1. Woe to those who decree decrees of injustice, and writers who write toil;
2. to turn aside the poor from judgment, and to steal justice from the poor of My people; that widows may be their prey; that they may rob orphans.
3. And what will you do in the day of visitation and of destruction? It comes from far away. To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?
4. Surely, he will grovel under the prisoners, and they will fall under the slain. In all this His anger does not turn away, but His hand is still stretched out.
5. Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger! And My fury is the staff in their hand.
6. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will command him to plunder, and to strip off spoil, and to trample them like the mud of the streets.
7. Yet he does not purpose this, nor does his heart think so. For it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.
8. For he says, Are not my commanders all like kings?
9. Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is Hamath not like Arpad? Is Samaria not like Damascus?
10. As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols (for their carved images excelled Jerusalem's and Samaria's);
11. shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her idols?
12. And it will be, when the Lord has broken off all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will visit on the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his lofty eyes.
13. For he says, I have worked by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom; for I am wise. And I take away the borders of peoples, and have robbed their treasures. And like a mighty one, I put down ones living in it.
14. And my hand has found the riches of the people. Like a nest, I also have gathered all the earth, as forsaken eggs are gathered. And there was not one moving a wing, or opening a mouth, or one chirping.
15. Shall the axe glorify itself over him chopping with it? Or shall the saw magnify itself over him moving it? As if a rod could wave those who lift it. As if a staff could raise what is not wood!
16. So the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts shall send leanness among his fat ones. And under His glory will kindle a burning like the burning of fire.
17. And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
18. And He shall consume the glory of his forest and his fruitful field, even from soul to flesh; and it shall be as a sick man melts away.
19. And the rest of the trees of the forest shall be few, so that a boy might write them.
20. And it shall be in that day, the remnant of Israel, and the escaped ones from the house of Jacob, shall not any more lean on him who struck him. But they will truly lean on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.
21. The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22. For though Your people Israel is like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it shall return; a decisive end, overflowing with righteousness.
23. For the Lord Jehovah of Hosts is making a full end, even ordained, in the midst of all the land.
24. So the Lord Jehovah of Hosts says this: Oh My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria. He shall strike you with the rod, and he shall lift up his staff against you in the way of Egypt.
25. But yet a little while, and the fury is finished; and My anger shall be over their destruction.
26. And Jehovah of Hosts shall stir up a whip on him, according to the striking of Midian at the rock Oreb; and as His rod was on the sea, and He lifted it up in the way of Egypt.
27. And it shall be in that day, his burden shall turn away from on your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28. He has come to Aiath; he has passed to Migron; he has left his baggage at Michmash.
29. They have crossed the ford; they have bedded down at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30. Shriek with your voice, daughter of ruins; bow, Laish, afflicted of Anathoth.
31. Madmenah wanders; those living in Gebim take refuge.
32. Yet he remains in Nob today; he will shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33. Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall lop the bough of terror! And the lofty ones shall be cut down, and the proud shall be humbled.
34. And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.