| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws | 1Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations, |
| 2to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless. | 2to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. |
| 3What will you do on the day of punishment when devastation comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you leave your wealth? | 3What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth? |
| 4There will be nothing to do except crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike. | 4You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. |
| 5Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger-- the staff in their hands is My wrath. | 5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish. |
| 6I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him to go against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets. | 6I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets. |
| 7But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations. | 7But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations. |
| 8For he says," Aren't all my commanders kings? | 8Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings? |
| 9Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus? | 9Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? |
| 10As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms, whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria, | 10I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem's or Samaria's. |
| 11and as I did to Samaria and its idols will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?" | 11As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols." |
| 12But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes." | 12But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. |
| 13For he said: I have done this by my own strength and wisdom, for I am clever. I abolished the borders of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants. | 13For he says: "By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers. |
| 14My hand has reached out, as if into a nest, to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered the whole earth. No wing fluttered; no beak opened or chirped. | 14My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping." |
| 15Does an ax exalt itself above the one who chops with it? Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it? It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts it! It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn't wood! | 15Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood! |
| 16Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will inflict an emaciating disease on the well-fed of Assyria, and He will kindle a burning fire under its glory. | 16For this reason the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke. |
| 17Israel's Light will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. In one day it will burn up Assyria's thorns and thistles. | 17The light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king's briers and his thorns in one day. |
| 18He will completely destroy the glory of its forests and orchards as a sickness consumes a person. | 18The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man's life ebbs away. |
| 19The remaining trees of its forest will be so few in number that a child could count them. | 19There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. |
| 20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. | 20At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. |
| 21The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. | 21A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. |
| 22Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows. | 22For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you. |
| 23For throughout the land the Lord GOD of Hosts is carrying out a destruction that was decreed. | 23The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. |
| 24Therefore, the Lord GOD of Hosts says this: "My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did. | 24So here is what the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, says: "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did. |
| 25In just a little while My wrath will be spent and My anger will turn to their destruction." | 25For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction." |
| 26And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against him as He did when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and He will raise His staff over the sea as He did in Egypt. | 26The LORD who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt. |
| 27On that day his burden will fall from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of fatness. | 27At that time the LORD will remove their burden from your shoulders, and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. |
| 28Assyria has come to Aiath and has gone through Migron, storing his equipment at Michmash. | 28They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash. |
| 29They crossed over at the ford, saying," We will spend the night at Geba." The people of Ramah are trembling; those at Gibeah of Saul have fled. | 29They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away. |
| 30Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Anathoth is miserable. | 30Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth! |
| 31Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge. | 31Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden. |
| 32Today he will stand at Nob, shaking his fist at the mountain of Daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. | 32This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion's mountain--at the hill of Jerusalem. |
| 33Look, the Lord GOD of Hosts will chop off the branches with terrifying power, and the tall trees will be cut down, the high trees felled. | 33Look, the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. The tallest trees will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low. |
| 34He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon with its majesty will fall. | 34The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall. |
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