5
O[a]Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6
I will send him against an hypocriticalnation, 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
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heartthink so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut offnations not a few.
8
For he saith, Are not my princesaltogetherkings?
9
Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10
As my hand hath 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
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mountZion and on Jerusalem, I will punish[b] the fruit of the stoutheart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his highlooks.
13
For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures*, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant[c]man:
14
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gatheretheggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15
Shall the axeboast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the sawmagnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod[d] should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
16
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord* of hosts,send among his fat onesleanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
17
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in oneday;
18
And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearerfainteth.
19
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few,[e] that a child may write them.
20
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more againstay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21
The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mightyGod.
22
For though thy peopleIsrael be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumptiondecreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23
For the LordGOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
24
Therefore thus saith the LordGOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
25
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
26
And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
27
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyedbecause of the anointing.
28
He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29
They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba;Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
30
Lift up thy voice, O daughterofGallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poorAnathoth.
31
Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter* of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33
Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
34
And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.