⁸ “Assyria^(A) will fall by no human sword;
    a sword, not of mortals, will devour^(B) them.
They will flee before the sword
    and their young men will be put to forced labor.^(C)
9 Their stronghold^(D) will fall because of terror;
    at the sight of the battle standard^(E) their commanders will panic,^(F)”
declares the Lord,
    whose fire^(G) is in Zion,
    whose furnace^(H) is in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “Now will I arise,^(A)” says the Lord.
    “Now will I be exalted;^(B)
    now will I be lifted up.
¹¹ You conceive^(C) chaff,
    you give birth^(D) to straw;
    your breath is a fire^(E) that consumes you.
¹² The peoples will be burned to ashes;^(F)
    like cut thornbushes^(G) they will be set ablaze.^(H)”

²⁸ His breath^(A) is like a rushing torrent,^(B)
    rising up to the neck.^(C)
He shakes the nations in the sieve^(D) of destruction;
    he places in the jaws of the peoples
    a bit^(E) that leads them astray.
²⁹ And you will sing
    as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;^(F)
your hearts will rejoice^(G)
    as when people playing pipes^(H) go up
to the mountain^(I) of the Lord,
    to the Rock^(J) of Israel.
³⁰ The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice^(K)
    and will make them see his arm^(L) coming down
with raging anger^(M) and consuming fire,^(N)
    with cloudburst, thunderstorm^(O) and hail.^(P)
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;^(Q)
    with his rod he will strike^(R) them down.
³² Every stroke the Lord lays on them
    with his punishing club^(S)
will be to the music of timbrels^(T) and harps,
    as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.^(U)
33 Topheth^(V) has long been prepared;
    it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
    with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath^(W) of the Lord,
    like a stream of burning sulfur,^(X)
    sets it ablaze.^(Y)

⁵ But your many enemies will become like fine dust,^(A)
    the ruthless^(B) hordes like blown chaff.^(C)
Suddenly,^(D) in an instant,
⁶     the Lord Almighty will come^(E)
with thunder^(F) and earthquake^(G) and great noise,
    with windstorm and tempest^(H) and flames of a devouring fire.^(I)
7 Then the hordes of all the nations^(J) that fight against Ariel,^(K)
    that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,^(L)
    with a vision in the night—
⁸ as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
    but awakens^(M) hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
    but awakens faint and thirsty still.^(N)
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
    that fight against Mount Zion.^(O)

¹³ Although the peoples roar^(A) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes^(B) them they flee^(C) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff^(D) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.^(E)
14 In the evening, sudden^(F) terror!^(G)
    Before the morning, they are gone!^(H)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.