Isaiah 10:5-12 ▼

5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel], The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!

6 I send Assyria against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My wrath To take the spoil and to seize the plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

7 Yet it is not Assyria’s intention [to do My will], Nor does it plan so in its heart, But instead it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

8 For Assyria says, “Are not my princes all kings?

9 “Is not Calno [conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]? Is not Hamath [subdued] like Arpad [her neighbor]? Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Aram]?

10 “As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images were greater and more feared than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11 Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” [declares Assyria].

12 So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.”