¹⁷ The Lord will bring ·troubled times to [^Lupon] you, your people, and to ·the people of your father’s family [^Lyour father’s house; ^CDavid’s dynasty]. ·They will be worse than […days unlike] anything that has happened since Israel separated from Judah [^Cthe civil war dividing Israel into north (Israel) and south (Judah) after David’s son Solomon died, two centuries earlier]. ·The Lord will bring the king of Assyria to fight against you [^L…—the king of Assyria].

¹⁸ “·At that time [^LIn that day] the Lord will whistle for ·the Egyptians, and they will come like flies from Egypt’s faraway streams [^Lthe fly that is at the farthest streams of Egypt]. ·He will call for the Assyrians, and they will come like bees [^L… and for bees from the land of Assyria; ^CIsrael and Judah were caught in a tug-of-war between these two great powers]. ¹⁹ ·These enemies will camp [^LThey will rest/settle] in the deep ravines and in the ·cliffs [^Lcrevices/clefts of the rocks], by the thornbushes and ·watering holes [or pastures]. ²⁰ [In that day] The Lord will ·hire Assyria and use it like a razor to punish Judah [^Lshave with a razor hired beyond the River (Euphrates)—the king of Assyria]. ·It will be as if the Lord is shaving the hair from Judah’s head and body and beard [^L…—the head, the hair of the feet and cutting away the beard; ^C“hair of the feet” is likely a euphemism for pubic hair; such shaving was an act of humiliation].

²¹ “·At that time [^LIn that day] a person will be ·able to keep alive only [fortunate to have left] ·one young cow [a heifer] and two sheep. ²² ·There will be only enough milk for that person to eat milk curds [or Because of the abundance of milk, he will have curds to eat]. All who remain in the land will ·go back to eating just [or have enough to eat from] milk curds and honey. ²³ [In that day] In every ·vineyard [^Lplace] where there were a thousand grapevines worth ·twenty-five pounds [^La thousand pieces] of silver, there will be only ·weeds [briers] and thorns. ²⁴ People will ·come there only to hunt [^Lcome] with bow and arrow, since the land will be covered with nothing but ·weeds [briers] and thorns [^Cwith no crops, the land will be useful only for hunting]. ²⁵ People once ·worked and grew food on [^Lhoed with a hoe] these hills, but at that time people will not go there, ·because the land will be filled with [^Lfor fear of] ·weeds [briers] and thorns. ·Only sheep and cattle will go to those places [^LIt will become a pasture for cattle/oxen and a trampling place for sheep].”