5  Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

6  Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7  But he does not so intend,

and his heart does not so think;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few;

8  for he says:

“Are not my commanders all 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 idols,

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14  My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped.”

15  ^oShall the axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

16  Therefore the Lord God of hosts

will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,

and under his glory a burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

17  The light of Israel will become a fire,

and his Holy One a flame,

and it will burn and devour

his thorns and briers in one day.

18  The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.

24  The Lord of hosts has sworn:

^d“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

25  that ^eI will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and ^fhis yoke shall depart from them,

and his burden from their shoulder.”

26  This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is the hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

27  For the Lord of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

and ^gwho will turn it back?