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13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations,[a]
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror,[b] I brought down rulers.[c]
14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.”[d]
15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,
or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it?[e]
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 10:13 tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”
  2. Isaiah 10:13 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (keʾabbir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).
  3. Isaiah 10:13 tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshevim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.
  4. Isaiah 10:14 sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.
  5. Isaiah 10:15 tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”