“Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger.My wrath is a cudgel in his hands!I send him against a godless nation,against the people I’m angry with.I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind,and then push their faces in the mud and leave them.But Assyria has another agenda;he has something else in mind.He’s out to destroy utterly,to stamp out as many nations as he can.Assyria says, ‘Aren’t my commanders all kings?Can’t they do whatever they like?Didn’t I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish?Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus?I’ve eliminated kingdoms full of godsfar more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria.So what’s to keep me from destroying Jerusalemin the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?’”