1 Woe to those who issue unjust decrees {chikkei: unjust enactments}, and to those who write hardship {amal: harsh oppression} which they have prescribed.
2 To turn aside from justice the needy and to rob the right of the poor of My {YHWH, Just Ruler} people, to make widows {almanot: defenseless women} their spoil and to plunder the orphans.
3 And what will you do on the day of visitation {pekudah: appointed reckoning} and in the devastation {sho’ah: overwhelming ruin} that comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains except to crouch among the prisoners {assir: captive status}, or to fall among the slain. For all this, His {YHWH, Unwavering Judge} anger has not turned back, and still His hand is stretched out.
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger {appi: intense anger}, and the staff in their hand is my indignation {zaami: fierce wrath}.
6 Against a profane {chanef: morally corrupt} nation, I {YHWH, Supreme Judge} will send him, and against the people of my wrath I will command him to plunder spoil and to seize prey, trampling them underfoot like clay of the streets.
7 But he does not imagine so, and his heart {levav: inner intent} does not consider thus; for it is in his heart to destroy {hashmid: utter annihilation} and to cut off nations, not a few.
8 For he says, “Are not all my princes {sarai: ruling officials} kings {melachim: sovereign rulers} together?”
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish {karkemish: strategic border fortress}? Is not Hamath {chamat: regional fortress city} like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 Just as my hand has reached the kingdoms {mamlekhot: territorial domains} of the idols, whose carved images {pesil: sculpted figures} were more than those of Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 Is it not, just as I have done to Samaria {Shomron: Northern capital} and her idols {elil: false gods}, so I will do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 And it will come to pass, when the Lord {Adonai, Sovereign Master} has finished all His work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will call to account the fruit {peri-godel: proud achievement} of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of the loftiness of his eyes.
13 For he said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent {nevunoti: practiced insight}; I remove the boundaries {gevulot: border lines} of peoples, and their stores and their treasures I plunder, and I bring down those who sit, like a mighty one.”
14 And my hand found, like a nest, the riches {cheil: gathered wealth} of the peoples, and as one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the land, and there was no stirring of a wing, or opening of a mouth, or chirping {metzaphtzef: faint protest}.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against the hewer {chotzev: artisan striking materials}, or shall the saw magnify itself against the mover {menifo: one who agitates it}? As if a rod should wield those who lift it, or a staff should lift him who is not wood.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Commander}, will send leanness among his fat ones {mishmanav: Assyrian elites}, and under his glory a fire will burn like a consuming flame.
17 And the light of Israel will become a fire, and His Holy One {qedosho: the Set-Apart One} a flame; and it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in one day {echad: single, complete cycle}.
18 The glory of his forest {yaʿar: wooded region} and of his fruitful field, from soul {nephesh: inner being} even to flesh, will be consumed. And it will be like one who wastes away.
19 And the rest {she’ar: surviving remainder} of the trees of his forest will be so few that even a youth {na’ar: young boy} could write them down.
20 And it will come to pass in that day that the remnant{she'ar: preserved community} of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but will rely on the LORD{YHWH, Faithful Redeemer}, the Holy One of Israel in truth.
21 A remnant {she'ar: faithful survivors} will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God {El, Strength-Giver}.
22 For even if your people Israel should be like the sand of the sea, a remnant will return; destruction {killayon: complete end} has been determined, overflowing with righteousness {tzedakah: covenant justice}.
23 For the Lord GOD of hosts {Adonai YHWH Tsevaot: Sovereign Commander} is bringing a complete and determined end in the midst of the whole land {eretz: territory}.
24 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD of hosts {YHWH Adonai Tsevaot, Supreme Commander}, “Do not fear, My people {ammi: covenant people} who dwell in Zion, from the Assyrian; with the rod he will strike you, and his staff he will lift up against you, after the manner of Egypt.”
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall end, and My {YHWH, Righteous Judge} anger will be directed toward their destruction {tavlitam: utter ruin}.
26 And the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tseva’ot, Divine Warrior} will stir up a scourge against him, like the blow {makka: decisive strike} against Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
27 And it will come to pass in that day that his burden {subbolo: oppressive load} will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck. And the yoke will be destroyed because of the oil {shamen: sign of consecration}.
28 He has come upon Aiath, he has passed through Migron, and to Michmash he assigns {yafqid: strategic stationing} his equipment {kelav: war supplies}.
29 They have crossed the ford {maavarah: water crossing point} and taken lodging {malon: temporary quarters} for us at Geba. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim {bat-gallim: settlement near Jerusalem}; lift your voice; listen, Laishah; O poor Anatot {anatot: border town}.
31 Madmenah has fled; the inhabitants of Gebim {ha-gevim: hill-country town} have sought refuge {he‘izu: urgent escape}.
32 Yet today, he stands at Nob; he will wave his hand against the mountain of the house of the daughter {bat: female descendant} of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem {yerushalayim: city of peace}.
33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies}, is lopping off the bough with a crash, and the high ones of stature {komah: physical height} are cut down, and the exalted ones will be humbled.
34 And the thickets {sivkhei: forest thickets} of the forest will be cut down with iron, and Lebanon will fall by a mighty one {adir: strong noble one}.