The personified Assyria, still describing his military success, points out that he has conquered and founded nations whose “gods” were more powerful than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. Because this king does not know the power of the true God, he considers the gods of those nations as representatives of the nations. These nations have greater political and economic influence than Jerusalem or Samaria, which is his basis of comparison. Because Assyria has been successful against more powerful nations, how can it fail against a comparatively weak center like Jerusalem? The Assyrian monarch, naturally, trusts in his own power, unaware that Yahweh is wielding him as a weapon.