Yahweh’s Unsated Anger with Israel: After 6:1–9:7 comes to an end, 9:8–10:4 pairs with the preceding section, chapter 5. The section as a whole takes further the earlier talk of Yahweh’s raised hand (5:25–30). The six woes (5:8–24) also come to a conclusion in 10:1–4. The fact that speaks of disaster for northern Israel might suggest that it is the background for the disaster for northern Israel presupposed by 9:1, but this material also confronts Isaiah’s own audience in Judah with the prospect of their invasion by Assyria.

As Yahweh’s anger still burns and Yahweh’s hand is still raised, “past” and “future” verbs interweave throughout the rest of chapter 9, as they do in 5:25–30. This juxtaposition of tenses suggests events that have begun, at least within Yahweh’s purpose, if they have no…