¹²After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. ¹³He boasts,

“By my own powerful arm I have done this.

With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.

I have broken down the defenses of nations

and carried off their treasures.

I have knocked down their kings like a bull.

¹⁴I have robbed their nests of riches

and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.

No one can even flap a wing against me

or utter a peep of protest.”

¹⁵But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?

Is the saw greater than the person who saws?

Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?

Can a wooden cane walk by itself?

¹⁶Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,

and a flaming fire will consume its glory.

¹⁷The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;

the Holy One will be a flame.

He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,

burning up the enemy in a single night.

¹⁸The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory

like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;

it will waste away like sick people in a plague.

¹⁹Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—

so few that a child could count them!

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