| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws. | 1Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations, |
| 2They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans. | 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 when I punish you, when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe? | 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 stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. Judgment against Assyria | 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. |
| 5“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger. I use it as a club to express my anger. | 5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish. |
| 6I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet. | 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 the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation. | 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. |
| 8He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king. | 8Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings? |
| 9We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus. | 9Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? |
| 10Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria. | 10I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem's or Samaria's. |
| 11So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’” | 11As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols." |
| 12After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. | 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. |
| 13He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull. | 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. |
| 14I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest.” | 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." |
| 15But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself? | 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, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory. | 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 LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night. | 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 LORD will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague. | 18The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man's life ebbs away. |
| 19Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive— so few that a child could count them! Hope for the LORD’s People | 19There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. |
| 20In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust 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; yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. | 21A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. |
| 22But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The LORD has rightly decided to destroy his people. | 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. |
| 23Yes, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, has already decided to destroy the entire land. | 23The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. |
| 24So this is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago. | 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. |
| 25In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.” | 25For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction." |
| 26The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the LORD’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea. | 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. |
| 27In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders. | 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. |
| 28Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath. They are passing through Migron and are storing their equipment at Micmash. | 28They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash. |
| 29They are crossing the pass and are camping at Geba. Fear strikes the town of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, are running for their lives. | 29They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away. |
| 30Scream in terror, you people of Gallim! Shout out a warning to Laishah. Oh, poor Anathoth! | 30Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth! |
| 31There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing. The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide. | 31Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden. |
| 32The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem. | 32This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion's mountain--at the hill of Jerusalem. |
| 33But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! He will cut down the proud. That lofty tree will be brought down. | 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 cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One. | 34The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall. |
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