“I have done it by the strength of my hand
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding,
and I have removed the boundaries of peoples,
    and I have plundered their stores,
    and like a bull I have brought down the inhabitants.^[h]
14 And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples,
    and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth.
        And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp.”
¹⁵ Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against the one who moves it to and fro?
As if a rod should move the one who lifts it!^[i]
    As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood!^[j]
16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors,
    and a burning like the burning of fire will burn under his glory.
¹⁷ And the light of Israel will become like a fire,
    and his holy one like a flame,
and it will burn and devour his thorns^[k] and briers^[l] in one day.
¹⁸ And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard completely,^[m]
    and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.
¹⁹ And the rest of the trees^[n] of his forest will be a small number,
    and a boy can write them down.