“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
    and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
    and have plundered their treasures;
    like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
¹⁴ My hand has discovered a nest
    in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
    so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
    or opened a beak to chirp.”
¹⁵ Does the ax consider itself more important
    than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
    than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
    nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.