Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
Then shall the Assyrian fall. Sennacherib is representative of some powerful head of the ungodly in the latter ages.
With the sword, not of a mighty man ... not of a mean man - but by the unseen sword of God.
He shall flee. Sennacherib alone fled homewards after his army had been destroyed (Isaiah 37:37).
His young men - the flower of his army.
Shall be discomfited - shall be liable to tribute; i:e., personal service (Deuteronomy 20:11; Joshua 9:21) (Maurer). But the Hebrew х laamac (H4522)] is from macac (H4549), to melt away, and so may mean as the English version, shall melt away. The historical fact is against the translation 'tributary' here (though it is a use of the Hebrew elsewhere). For the Assyrians did not become tributary to the Jews, though, in the antitypical reference to the subjection of all nations to the King of the Christian Church, and of Israel, it holds good (Psalms 72:8-11). The primary reference is doubtless to the Assyrian king, as in Isaiah 10:18, where the very same Hebrew word is used, which confirms the English version here: "They (the Assyrians) shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth" - literally, melteth ( kimcoc (H4549)). So Byron:
`And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.'
The Vulgate translates, 'tributary;' but the Septuagint, 'shall be defeated;' Chaldaic, 'destroyed;' so the Arabic.