New International Version NIV
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,
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Wo [to] those decreeing decrees of iniquity, And writers who have prescribed perverseness.
2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
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To turn aside from judgment the poor, And to take violently away the judgment Of the afflicted of My people, That widows may be their prey, That the fatherless they may spoil.
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
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And what do ye at a day of inspection? And at desolation? -- from afar it cometh. Near whom do ye flee for help? And where do ye leave your honour?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
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Without Me it hath bowed down In the place of a bound one, And in the place of the slain they fall. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.
5 “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
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Wo [to] Asshur, a rod of Mine anger, And a staff in their hand [is] Mine indignation.
6 I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
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Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.
7 But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.
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And he -- he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For -- to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.
8 ‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.
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For he saith, `Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 ‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?
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Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
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As my hand hath got to the kingdoms of a worthless thing, and their graven images, [Greater] than Jerusalem and than Samaria,
11 shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”
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Do I not -- as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?
12 When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.
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And it hath come to pass, When the Lord doth fulfil all His work In mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur. And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.
13 For he says: “ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.
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For he hath said, `By the power of my hand I have wrought, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And their chief ones I have spoiled, And I put down as a mighty one the inhabitants,
14 As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”
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And my hand as to a nest Getteth to the wealth of the peoples, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs All the earth I -- I have gathered, And there hath not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.'
15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!
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-- Doth the axe glorify itself Against him who is hewing with it? Doth the saw magnify itself Against him who is shaking it? As a rod waving those lifting it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.
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Therefore doth the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his honour He kindleth a burning As the burning of a fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers.
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And the light of Israel hath been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it hath burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier in one day.
18 The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick person wastes away.
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And the honour of his forest, and his fruitful field, From soul even unto flesh He doth consume, And it hath been as the fainting of a standard-bearer.
19 And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.
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And the rest of the trees of his forest [are] few, And a youth doth write them.
20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
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And it hath come to pass, in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add any more to lean on its smiter, And have leant on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
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A remnant returneth -- a remnant of Jacob, Unto the Mighty God.
22 Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous.
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For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, A remnant doth return of it, A consumption determined, Overflowing [with] righteousness.
23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
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For a consumption that is determined, The Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is making in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
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Therefore, thus said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, `Be not afraid, my people, inhabiting Zion, because of Asshur, With a rod he doth smite thee, And his staff lifteth up against thee, in the way of Egypt.
25 Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”
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For yet a very little, And the indignation hath been completed, And Mine anger by their wearing out.
26 The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip, as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the waters, as he did in Egypt.
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And awaking for him is Jehovah of Hosts, A scourge like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, And his rod [is] over the sea, And he hath lifted it in the way of Egypt.
27 In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.
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And it hath come to pass, in that day, Turned is his burden from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, And destroyed hath been the yoke, because of prosperity.
28 They enter Aiath; they pass through Migron; they store supplies at Mikmash.
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He hath come in against Aiath, He hath passed over into Migron, At Michmash he looketh after his vessels.
29 They go over the pass, and say, “We will camp overnight at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
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They have gone over the passage, Geba they have made a lodging place, Trembled hath Rama, Gibeah of Saul fled.
30 Cry out, Daughter Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Poor Anathoth!
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Cry aloud [with] thy voice, daughter of Gallim, Give attention, Laish! answer her, Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is in flight; the people of Gebim take cover.
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Fled away hath Madmenah, The inhabitants of the high places have hardened themselves.
32 This day they will halt at Nob; they will shake their fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
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Yet to-day in Nob to remain, Wave its hand doth the mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.
33 See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low.
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Lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is lopping a branch with violence, And the high of stature are cut down, And the lofty are become low,
34 He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
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And He hath gone round the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon by a mighty one falleth!
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Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.