Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds mercy.
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD your God, therefore has the army of the king of Syria escaped out of your hand.
You have seen it: for you behold mischief and spite, to repay it with your hand: the poor commits himself unto you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, the idol poles and incense altars shall not remain standing.
But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my counsel; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and rely 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!
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 helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
Now therefore give pledges, I urge you, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind: he daily increases lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green cypress tree. In me is your fruit found.
My people ask counsel of their idols of wood, and their staff advises unto them: for the spirit of harlotry has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot against their God.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: since as the LORD has said unto you, you shall return no more that way again.