CHAPTER 10
to deprive
the poor
of fair treatment
and withhold
justice
from the oppressed
of My people,
to make
widows
their spoil
and plunder
the fatherless.
What
will you do
on the day
of reckoning
when devastation
comes
from afar?
To
whom
will you flee
for help?
Where
will you leave
your wealth?
Nothing will remain
but to crouch
among
the captives
or fall
among
the slain.
Despite all
this,
His anger
is not
turned away;
His hand
is still
upraised.
I will send him
against a godless
nation;
I will dispatch him
against
a people
destined for My rage,
to take
spoils
and seize
plunder,
and to trample them down
like clay
in the streets.
But this
is not
what
he intends;
this is not
what
he plans.
His purpose
is to destroy
and cut off
many
nations.
As
my hand
seized
the idolatrous
kingdoms,
whose images surpassed
those of Jerusalem
and Samaria,
So when
the Lord
has completed
all
His work
against Mount
Zion
and Jerusalem,
He will say, “I will punish
the king
of Assyria
for
the fruit
of his arrogant
heart
and the proud
look in his eyes.”
For
he says:
“By the strength
of my hand
I have done this,
and by my wisdom,
for
I am clever.
I have removed
the boundaries
of nations
and plundered
their treasures;
like a mighty one
I subdued
their rulers.
My hand
reached
as into a nest
to seize the wealth
of the nations.
Like one gathering
abandoned
eggs,
I
gathered
all
the earth.
No
wing
fluttered,
no beak
opened
or chirped.”
Does an ax
raise itself
above
the one who swings it?
Does a saw
boast
over him
who saws with it?
It would be like a staff
waving
the one who lifts it!
It would be like a staff
lifting
him who is not
wood!
Therefore
the Lord
GOD
of Hosts
will send
a wasting disease
among Assyria’s stout warriors,
and under
his pomp
will be kindled
a fire
like a burning
flame.
And the Light
of Israel
will become
a fire,
and its Holy One
a flame.
In a single
day
it will burn
and devour
Assyria’s thorns
and thistles.
The splendor
of its forests
and orchards,
both soul
and body,
it will completely destroy,
as a sickness consumes a man.
On that
day
the remnant
of Israel
and the survivors
of the house
of Jacob
will no
longer
depend
on
him who struck them,
but they will truly
rely
on
the LORD,
the Holy
One of Israel.
Though
your people,
O Israel,
be
like the sand
of the sea,
only a remnant
will return.
Destruction
has been decreed,
overflowing
with righteousness.
Therefore,
this is what
the Lord
GOD
of Hosts
says:
“O My people
who dwell
in Zion,
do not
fear
Assyria,
who strikes
you with a rod
and lifts
his staff
against you
as the Egyptians
did.
For
in just
a very little while
My wrath
will be spent
and My anger
will turn to
their destruction.”
And the LORD
of Hosts
will brandish
a whip
against them,
as when He struck
Midian
at the rock
of Oreb;
He will raise
His staff
over
the sea,
as He did in Egypt.
On that
day
the burden
will be lifted
from
your shoulders,
and the yoke
from
your neck.
The yoke
will be broken
because of
your fatness.
They have crossed
at the ford:
“We will spend the night
at Geba.”
Ramah
trembles;
Gibeah
of Saul
flees.
Yet
today
they will halt
at Nob,
shaking
a fist
at the mount
of the Daughter
of Zion,
at the hill
of Jerusalem.
Behold,
the Lord
GOD
of Hosts
will lop off
the branches
with terrifying power.
The tall
trees
will be cut down,
the lofty ones
will be felled.