10:6 I sent him 1 against a godless 2 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 3
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 4 like dirt in the streets.
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? 5
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
1 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
2 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
3 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
4 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
5 tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”