Isaiah 10:5–15

Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger—

the staff in their hands is My wrath.

⁶I will send him against a godless nation;

I will command him to go

against a people destined for My rage,

to take spoils, to plunder, ^l

and to trample them down like clay ^min the streets.

⁷But this is not what he intends;

this is not what he plans.

It is his intent to destroy

and to cut off many nations.

⁸For he says,

“Aren’t all my commanders kings?

⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?

Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?

Isn’t Samaria ⁿlike Damascus? ^o

¹⁰As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms,

whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹and as I did to Samaria and its idols

will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?” ^p

Judgment on Assyria

¹²But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I ^qwill punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.” ^r13For he said:

I have done this by my own strength

and wisdom, for I am clever.

I abolished the borders of nations

and plundered their treasures; ^s

like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants. ^tu

¹⁴My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,

to seize the wealth of the nations.

Like one gathering abandoned eggs,

I gathered the whole earth.

No wing fluttered;

no beak opened or chirped.

¹⁵Does an ax exalt itself

above the one who chops with it?

Does a saw magnify itself

above the one who saws with it?

It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts ^vit!

It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn’t wood!