Isaiah 10:5-19

English Standard Version

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(A)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(B)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(C)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to ^(D)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(E)does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
⁸for he says:
^(F)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(G)Is not ^(H)Calno like ^(I)Carchemish?
    Is not ^(J)Hamath like ^(K)Arpad?
    ^(L)Is not ^(M)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(N)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(O)her idols
    ^(P)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(Q)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(R)he^[a] will punish the speech^[b] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(S)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴My hand has found like a nest
    the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
    so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
    or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(T)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his ^(U)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(V)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(W)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and ^(X)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(Y)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers ^(Z)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(AA)his forest and of his ^(AB)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.