Study Desk

"Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.

'Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.

'Has not Calno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria-

shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?' "

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.

For he says: " 'By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued ^(F29) their kings.

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.' "

Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it? As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up, or a club brandish him who is not wood!

Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.

The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers.

The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick man wastes away.

And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.