10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, 7
a cudgel with which I angrily punish. 8
10:6 I sent him 9 against a godless 10 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 11
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 12 like dirt in the streets.
10:7 But he does not agree with this,
his mind does not reason this way, 13
for his goal is to destroy,
and to eliminate many nations. 14
38:10 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind, 15 and you will devise an evil plan.
1 tn Grk “hearts.”
2 tn Or “his intent.”
3 tn The infinitive ποιῆσαι (poihsai) was translated here as giving the logical means by which God’s purpose was carried out.
4 tn On this term BDAG 203 s.v. γνώμη 4 states, “declaration, decision, resolution…of God Rv 17:17.”
5 tn For this translation see BDAG 168 s.v. βασιλεία 1.a, “kingship, royal power, royal rule.”
6 tn Or “completed.”
7 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.
8 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.”
9 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
10 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
11 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
12 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
13 tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”
14 tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”
15 tn Heb “words will go up upon your heart.”
16 tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.
17 tn Or “purpose,” “will.”
18 tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.