1. What sorrow awaits the unjust judgesand those who issue unfair laws.
2. They deprive the poor of justiceand deny the rights of the needy among my people.They prey on widowsand take advantage of orphans.
3. What will you do when I punish you,when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?To whom will you turn for help?Where will your treasures be safe?
4. You will stumble along as prisonersor lie among the dead.But even then the lord’s anger will not be satisfied.His fist is still poised to strike.
5. “What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.I use it as a club to express my anger.
6. I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,against a people with whom I am angry.Assyria will plunder them,trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7. But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;his mind does not work that way.His plan is simply to destroy,to cut down nation after nation.
8. He will say,‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.
9. We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.
10. Yes, we have finished off many a kingdomwhose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.
11. So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”