1 Woe vnto them that decree wicked decrees, and write grieuous things, 2 To keepe backe ye poore from iudgement, and to take away the iudgement of the poore of my people, that widowes may be their pray, and that they may spoyle the fatherlesse. 3 What will ye doe nowe in the day of visitation, and of destruction, which shall come from farre? to whom will ye flee for helpe? and where will ye leaue your glorie? 4 Without me euery one shall fall among them that are bound, and they shall fall downe among the slayne: yet for all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 5 O Asshur, the rodde of my wrath: and the staffe in their hands is mine indignation. 6 I will sende him to a dissembling nation, and I will giue him a charge against the people of my wrath to take the spoyle and to take the pray, and to treade them vnder feete like the mire in the streete. 7 But he thinketh not so, neither doeth his heart esteeme it so: but he imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a fewe nations. 8 For he sayeth, Are not my princes altogether Kings? 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? 10 Like as mine hand hath founde the kingdomes of the idoles, seeing their idoles were aboue Ierusalem, and aboue Samaria: 11 Shall not I, as I haue done to Samaria, and to the idoles thereof, so doe to Ierusalem and to the idoles thereof? 12 But when the Lord hath accomplished all his worke vpon mount Zion and Ierusalem, I will visite the fruite of the proude heart of the King of Asshur, and his glorious and proud lookes, 13 Because he said, By ye power of mine owne hand haue I done it, and by my wisdome, because I am wise: therefore I haue remooued the borders of the people, and haue spoyled their treasures, and haue pulled downe the inhabitants like a valiant man. 14 And mine hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathereth egges that are left, so haue I gathered all the earth: and there was none to mooue the wing or to open the mouth, or to whisper. 15 Shall the axe boast it selfe against him that heweth therewith? or shall the sawe exalt it selfe against him that moueth it? as if the rod shoulde lift vp it selfe against him that taketh it vp, or the staffe should exalt it selfe, as it were no wood. 16 Therefore shall the Lord God of hostes send amog his fat men, leannes, and vnder his glorie he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of fire. 17 And the light of Israel shalbe as a fire, and the Holy one thereof as a flame, and it shall burne, and deuoure his thornes and his briers in one day: 18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitfull fieldes both soule and flesh: and he shalbe as ye fainting of a standard bearer. 19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shalbe fewe, that a childe may tell them. 20 And at that day shall the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Iaakob, stay no more vpon him that smote them, but shall stay vpon ye Lord, ye Holy one of Israel in trueth. 21 The remnant shall returne, euen the remnant of Iaakob vnto the mightie God. 22 For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet shall the remnant of them returne. The consumption decreed shall ouerflow with righteousnesse. 23 For the Lord God of hostes shall make the consumption, euen determined, in the middes of all the land. 24 Therefore thus saith ye Lord God of hostes, O my people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of Asshur: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift vp his staffe against thee after the maner of Egypt: 25 But yet a very litle time, and the wrath shall be consumed, and mine anger in their destruction. 26 And ye Lord of hostes shall raise vp a scourge for him, according to the plague of Midian in the rocke Oreb: and as his staffe was vpon the Sea, so he will lift it vp after the maner of Egypt. 27 And at that day shall his burden be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy necke: and the yoke shalbe destroied because of the anoynting. 28 He is come to Aiath: he is passed into Migron: at Michmash shall he lay vp his armour. 29 They haue gone ouer the foorde: they lodged in the lodging at Geba: Ramah is afraide: Gibeah of Saul is fled away. 30 Lift vp thy voyce, O daughter Gallim, cause Laish to heare, O poore Anathoth. 31 Madmenah is remoued: the inhabitants of Gebim haue gathered themselues together. 32 Yet there is a time that he will stay at Nob: he shall lift vp his hand towarde the mount of the daughter Zion, the hill of Ierusalem. 33 Beholde, the Lord God of hostes shall cut off the bough with feare, and they of high stature shalbe cut off, and the hie shalbe humbled. 34 And he shall cut away the thicke places of the forest with yron, and Lebanon shall haue a mightie fall.
1 You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. 2 That is how you keep the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans. 3 What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth? 4 You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners. Yet even so the Lord's anger will not be ended; his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
The Emperor of Assyria as the Instrument of God
5 The Lord said, “Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry. 6 I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample the people like dirt in the streets.”
7 But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations. 8 He boasts, “Every one of my commanders is a king! 9 I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus. 10 I reached out to punish those kingdoms that worship idols, idols more numerous than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. 11 I have destroyed Samaria and all its idols, and I will do the same to Jerusalem and the images that are worshiped there.”
12 But the Lord says, “When I finish what I am doing on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the emperor of Assyria for all his boasting and all his pride.”
13 The emperor of Assyria boasts, “I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled the people who live there. 14 The nations of the world were like a bird's nest, and I gathered their wealth as easily as gathering eggs. Not a wing fluttered to scare me off; no beak opened to scream at me!”
15 But the Lord says, “Can an ax claim to be greater than the one who uses it? Is a saw more important than the one who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a person; a person lifts up a club.”
16 The Lord Almighty is going to send disease to punish those who are now well-fed. In their bodies there will be a fire that burns and burns. 17 God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel's holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles. 18 The rich forests and farmlands will be totally destroyed, in the same way that a fatal sickness destroys someone. 19 There will be so few trees left that even a child will be able to count them.
A Few Will Come Back
20 A time is coming when the people of Israel who have survived will not rely any more on the nation that almost destroyed them. They will truly put their trust in the Lord, Israel's holy God. 21 A few of the people of Israel will come back to their mighty God. 22 Even though now there are as many people of Israel as there are grains of sand by the sea, only a few will come back. Destruction is in store for the people, and it is fully deserved. 23 Yes, throughout the whole country the Sovereign Lord Almighty will bring destruction, as he said he would.
The Lord Will Punish Assyria
24 The Sovereign Lord Almighty says to his people who live in Zion, “Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they oppress you as the Egyptians used to do. 25 In only a little while I will finish punishing you, and then I will destroy them. 26 I, the Lord Almighty, will beat them with my whip as I did the people of Midian at Oreb Rock. I will punish Assyria as I punished Egypt. 27 When that time comes, I will free you from the power of Assyria, and their yoke will no longer be a burden on your shoulders.”
The Invader Attacks
28 The enemy army has captured the city of Ai! They have passed through Migron! They left their supplies at Michmash! 29 They have crossed the pass and are spending the night at Geba! The people in the town of Ramah are terrified, and the people in King Saul's hometown of Gibeah have run away. 30 Shout, people of Gallim! Listen, people of Laishah! Answer, people of Anathoth! 31 The people of Madmenah and Gebim are running for their lives. 32 Today the enemy are in the town of Nob, and there they are shaking their fists at Mount Zion, at the city of Jerusalem.
33 The Lord Almighty will bring them crashing down like branches cut off a tree. The proudest and highest of them will be cut down and humiliated. 34 The Lord will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an ax, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!