3 Lawmakers, you will have to explain what you have done. What will you do then? Your destruction is coming from a faraway country. Where will you run for help? Your money and your riches will not help you.
4 You will have to bow down like a prisoner. You will fall down like a dead man, but that will not help you. God will still be angry and ready to punish you.
5 The Lord says, “I will use Assyria like a stick. In my anger I will use Assyria to punish Israel.
6 I will send Assyria to fight against the people who do evil. I am angry with them, and I will command Assyria to fight against them. Assyria will defeat them and take their wealth. Israel will be like dirt for Assyria to walk on in the streets.
7 “But Assyria does not understand that I will use him. He does not think of himself as my tool. He only wants to destroy other people. He only plans to destroy many nations.
8 Assyria says to himself, ‘All of my officers are like kings!
9 The city of Calno is no better than the city of Carchemish. Arpad is like Hamath, and Samaria is like Damascus.