Judgment on Unjust Lawmakers

1“How terrible it will be for the onea who enacts unjust decrees,

for those who write oppressive laws

that they have prescribed

2to deprive the needy of justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their rights,b

so that widows may become their spoil

and so that they may plunder orphans!c

3What will you do on the day of Judgment,d

in the calamity that will come from far away?

To whom will you run for help,

and where will you leave your wealth,

4so you won’t have to crouch among those in chainse

or fall among the slain?

“Yetf for all this, his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.”g

Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment

5“How terrible it will be

for Assyria, the rod of my anger!

The club is in their hands!h

6I’m sending my furyi against a godless nation,

and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down

like mud in the streets.

7But this is not what he intends,

and this is not what he thinks in his mind;

but it is in his mind to destroy,

and to cut downj many nations.

8“Because this is what he is saying:

‘My commanders are all kings, are they not?

9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?

Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?

Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?

10As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdomsk

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols

as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”

Assyria will be Judged

12“Forl the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willfulm heart of Assyria’s king and the haughty look in his eyes. 13He keeps bragging:n

‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand,

and by my wisdom,

because I’m so clever.o

I removed the boundaries of peoples,

and plundered their treasures;

like a bull I brought down

those who sat on thrones.

14My hand has found, as if in a nest,

the wealth of the people;

and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,

so I have gathered all the inhabitants of thep earth.

Nothing moved a wing,

opened its mouth,

or chirped.’

15“Does the ax exalt itself

over the one who swings it?

Or does the saw magnify itself

in opposition to the one who wields it?

As if a rod were to wield those who liftq it,

or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

16Therefore, the Lord GODr of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease

among Assyria’ss sturdy warriors,

and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled,

like a blazing bonfire.

17“The light of Israel will become a fire,

and its Holy One a flame,

and it will burn

and consume Assyria’st thorns and briers

in a single day.

18The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land

the LORD will destroy—

both soul and body—

and Assyriau will be

as when a dying man wastes away.

19What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few

that a child can count them.”v

The Remnant Returns

20At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant will return—a remnant of Jacob—to the Mighty God. 22For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed, 23because the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armiesw will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughoutx the entire region.y

24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says: “My people, you who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you,z who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did. 25In just a little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger then will be directed to their destruction.aa 26The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;bb and as his staff was stretched outcc over the sea,dd so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt. 27At that time,ee his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you’ve become obese.”ff

The Coming Judgment of God

28“The Assyrian commandergg has come uponhh Aiath

and has passed through Migron;

he stores his supplies at Michmash.

29He hasii crossed over byjj the pass;

his overnight lodging is at Geba.

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul has fled.

30Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim!

Pay attention, Laish!kk

Poor Anathoth!

31Marmenahll is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim take cover.

32This very day he will halt at Nob;mm

he will shakenn his fistsoo

at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion,

at Jerusalem’s hill.

33Behold, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies

will lop off itspp boughs with terrifying power;

the tallest in height will be cut down,

and the lofty will be brought low.

34He will cut down the thickets of the forest

with an ax,

and Lebanon will fall

by the Majestic One.”qq