Yahweh’s Anger against Arrogance

8 The Lord has sent out a word against Jacob,

and it fell on Israel.

9 And all of the people knew it,

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria

in pride and arrogance of heart, saying,

10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stone.

The sycamore-fig trees were felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

11 So Yahweh strengthened ⌊the adversaries of Rezin⌋l against him,

and he provoked his enemies—

12 Aram from the east

and Philistinesm from the west—

and they devoured Israel with the whole mouth.

He has not turned away his anger in all of this,

and his hand is still stretched out.

13 And the people did not turn to the one who struck it,n

and they did not seek Yahweh of hosts.

14 So Yahweh cut off head and tail from Israel,

palm branch and reed in one day.

15 Elderso and ⌊the respectable⌋p are the head,

and prophetsq who teach liesr are the tail.

16 And the leaders of this people were misleading them,

and those who were led were confused.

17 Therefore the Lord did not rejoice over its young men,

and he did not have compassion on its orphans and widows,

for everyone was godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth was speaking folly.

In all of this his anger did not turn away,

and still his hand is stretched out.

18 For wickedness burned like fire;

it consumed brier and thorn.

And it kindled the thickets of the forest,

and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.

19 The land was burned through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts,

and the people became like fire fuel.

⌊People had no compassion toward each other⌋.s

20 They devoured on the right but still were hungry

and devoured on the left but they were not satisfied.

Each one devoured the flesh of his arm,

21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;

together they were against Judah.

In all of this his anger has not turned away,

and still his hand is stretched out.

Woes on the Wicked

10 Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil,

and writers who have written harm,

2 to guide the needy away from legal claims,a

and to rob the justice from the poor of my people,

to make widows their spoil;

and they plunder orphans.

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,

4 ⌊save that they bow down under the prisoners

and fall under the slain⌋?b

In all of this his anger has not turned away,

and still his hand is stretched out.

Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance

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 themc a trampling place,

like the clay of the streets.

7 But he does not think this,d

and his heart does not plan this.

For it is in his heart to destroy

and to cut off not a few nations.

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 idolse

—and their images were ⌊greater than those of⌋f Jerusalem and Samaria—

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⌋g and Jerusalem, “I will punish the ⌊arrogance⌋h of the king of Assyria and ⌊his haughtiness⌋.”i

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⌋.j

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⌋!k

⌊As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood⌋!l

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 thornsm and briersn in one day.

18 And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard ⌊completely⌋,o

and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

19 And the rest of the treesp of his forest will be a small number,

and a boy can write them down.