2. They are not fair to the poor,and they rob my people of their rights.They allow people to steal from widowsand to take from orphans what really belongs to them.
3. How will you explain the things you have done?What will you do when your destruction comes from far away?Where will you run for help?Where will you hide your riches then?
4. You will have to bow down among the captivesor fall down among the dead bodies.But the Lord is still angry;his hand is still raised to strike down the people.
5. God says, “How terrible it will be for the king of Assyria.I use him like a rod to show my anger;in anger I use Assyria like a club.
6. I send it to fight against a nation that is separated from God.I am angry with those people,so I command Assyria to fight against them,to take their wealth from them,to trample them down like dirt in the streets.
7. But Assyria’s king doesn’t understand that I am using him;he doesn’t know he is a tool for me.He only wants to destroy other peopleand to defeat many nations.
8. The king of Assyria says to himself,‘All of my commanders are like kings.
9. The city Calno is like the city Carchemish.The city Hamath is like the city Arpad.The city Samaria is like the city Damascus.
10. I defeated those kingdoms that worship idols,and those idols were more than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria.
11. As I defeated Samaria and her idols,I will also defeat Jerusalem and her idols.’ ”
12. When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud, and his pride has made him do these evil things, so God will punish him.
13. The king of Assyria says this:“By my own power I have done these things;by my wisdom I have defeated many nations.I have taken their wealth,and, like a mighty one, I have taken their people.
14. I have taken the riches of all these people,like a person reaching into a bird’s nest.I have taken these nations,like a person taking eggs.Not one raised a handor opened its mouth to stop me.”
15. An ax is not better than the person who swings it.A saw is not better than the one who uses it.A stick cannot control the person who picks it up.A club cannot pick up the person!
16. So the Lord God All-Powerfulwill send a terrible disease upon Assyria’s soldiers.The strength of Assyria will be burned uplike a fire burning until everything is gone.
17. God, the Light of Israel, will be like a fire;the Holy One will be like a flame.He will be like a firethat suddenly burns the weeds and thorns.