Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

Isaiah 10

5 Ah, Assyria, e the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
 6 Against a f godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take g spoil and seize plunder,
and to h tread them down like the mire of the streets.
 7 But he i does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
 8 for he says:
j "Are not my commanders all kings?
 9 k Is not l Calno like m Carchemish?
Is not n Hamath like o Arpad?
p Is not q Samaria like Damascus?
 10 As my hand has reached to r the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
 11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and s her idols
t as I have done to Samaria and her images?"

12 u When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, v he 1 will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

13 w For he says:
"By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
 14 My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped."

15 Shall x the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
 16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his y stout warriors,
and under his glory z a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
 17 a The light of Israel will become a fire,
and b his Holy One a flame,
and c it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers d in one day.
 18 The glory of e his forest and of his f fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
 19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:24
    Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did.
    Isaiah 9:4
    For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
    Micah 5:1
    Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
    Micah 6:9
    The voice of the Lord cries to the city - and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: "Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 9:17
    Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:14 - 16
    And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:5
    And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
  5. Cross References
    Micah 4:12
    But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord ; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:24
    How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:12 - 13
    Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 10:10
    The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
    Amos 6:2
    Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory.
  9. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 35:20
    After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.
    Jeremiah 46:2
    About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 11:11
    In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
    Amos 6:2
    Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory.
    Zechariah 9:2
    And on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
  11. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:34
    Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
  12. Cross References
    2 Kings 16:9
    And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
    2 Kings 17:6
    In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 7:9
    And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'
  14. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:17 - 18
    Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:8
    Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
  16. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:34
    Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 29:4 - 5
    And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
    Isaiah 30:18
    Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
    2 Kings 19:31
    For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this.
  18. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:35 - 37
    And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:23 - 25
    'Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
    2 Kings 19:22 - 24
    Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:5
    Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
    Isaiah 29:16
    You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
    Isaiah 45:9
    Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?
    Romans 9:17
    For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 78:31
    The anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:33
    For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
  23. Cross References
    Obadiah 1:18
    The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:23
    Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 27:4
    I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together.
    Isaiah 9:18
    For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
    Nahum 1:10
    For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 9:14
    So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day -
    2 Kings 19:35
    And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:33
    Behold, the Lord God of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low.
    Isaiah 2:13
    Against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 107:33 - 34
    He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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