Isaiah 10:5-13

5“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger. I use it as a club to express my anger.

6I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.

7But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.

8He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.

9We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.

10Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.

11So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”

12After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant.

13He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull.