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¹ Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decree, - And, busy writers, who make a business of writing mischief:² Turning aside from judgment, the poor, And robbing, of justice, the oppressed of my people, - So that, widows, become, their spoil, And of the fatherless, they make prey.³ What, then, will ye do for the day of visitation, And for the devastation, which from afar, shall come? Unto whom, will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your gory?⁴ Without me, one hath bowed under a prisoner Yea under the slain, do they fall! For all this, hath his anger, not turned back, But still, is his hand outstretched.

⁵ Alas! for Assyria, the rod of mine anger, - Yea, the very staff in their hand, is, my displeasure:⁶ Against an irreligious nation, will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth, will I command him, - To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.⁷ But as for him, not so, doth he deem, And in his heart, not so, doth he think, - For, to destroy, is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;⁸ For he saith: - Are not, my generals, all alike, kings?⁹ Is not, Calno, like Carchemish? Is not, Hamath, like Arpad? Is not, Samaria, like Damascus?¹⁰ As my hand hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols, - whose images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria,¹¹ Shall I not as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so, do to Jerusalem and her images?¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass - When My Lord shall finish his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will bring punishment - Upon the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria. And upon the vainglory of his uplifted eyes,¹³ For he hath said - By the strength of mine own hand, have I effectually wrought, And by my wisdom - for I have discernment, - That I might remove the bounds of peoples, Yea their treasures, have I plundered That I might lay prostrate as a mighty one the inhabitants;¹⁴ And my hand hath found as a nest the wealth of the peoples, And as the gathering of eggs that are forsaken, all the earth, have, I, gathered, - And there was none to flap a wing, or open a mouth or chirp.¹⁵ Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or, the saw, magnify itself, against him that wieldeth it? As if a rod, could wield, them who lift it up! As if a staff, could raise, what is, not wood! ¹⁶ Therefore, shall the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Send, among his fat ones, leanness, And under his glory, shall he kindle a kindling, like the kindling of fire;¹⁷ So shall, the Light of Israel, become, a fire, And his Holy One, a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars, in one day;¹⁸ And the glory of his forest and of his garden land, both soul and body, shall it bring to an end, - And it shall be like the wasting away of a consumptive.¹⁹ And, the remnant of his forest-trees, few in number, shall become, - yea, a child, might describe them!

²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, That the remnant of Israel. And the escaped of the house of Jacob Shall, no more again, lean upon him that smote them, - But shall lean upon Yahweh the Holy One of Israel, in truth.²¹ A remnant, shall return, The remnant of Jacob, - unto the mighty GOD;²² For though thy people, O Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, A mere remnant, shall return of them, - A full end decreed, bringeth in, justice, like a flood;²³ For, a full end and that a decreed one, is My Lord Yahweh of hosts executing in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴ Therefore, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Do not fear O my people dwelling in Zion, because of Assyria, - When with his rod, he would smite thee, And when his staff, he would lift up against thee in the manner of Egypt;²⁵ For, yet a very little while, and displeasure shall end, Yea, mine anger, over their destruction.²⁶ And Yahweh of hosts, will brandish over him, a scourge - Like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, - And his staff being over the sea, He will lift it up in the manner of Egypt;²⁷ And it shall come to pass, in that day, That his burden shall remove from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, - Yea, the yoke shall be broken because of fatness.²⁸ He hath come in unto Ayyath, Hath passed through Migron, - At Michmash, storeth his baggage:²⁹ They have passed over the pare, Geba is his halting-place, - Terror-stricken is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul, hath fled!³⁰ Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah, Answer, O Anathoth!³¹ Madmenah, hath fled, - The inhabitants of Gebim, have gone into safety:³² While yet to-day, in Nob, he tarrieth, He brandisheth his hand toward The mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.³³ Behold! the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is about to lop off a tree-crown, with a crash, - Then shall, they who are lifted on high, be hewn down, And, the lofty, be laid low;³⁴ Then will he fell the thickets of the forest with iron, - And, Lebanon by a majestic one shall fall.