¹ Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
    and who rely on horses,
who place their trust in a large number of chariots
    and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
    or seek the Lord’s guidance.
² Yet he, too, is wise and can bring disaster,
    and he does not take back his threats.
He will rise up against the house of the wicked
    and against those who come to the support of evildoers.
³ The Egyptians are mortal, not divine;
    their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
    the helper will stumble and the one helped will fall;
    all of them will perish together.

As a lion or a lion cub
    growls over its prey,
and when a band of shepherds
    gather together to drive it off,
it is not frightened by their shouting
    or daunted by their clamor,
so the Lord of hosts will come down
    to do battle on the heights of Mount Zion.
⁵ Like a hovering bird
    the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it,
    he will spare and rescue it.
⁶ Come back to the one
    whom you have completely deserted,
    O children of Israel.
⁷ For on that day
    all of you will cast away
your idols of silver and your false gods of gold
    which your own sinful hands have made.

⁸ Then Assyria will fall by a sword not brandished by a man
    and be devoured by a sword that no human yields;
he will flee before the sword,
    and his young warriors will endure forced labor.
⁹ His stronghold will be abandoned in terror,
    and his commanders will panic and desert him.
Thus says the Lord whose fire is in Zion
    and whose furnace burns in Jerusalem.