Isaiah 10:5-19

The Voice

Eternal One: How awful it will be for Assyria, the rod of My anger,
        as they come crashing in on you; the club they bear is My fury.
⁶     I am sending Assyria against a nation that refuses to act rightly,
        delegating it to humble a people who have frustrated
        and infuriated Me by their blithe dismissal.
    Assyria will snatch their wealth, seize their treasures,
        and trample over them like mud in the streets.

⁷ But they will get cocky. Assyria has its own intentions for destruction,
    to move against other people and other places to cut them down.
^8-9 The victories make them think they’re invincible:
    The king of Assyria says:
    “Aren’t all of my princes destined to be kings?
Calno fell just like Carchemish.
    I took Hamath as easily as Arpad. Samaria, too, fell like Damascus.
¹⁰ My powerful hand has reached out to subdue kingdom after kingdom
    whose idols were more famous and respected than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.
¹¹ Now I will move in and take over Jerusalem and her idols
    as easily as I did in Samaria.”

¹³ Assyrian King: I am so smart, so strong, so knowledgeable.
        I am clearly superior to everyone else,
    Moving easily into other countries and using them to suit my needs,
        taking their treasures at will and humbling their citizens.
¹⁴     I just reach out and take the land and the riches I want—
        from all over the earth—as easily as one gathers eggs from a nest.
    They don’t flap their wings;
        they don’t make a sound, while they look on helplessly.

¹⁵ But wow, are they ever mistaken! Assyria seems to think it has used God.
    Can an ax take credit instead of the one who swings it?
Is a saw better than the one who uses it?
    Only if a club or rod can move on its own.
¹⁶ So the Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
    will afflict Assyria’s brawny soldiers with disease,
And they will waste away to nothing.
    God will kindle a roaring fire beneath Assyria’s fleeting glory.
^17-18 The light of God’s people will be like a fire that burns up
    the thorns and briars in a single day.
The Holy One will become a flame and make an end of all of Assyria’s schemes.
    God will consume the grandeur of his forest and fruitful fields;
He will consume both body and soul,
    as when the sick grow weak and waste away.
¹⁹ So few trees will remain of his glorious forest
    that a child could count them.