This is the dirge that Isaiah sang regarding Assyria and God's hand in the life and death of nations, while Sennacherib was retreating toward Nineveh, his capital:
"Woe, Assyria, rod of mine anger,
The staff in whose hand is mine indignation.
Against an impious nation am I wont to send him.
And against the people of my wrath I give him charge,
To take spoil and gather booty,
And to tread them down like the mire in the streets.
But he—not so doth he plan;
And his heart—not so doth it purpose.
For destruction is in his heart,
And to cut off nations not a few.
For he saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it,
And by my wisdom, for I have discerned it;
And I have removed the bounds of thy peoples,
And I have robbed their treasuries,
And like a mighty man I have brought down those who sit enthroned.
And my hand hath seized, as on a nest,
The riches of the peoples.
And as one gathers eggs that are unguarded,
I, indeed, have carried off all the earth."
To this boasting of Assyria, God answers, speaking through Isaiah:
"Before me is thy rising up and thy lying down,
Thy going out and thy coming in.
I know thy raging against me
And thine arrogance hath come to my ears.
Therefore I will put my ring through thy nose,
And my bridle between thy lips,
And will make thee return,
By the way in which thou hast come."
Not long after this, while Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of
Nisroch, in Nineveh, he was attacked by his own sons and killed, and
Esarhaddon, one of his sons, succeeded him on the throne of Assyria.
CHAPTER IX.
The Fruit of His Labor.
Blessed is the man whose toil and striving of a lifetime bring results, even though he, himself, does not live to see them!
Thrice blessed is the man, the fruit of whose labor is garnered while he is among the living, to see and enjoy it!
The prophet Isaiah was a thrice-blessed man. Although no one knows where or how he died, every one knows where and how he lived, and how his life was fruitful in blessings for his people.