Trials to Come for Judah

¹⁷ The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that ^(A)Ephraim separated from Judah—the days of the ^(B)king of Assyria.”

¹⁸ On that day the Lord will ^(C)whistle for the fly that is in the ^[a](D)remotest part of the canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will all come and settle on the steep ^[b]ravines, on the ^(E)ledges of the cliffs, ^(F)on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places.

²⁰ On that day the Lord will ^(G)shave with a ^(H)razor, ^(I)hired from regions beyond ^(J)the Euphrates River (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

²¹ Now on that day a person may keep alive only a ^(K)heifer and a pair of sheep; ²² and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat ^[c]curds, for everyone who is left within the land will eat ^[d](L)curds and honey.

²³ And it will come about on that day, ^(M)that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become ^(N)briars and thorns. ²⁴ People will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be briars and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the plow, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for ^[e](O)pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.