Read the Bible

¹ Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness [which] they have prescribed;² To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!³ And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation [which] shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?⁴ Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

⁵ O Assyrian, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is my indignation.⁶ I will send him against a hypocritical nation, 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 heart think so; but [it is] in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.⁸ For he saith, [Are] not my princes altogether kings?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 excelled them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;¹¹ Shall I not, as I have done to 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 mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.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 [man]:¹⁴ And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs [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 ax boast itself against him that heweth with it? [or] shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it? as if the rod should shake [itself] against them that lift it, [or] as if the staff should lift [itself], [as if it were] no wood.¹⁶ Therefore will the Lord, the LORD of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he will 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 one day;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 standard-bearer fainteth.¹⁹ And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smote them; but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.²¹ The remnant shall return, [even] the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.²³ For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

²⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD 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 my anger in their destruction.²⁶ And the LORD of hosts will raise 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 destroyed because of the anointing.²⁸ He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his furniture.²⁹ They have gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul hath fled.³⁰ Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard to Laish, O poor Anathoth.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 will 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 forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.