Isaiah 10:15

WEB

¹⁵Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

KJV

¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

BSB

¹⁵Does 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!

FBV

¹⁵Does an ax say it's more important than the person swinging it? Does a saw boast that it's greater than the person sawing with it? It would be as if a rod waved the person holding it, or a walking stick lifted up a person—who certainly wasn't wood!

Related Resources

Book of Isaiah Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1) - BibleProject
The Sacrifice of Christ in the Season of Christmas - Desiring God

Extra References

Romans 9:20-21

²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”²¹Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

Isaiah 45:9

⁹Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?

Isaiah 10:5

⁵Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!

Isaiah 29:16

¹⁶You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay, that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Jeremiah 51:20-23

²⁰“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. ²¹With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider. ²²With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. ²³With you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke. With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies.

Ezekiel 28:9

⁹Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.

Psalms 17:13-14

¹³Arise, LORD, confront him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, ¹⁴from men by your hand, LORD, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.