Bible Strands
Isaiah 10:6
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Isaiah to define Assyria’s role as an instrument of judgment against a specific target nation. The declaration occurs at the moment God commissions the campaign before contrasting His sovereign purpose with the conqueror’s own motives.
The words — חָנֵף (cha.Nef) translates literally to “godless,” describing the moral condition of the targeted people. עֶבְרָתִי ('ev.ra.T/i) means “My wrath,” indicating that the coming violence is divinely initiated rather than merely political.
The thread — The motif of God employing a foreign power as an instrument of judgment appears in Isaiah 10:5 and Isaiah 10:13, where Assyria is named the “rod of My anger” and later condemned for claiming autonomous achievement. The theme of divine wrath against the ungodly also surfaces in Isaiah 9:17.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that historical conquests operate under sovereign permission, not independent power. It demands a clear distinction between a nation’s stated ambitions and the actual purpose driving its actions.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 10:13 For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.
- Isaiah 19:17 The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.
- Isaiah 37:26 Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 34:22 Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jeremiah 47:6 ‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
- Zechariah 10:5 They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.
- 2 Samuel 22:43 I ground them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like mud in the streets.
- Isaiah 5:29 Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it.