²⁴ And I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, and will put my sword in his hand: but Pharaoh's arms will be broken, and he will give cries of pain before him like the cries of a man wounded to death.

¹² And you Ethiopians will be put to death by my sword.

²⁵ And I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, and the arms of Pharaoh will be hanging down; and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and it is stretched out against the land of Egypt.

⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but me: I will make you ready for war, though you had no knowledge of me:

¹ The Lord says to the man of his selection, to Cyrus, whom I have taken by the right hand, putting down nations before him, and taking away the arms of kings; making the doors open before him, so that the ways into the towns may not be shut;

¹² From the town come sounds of pain from those who are near death, and the soul of the wounded is crying out for help; but God does not take note of their prayer.

⁹ For they were hoping to put fear in us, saying, Their hands will become feeble and give up the work so that it may not get done. But now, O God, make my hands strong.

¹¹ And they will go through the sea of Egypt, and all the deep waters of the Nile will become dry: and the pride of Assyria will be made low, and the power of Egypt will be taken away.

¹² And their strength will be in the Lord; and their pride will be in his name, says the Lord.

¹⁰ This is what the Lord has said: I will put an end to great numbers of the people of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.

¹⁵ This is what the Lord has said to Tyre: Will not the sea-lands be shaking at the sound of your fall, when the wounded give cries of pain, when men are put to the sword in you?

⁵² For this reason, see, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on her images; and through all her land the wounded will be crying out in pain.

⁶ And now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant; and I have given the beasts of the field to him for his use.

⁷ And all the nations will be servants to him and to his son and to his son's son, till the time comes for his land to be overcome: and then a number of nations and great kings will take it for their use.

⁸ And it will come about, that if any nation does not become a servant to this same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will send punishment on that nation, says the Lord, by the sword and need of food and by disease, till I have given them into his hands.

¹⁵ Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.

⁵ Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment!

⁶ I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.

¹ <A Psalm. Of David.> Praise be to the God of my strength, teaching my hands the use of the sword, and my fingers the art of fighting:

³⁹ For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who come out against me.

³² God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a straight way.

¹³ Up! Lord, come out against him, make him low, with your sword be my saviour from the evil-doer.

⁴¹ If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters.

⁴² I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters.