¹ Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

² Go to Calneh, and see; and from there Go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?

³ Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

⁴ Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

⁵ who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

⁶ who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

⁷ Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.

⁸ "The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself," says Yahweh, the God of Armies: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

⁹ It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

¹⁰ "When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?' And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of Yahweh.'

¹¹ "For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.

¹² Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;

¹³ you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?'

¹⁴ For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel," says Yahweh, the God of Armies; "and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."

¹ Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

² to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

³ What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

⁴ They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

⁵ Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!

⁶ I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

⁷ However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

⁸ For he says, "Aren't all of my princes kings?

⁹ Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?"

¹⁰ As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

¹¹ shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

¹² Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.

¹³ For he has said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.

¹⁴ My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."

¹⁵ Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.

¹⁷ The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in One day.

¹⁸ He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints.

¹⁹ The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.

²⁰ It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

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

²² For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³ For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴ Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says "My people who dwell in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did.

²⁵ For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction."

²⁶ Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt.

²⁷ It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

²⁸ He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage.

²⁹ They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled.

³⁰ Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!

³¹ Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

³² This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.

³⁴ He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.