, ... AND THAT WRITE ... - Hebrew, ‘And to the writers who write violence.’ The word translated “grievousness,” עמל _‛__âmâl_, denotes properly “wearisome labor, trouble, oppression, injustice.” Here, it evidently refers to the judges who declared oppressive and unjust sentences, and caused them to be recorded. It does not refer to the mere scribes, or recorders of the judicial opinions, but to the judges themselves, who pronounced the sentence

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 10:1 The prophecy begun in Isaiah 9:8 terminates with this stanza, which contains a warning against injustice and oppression, addressed to Israel and Judah equally, and accompanied by the threat of a "day of desolation," when those who have refused to make God their Refuge will have no resource, but to go into captivity with the "prisoners," or to perish with the "slain." A foreign conquest, accompanied by slaughter, and the deportation of captives, is not obscurely intimated. ISAIAH 10:1 WOE UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES (comp. Isaiah 1:17

WOE UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES,.... Or, "O ye that decree", c. הוי being a sign of the vocative case, and an interjection of calling, as Aben Ezra observes though the Targum and other versions understand it of a threatening denounced; and is to be understood as lying against lawgivers and judges, political rulers and governors of the people, that made unrighteous laws; laws which were not agreeable to the law of God, nor right reason; and were injurious to the persons and properties of men; and which were calculated for the oppression of good men, especially the poor, and for the protection of wicked men, who made no conscience of spoiling them: AND THAT WRITE GRIEVOUSNESS [WHICH] THEY HAVE PRESCRIBED; laws grievous and intolerable being made by them, they wrote them, or ordered them to be written, to be engrossed and promulgated, published them, and obliged the people to...

CHAPTER 10 The Assyrian, His invasion of Immanuel's land, and His end 1. _The first four verses belong to the preceding chapter. A description of the Assyrian enemy (Isaiah 10:5)_ 2. _The overthrow of his army announced (Isaiah 10:12)_ 3. _The punishment (Isaiah 10:16)_ 4. _The return of the remnant (Isaiah 10:20)_ 5. _The faithful remnant comforted (Isaiah 10:24)_ 6. The Assyrians march against Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:28

ISAIAH 9:8 TO ISAIAH 10:4. YAHWEH SMITES EPHRAIM WITH STROKE AFTER STROKE. It is generally agreed that Isaiah 5:26 formed the closing strophe of this poem (p. 440). The date is probably before the coalition of Syria and Ephraim (Isaiah 9:11 f.), _i.e._ between 740 and 735. It is one of Isaiah's earliest prophecies. It is very uncertain whether the whole is a prediction of the future, or whether, with the exception of the conclusion, it describes calamities that have already overtaken the people. On the whole the former view is preferable. It is that adopted in RV, the tenses being taken as prophetic perfects, the alternative view being given in

WRITE. ordain, or register; legalize iniquities. GRIEVOUSNESS. oppression. PRESCRIBED. written....