^5 [a]Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation! ⁶ I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and ^[b]to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷ Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. ⁸ For he saith, Are not my princes all of them kings? ⁹ Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand hath ^[c]found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; ¹¹ shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will ^[d]punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. ¹³ For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down ^[e]them that sit on thrones: ¹⁴ and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.

¹⁵ Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood. ¹⁶ Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and ^[f]under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. ¹⁷ And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. ¹⁸ And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be ^[g]as when a standard-bearer fainteth. ¹⁹ And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.