1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write misfortune which they have prescribed;
2. To turn aside the needy from justice, 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!
3. And what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which shall come from afar? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your riches?
4. Without me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5. O Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hand is my indignation.
6. I will send him against a godless 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.
7. Yet he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few.
8. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9. Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10. As my hand has 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. Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
13. For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14. And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.