Isaiah 10:5-19 - Judgment On Assyria's Arrogance

⁵ How horrible it will be for Assyria! It is the rod of my anger. My fury is in the staff of the Assyrians' hands. ⁶ I send him against a godless nation. I commission him against the people of my fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud (clay) in the streets. ⁷ But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations. ⁸ He boasts: 'Every one of my commanders is a king! ⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand took hold of the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose carved images were greater then those of Jerusalem and Samaria, ¹¹ As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?'

¹² It will happen when Jehovah has performed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will say: I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty appearance. ¹³ The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man! ¹⁴ I found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. I gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.'

¹⁵ Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it? Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it? A rod cannot move the person who lifts it. A wooden stick cannot pick up a person. ¹⁶ That is why the Almighty Jehovah of Hosts will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power. ¹⁷ The Light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame. It will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day! ¹⁸ It will completely destroy the splendor of his forests and fertile fields, as when a sick man wastes away. ¹⁹ And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.