[1] Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who
trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are
very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!
[2] And yet he is wise and brings disaster, he does not call back his
words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the
helpers of those who work iniquity. [3] The Egyptians are men, and not God;
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his
hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they
will all perish together. [4] For thus the LORD said to me, As a lion or a
young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called
forth against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their
noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and
upon its hill. [5] Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect
Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it. [6]
Turn to him from whom you have deeply revolted, O people of Israel. [7] For
in that day every one shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of
gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you. [8] "And the Assyrian
shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour
him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to
forced labor. [9] His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers
desert the standard in panic," says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and
whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
