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Assyria as God’s punishing weapon

Doom to Assyria, rod of my anger,
    in whose hand is the staff of my fury!
Against a godless nation I send him;
    against an infuriating people
    I direct him to seize spoil, to steal plunder,
    and to trample them like mud in the streets.
But he has other plans;
    he schemes in secret;
    destruction is on his mind,
    extermination of nation after nation.

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13 He said, “By my own strength I have achieved it,
    and by my wisdom, since I’m so clever.
    I disregarded national boundaries; I raided their treasures;
    I knocked down their rulers like a bull.
14     My hand found the wealth of the peoples
    as if it were in a nest.
Just as one gathers abandoned eggs,
    I have gathered the entire earth;
    no creature fluttered a wing or opened a mouth to chirp.”

15 Will the ax glorify itself over the one who chops with it?
    Or will the saw magnify itself over its user?
As if a rod could wave the one who lifts it!
    As if a staff could lift up the one not made of wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces
    will make the well-fed people waste away;
    and among his officials,
    a blaze will burn like scorching fire.

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They crush your own people, Lord!
    They abuse your very own possession.
They kill widows and immigrants;
    they murder orphans,
    saying all the while,
    “The Lord can’t see it;
        Jacob’s God doesn’t know
        what’s going on!”

You ignorant people better learn quickly.
    You fools—when will you get some sense?
The one who made the ear,
    can’t he hear?
The one who formed the eye,
    can’t he see?
10 The one who disciplines nations,
    can’t he punish?
The one who teaches humans,
    doesn’t he know?[a]
11 The Lord does indeed know human thoughts,
    knows that they are nothing but a puff of air.

12 The people you discipline, Lord, are truly happy—
    the ones you teach from your Instruction—
13     giving them relief from troubling times
        until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 The Lord will not reject his people;
    he will not abandon his very own possession.
15 No, but justice will once again meet up with righteousness,
    and all whose heart is right will follow after.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 94:10 Correction; MT the one who teaches humans knowledge

The Father and the Son

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have shown them to babies. 26 Indeed, Father, this brings you happiness.

27 “My Father has handed all things over to me. No one knows the Son except the Father. And nobody knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.

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