"will beat the Assyrians with a whip." God will not really use a whip. This refers to God's power to punish the Assyrians severely. Alternate translation: "will punish the Assyrians severely as if with a whip" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])
## like when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb ##
This refers to when God helped a man named Gideon defeat the army of Midian. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-names]])
## He will raise his rod over the sea and lift it up as he did in Egypt ##
This refers to when God caused the water of the Red Sea to split so the people of Israel could escape from the Egyptian army and so that the Egyptian army would drown in it. Alternate translation: "He will help you escape from the army of Assyria as he helped your ancestors escape the army of Egypt."
## his burden is lifted from your shoulder and his yoke from off your neck ##
"Yahweh will lift the burden that Assyria has put on your shoulder, and he will remove the yoke that they have put on your neck." These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The words "burden" and "yoke" refer to slavery. Alternate translation: "Yahweh will remove the Assyrians who oppress you and will stop them from making you their slaves." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]], [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])
## the yoke will be destroyed because your neck will be too fat for it ##
"you will not longer be enslaved and life will be good for you."