Isaiah 10:5-19

Common English Bible

Assyria as God’s punishing weapon

⁵Doom to Assyria, rod of my anger,
    in whose hand is the staff of my fury!
⁶Against 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.
⁷But he has other plans;
    he schemes in secret;
    destruction is on his mind,
    extermination of nation after nation.
⁸He says: Aren’t my commanders all kings?
⁹    Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
    Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
    Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰Just as I took control of idolatrous kingdoms
    with more images than Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹    just as I did to Samaria and her false gods,
    won’t I also do this to Jerusalem and her idols?

¹²But when the Lord has finished all this work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish^[a] the Assyrian king’s arrogant actions and the boasting of his haughty eyes.

¹³He 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.”

¹⁵Will 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!
¹⁶Therefore, 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.
¹⁷The light of Israel will become a fire,
    its holy one a flame,
    which will burn and devour
    its thorns and thistles
    in a single day.
¹⁸Its abundant forest and farmland
    will be finished completely,^[b]
    as when a sick person wastes away;
¹⁹    its forest’s remaining trees will be no more than a child can count.