But his plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally.

Human anger only results in more praise for you; those who survive the wars will keep your festivals.

The LORD said, "Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry.

I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample the people like dirt in the streets."

But the LORD says, "Can an ax claim to be greater than the one who uses it? Is a saw more important than the one who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a person; a person lifts up a club."

"Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.

The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the LORD, do all these things.

From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.

I am calling a man to come from the east; he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done.

"I create the blacksmith, who builds a fire and forges weapons. I also create the soldier, who uses the weapons to kill.

For indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together in this city with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Jesus, your holy Servant, whom you made Messiah.

They gathered to do everything that you by your power and will had already decided would happen.