Woe to Tyrants

1Woe to those who enact unjust statutes

and issue oppressive decrees,

2to deprive the poor of fair treatment

and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people,

to make widows their prey

and orphans their plunder.

3What will you⁺ do on the day of reckoning

when devastation comes from afar?

To whom will you⁺ flee for help?

Where will you⁺ leave your⁺ wealth?

4Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment on Assyria

5Woe to Assyria (a step), the rod of My anger;

the staff in their hands is My wrath.

6I will send him against a godless nation;

I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage,

to take spoils and seize plunder,

and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

7But this is not his intention;

this is not his plan.

For it is in his heart to destroy

and cut off many nations.

8“Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.

9“Is not Calno (fortress of Anu) like Carchemish (fortress of Chemosh)?

Is not Hamath (fortress) like Arpad (I shall be supported)?

Is not Samaria (watch mountain) like Damascus (well-watered land)?

10As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms

whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem (city of peace) and Samaria (watch mountain),

11and as I have done to Samaria (watch mountain) and its idols,

will I not also do to Jerusalem (city of peace) and her idols?”

12So when the Lord {Adonai} has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem (city of peace), He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria (a step) for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. 13For he says:

‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, for I am clever.

I have removed the boundaries of nations

and plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

14My hand reached as into a nest

to seize the wealth of the nations.

Like one gathering abandoned eggs,

I gathered all the earth.

No wing fluttered,

no beak opened or chirped.’”

15Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it?

Does a saw boast over him who saws with it?

It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it,

or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

16Therefore the Lord GOD {YHWH} of Hosts will send a wasting disease

among Assyria’s stout warriors,

and under his pomp will be kindled

a fire like a burning flame.

17And the Light of Israel (he wrestles with God) will become a fire,

and its Holy One a flame.

In a single day it will burn and devour

Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

18The splendor of its forests and orchards,

both soul and body,

it will completely destroy,

as a sickness consumes a man.

19The remaining trees of its forests will be so few

that a child could count them.

A Remnant Shall Return

20On that day the remnant of Israel (he wrestles with God)

and the survivors of the house of Jacob (he grasps the heel)

will no longer depend

on him who struck them,

but they will truly rely on the LORD {YHWH},

the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will return \Shear-jashub/a —a remnant of Jacob (he grasps the heel)—

to the Mighty God.

22Though your people, O Israel (he wrestles with God), be like the sand of the sea,

only a remnant will return.b

Destruction has been decreed,

overflowing with righteousness.

23For the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH} of Hosts will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.c

24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH} of Hosts says:

“O My people who dwell in Zion,

do not fear Assyria (a step),

who strikes you with a rod

and lifts his staff against you

as the Egyptians (land of bondage) did.

25For in just a little while

My fury against you will subside,

and My anger will turn to their destruction.”

26And the LORD {YHWH} of Hosts will brandish a whip against them,

as when He struck Midian (strife) at the rock of Oreb (raven).

He will raise His staff over the sea,

as He did in Egypt (land of bondage).

27On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

and the yoke from your neck.

The yoke will be broken

because your neck will be too large \broken because of fatness/.d

28Assyria has entered Aiath (heap of ruins)

and passed through Migron (precipice),

storing their supplies at Michmash (hidden).

29They have crossed at the ford:

“We will spend the night at Geba (hill).”

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul (desired) flees.

30Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim (springs)!

Listen, O Laishah (lion)!

O wretched Anathoth (answers to prayer)!

31Madmenah (dunghill) flees;

the people of Gebim (cisterns) take refuge.

32Yet today they will halt at Nob (high place),

shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem (city of peace).

33Behold, the Lord GOD {YHWH} of Hosts

will lop off the branches with terrifying power.

The tall trees will be cut down,

the lofty ones will be felled.

34He will clear the forest thickets with an axe,

and Lebanon (whiteness) will fall before the Mighty One.