Isaiah 31

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 man, 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 its prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against it
is not terrified by their shouting
or subdued by their noise,
so the LORD of hosts will come down
to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill."

⁵ Like birds hovering overhead,
so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will pass over and rescue it.

⁶ Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted,
O children of Israel.

⁷ For in that day every one of you will throw away
his idols of silver and his idols of gold,
which your hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸ "And the Assyrian will fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of a human hand, will devour him.
He will flee from the sword,
and his young men will be put to forced labor.

⁹ His rock will pass away in terror,
and his officers will be dismayed at the signal."
declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.