“And I will turn My hand against you, And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye And remove all your tin (impurity).

Now it will come to pass that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains, And will be exalted above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against all who are proud and arrogant And against all who are lifted up, That they may be degraded.

And the wrath of God will be against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan],

Against all the high mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up,

Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft.

They [the stricken, deprived of all in which they had trusted] will go into the caves of the rocks And into the holes of the ground [fleeing] From the terror and dread of the Lord And from the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to terrify the earth.

Judah’s Women Denounced

Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud And walk with outstretched necks and seductive (flirtatious, alluring) eyes, And trip along with mincing steps and an affected gait And walk with jingling anklets on their feet,

then the Lord will create over the entire site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory and brilliance will be a canopy [a defense, a covering of His divine love and protection].

He dug it all around and cleared away its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine (the people of Judah). And He built a tower in the center of it; And also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.

Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down. And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets. In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away, But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent; Their horses’ hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

When the house of David (Judah) was told, “Aram is allied with Ephraim (Israel),” the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.

People will come there [to hunt] with arrows and with bows because all the land will be briars and thorns.

As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.

Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant— The king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.

A Believing Remnant

“Be broken [in pieces], O peoples, and be shattered! Listen, all you [our enemies from the] far countries. Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered; Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered.

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.

And all the people know it, That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria [its capital], Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:

“The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild [all the better] with ashlar (hewed stones); The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with [expensive] cedars.”

The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; And they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, Nor does He have compassion on their fatherless or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

[The tribe of] Manasseh devours [the tribe of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah (the southern kingdom, the house of David). In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall [dead] among the slain [on the battlefield]. In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away, But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].