10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, 1
a cudgel with which I angrily punish. 2
10:6 I sent him 3 against a godless 4 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 5
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 6 like dirt in the streets.
10:7 But he does not agree with this,
his mind does not reason this way, 7
for his goal is to destroy,
and to eliminate many nations. 8
10:8 Indeed, 9 he says:
“Are not my officials all kings?
10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?
Hamath like Arpad?
Samaria like Damascus? 10
10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, 11
whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s 12 or Samaria’s.
10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,
so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” 13
10:12 But when 14 the sovereign master 15 finishes judging 16 Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I 17 will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. 18 10:13 For he says:
“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations, 19
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror, 20 I brought down rulers. 21
10:14 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.” 22
10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,
or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? 23
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
10:16 For this reason 24 the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. 25 His majestic glory will go up in smoke. 26
10:17 The light of Israel 27 will become a fire,
their Holy One 28 will become a flame;
it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s 29 briers
and his thorns in one day.
10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard
will be completely destroyed, 30
as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. 31
10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,
a child will be able to count them. 32
10:20 At that time 33 those left in Israel, those who remain of the family 34 of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. 35 Instead they will truly 36 rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 37 10:21 A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 38