Isaias 10:15
Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood.
Open Isaias 10:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Numquid gloriabitur securis contra eum qui secat in ea ? aut exaltabitur serra contra eum a quo trahitur ? Quomodo si elevetur virga contra elevantem se, et exaltetur baculus, qui utique lignum est.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- μὴ δοξασθήσεται ἀξίνη ἄνευ τοῦ κόπτοντος ἐν αὐτῇ; ἢ ὑψωθήσεται πρίων ἄνευ τοῦ ἕλκοντος αὐτόν; ὡς ἄν τις ἄρῃ ῥάβδον ἢ ξύλον, καὶ οὐχ οὕτως;
- Hebrew (WLC)
- הֲיִתְפָּאֵר֙ הַגַּרְזֶ֔ן עַ֖ל הַחֹצֵ֣ב בּ֑וֹ אִם יִתְגַּדֵּ֤ל הַמַּשּׂוֹר֙ עַל מְנִיפ֔וֹ כְּהָנִ֥יף שֵׁ֨בֶט֙ וְאֶת מְרִימָ֔יו כְּהָרִ֥ים מַטֶּ֖ה לֹא עֵֽץ
Haydock's commentary
Axe. The Assyrian has no right to boast. What can man do without God's assistance? (Calmet)
Gratiæ tuæ deputo et quæcumque non feci mala. (St. Augustine, Confessions ii. 7.)
Sennacherib persecuted the Jews of his own free will, though he was God's instrument. (Worthington)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Hippolytus Treatise on Christ and Antichrist
16. But Isaiah also speaks thus: “And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish (visit) the stout mind, the king of Assyria, and the greatness (height) of the glory of his eyes. For he said, By my strength will I do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the bounds of the peoples, and will rob them of their strength: and I will make the inhabited cities tremble, and will gather the whole world in my hand like a nest, and I will lift it up like eggs that are left. And there is no one that shall escape or gainsay me, and open the mouth and chatter. Shall the axe boast itself without him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself without him that shaketh (draweth) it? As if one should raise a rod or a staff, and the staff should lift itself up : and not thus. …
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Wars
4. Now Nebuchadnezzar said: I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit in the lofty mountains that are in the borders of the North . Isaiah said concerning him: Because thy heart has thus exalted thee, therefore thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, and all that look upon thee shall be astonished at thee. And Sennacherib also said thus: I will go up to the summit of the mountains and to the shoulders of Lebanon. I will dig and drink water and will dry up with my horses’ hoofs all the deep rivers. …