1Woe to those who make unjust laws, and who write down cruel orders that they have set out,
2to keep the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their rights. They make widows their prey, and they steal from the fatherless.
3What will you do on the day of punishment, and in the ruin that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help? And where will you leave your glory?
4Without me they will bow down among the prisoners, and they will fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5Assyrian, you are the rod of my anger. The staff in their hand is my fury.
6I will send him against a nation without faith. I will give him orders against the people I am angry with, to take the spoil and carry off the plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7But that is not what he means, and that is not what his heart is thinking. It is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off many nations.
8For he says, "Are not all my princes kings?"
10My hand has reached the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and of Samaria.
12So when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he says, "I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks."
13For he says, "By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the borders of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a strong man I have brought down those who sat on thrones."
14"My hand has found the riches of the peoples as if they were a nest. As one gathers eggs that are left behind, so I have gathered all the earth. Not one moved a wing, or opened its mouth, or chirped."
15Shall the axe boast against the man who chops with it? Shall the saw make itself great against the man who moves it? It is as if a rod should shake those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift itself, as if it were not wood.
16So the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones. Under his glory he will light a burning like the burning of a fire.
17The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame. It will burn and eat up his thorns and his briers in one day.
18It will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. They will be like a sick man wasting away.
19The trees left in his forest will be so few that a child could write down their number.
20In that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will no longer lean on the one who struck them. They will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22For though your people Israel are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. The destruction that is decreed will overflow with righteousness.
23For the Lord GOD of hosts will bring the destruction he has decided on in the midst of all the land.
24So this is what the Lord GOD of hosts says: "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He will strike you with a rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did."
25"For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will turn to their destruction."
26The LORD of hosts will stir up a whip against him, like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. As his rod was over the sea, so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt.
27In that day his load will be taken off your shoulder, and his yoke off your neck. The yoke will be broken because of the anointing.
28He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he has stored his supplies.
29They have gone over the pass. They have made their camp at Geba. Ramah is afraid. Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30Cry out with your voice, daughter of Gallim. Let it be heard as far as Laish, poor Anathoth.
31Madmenah has run away. The people of Gebim gather to flee.
32Still, on that day he will stop at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will cut off the branches with terror. The tall trees will be chopped down, and the proud ones brought low.
34He will cut down the thick parts of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by a mighty one.