| NET Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations, | 1Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, |
| 2to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. | 2to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! |
| 3What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth? | 3What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? |
| 4You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. | 4Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. |
| 5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish. | 5Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! |
| 6I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets. | 6Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. |
| 7But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations. | 7But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; |
| 8Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings? | 8for he says: “Are not my commanders all kings? |
| 9Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? | 9Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? |
| 10I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem's or Samaria's. | 10As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, |
| 11As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols." | 11shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?” |
| 12But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. | 12When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. |
| 13For he says: "By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers. | 13For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. |
| 14My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping." | 14My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.” |
| 15Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood! | 15Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! |
| 16For this reason the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke. | 16Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. |
| 17The light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king's briers and his thorns in one day. | 17The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. |
| 18The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man's life ebbs away. | 18The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away. |
| 19There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. | 19The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. |
| 20At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. | 20In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. |
| 21A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. | 21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. |
| 22For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you. | 22For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. |
| 23The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. | 23For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth. |
| 24So here is what the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, says: "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did. | 24Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. |
| 25For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction." | 25For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. |
| 26The LORD who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt. | 26And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. |
| 27At that time the LORD will remove their burden from your shoulders, and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. | 27And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.” |
| 28They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash. | 28He has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he stores his baggage; |
| 29They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away. | 29they have crossed over the pass; at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. |
| 30Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth! | 30Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim! Give attention, O Laishah! O poor Anathoth! |
| 31Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden. | 31Madmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. |
| 32This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion's mountain--at the hill of Jerusalem. | 32This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. |
| 33Look, the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. The tallest trees will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low. | 33Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. |
| 34The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall. | 34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One. |
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