Discovery BoxIsaiah 10:5-12 
Context10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, 1
a cudgel with which I angrily punish. 2
10:6 I sent him 3 against a godless 4 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 5
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 6 like dirt in the streets.
10:7 But he does not agree with this,
his mind does not reason this way, 7
for his goal is to destroy,
and to eliminate many nations. 8
“Are not my officials all kings?
10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?
Hamath like Arpad?
Samaria like Damascus? 10
10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, 11
whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s 12 or Samaria’s.
10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,
so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” 13
10:12 But when 14 the sovereign master 15 finishes judging 16 Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I 17 will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. 18
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
2 tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”
3 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
4 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
5 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
6 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
7 tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”
8 tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”
9 tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
10 sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717
11 tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).
12 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
13 tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”
sn This statement indicates that the prophecy dates sometime between 722-701
14 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
15 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
16 tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”
17 tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.
18 tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.
