As with the previous prophecy, there is a description of how terrible that day will be. In verse 6, the children of Israel are told that they would “howl,” suggesting pain and torment. Note that it is because the day of the Lord is at hand. As with the explicit statements in the last unit about Assyria being the Lord’s hireling, this destruction will also come at a mortal’s hand, but as a tool of Jehovah’s wrath.
There is little difference in the nature of the description of the destruction here and that from the previous unit. Ancient war tended to have similar descriptions and terrors. Thus, these verses could apply to the Assyrian invasion, but would also be prophetic of the Babylonian conquest a century in the future.