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.