¹⁷“The Lord is going to bring on you, on your people, and on the whole royal family, days of trouble worse than any that have come since the kingdom of Israel separated from Judah—he is going to bring the king of Assyria.

¹⁸“When that time comes, the Lord will whistle as a signal for the Egyptians to come like flies from the farthest branches of the Nile, and for the Assyrians to come from their land like bees. ¹⁹They will swarm in the rugged valleys and in the caves in the rocks, and they will cover every thorn bush and every pasture.

²⁰“When that time comes, the Lord will hire a barber from across the Euphrates—the emperor of Assyria!—and he will shave off your beards, and the hair on your heads and your bodies.

²¹“When that time comes, even if a farmer has been able to save only one young cow and two goats, ²²they will give so much milk that he will have all he needs. Yes, the few survivors left in the land will have milk and honey to eat.

²³“When that time comes, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and each worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overgrown with thorn bushes and briars. ²⁴People will go hunting there with bows and arrows. Yes, the whole country will be full of briars and thorn bushes. ²⁵All the hills where crops used to grow will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze.”

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