and writing oppressive laws
2to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the needy among my people of justice,10:2 Ps 35:10; Pr 22:22; Ec 5:8; Is 61:8; Jr 21:12; Ezk 18:12; 22:29
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.10:2 Ex 22:22; Dt 24:17; 27:19; Ps 68:5; 94:6; Is 1:17,23; Jr 22:3; Ezk 22:7; Zch 7:10; Mal 3:5
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?
4There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, his anger has not turned away,
Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath
5Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger —
the staff in their hands is my wrath.
6I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for my rage,
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.
8For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria10:9 Ac 1:8 like Damascus?10:9 Cities conquered by Assyria
10As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images,
kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images
Judgment on Assyria
12But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I10:12 LXX reads Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”10:12 Jr 50:31
13For he said:
I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.10:13 Or I brought down their kings10:13 2Sm 22:48
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.
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 rod waving the ones who lift10:15 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, Syr, Vg read the one who lifts it!
It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!
16Therefore the Lord God of Armies
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and he will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
17Israel’s Light will become a fire,
In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.10:17 Gn 3:18; Is 5:6; 7:23–25; 9:18; 27:4; Hs 10:8
18He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
The Remnant Will Return
21The remnant will return, the 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.10:22 2Kg 19:30,31; Ezr 9:8,15; Is 11:11,16; 28:5; 37:31,32; 46:3; Jr 23:3; 31:7; Rm 9:27–28
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.
23For throughout the land
the Lord God of Armies
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
24Therefore, the Lord God of Armies says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did.
25In just a little while my wrath will be spent and my anger will turn to their destruction.”
God Will Judge Assyria
27On that day
his burden will fall from your shoulders,
and his yoke from your neck.
The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.10:27 Lit because of fatness; Hb obscure10:27 Gn 27:40; Dt 28:48; Jr 28:10; 30:8; Lm 1:14
28Assyria has come to Aiath
and has gone through Migron,
storing their equipment at Michmash.
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.
30Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Anathoth is miserable.
31Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32Today the Assyrians will stand at Nob,
shaking their fists at the mountain of Daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33Look, the Lord God of Armies
will chop off the branches with terrifying power,
and the tall trees will be cut down,
the high trees felled.
34He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard
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