Yesaya 10:5-7

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

10:5 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 

Yesaya 45:1-6

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ⁹  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ¹⁰ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ¹¹ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

45:2 “I will go before you

and level mountains. ¹² 

Bronze doors I will shatter

and iron bars ¹³  I will hack through.

45:3 I will give you hidden treasures, ¹⁴ 

riches stashed away in secret places,

so you may recognize that I am the Lord,

the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.

45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,

Israel, my chosen one,

I call you by name

and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize ¹⁵  me.

45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, ¹⁶ 

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, ¹⁷  even though you do not recognize ¹⁸  me.

45:6 I do this ¹⁹  so people ²⁰  will recognize from east to west

that there is no God but me;

I am the Lord, I have no peer.

[10:5]  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.

[10:5]  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.”

[10:6]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

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

[10:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[45:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ¹⁰ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[45:2]  ¹² tc The form הֲדוּרִים (hadurim) makes little, if any, sense here. It is probably a corruption of an original הָרָרִים (hararim, “mountains”), the reduplicated form of הָר (har, “mountain”).

[45:2]  ¹³ tn That is, on the gates. Cf. CEV “break the iron bars on bronze gates.”

[45:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “treasures of darkness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “treasures from dark, secret places.”

[45:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “know” (NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT); NIV “acknowledge.”

[45:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[45:6]  ¹⁹ tn The words “I do this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[45:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they” (so KJV, ASV); TEV, CEV “everyone”; NLT “all the world.”