6. Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.
7. And he--he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For--to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.
8. For he saith, `Are not my princes altogether kings?
9. Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10. As my hand hath got to the kingdoms of a worthless thing, and their graven images, [Greater] than Jerusalem and than Samaria,
11. Do I not--as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?
12. And it hath come to pass, When the Lord doth fulfil all His work In mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur. And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.
13. For he hath said, `By the power of my hand I have wrought, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And their chief ones I have spoiled, And I put down as a mighty one the inhabitants,
14. And my hand as to a nest Getteth to the wealth of the peoples, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs All the earth I--I have gathered, And there hath not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.'
15. --Doth the axe glorify itself Against him who is hewing with it? Doth the saw magnify itself Against him who is shaking it? As a rod waving those lifting it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not wood!
16. Therefore doth the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his honour He kindleth a burning As the burning of a fire.