1How terrible for those who make unjust laws and for the officials who write oppressive rules,
2to prevent the needy from getting justice and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, making widows their prey and orphans their plunder!
3What will you do on the day of punishment, when disaster comes from a distant land? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
4You will only be able to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.
5How terrible for Assyria, the rod of my anger, the nation I use to express my fury!
6I will send them against a nation that disregards God, and against the people who anger me. I will command them to take plunder and loot, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7However, he doesn't intend that, and his heart doesn't think that way. Instead, he plans in his heart to destroy and eliminate many nations.
8For he says, "Aren't all of my officials like kings?"
9"Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?"
10"Just as I have conquered kingdoms that worshipped idols, whose carved images were even more impressive than those in Jerusalem and Samaria;"
11"Shouldn't I do to Jerusalem and its idols what I did to Samaria and its idols?"
12So, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant thoughts of the king of Assyria and his proud, defiant looks.
13Because the king has said, "I did this by my own strength and wisdom; I am clever. I have moved the borders of nations and stolen their treasures. Like a strong man, I have brought down their rulers."
14"I have found the wealth of nations like a bird's nest, and like someone gathering abandoned eggs, I have gathered the whole earth. There was no one who flapped a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped."
15Should an ax boast over the one who chops with it? Should a saw consider itself greater than the one who uses it? That would be like a wooden rod controlling the person who picks it up, or a stick lifting someone who isn't wood.
16Therefore, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send a wasting sickness among his healthiest soldiers; and beneath his splendor, a fire will be kindled, burning like a raging fire.
17The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; it will burn and destroy Assyria's thorns and thistles in a single day.
18He will consume the glory of Assyria's forest and its fertile fields, destroying both body and soul. It will be like when a flag bearer collapses.
19Only a few trees will be left in his forest, so few that a child could count them.
20On that day, the survivors of Israel, those who escaped from Jacob's family, will no longer depend on the one who attacked them. Instead, they will truly depend on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.
21A remnant will return, yes, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decided, sweeping in with righteousness.
23For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will bring about a complete and decided end throughout the whole earth.
24Therefore, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says, "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff against you, as Egypt did long ago."
25"For in a very short time, the anger against you will be finished, and my anger will then be directed to destroy him."
26Yahweh of Armies will raise up a whip against him, just as he defeated Midian at the rock of Oreb. His power will be over the sea, and he will lift it up just as he did against Egypt.
27On that day, the burden will be lifted from your shoulder, and the heavy load from your neck; this heavy load will be destroyed because of the anointing.
28He has arrived at Aiath. He has traveled through Migron. He camps at Michmash.
29They have crossed the pass. They have spent the night at Geba. Ramah is shaking. Gibeah of Saul has run away.
30Cry out loudly, people of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You unfortunate Anathoth!
31Madmenah is fleeing. The people of Gebim are running for safety.
32Today he will stop at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mountain of Jerusalem, the hill of Zion.
33Look, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will prune the branches with terror. The tall trees will be cut down, and the high ones will be brought low.
34He will cut down the dense forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.