Yesaya 10:15

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? ¹ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Yesaya 13:19

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ²  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ³ 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ⁴ 

Yesaya 20:5

20:5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. ⁵ 

[10:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”

[13:19]  ² tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ³ tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century b.c. Their most famous king, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Judah in 605 b.c. and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

[13:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[20:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they will be afraid and embarrassed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their beauty.”