²⁴ Therefore the Lord God says, “O my people in Jerusalem, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you just as the Egyptians did long ago. ²⁵ It will not last very long; in a little while my anger against you will end, and then it will rise against them to destroy them.”

²⁶ The Lord Almighty will send his angel to slay them in a mighty slaughter like the time when Gideon triumphed over Midian at the rock of Oreb or the time God drowned the Egyptian armies in the sea. ²⁷ On that day God will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery off their necks and destroy it as decreed.^[a]

^28-29 Look, the mighty armies of Assyria are coming! Now they are at Aiath, now at Migron; they are storing some of their equipment at Michmash and crossing over the pass; they are staying overnight at Geba. Fear strikes the city of Ramah; all the people of Gibeah—the city of Saul—are running for their lives. ³⁰ Well may you scream in terror, O people of Gallim. Shout out a warning to Laish, for the mighty army comes. O poor Anathoth, what a fate is yours! ³¹ There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing, and the citizens of Gebim are preparing to run. ³² But the enemy stops at Nob for the remainder of that day. He shakes his fist at Jerusalem on Mount Zion.

³³ Then, look, look! The Lord, the Lord of the armies of heaven, is chopping down the mighty tree! He is destroying all of that vast army, great and small alike, both officers and men. ³⁴ He, the Mighty One, will cut down the enemy as a woodsman’s ax cuts down the forest trees in Lebanon.