The Felling of Assyria and the Growth of a Branch: As 7:1–8:10 comprised two parallel sequences, so does 10:5–11:16. The immediately preceding section has come to a worrying end, but there now follows an unexpectedly encouraging reversal. Yahweh has been using Assyria to punish Judah, but Assyria’s own woe, or moment of punishment, is coming—as is Judah’s moment of restoration, the restoring of a remnant.

We have been told that Yahweh’s anger is still unsated, but then we discover that it is being redirected. Yahweh’s horror and offendedness now apply to Assyria (10:5–15). Assyria is now the forest of trees to be destroyed (10:16–19). Judah’s remnant will find its way back to Yahweh, though this promise leaves us in some uncertainty because of the way it ends (10:20–23).

The section 10:24–11…