10 “How terrible it will be for the one^[a] who enacts unjust decrees,
    for those who write oppressive laws
    that they have prescribed
² to deprive the needy of justice
    and to rob the poor of my people of their rights,^[b]
so that widows may become their spoil
    and so that they may plunder orphans!^[c]
3 What will you do on the day of Judgment,^[d]
    in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you run for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth,
⁴ so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains^[e]
    or fall among the slain?

⁵ “How terrible it will be
    for Assyria, the rod of my anger!
        The club is in their hands!^[h]
6 I’m sending my fury^[i] against a godless nation,
    and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
    and to trample them down
        like mud in the streets.
⁷ But this is not what he intends,
    and this is not what he thinks in his mind;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
    and to cut down^[j] many nations.

²⁸ “The Assyrian commander^[ag] has come upon^[ah] Aiath
    and has passed through Migron;
        he stores his supplies at Michmash.
²⁹ He has^[ai] crossed over by^[aj] the pass;
    his overnight lodging is at Geba.
Ramah trembles;
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰ Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim!
    Pay attention, Laish!^[ak]
        Poor Anathoth!
³¹ Marmenah^[al] is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim take cover.
³² This very day he will halt at Nob;^[am]
    he will shake^[an] his fists^[ao]
at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion,
    at Jerusalem’s hill.
³³ Behold, the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
    will lop off its^[ap] boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest in height will be cut down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴ He will cut down the thickets of the forest
    with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall
    by the Majestic One.”^[aq]