Isaiah 31:1-9
1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noisea of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
6 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee fromb the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
The prophet again denounces the alliance with Egypt. He declares that the sin of it is a false trust consequent on the chosen people tuning their back on Jehovah. The folly of it is manifest in the fact that all their plotting cannot circumvent Jehovah, who is wise, and will certainly proceed against the workers of iniquity.
He then describes the attitude of Jehovah, first as One in whose power the people are as surely as is the prey in the grasp of the lion, and yet He is determined to protect, to deliver, to preserve Jerusalem. In view of this revelation of the divine attitude the prophet appeals to the people to turn again to Him from whom they had revolted. He anticipates their obedience, and describes how in the day of their return they will cast away their idols. This is their true policy, for when they do this, the Assyrian will fall, not by the sword of man, but by the act of Jehovah.