1 Woe unto those that establish unrighteous laws and that wilfully prescribe tyranny 2 to turn aside the poor from right judgment and to take away the right from the afflicted 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 They shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5 O Assyrian, rod and staff of my anger, in thy hand have I placed my indignation. 6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and upon the people of my wrath will I send him to take spoil and to take prey and to ready them that they might be tread down like the mire of the streets. 7 Howbeit he shall not think like this; not even in his heart shall he imagine this way of doing things, but his thought shall be to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8 For he shall say, 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 has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel those 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 Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will come upon the fruit of the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and upon the glory of his high looks.
13 For he said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have been prudent: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and I have cast down as valiant ones those who were seated: 14 And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples: and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have taken control over all the earth; and there was no one that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews with it? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that moves it? as if the rod should rise up against those that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift itself up. Is it not wood? 16 Therefore shall the Lord, the LORD of the 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, from the soul unto the flesh; and they shall come to be as a standard-bearer in defeat. 19 And the trees that shall remain in his forest shall be in number such that a child may count them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day that those who shall be left of Israel and those who shall be left 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 become converted, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet the remnant of them shall become converted; when the consumption comes to an end, righteousness shall overflow. 23 For the Lord GOD of the hosts shall make a consumption and an end in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of the hosts, O my people, dweller of Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his stick against thee by the way of Egypt; 25 yet from now until a very little while the indignation and my anger shall cease, to make an end of them. 26 And the LORD of the hosts shall raise up a scourge against him as the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb and shall raise up his rod upon the sea, by the way 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 consumed in the presence of the anointing.
28 He is come to Aiath; he is passed unto Migron; in Michmash he shall number his army: 29 They are gone over the fords; 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; Laish cause poor Anathoth to hear thee. 31 Madmenah is in upheaval; the inhabitants of Gebim shall gather themselves together. 32 Even yet shall come a day when he shall rest at Nob; he shall raise his hand unto the mountain of the daughter of Zion unto the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of the hosts, shall lop the bough with force, and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. 34 And he shall cut down the thickness of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by force.