Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

¹ Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in their abundance of chariots

and in their multitude of horsemen.^*

They do not look to the Holy One of Israel;

they do not seek the LORD.

² Yet He too is wise and brings disaster;

He does not call back His words.

He will rise up against the house of the wicked

and against the allies of evildoers.

³ But the Egyptians are men, not God;

their horses are flesh, not spirit.^*

When the LORD stretches out His hand,

the helper will stumble,

and the one he helps will fall;

both will perish together.

⁴ For this is what the LORD has said to me:

“Like a lion roaring

or a young lion over its prey —

and though a band of shepherds is called out against it,

it is not terrified by their shouting

or subdued^* by their clamor —

so the LORD of Hosts will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

⁵ Like birds hovering overhead,

so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will shield it and deliver it;

He will pass over it^* and preserve it.”

⁶ Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel. ⁷ For on that day, every one of you will reject^* the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

⁸ “Then Assyria will fall,

but not by the sword^* of man;

a sword^* will devour them,

but not one made by mortals.

They will flee before the sword,^*

and their young men will be put to forced labor.

⁹ Their rock^* will pass away for fear,

and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,”

declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,

whose furnace is in Jerusalem.