Isaiah 31

¹Woe 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!

²And 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 .

³The 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 .

⁴For 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 out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise , so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill .

⁵Like birds hovering , so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem ; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.

⁶Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted , O children of Israel .

⁷For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold , which your hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸And 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 .

⁹His rock shall pass away in terror , and his officers desert the standard in panic , declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion , and whose furnace is in Jerusalem .