1. You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people.
2. That is how you prevent the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans.
3. What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth?
4. You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners. Yet even so the Lord's anger will not be ended; his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
5. The Lord said, “Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry.
6. I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample on the people like dirt in the streets.”
7. But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.
8. He boasts, “Every one of my commanders is a king!
9. I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus.