Judgment on Assyria

5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger;

the staff in their hands is My wrath.

6 I will send him against a godless nation;

I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage,

to take spoils and seize plunder,

and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

7 But this is not his intention;

this is not his plan.

For it is in his heart to destroy

and cut off many nations.

8 “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.

9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?

10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms

whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11 and as I have done to Samaria and its idols,

will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

12 So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. 13 For he says:

‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, for I am clever.

I have removed the boundaries of nations

and plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

14 My hand reached as into a nest

to seize the wealth of the nations.

Like one gathering abandoned eggs,

I gathered all the earth.

No wing fluttered,

no beak opened or chirped.’ ”

15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it?

Does a saw boast over him who saws with it?

It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it,

or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

16 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease

among Assyria’s stout warriors,

and under his pomp will be kindled

a fire like a burning flame.

17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire,

and its Holy One a flame.

In a single day it will burn and devour

Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

18 The splendor of its forests and orchards,

both soul and body,

it will completely destroy,

as a sickness consumes a man.

19 The remaining trees of its forests will be so few

that a child could count them.