1Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead,

those who are always instituting unfair regulations,

2to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans.

3What will you do on judgment day,

when destruction arrives from a distant place?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

4You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,

or to fall among those who have been killed.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again.

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead,

a cudgel with which I angrily punish.

6I sent him against a godless nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry,

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down like dirt in the streets.

7But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way,

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations.

8Indeed, he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

9Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus?

10I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols,

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s.

11As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”

12But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. 13For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations,

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.

14My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.”

15Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it?

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

16For this reason the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke.

17The light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s briers

and his thorns in one day.

18The splendor of his forest and his orchard

will be completely destroyed,

as when a sick man’s life ebbs away.

19There will be so few trees left in his forest,

a child will be able to count them.

20At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you. 23The sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.

24So here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did. 25For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.” 26The Lord who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt.

27At that time

the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders,

and their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large.

28They attacked Aiath,

moved through Migron,

depositing their supplies at Micmash.

29They went through the pass,

spent the night at Geba.

Ramah trembled,

Gibeah of Saul ran away.

30Shout out, daughter of Gallim!

Pay attention, Laishah!

Answer her, Anathoth!

31Madmenah flees,

the residents of Gebim have hidden.

32This very day, standing in Nob,

they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain –

at the hill of Jerusalem.

33Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies,

is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power.

The tallest trees will be cut down,

the loftiest ones will be brought low.

34The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax,

and mighty Lebanon will fall.