A warning to Assyria

5 Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to Assyria.

It is true that their army is like a rod/club [DOU] with which I punish other nations

because I am very angry with those nations [DOU].

6 Sometimes I send the armies of Assyria to attack a godless nation,

to fight against other people who have caused me to be angry.

I send them to capture people and to seize and take away their possessions,

and to trample them like [SIM] people walk on mud in the streets.

7 But the king of Assyria does not understand,

he does not realize that he is only like a weapon in my hand.

He wants only to destroy people,

to get rid of many nations.

8 He says, ‘All of my army commanders will soon be kings of these nations that I conquer!

9 We destroyed Calno city like we destroyed Carchemish city,

We destroyed Hamath city like we destroyed Arpad city;

we destroyed Samaria just like we destroyed Damascus.

10 We were able to destroy all those kingdoms that were full of idols,

kingdoms whose idols were greater than the idols in Jerusalem and Samaria.

11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and destroy the idols that are there,

just like we destroyed Samaria and the idols that were there!’

12 But, I, Yahweh, say that after I have used Assyria to finish what I want to do to punish the people in Jerusalem [DOU], I will punish the king of Assyria because he has been very proud and arrogant/boastful [DOU].

13 He says, ‘By my own great power [MTY] I have done these things.

I have been able to do them because I am very wise and very intelligent.

My army removed the barriers at the borders of nations

and carried away all their valuable things.

My army has knocked down their kings like [SIM] a ferocious bull would.

14 Like [MET] a farmer reaches into a bird’s nest to take away the eggs,

we have taken away the treasures of other countries [DOU].

The people were not like birds that would flap their wings or chirp loudly to protest about their eggs being stolen;

the people did not object at all to their treasures being stolen.’

15 But I, Yahweh, say that an axe certainly cannot [RHQ] boast about being stronger than the person who uses it,

and a saw is not greater than the person who uses it.

A rod cannot control the one who holds it [RHQ],

and a wooden club cannot lift up a person [RHQ].

So the king of Assyria should not boast that he has done these things with his own wisdom and strength.

16 And I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will send a plague among the proud soldiers of Assyria;

it will be like [MET] a fire that will kill them and get rid of their glory/wealth.

17 I, Yahweh, who am like [MET] a light for the people of Israel, will be the fire;

I, the Holy One, will be like a flame.

The soldiers of Assyria are like [MET] thorns and briers,

and I will burn them up in one night.

18 There are glorious forests and fertile farmlands in Assyria, but I will completely destroy them;

they will be like [SIM] a very sick person who shrivels up and then dies.

19 There will be very few trees left in those forests;

even a child will be able to count them.”