Isaiah 10:12-19
New Catholic Bible
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
