1   Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write misfortune which they have prescribed;
2   To turn aside the needy from justice, 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 you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which shall come from afar? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your riches?
4   Without me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

God Judges Assyria
5   O Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hand is my indignation.
6   I will send him against a godless 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   Yet he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few.
8   For he says, 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 has 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   Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
13   For he says, By the strength of my hand I have  done  it,  and  by  my  wisdom;  for  I  am prudent: and I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I  have  put  down  the  inhabitants  like  a  valiant man:
14   And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers 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 hews with it? or shall the saw magnify itself against him  that uses it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were not wood.
16   Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; 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 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 sick man wastes away.
19   And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them down.

Israel’s Remnant Returns
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 again lean upon him that struck them; but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21   The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
22   For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return:  the  destruction decreed  shall  overflow with righteousness.
23   For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make the destruction decreed, in the midst of all the land.
24   Therefore  thus  says  the  Lord  GOD  of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, 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 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  your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28   He has come to Aiath, he has passed to Migron; at Michmash he has stored his supplies:
29   They are gone over the pass: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30   Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause  it  to  be  heard  unto  Laishah,  O  poor Anathoth.
31   Madmenah  has  fled;  the  inhabitants  of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32   As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his fist against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33   Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop off the boughs 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 before the mighty one.