O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Ver. 5. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.] Or, Woe to the Assyrian; or, Heu Assur, Alas, the Assyrian! q.d., Alas, that I am forced by this sharp and iron rod to correct my people, whom I have bred so choicely! Dolentis vocem assumit Deus, saith Oecolampadius.
The rod of mine anger.] Or, My rod of anger. A rod of anger to beat the little ones, and a staff of indignation to bastinado the bigger and more stubborn. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the "hammer of the whole earth." Jer 50:23 Tamerlane called himself, The wrath of God, and the desolation of the world, a Attilas styled himself, King of Huns, Medes, Goths, Dacians; "The terror of the world, and God's scourge." The wicked are God's rod, said that martyr, whom, when he hath worn to the stump, he will cast into the fire. b
a Ira Dei ego sum, et orbis vastitas.
b Acts and Mon., fol. 1544.