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!

ISAIAH 10:2KJV
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Isaiah 10:2 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 10:2 mean?

Isaiah 10:2 describes officials using their authority to deprive vulnerable people of fair treatment. The verse exposes how decisions made by those with power can strip poor families of their rights and possessions.

Following the mention of unjust laws in verse 1, Isaiah describes their effect on people who need protection. Calling widows “prey” pictures them as targets of people ready to take advantage of them. The phrase “my people” presents the complaint as God’s, spoken through Isaiah.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 10:2

  • “judgment” — דִּין (din): This word can mean a legal case or a decision about someone’s rights. Here, “turn aside the needy from judgment” pictures needy people being kept from a fair hearing.
  • “right” — מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat): This word often refers to justice or a rightful legal claim. In this verse, the poor are being deprived of the fair treatment due to them.

Why Isaiah 10:2 matters

  • The verse connects legal injustice with material loss. Being denied a fair hearing leaves widows and fatherless children exposed to those who would take their possessions.
  • The people harmed are named as members of the community, not outsiders. The phrase “the poor of my people” makes their mistreatment a wrong occurring among Isaiah’s own people.
  • The passage holds those with authority responsible for what their rules bring about. Verse 1 addresses those who make unjust laws, and verse 2 names the people who suffer under them.

Where else these words appear

“judgment” Hebrew H1779 · used in 17 verses

  • Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
  • Psalms 9:4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
  • Proverbs 29:7 The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

“away” Hebrew H1497 · used in 30 verses

  • Genesis 21:25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
  • 1 Chronicles 11:23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
  • Jeremiah 21:12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

“rob” Hebrew H962 · used in 39 verses

  • Genesis 34:27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
  • 2 Kings 7:16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
  • Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

“fatherless” Hebrew H3490 · used in 42 verses

  • Exodus 22:22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
  • Job 6:27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
  • Psalms 146:9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.