Isaiah 31

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.

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots, for they are many; and in horses, [which are] a great multitude; and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought 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.

Therefore he has wisely brought evils upon them, and his word shall not be frustrated; and he shall rise up against the houses of wicked men, and against their vain hope,

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.

[even] an Egyptian, a man, and not God; the flesh of horses, and there is no help [in them]: but the Lord shall bring his hand upon them, and the helpers shall fail, and all shall 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.

For thus said the Lord to me, As a lion would roar, or a lion's whelp over prey which he has taken, and cry over it, until the mountains are filled with his voice, and [the animals] are awe-struck and tremble at the fierceness of his wrath: so the Lord of hosts shall descend to fight upon the mount Sion, [even] upon her mountains.

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.”

As birds flying, so shall the Lord of hosts defend; he shall defend Jerusalem, and he shall rescue, and save and deliver.

6 Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.

Turn, you children of Israel, who devise a deep and sinful counsel.

7 For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

For in that day men shall renounce their silver idols and [their] golden idols, which their hands 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.

And the Assyrian shall fall: not the sword of a great man, nor the sword of a mean man shall devour him; neither shall he flee from the face of the sword: but the young men shall be overthrown:

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.

for they shall be compassed with rocks as with a trench, and shall be worsted; and he that flees shall be taken. Thus says the Lord, Blesses is he that has a seed in Sion, and household friends in Jerusalem.