Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance

5 Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger,

and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!

6 I send him against a godless nation,

and I command him against the people of my wrath,

to capture spoil

and to carry off plunder,

and to make themc a trampling place,

like the clay of the streets.

7 But he does not think this,d

and his heart does not plan this.

For it is in his heart to destroy

and to cut off not a few nations.

8 For he says, “Are not my commanders altogether kings?

9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?

10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idolse

—and their images were ⌊greater than those of⌋f Jerusalem and Samaria—

11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols

what I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

12 And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against ⌊Mount Zion⌋g and Jerusalem, “I will punish the ⌊arrogance⌋h of the king of Assyria and ⌊his haughtiness⌋.”i

13 For he says,

“I have done it by the strength of my hand

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding,

and I have removed the boundaries of peoples,

and I have plundered their stores,

and like a bull I have brought down ⌊the inhabitants⌋.j

14 And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples,

and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth.

And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp.”

15 Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it,

or the saw magnify itself against the one who moves it to and fro?

⌊As if a rod should move the one who lifts it⌋!k

⌊As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood⌋!l

16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors,

and a burning like the burning of fire will burn under his glory.

17 And the light of Israel will become like a fire,

and his holy one like a flame,

and it will burn and devour his thornsm and briersn in one day.

18 And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard ⌊completely⌋,o

and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

19 And the rest of the treesp of his forest will be a small number,

and a boy can write them down.