Bible Strands
Isaiah 10:5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Isaiah to Judah during a campaign of divine judgment, declaring that national captivity and unrelenting wrath are imminent.
The words — The text identifies Assyria as the "rod" (שֵׁבֶט, Shevet) and "staff" (מַטֶּה, Matteh) held in the nation's hand to execute divine anger.
The thread — Isaiah 10:15 contrasts the tool with its wielder, while Isaiah 14:25 and Isaiah 30:30 record God's promise to shatter Assyria's yoke and strike with wrath.
Why it lands — The text states that a geopolitical power functions merely as an instrument of sovereign will, requiring readers to acknowledge divine authority over military force.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 10:15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!
- Isaiah 14:25 I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
- Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Jeremiah 51:20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
- Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- Isaiah 13:5 They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.
- Isaiah 14:5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.
- Isaiah 66:14 When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.
- Genesis 10:11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
- Psalms 17:14 from such men, O LORD, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.