Woe unto them that
decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed;
02 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to
take away the right from the poor of my people,
that widows may be their prey, and that they may
rob the fatherless!
03 And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye
leave your glory?
04 Without me they shall bow down under the
prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away, but
his hand is stretched out still.
05 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the
staff in their hand is mine indignation.
06 I will send him against an hypocritical
nation, and against the people of my wrath will I
give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take
the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of
the streets.
07 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his
heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy
and cut off nations not a few.
08 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether
kings?
09 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as
Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the
idols, and whose graven images did excel them of
Jerusalem and of Samaria;
11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and
her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the
Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount
Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of
the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the
glory of his high looks.
13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I
have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent:
and I have removed the bounds of the people, and
have robbed their treasures, and I have put down
the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of
the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are
left, have I gathered all the earth; and there
was none that moved the wing, or opened the
mouth, or peeped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that
heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should
shake itself against them that lift it up, or as
if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were
no wood.
16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
send among his fat ones leanness; and under his
glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning
of a fire.
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17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,
and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn
and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and
of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and
they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall
be few, that a child may write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that
the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of
the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon
him that smote them; but shall stay upon the
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of
Jacob, unto the mighty God.
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of
the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the
consumption decreed shall overflow with
righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a
consumption, even determined, in the midst of all
the land.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O
my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of
the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and
shall lift up his staff against thee, after the
manner of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little while, and the
indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their
destruction.
26 And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge
for him according to the slaughter of Midian at
the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the
sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of
Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that
his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the
yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron;
at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29 They are gone over the passage: they have
taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid;
Gibeah of Saul is fled.
30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause
it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim
gather themselves to flee.
32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he
shall shake his hand against the mount of the
daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop
the bough with terror: and the high ones of
stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall
be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the
forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a
mighty one.
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