| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees, | 1Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations, |
| 2to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder. | 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 the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? | 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? |
| 4Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. | 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. |
| 5Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. | 5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish. |
| 6I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets. | 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 this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations. | 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. |
| 8“Are not all my commanders kings?” he says. | 8Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings? |
| 9“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? | 9Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? |
| 10As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria, | 10I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem's or Samaria's. |
| 11and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?” | 11As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols." |
| 12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. | 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 the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers. | 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 reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’ ” | 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 axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood! | 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! |
| 16Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame. | 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. |
| 17And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles. | 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 its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man. | 18The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man's life ebbs away. |
| 19The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them. | 19There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. |
| 20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. | 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 return—a remnant of Jacob—to the Mighty God. | 21A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. |
| 22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness. | 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. |
| 23For the Lord GOD of Hosts will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land. | 23The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. |
| 24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as the Egyptians did. | 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 in just a little while My fury against you will subside, and My anger will turn to their destruction.” | 25For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction." |
| 26And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against them, as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise His staff over the sea, as He did in Egypt. | 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. |
| 27On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders, and the yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large. | 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. |
| 28Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash. | 28They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash. |
| 29They have crossed at the ford: “We will spend the night at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees. | 29They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away. |
| 30Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O wretched Anathoth! | 30Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth! |
| 31Madmenah flees; the people of Gebim take refuge. | 31Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden. |
| 32Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem. | 32This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion's mountain--at the hill of Jerusalem. |
| 33Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled. | 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. |
| 34He will clear the forest thickets with an axe, and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One. | 34The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall. |
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