6. “Against a defiled nation I send him, and against the people of My wrath I command him to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mud of the streets.
7. “But he does not intend so, nor does his heart think so, for it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations.
8. “For he says, ‘Are not my princes sovereigns?
9. ‘Is not Kalno like Karkemish? Is not Ḥamath like Arpaḏ? Is not Shomeron like Damascus?
10. ‘As my hand has found the reigns of the idols, whose carved images excelled those of Yerushalayim and Shomeron,
11. as I have done to Shomeron and her idols, do I not do also to Yerushalayim and her idols?’
12. “And it shall be, when יהוה has performed all His work on Mount Tsiyon and on Yerushalayim, that I shall punish the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the sovereign of Ashshur, and the boasting of his haughty looks.
13. “For he has said, ‘By the power of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have been clever. And I remove the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries. And I put down the inhabitants like a strong one.