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"Woe to those who write deceit." Woe to those who condemn (blaspheme) the judgment of God and resort to empty pretexts in order to confuse those seeking judgment and not give them justice. They do this by “avoiding the judgment of the poor,” that is, by pronouncing such definitions by which the poor remain without due satisfaction, “by snatching away the judgment of my poor people” (Is. 10:1–2), that is, by demanding gifts from them. “What has he done on the day of visitation” (Is. 10:3), when the kingdom of Judah will have to suffer punishment for its atrocities? “Whichever of you does not bow down will fall under the shackles of the slain” (Isaiah 10:4). You will become like those who are chained, who are unable to do anything, you will become like those killed, in whom there is no breath of life; so you will be despised in the eyes of the Assyrians. “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My wrath and... I will send My wrath upon the wicked tongue; I will command it to go against an angry people.” The Lord calls the king of Assyria the rod of His wrath, the reed of His wrath, whom He used as an instrument to punish those who irritated Him, and sent against the Jews, against the lawless and angry people, because the Jews dishonored before God and treated their brothers cruelly and contemptuously. “I will command you to create covetousness and captivity” (Is. 10:5-6), that is, the rod of My wrath. The Assyrians will captivate and plunder the selfish interests of the shameless Jews. “And Assur says: behold, Carchemish, not yet conquered by me, will be the same as Khalne (Khalan or Khalke), which I conquered and destroyed. And Hamath, which still stands, will be for me the same as Arpad, who opened the gates for me. And Samaria before me is the same... as Damascus. And Jerusalem, which trusts in its Lord, will be for me the same as Damascus and Samaria, who laid hope in my idols and those taken by my ancestors” (Is. 10:9-11). “As I made Samaria and the things made with hands thereof, so will I also make Jerusalem and its idol” (Is. 10:11). What our dominion and kingdom did to Samaria, I, Sennacherib, will do to Jerusalem. “And it shall come to pass, when the Lord ends all that he has done in Mount Zion.” When the Lord, with the sword of the Assyrians, as with a rod, strikes all the cities of Judah, and they are taken and captured by the king of Assyria, who defeated the inhabitants of Jerusalem and plundered their land, then, as the Lord says: “I will visit the fruits of the heart of the king of Assyria,” that is, I will turn my gaze to the heart thoughts of this king, “and to the height of the glory in his eyes” (Is. 10:12), - I will see what are his deeds, what are his leaders, what are his armies? Why is he so proud of them? “For,” says the king of Assyria, “my princes are kings; “I command all the kingdoms with my hand as a nest” (that is, I conquered the whole earth without difficulty), and just as the eggs left by a bird are gathered up, so I took the whole earth, just as the eggs left by a bird I gathered all the nations of the earth under the yoke of my slavery, and there is not a single king who lifts up his wings and opens his mouth and mocks” ( Isaiah 10:14). I have plundered the wealth of all nations." Thus speaks the king of Assyria in the arrogance and pride of his heart. But the prophet denounces and reproaches his pride, saying: “Just as the axe, the saw and the rod are not proud before the one who cuts, saws and strikes with them, so you should not be proud before the One who exalted you, you should not say: by the power of my hand and by the wisdom of my wisdom I brought the nations out of their borders and took them captive to the country where it pleased me.” This is how the proud king thought and fussed, and at the same time struck and inflicted wounds; he blasphemed the truth of God and carried out the judgment of God. “And the Lord of strength will raise up a plague against me, like the plague of Midian on Mount Horeb.” The prophet means the defeat of the Midianites, not under Gideon, but before, in the days of Moses at Horeb. “And He will lift up... His rod on the way to Egypt” (Is. 10:26). He will raise the rod when the king of Assyria returns from Egypt, because Sennacherib went from the land of Judea to Egypt, and after conquering it, on the way back, he wanted to take possession of Jerusalem, but, seeing the death of his troops, exterminated by the Angel, he was forced to return to Assyria. “And the yoke shall bend before the oil” (Is. 10:27). The prophet calls King Hezekiah, anointed with sacred oil, by oil, and predicts that the Assyrians will be crushed under him. “He will come to Haggai (Aiath), and will pass to Mageddo (Migron). The prophet counts the places where the king of Assyria stopped and passed on the way to Jerusalem. “And in Makhmas (Michmas) he will lay down his vessels” (Is. 10:28), that is, in Michmas he will leave his baggage train. “A narrow passage will pass by Hawai (Geva), the house of our refuge.” These are the places that the king of Assyria intended to occupy in order to stay in them. “Fear came upon Ram, and Hawai (Gibah), the city of Saul, fled” (Is. 10:29), that is, the cities that were on the way of the Assyrians are horrified, and their inhabitants flee. “Cry out with your voice, daughter of Galimla,” that is, the Assyrian army proclaims joyful songs and triumphs over the captivity of the Jews and other nations, “let it be heard in Laisha,” what destruction befell their brethren. “Beware of Anathoth, lest the calamities to which the neighboring cities have been subjected befall you also” (Is. 10:30). “Mademina fled” because she was horrified by what those sent by the Assyrians told her. “And they that dwell in Gibim were strengthened” (Isaiah 10:31). This means either Zion, about which it is said in another place: “they will formulate an intention to imprison him” 4, or one of the cities called by this name. “One more day and he’ll stop in Nova.” He points to the procession of the Assyrians, and then to their defeat and flight, when he says: “Behold, the Lord Lord of hosts will crush the glorious ones with the fortress, - that is, the Assyrian army will be thrown into confusion, - Lebanon with the high ones will fall,” that is, the Assyrian king will fall with his army, which he was proud of (Is. 10: 32-34). See Isaiah 24:22, where the Syriac translation reads the word Guvo, meaning prison; according to the interpretation, it seems to correspond to the proper name Givim. You might be interested in: