Isaiah 10:6

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.

Isaiah 10:15

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!

[10:6]  ¹ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

[10:6]  ² tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

[10:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”