Warning to Unfair Leaders
How terrible for leaders who make unfair laws and write down harsh rules! They keep poor people from getting fair treatment. They take away the rights of poor people. They attack widows and rob children who have no parents. What will you do when God comes to punish you? What will you do when destruction comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you hide your riches? Without me they will bow down as prisoners. They will fall among the dead. But even after all this, God is still angry. His hand is still raised to punish.
Assyria: God’s Tool of Anger
Assyria is the weapon of my anger. They carry my anger like a stick. I will send him against a nation of fake people. I will send him against the people who make me angry. I will order him to steal from them and rob them. I will tell him to walk on them like mud in the streets. But he doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t think this way. In his heart he wants to destroy many nations.
He says, “Aren’t my commanders all like kings? Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus? My hand took over kingdoms that worshiped idols. Their statues were better than those in Jerusalem and Samaria. Won’t I do the same thing to Jerusalem and her idols that I did to Samaria and her idols?”
God Will Punish the Proud King
So when the Lord finishes all his work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria. He will punish him for his proud heart and his proud looks. The king says, “I did these things by my own strength and wisdom. I am smart. I moved the borders of nations. I robbed their treasures. Like a strong man, I knocked down the people. My hand found the riches of the people like finding a bird’s nest. Like someone gathers eggs that are left behind, I gathered all the earth. No one moved a wing or opened their mouth or made a sound.”
Can an ax brag that it’s better than the person who chops with it? Can a saw brag that it’s better than the person who uses it? That would be like a stick shaking the person who picks it up. That would be like a wooden staff lifting itself up. So the Lord, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will make his strong soldiers weak. Under his glory he will start a fire that will burn. The light of Israel will become a fire. His Holy One will become a flame. It will burn and destroy his thorns and weeds in one day. It will destroy the glory of his forest and his good fields. They will be destroyed completely. It will be like someone getting sick and dying. Only a few trees will be left in his forest. A child could count them.
Israel Will Return to God
At that time, the people of Israel who are left will not depend on the one who hurt them anymore. Instead they will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in a true way. The people who are left will return. Yes, the people of Jacob who are left will return to the mighty God. Even if your people Israel are as many as the sand by the sea, only some of them will return. God has decided to destroy them in a way that is right. The Lord God of heaven’s armies will destroy the land, just as he decided.
Don’t Be Afraid
So the Lord God of heaven’s armies says: “My people who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians. They will hit you with a stick. They will lift up their weapon against you like Egypt did. In a very short time, my anger will end. I will be angry until I destroy them. The Lord of heaven’s armies will whip him like he killed Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise his stick over the sea like he did in Egypt. At that time, he will take away the heavy load from your shoulder. He will take away the wooden yoke from your neck. The yoke will be destroyed because God chose you.”
The Enemy Comes Closer
He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he has left his supplies. They have crossed the pass. They have set up camp at Geba. Ramah is scared. Gibeah of Saul has run away. Cry out, daughter of Gallim! Let Laish hear you! Poor Anathoth! The people of Madmenah have left. The people of Gebim are running away. Today he will stop at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mountain of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
God Will Cut Them Down
Look! The Lord, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will cut down the branches with great power. The tall trees will be cut down. The proud will be brought down. He will cut down the thick forest with an iron tool. Lebanon will fall by a mighty one.