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²To turn aside the needy from judgment,

And to take away the right of the poor of My people,

That widows may be their spoil,

And that they may make the fatherless their prey!

³And what will ye do in the day of visitation,

And in the ruin which shall come from far?

To whom will ye flee for help?

And where will ye leave your glory?

⁴They can do nought except crouch under the captives,

And fall under the slain.

For all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

 

⁵O Asshur, the rod of Mine anger,

In whose hand as a staff is Mine indignation!

⁶I do send him against an ungodly nation,

And against the people of My wrath do I give him a charge,

To take the spoil, and to take the prey,

And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

⁷Howbeit he meaneth not so,

Neither doth his heart think so;

But it is in his heart to destroy,

And to cut off nations not a few.

⁸For he saith: 'Are not my princes all of them kings?

⁹Is not Calno as Carchemish?

Is not Hamath as Arpad?

Is not Samaria as Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand hath reached the kingdoms of the idols,

Whose graven images did exceed them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

¹¹Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,

So do to Jerusalem and her idols?'

¹²Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. ¹³For he hath said:

By the strength of my hand I have done it,

And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;

In that I have removed the bounds of the peoples,

And have robbed their treasures,

And have brought down as one mighty the inhabitants;

¹⁴And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples;

And as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken,

Have I gathered all the earth;

And there was none that moved the wing,

Or that opened mouth, or chirped.

 

¹⁵Should the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?

Should the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it?

As if a rod should move them that lift it up,

Or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood.

¹⁶Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts,

Send among his fat ones leanness;

And under his glory there shall be kindled

A burning like the burning of fire.

¹⁷And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,

And his Holy One for a flame;

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