New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible 1995

1What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.

1Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,

2They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans.

2So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans.

3What will you do when I punish you, when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe?

3Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth?

4You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. Judgment against Assyria

4Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.

5“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger. I use it as a club to express my anger.

5Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,

6I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.

6I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

7But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.

7Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

8He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.

8For it says, "Are not my princes all kings?

9We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.

9"Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus?

10Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.

10"As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”

11Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?"

12After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant.

12So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness."

13He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull.

13For he has said, "By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, For I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants,

14I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest.”

14And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped."

15But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?

15Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood.

16Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory.

16Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

17The LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night.

17And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

18The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague.

18And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive— so few that a child could count them! Hope for the LORD’s People

19And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number That a child could write them down.

20In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

20Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will return; yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.

21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

22But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The LORD has rightly decided to destroy his people.

22For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

23Yes, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, has already decided to destroy the entire land.

23For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

24So this is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago.

24Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did.

25In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.”

25"For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction."

26The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the LORD’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.

26The LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt.

27In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.

27So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.

28Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath. They are passing through Migron and are storing their equipment at Micmash.

28He has come against Aiath, He has passed through Migron; At Michmash he deposited his baggage.

29They are crossing the pass and are camping at Geba. Fear strikes the town of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, are running for their lives.

29They have gone through the pass, saying, "Geba will be our lodging place." Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled away.

30Scream in terror, you people of Gallim! Shout out a warning to Laishah. Oh, poor Anathoth!

30Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah and wretched Anathoth!

31There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing. The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.

31Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

32The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.

32Yet today he will halt at Nob; He shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! He will cut down the proud. That lofty tree will be brought down.

33Behold, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash; Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down And those who are lofty will be abased.

34He will cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One.

34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org