“I have raised up someone from the north, and he has come. He will call on my name from the east. He will attack rulers as if they were mud, as if he were treading on clay like a potter.
I send them against a godless nation. In my fury I order them against the people to take their belongings, loot them, and trample on them like mud in the streets.
“Who has raised up from the east someone to whom the Lord gives victory with every step he takes? Nations are handed over to him. He defeats kings. With his sword he turns them into dust. With his bow he turns them into straw blown by the wind.
He says about Cyrus, “He is my shepherd. He will do everything I want him to do.” He says about Jerusalem, “It will be rebuilt.” He says about the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”
This is what the Lord says about Cyrus, his anointed one: I have held him by his right hand so he could conquer the nations ahead of him, strip kings of their power, and open doors ahead of him so that the gates would not be shut.
I prepared Cyrus for my righteous purpose. I will make all his roads straight. He will build my city and let my exiles go free without any payment or any reward, says the Lord of Armies.
Then my enemies will see this, and they will be covered with shame, because they asked me, “Where is the Lord your God?” Now I look at them. They are trampled like mud in the streets.
Together they will be like warriors who trample the enemy in the mud on the streets. They will fight because the Lord is with them. They will put to shame those who ride on horses.