Woe to the makers of wicked laws. The Assyrian shall be a rod for punishing Israel: but for their pride they shall be destroyed: and a remnant of Israel saved.

¹ Woe to those who make unfair laws, and who, when writing, write injustice:

² in order to oppress the poor in judgment, and to do violence to the case of the humble of my people, in order that widows may be their prey, and that they might plunder the orphan.

³ What will you do on the day of visitation and calamity which is approaching from afar? To whom will you flee for assistance? And where will you leave behind your own glory,

⁴ so that you may not be bowed down under the chains, and fall with the slain? Concerning all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.

⁵ Woe to Assur! He is the rod and the staff of my fury, and my indignation is in their hands.¹

1. 10:5The term Assur refers to a false Assyrian god, but also figuratively to the Antichrist (a false god from Assyria).(Conte)

⁶ I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will order him against the people of my fury, so that he may take away the plunder, and tear apart the prey, and place it to be trampled like the mud of the streets.

⁷ But he will not consider it to be so, and his heart will not suppose it to be this way. Instead, his heart will be set to crush and to exterminate more than a few nations.

⁸ For he will say:¹

1. 10:8These next few verses are Assur speaking, not God. The Antichrist first destroys all of the false worship of the sinful secular nations, so that he alone can be the object of false worship; next he thinks to destroy the ‘false worship’ (what he considers to be false worship and idolatry) of Catholics (Jerusalem) and of Christians who have fallen away from the true Catholic Church, but still consider themselves to be Christian (Samaria). But it shall not be so; in verse 12 we are told that God will act against him (Assur).(Conte)

⁹ “Are not my princes like many kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish, and Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰ In the same manner as my hand reached the kingdoms of the idol, so also will it reach their false images, those of Jerusalem and of Samaria.

¹¹ Should I not do to Jerusalem and her false images, just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

¹² And this shall be: when the Lord will have completed each of his works on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will act against the fruit of the exalted heart of king Assur, and against the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

¹³ For he has said: “I have acted with the strength of my own hand, and I have understood with my own wisdom, and I have removed the limits of the people, and I have plundered their leaders, and, like one with power, I have pulled down those residing on high.

¹⁴ And my hand has reached to the strength of the people, as to a nest. And, just as the eggs which have been left behind are gathered, so have I gathered the entire earth. And there was no one who moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or uttered a snarl.”

¹⁵ Should the axe glorify itself over him who wields it? Or can the saw exalt itself over him who pulls it? How can a rod lift itself up against him who wields it, or a staff exalt itself, though it is only wood?

¹⁶ Because of this, the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones. And under the influence of his glory, a burning ardor will rage, like a consuming fire.

¹⁷ And the light of Israel will be like a fire, and the Holy One of Israel will be like a flame. And his thorns and briers will be set ablaze and devoured, in one day.

¹⁸ And the glory of his forest and of his beautiful hill will be consumed, from the soul even to the flesh. And he will flee away in terror.

¹⁹ And what remains of the trees of his forest will be so few, and so easily numbered, that even a child could write them down.

²⁰ And this shall be in that day: those not added to the remnant of Israel, and those who escape of the house of Jacob, will not lean upon him who strikes them. Instead, they will lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

²¹ The remnant of Jacob, again I say the remnant, will be converted to the mighty God.

²² For though your people, O Israel, will be like the sand of the sea, yet only a remnant of them will be converted. The consummation, having been shortened, will be inundated with justice.¹²³

1. 10:22This is just as Christ himself said, that if those days has not been shortened no one would survive. But they will be shortened, for the sake of the elect, and for the sake of this remnant.(Conte)
2. 10:22A remnant of them shall be converted: This was partly verified in the children of Israel who remained after the devastations of the Assyrians, in the time of king Ezechias: and partly in the conversion of a remnant of the Jews to the faithful of Christ.(Challoner)
3. 10:22The consumption abridged, etc: That is, the number of them cut short, and reduced to few, shall flourish in abundance of justice.(Challoner)

²³ For the Lord, the God of hosts, will accomplish an abbreviation and a consummation, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴ For this reason, the Lord, the God of hosts, says this: “My people, who inhabit Zion: do not be afraid of Assur. He will strike you with his rod, and he will lift up his staff over you, on the way of Egypt.

²⁵ But after a little while and a brief time, my indignation will be consumed, and my fury will turn to their wickedness.”¹

1. 10:25The division of the Antichrist’s reign into two brief periods of time (the first and second halves of his reign) is indicated by the phrase “paululum modicumque.”(Conte)

²⁶ And the Lord of hosts will raise up a scourge over him, like the scourge of Midian at the rock of Oreb, and he will raise up his rod over the sea, and he will lift it up against the way of Egypt.

²⁷ And this shall be in that day: his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke will be taken away from your neck, and the yoke will decay at the appearance of the oil.¹

1. 10:27At the presence of the oil: That is, by the sweet unction of divine mercy.(Challoner)

²⁸ He will approach Aiath; he will cross into Migron; he will entrust his vessels to Michmash.¹

1. 10:28Into Aiath, etc: Here the prophet describes the march of the Assyrians under Sennacherib; and the terror they should carry with them; and how they should suddenly be destroyed.(Challoner)

²⁹ They have passed through in haste; Geba is our seat; Ramah was stupefied; Gibeah of Saul fled.

³⁰ Neigh with your voice, daughter of Gallim; pay attention, Laishah, impoverished woman of Anathoth.

³¹ Madmenah has moved away; be strengthened, you inhabitants of Gebim.

³² It is still daylight, so stand at Nob. He will shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ Behold, the sovereign Lord of hosts will crush the little bottle of wine with terror, and the exalted in stature will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.

³⁴ And the dense forest will be overturned with iron. And Lebanon, with its exalted ones, will fall.