Keraia
Isaiah 10

Isaiah 10:6

Judgment on Assyria · Isaiah 10:5–19
Read Isaiah 10

Translations

Modern
I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
Traditional
I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Literal
I will send him against a godless nation and I will order him against the people of My wrath, to plunder the plunder and to prey on the prey, and to set them for trampling like the clay of the streets.
Latin
Ad gentem fallacem mittam eum, et contra populum furoris mei mandabo illi, ut auferat spolia, et diripiat prædam, et ponat illum in conculcationem quasi lutum platearum.

Original

Hebrew
English
I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

Notes

Isaiah 10:6

  • Judah had a special calling as God’s covenant people. A covenant is a binding agreement between God and his people. However, Judah turned away from the Lord and became a godless nation.

    Because of this, they became the object of God’s anger (Isaiah 10:4). God’s judgment came not because he broke his covenant, but because they did.

  • The word plunder translates two Hebrew words, shalal and baz. Both words mean to take goods by force after victory in battle.

    These words recall the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz (see Isaiah 5:19; 8:1, 3, 5–10).

Isaiah 10:5–19

God announced judgment on Assyria for several reasons:

  • They destroyed other nations without mercy (Isaiah 10:7).

  • They spoke with pride and dishonored God. They boasted about their own power (Isaiah 10:12).

  • They oppressed other peoples and took what did not belong to them (Isaiah 10:13–14).

  • They believed they were acting on their own. They did not recognize that God was using them (Isaiah 10:15).

Isaiah 10:5–11:16

Isaiah 9:8–10:4 shows that the Lord’s moral law is supreme. This means God’s standards of right and wrong stand above every nation and ruler. The next section explains what this truth means:

  1. Assyria was only a tool in God’s hands. Because of this, Assyria was also responsible to God. Like every other nation, it would face judgment for its sin (Isaiah 10:5–19, 28–34).

  2. Those among God’s people who trusted in him and obeyed his covenant would be rescued (Isaiah 10:20–27).

  3. God would establish his kingdom on earth (Isaiah 11).

Isaiah 7:1–12:6

These prophecies occurred when Assyria rose to power. Syria and Israel formed an alliance against Judah (Isaiah 7:1–2; see 2 Kings 16:5). God used Assyria as a tool to punish Syria, Israel, and Judah (Isaiah 7–10).

Theme notes and profiles

Isaiah Salvation in Isaiah

Events

Glossary

Isaiah, Book of Jesse (Person) Lord

Topics

Agency in Executing Judgments Assyria: As a Power, Was: An Instrument of God's Vengeance Assyria: Predictions Respecting: Invasion of Judah By Assyria: Prophecies Concerning God: Providence of, Overruling Interpositions of The Hypocrisy: General Scriptures Concerning Hypocrites: Punishment of Isaiah: Prophecies, Reproofs, and Exhortations of Foretells the Destruction of Sennacherib's Armies Pride: General Scriptures Concerning The Providence of God: The Wicked Made to Promote the Designs