Isaiah identifies Assyria as “the rod of my anger” sent against a godless nation to seize spoil and tread people down (Isaiah 10:5-6). The passage also says Assyria does not mean this in its own heart, but intends destruction for its own purposes (Isaiah 10:7).
In Isaiah 10:5–7 Assyria is addressed as a tool in God’s hand—like a rod or staff used to strike. God says he is sending Assyria against a people described as profane and as the target of his anger, authorizing plunder and humiliation. Yet the passage quickly adds a tension: Assyria does not understand itself as an instrument. These verses begin a new unit within Isaiah’s warnings about prideful leadership and coming disaster. Just before this, the prophet has described ongoing trouble and a “still not turned” pattern of judgment in Israel’s crisis (10:1–4). Now the focus shifts to the foreign empire that will carry out the blow.
Isaiah 10:5–7 portrays Assyria as a real empire with real military power, yet also as an instrument in God’s hand. The text’s main images (“rod” and “staff”) frame Assyria’s strength as delegated: God’s anger is the force driving the blow (explicit: Assyria is “the rod of my anger”).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Isaiah 10:5-6, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
5Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.