| 1 | Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness [which] they have prescribed; |
| 2 | To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless! |
| 3 | And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation [which] shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? |
| 4 | Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still. |
| 5 | O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. |
| 6 | I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. |
| 7 | Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but [it is] in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. |
| 8 | For he saith, [Are] not my princes altogether kings? |
| 9 | [Is] not Calno as Carchemish? [is] not Hamath as Arpad? [is] not Samaria as Damascus? |
| 10 | As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; |
| 11 | Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? |
| 12 | Wherefore it shall come to pass, [that] when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. |
| 13 | For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done [it], and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant [man]: |
| 14 | And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs [that are] left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. |
| 15 | Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? [or] shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake [itself] against them that lift it up, [or] as if the staff should lift up [itself, as if it were] no wood. |
| 16 | Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. |
| 17 | And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; |
| 18 | And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. |
| 19 | And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. |
| 20 | And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. |
| 21 | The remnant shall return, [even] the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. |
| 22 | For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. |
| 23 | For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land. |
| 24 | Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. |
| 25 | For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. |
| 26 | And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and [as] his rod [was] upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. |
| 27 | And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. |
| 28 | He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: |
| 29 | They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. |
| 30 | Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. |
| 31 | Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. |
| 32 | As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand [against] the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. |
| 33 | Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. |
| 34 | And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. |
