Isaiah 10:5-17

⁵Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, The staff in whose hands is the instrument of my indignation!

⁶Against an impious nation I will send him, And against a people under my wrath I will give him a charge To gather the spoil, and seize the prey, And to trample them under foot like the mire of the streets.

⁷But he doth not so purpose, And his heart doth not so intend; But to destroy is in his heart, And to cut off a multitude of nations.

⁸For he saith, “Are not my princes altogether kings?

⁹Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were more numerous than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹Behold! as I have done to Samaria and her idols, So will I do to Jerusalem and her images.”

¹²But when the Lord hath accomplished his whole work upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem, Then will he punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, And the arrogance of his lofty eyes.

¹³For he hath said: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom; for I am wise; I have removed the bounds of nations, I have plundered their treasures; As a hero have I brought down them that sat upon thrones.

¹⁴The riches of the nations hath my hand seized, as a nest; As one gathereth eggs that have been left, So have I gathered the whole world. And there was none that moved the wing, Or that opened the beak, or that chirped.”

¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth with it? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it? As if the rod should wield him that lifteth it! As if the staff should lift up him that is not wood!

¹⁶Wherefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send upon his fat ones leanness, And under his glory shall he kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire.

¹⁷The light of Israel shall be a fire, And his Holy One a flame, Which shall burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.