1. “Woe to those making unrighteous laws, and writers who have prescribed toil,
2. to keep the needy back from right-ruling, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows become their prey, and orphans their plunder.
3. “What shall you do in the day of visitation, and in the ruin which comes from afar? To whom would you run for help? And where would you leave your wealth?
4. “Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and fall among the slain.” With all this His displeasure has not turned back, and His hand is still stretched out.
5. “Woe to Ashshur, the rod of My displeasure and the staff in whose hand is My displeasure.
6. “Against a defiled nation I send him, and against the people of My wrath I command him to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mud of the streets.
7. “But he does not intend so, nor does his heart think so, for it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations.
8. “For he says, ‘Are not my princes sovereigns?
9. ‘Is not Kalno like Karkemish? Is not Ḥamath like Arpaḏ? Is not Shomeron like Damascus?
10. ‘As my hand has found the reigns of the idols, whose carved images excelled those of Yerushalayim and Shomeron,
11. as I have done to Shomeron and her idols, do I not do also to Yerushalayim and her idols?’
12. “And it shall be, when יהוה has performed all His work on Mount Tsiyon and on Yerushalayim, that I shall punish the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the sovereign of Ashshur, and the boasting of his haughty looks.
13. “For he has said, ‘By the power of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have been clever. And I remove the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries. And I put down the inhabitants like a strong one.
14. ‘And my hand finds the riches of the people like a nest. And I have gathered all the earth like forsaken eggs are gathered. And there was no one who moved his wing, nor opened his mouth with even a peep.’ ”
15. Would the axe boast itself over him who chops with it, or the saw exalt itself over him who saws with it? As a rod waving those who lift it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not wood!
16. Therefore the Master, יהוה of hosts, sends leanness among his fat ones. And under his esteem he kindles a burning like the burning of a fire.
17. And the Light of Yisra’ĕl shall be for a fire, and his Set-apart One for a flame. And it shall burn and devour his weeds and his thornbushes in one day,
18. and consume the esteem of his forest and of his fertile field, both life and flesh. And they shall be as when a sick man wastes away,
19. and the remaining trees of his forest shall be so few in number that a child records them.
20. And in that day it shall be that the remnant of Yisra’ĕl, and those who have escaped of the house of Ya‛aqoḇ, never again lean upon him who defeated them, but shall lean upon יהוה, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, in truth.
21. A remnant shall return, the remnant of Ya‛aqoḇ, to the Mighty Ěl.
22. For though your people, O Yisra’ĕl, be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return – a decisive end, overflowing with righteousness.
23. For the Master יהוה of hosts is making a complete end, as decided, in the midst of all the earth.
24. Therefore thus said the Master יהוה of hosts, “My people, who dwell in Tsiyon, be not afraid of Ashshur, who beats you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, in the way of Mitsrayim.
25. “For yet a little while and the displeasure shall be completed, and My displeasure be to their destruction.”
26. And יהוה of hosts stirs up a lash for him as the smiting of Miḏyan at the rock of Orĕḇ. And as His rod was on the sea, so shall He lift it up in the way of Mitsrayim.
27. And in that day it shall be that his burden is removed from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
28. He has come upon Ayath, he has passed Mig̅ron. At Miḵmash he stored his supplies.
29. They have gone through the pass, they have taken up lodging at Geḇa. Ramah is afraid, Giḇ‛ah of Sha’ul has fled.
30. Lift up your voice, O daughter of Galliym! Listen, Layishah – O poor Anathoth!
31. Maḏmĕnah has fled, the inhabitants of Gĕḇim sought refuge.
32. Yet he remains at Noḇ that day; he shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Tsiyon, the hill of Yerushalayim.
33. Look, the Master, יהוה of hosts, is lopping off a branch with an awesome crash, and the tall ones are cut down, and the lofty ones are laid low.
34. And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Leḇanon shall fall as a mighty one!