1How horrible it will be for those who enact unjust laws and who decree oppressive regulations. 2They deprive the poor of justice. They take away the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and rob orphans. 3What will you do on the day you are called to account for these things, when destruction comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 4There is nothing left but to crouch among prisoners and to fall with those who are killed. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear. His hand is stretched out he is still ready to use his power. 5»How horrible it will be for Assyria! It is the rod of my anger. My fury is in the staff of the Assyrians' hands. 6»I send him against a godless nation. I commission him against the people of my fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud clay 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»‘Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? 10»‘As my hand took hold of the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose carved images were greater then those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11»‘As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?’ 12»It will happen when Jehovah has performed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will say: I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty appearance. 13»‘The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man! 14»‘I found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. I gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.’« 15Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it? Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it? A rod cannot move the person who lifts it. A wooden stick cannot pick up a person. 16That is why the Almighty Jehovah of Hosts will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power. 17The Light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame. It will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day! 18It will completely destroy the splendor of his forests and fertile fields, as when a sick man wastes away. 19And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down. 20In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on the one who defeated them. They will truly rely on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty Powerful God. Yes, a remnant will return! 22Your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea. Yet only a remnant within them will return. Overwhelming and righteous destruction has been decreed. 23The Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts, will carry out the complete destruction decreed upon the whole land. 24Therefore, this is what the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, declares: »O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians. They beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did. 25»Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction. 26»Jehovah of Hosts will stir up enemies against you as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. His wrath will come by way of the sea, as he did in Egypt. 27»In that day your burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.« 28They enter Aiath and they pass through Migron. They store supplies at Micmash. 29They go over the pass and make Geba their camping place for the night. Ramah trembles and Gibeah of Saul flees. 30Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen and pay attention, O Laishah! Poor afflicted Anathoth! 31Madmenah has fled; the people of Gebim take cover. 32This day they will halt at Nob. They will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem. 33Behold, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be cut down! The tall ones will be brought low. 34He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax. Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.