Woes on the Wicked

¹ Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm,

² to guide the needy away from legal claims,¹ and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans.

1. Hebrew “claim”

³ And what will you do at the day of punishment, and at calamity? It comes from afar! To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance

⁴ ⌞save that they bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain⌟?¹ In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand is stretched out.

1. Literally “except he will bow down under a prisoner and under slain they will fall”; “under” could also mean “in the place of”

⁵ Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger, and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!

⁶ I send him against a godless nation, and I command him against the people of my wrath, to capture spoil and to carry off plunder, and to make them¹ a trampling place, like the clay of the streets.

1. Hebrew “him”

⁷ But he does not think this,¹ and his heart does not plan this. For it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

1. Or “so”

⁸ For he says, “Are not my commanders altogether kings?

⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols¹ —and their images were ⌞greater than those of⌟² Jerusalem and Samaria—

1. Hebrew “idol”
2. Literally “from”

¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against ⌞Mount Zion⌟¹ and Jerusalem, “I will punish the ⌞arrogance⌟² of the king of Assyria and ⌞his haughtiness⌟.”³

1. Literally “the mountain of Zion”
2. Literally “fruit of the greatness of the heart”
3. Literally “the pride of the height of his eyes”

¹³ For he says, “I have done it by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down ⌞the inhabitants⌟.¹

1. Or, “those sitting,” that is, rulers sitting on thrones

¹⁴ And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples, and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth. And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp.”

¹⁵ Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who moves it to and fro? ⌞As if a rod should move the one who lifts it⌟!¹ ⌞As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood⌟!²

1. Literally “As a rod waving even the one who lifts it up”
2. Literally “As a staff lifting up not wood”

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors, and a burning like the burning of fire will burn under his glory.

¹⁷ And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns¹ and briers² in one day.

1. Hebrew “thorn”
2. Hebrew “brier”

¹⁸ And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard ⌞completely⌟,¹ and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

1. Literally “from soul and to body”

The Return of the Remnant

¹⁹ And the rest of the trees¹ of his forest will be a small number, and a boy can write them down.

1. Hebrew “tree”

²⁰ And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors¹ of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on the one who struck it but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.

1. Hebrew “survivor”

²¹ A remnant will return— the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.

²² For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will return. Annihilation is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to make a complete destruction and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: “My people who live in Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you ⌞as the Egyptians did⌟.¹

1. Literally “in the way of Egypt”

²⁵ My indignation will come to an end ⌞in just a very little while⌟,¹ and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”

1. Literally “for still a little a trifle”

²⁶ And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him, as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb; and his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift him up ⌞as he did in Egypt⌟.¹

1. Literally “in the way of Egypt”

²⁷ And this shall happen: on that day, he will remove his burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, ⌞and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat⌟.¹

1. The meaning of this phrase is uncertain, leading to the conjecture that it belongs with the next verse and by a different word division could mean “he has gone up from Jeshimon”; alternatively, “fat” could be a metaphor for prosperity

²⁸ He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he deposited his baggage.

²⁹ They crossed over the pass; Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

³⁰ Daughter of Gallim, cry out with your voice; Laishah, listen! ⌞Anathoth is poor⌟.¹

1. Or with different vocalization, “Answer her, Anathoth!” which fits the parallelism better

³¹ Madmenah flees! The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety!

³² ⌞This day⌟¹ ⌞taking a stand⌟² at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter³ of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

1. Literally “Yet today”
2. Literally “to stand”
3. Following the reading tradition (Qere); the consonantal text has “house”

³³ Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches¹ with great power, and ⌞the towering trees⌟² will be felled, and the ⌞tall trees⌟³ will be brought low.

1. Hebrew “branch”
2. Literally “the haughty of the height”
3. Literally “height”

³⁴ And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.