¹ Woe to those who enact unjust laws
    and enforce oppressive statutes,
² thereby depriving the needy of justice,
    and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
    to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
    and make the orphans their prey.
³ What will you do on the day of punishment
    when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your riches,
⁴ so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
    or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
    his hand is still outstretched.

^{5     [a]}Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
    the club in their hands is my fury.
⁶ Against a godless people I send him forth,
    against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
    and to trample on them like mud in the street.
⁷ But this is not his intention,
    nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
    and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
⁸ For he says,
    “Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish?
    Is not Hamath like Arpad?
    Is not Samaria like Damascus?^[b]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
    that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
¹¹ As I did to Samaria and her idols,
    shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”

“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
    and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
    and have plundered their treasures;
    like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
¹⁴ My hand has discovered a nest
    in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
    so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
    or opened a beak to chirp.”
¹⁵ Does the ax consider itself more important
    than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
    than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
    nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
    will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷ The Light of Israel will become a fire
    and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
    will burn up and consume
    his thorns and his briers.
¹⁸ His splendid forests and orchards
    will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
    as when an invalid wastes away.
¹⁹ What remains of the trees of the forest
    will be so few
that any young child
    will be able to record their number.
^20 [c]When that day arrives,
    the remnant of Israel
    and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them^[d]
    and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel.
²¹ A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
    to the mighty God.
²² Although your people, O Israel,
    may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
    only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
    as righteousness and justice demand.
²³ For throughout the entire land
    the Lord God of hosts will enforce
    the final destruction that has been decreed.

O my people who dwell in Zion,
    do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
    and raise their staff against you
    as the Egyptians did.
²⁵ For it will be only a short time
    until my wrath will subside
    and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
²⁶ Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
    as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
    as he did against Egypt.
²⁷ On that day
    his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
    and fall from your neck.

Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
²⁸     and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
    and stored their supplies at Michmash.
²⁹ Once they crossed the ravine,
    they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰ Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
    Listen carefully, Laishah!
    Answer her, Anathoth!
³¹ Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
³² This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
    and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.
³³ Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
    and the lofty ones will be laid low.
³⁴ The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
    and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.