1 How horrible it will be for those who make unjust laws
2 They deprive the poor of justice.
3 What will you do on the day
4 Nothing’s left but to crouch among prisoners
5 “How horrible it will be for Assyria!
6 I send them against a godless nation.
7 But that’s not what they intend to do.
8 They ask, ‘Aren’t all our commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
10 My power has reached kingdoms which have idols.
11 I will do to Jerusalem and its idols
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for all his boasting and all his arrogance.
13 The king will say,
14 I’ve found the riches of nations as one finds a nest.
15 Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it?
16 That is why the Almighty Lord of Armies
17 Israel’s light will become a flame.
18 The majestic forest and the orchard
19 The trees that remain in the forest will be so few that
20 At that time the remaining few Israelites,
21 A few, the remaining few of Jacob, will return to the mighty God.
22 Although your people Israel may be
23 The Almighty Lord of Armies will carry out this destruction
24 The Almighty Lord of Armies says:
25 Very soon I will unleash my fury,
26 Then the Lord of Armies will raise his whip against them.
27 At that time their burden will be removed from your shoulders.
28 They come to Aiath.
29 They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night.
30 Cry aloud, you people in Gallim!
31 The people in Madmenah flee; those who live in Gebim take shelter.
32 This day they stopped at Nob.
33 Now look! The Almighty Lord of Armies
34 He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax.