1 Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm,
2 to guide [the] needy away from legal claims, and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans.
3 And what will you do at [the] day of punishment, and at calamity? It comes from afar! To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,
4 {save that they bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain}? In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand [is] stretched out.
5 Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger, and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!
6 I send him against a godless nation, and I command him against the people of my wrath, to capture spoil and to carry off plunder, and to make them a trampling place, like [the] clay of [the] streets.
7 But he does not think this, and his heart does not plan this. For [it is] in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.
8 For he says, "[Are] not my commanders altogether kings?
9 [Is] not Calno like Carchemish? [Is] not Hamath like Arpad? [Is] not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols --and their images were {greater than those of} Jerusalem and Samaria--
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?"
12 And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against {Mount Zion} and Jerusalem, "I will punish the {arrogance} of the king of Assyria and {his haughtiness}."
13 For he says, "I have done [it] by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed [the] boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down {the inhabitants}.
14 And my hand has found, like nest, the wealth of the peoples, and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth. And [there] was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp."
15 Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it, or the saw magnify itself against [the] one who moves it to and fro? {As if a rod should move the one who lifts it}! {As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood}!
16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors, and a burning like [the] burning of fire will burn under his glory.
17 And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
18 And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard {completely}, and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest will be a small number, and a boy can write them [down].
20 And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on [the] one who struck it but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return-- the remnant of Jacob--to [the] mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of it will return. Annihilation [is] determined, overflowing [with] righteousness.
23 For the Lord Yahweh of hosts [is] about to make a complete destruction and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: "My people who live [in] Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you {as the Egyptians did}.
25 [My] indignation will come to an end {in just a very little while}, and my anger [will be] directed to their destruction."
26 And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him, as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb; and his staff [will be] over the sea, and he will lift him up {as he did in Egypt}.
27 And this shall happen: on that day, he will remove his burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, {and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat}.
28 He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he deposited his baggage.
29 They crossed over [the] pass; Geba [is] a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Daughter of Gallim, cry out [with] your voice; Laishah, listen! {Anathoth is poor}.
31 Madmenah flees! The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety!
32 {This day} {taking a stand} at Nob, he will shake his fist [at] the mountain of the daughter of Zion, [at] the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off [the] branches with great power, and {the towering trees} will be felled, and the {tall trees} will be brought low.
34 And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by [the] mighty [one].