Woe to Tyrants
1 Woe to those who enact unrighteous decrees
and to the writers who write oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the needy from justice
and to rob the poor among my people of their rights,
that widows may be their plunder
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do in the day of visitation
and in the desolation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 They will only bow down under the prisoners
and will fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Judgment on Assyria
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger,
the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
6 I will send him against a profane nation
and against the people who anger me
I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 However he does not intend this,
nor is it in his heart to do so,
but it is in his heart to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
8 For he says, “Are all of my princes not kings?
9 Is Calno not like Carchemish?
Is Hamath not like Arpad? Is Samaria not like Damascus?”
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,
whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria,
11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols,
so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria and the insolence of his arrogant countenance. 13 For he has said,
“By the strength of my hand I have done it
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding.
I have removed the boundaries of the nations
and have robbed their treasures.
Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
14 My hand has found the riches of the nations like a nest,
and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned,
I have gathered all the earth.
There was not one who flapped its wing,
or that opened its mouth, or chirped against me.”
15 Should an ax brag against him who chops with it?
Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it?
As if a rod should lift those who lift it up,
or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.
16 Therefore the Lord God of Hosts
will send among his fat ones, leanness
and under his glory, a burning will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One, a flame,
and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
18 He will consume the glory of his forest,
and of his fruitful field, both soul and body.
It will be like when a standard bearer faints.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few,
so that a child could count them.
A Remnant of Israel Shall Return
20 It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel
and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob
will never again lean on him who struck them,
but shall lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 For though your people, Israel are like the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
23 For the Lord, God of Hosts, will will accomplish the destruction
that was determined, throughout all the earth.
24 Therefore the Lord, God of Hosts, says
“My people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrian,
though he strikes you with the rod,
and lifts up his staff against you, as Egypt did.
25 For in a very short time,
my fury will abate and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”
26 The Lord of Hosts will wield a whip upon them,
like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb.
His rod will be over the sea,
and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt.
27 On that day their burden will be lifted from off their shoulders,
and their yoke from your neck shall be destroyed
because you will be too fat for it.
28 He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron.
At Michmash he stores his baggage.
29 They have gone over the pass.
They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles.
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is a fugitive.
The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob.
He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 The Lord, God of Hosts, will lop off the boughs with terror.
The tall will be cut down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.