Look Not to Egypt but to God
1 Woe (judgment is coming) to those who go down to Egypt for help,
Who rely on horses
And trust in chariots because they are many,
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seekandconsult the Lord!
2 Yet He is also wise and will bring disaster,
And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers
And against the helpers of those who do evil.
3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God,
And their horses are flesh and not spirit;
And the Lordwill stretch out His hand,
And he (Egypt) who helps will stumble,
And he (Judah) who is helped will fall,
And all of them will perish together.
4 For so the Lordsays to me,
“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
And though a large group of shepherds is called out against him
He will not be terrified at their voice nor cringe at their noise,
So the Lordof hosts will come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”
5 Like flying birds, so will the Lordof hosts protect Jerusalem;
He will protect and save it,
He will pass over and rescue it.
6 Return to Him from whom you have so deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
7 For in that day every man will rejectandthrow away his idols of silver and his idols of gold [in disgust], which your own hands have sinfully made for you.
8 Then the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of man will devour him.
And he will flee from the sword [of God],
And his young men will become forced labor.
9 “His rock [his stronghold] will pass away because of panic,
And his princes will be terrified at the [sight of the battle] standard,”
Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.