And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, {d} which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with {e} tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight {f} with it.

(d) It will destroy.

(e) With joy and assurance of the victory.

(f) Against Babel, meaning the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Wesley's Notes

30:32 The rod - Heb. the founded rod, the judgment of God, called a founded rod, because it was firmly established, by God's immutable purpose. Him - Upon the Assyrian. With harps - Their destruction shall be celebrated by God's people, with joy and musick, and songs of praise. Of shaking - Or, shaking of the hand, of which kind of shaking this Hebrew word is constantly used. God will fight against them, and destroy them by his own hand. With it - With the army of the Assyrians.

King James Translators' Notes

in every...: Heb. every passing of the rod founded

lay...: Heb. cause to rest upon

with it: or, against them

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

32. grounded-rather, "decreed," "appointed" [Maurer].

staff-the avenging rod.

him-the Assyrian; type of all God's enemies in every age. Margin and Maurer construe, "Every passing through (infliction, Isa 28:15) of the appointed rod, which, &c., shall be with tabrets," that is, accompanied with joy on the part of the rescued peoples.

battles of shaking-that is, shock of battles (Isa 19:16; compare "sift . sieve," Isa 30:28).

with it-namely, Assyria.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:27-33 God curbs and restrains from doing mischief. With a word he guides his people into the right way, but with a bridle he turns his enemies upon their own ruin. Here, in threatening the ruin of Sennacherib's army, the prophet points at the final and everlasting destruction of all impenitent sinners. Tophet was a valley near Jerusalem, where fires were continually burning to destroy things that were hurtful and offensive, and there the idolatrous Jews caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. This denotes the certainty of the destruction, as an awful emblem of the place of torment in the other world. No oppressor shall escape the Divine wrath. Let sinners then flee to Christ, seeking to be reconciled to Him, that they may be safe and happy, when destruction from the Almighty shall sweep away all the workers of iniquity.