I have appointed trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”

For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

Forasmuch as this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth:

And many among them have stumbled and fallen, And been broken, and snared, and captured.

And I have waited for Jehovah, Who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, And I have looked for Him.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

for teaching and for testimony?" {surely they [who] speak like this have no dawn}.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, Thou hast made great its joy, They have joyed before Thee as the joy in harvest, As men rejoice in their apportioning spoil.

For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

And the people have known -- all of it, Ephraim, and the inhabitant of Samaria, In pride and in greatness of heart, saying,

'Bricks have fallen, and hewn work we build, Sycamores have been cut down, and cedars we renew.'

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west
have consumed Israel with open mouths.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Yet the people have not turned unto him that smote them, neither have they sought Jehovah of hosts.

And they who should have led this people forward have been causing them to stray, - And, they who are led of them are destroyed,

Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

For lawlessness, hath consumed like fire, Briars and thorns, doth it devour, - Yea it hath kindled upon the thickets of the forest, And they have rolled up as a column of smoke.

Through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, is the land consumed, - And the people have come to be, as fuel for fire, A man unto his own brother, sheweth not pity;

And cutteth down on the right, and hath been hungry, And he devoureth on the left, And they have not been satisfied, Each the flesh of his own arm they devour.

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.

so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

For I shall send him among those hypocritical people, among the people that have deserved my disfavour shall I send him: that he may utterly rob them, spoil them, and tread them down like the mire in the street.

“Is not Calno [conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]?
Is not Hamath [subdued] like Arpad [her neighbor]?
Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Aram]?

Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

Wherefore the LORD sayeth: As soon as I have performed my whole work upon the hill of Zion and Jerusalem, then will I also visit the noble and stout king of Assyria, with his wisdom and pride."

For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

And it hath come to pass, in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add any more to lean on its smiter, And have leant on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.

For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, says, O my people living in Zion, have no fear of the Assyrian, even if his rod comes on your back, and his stick is lifted up as in Egypt.

They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

Fled away hath Madmenah, The inhabitants of the high places have hardened themselves.

The thorns of the wood shall be rooted out with iron, and Lebanon shall have a mighty fall.

The child while he sucketh, shall have a desire to the serpents nest, and when he is weaned, he shall put his hand in to the Cockatrice den.

And the envy of Ephraim will be gone, and those who make trouble for Judah will come to an end: Ephraim will have no more envy of Judah, and there will be an end of Judah's hate for Ephraim.

And they have flown on the shoulder of the Philistines westward, Together they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab sending forth their hand, And sons of Ammon obeying them.

On that day you will say:
“I will praise You, Lord,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.

See, God is my salvation; I will have faith in the Lord, without fear: for the Lord Jah is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.

And ye have drawn waters with joy Out of the fountains of salvation,

And ye have said in that day, Give ye praise to Jehovah, call in His name. Make known among the peoples His acts. Make mention that set on high is His name.

I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

And they have been troubled, Pains and pangs they take, As a travailing woman they are pained, A man at his friend they marvel, The appearance of flames -- their faces!

And I have appointed on the world evil, And on the wicked their iniquity, And have caused to cease the excellency of the proud, And the excellency of the terrible I make low.

Everyone who is overtaken will have a spear put through him, and everyone who goes in flight will be put to the sword.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who do not regard silver, and as for gold, they have no delight in it.

Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks.

And Ziim have lain down there, And full have been their houses of howlings, And dwelt there have daughters of an ostrich, And goats do skip there.

And Aiim have responded in his forsaken habitations, And dragons in palaces of delight, And near to come is her time, And her days are not drawn out!

For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

And peoples have taken them, And have brought them in unto their place, And the house of Israel have inherited them, On the land of Jehovah, For men-servants and for maid-servants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors.

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

At rest -- quiet hath been all the earth, They have broken forth into singing.

Even firs have rejoiced over thee, Cedars of Lebanon -- saying: Since thou hast lain down, The hewer cometh not up against us.

The underworld is moved at your coming: the shades of the dead are awake before you, even the strong ones of the earth; all the kings of the world have got up from their seats.

“All of them will respond [tauntingly] and say to you,
‘You have become as weak as we are.
You have become like us.

‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’

“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!

For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the farthest sides of the north:

All kings of nations -- all of them, Have lain down in honour, each in his house,

But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.

“You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land,
You have slain your people.
May the descendants of evildoers never be named!

Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world with cities.

And I have risen up against them, (The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts,) And have cut off, in reference to Babylon, Name and remnant, and continuator and successor, The affirmation of Jehovah.

And have made it for a possession of a bittern, And ponds of waters, And daubed it with the mire of destruction, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!

The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth; my hand is ready to strike all the nations."

And delighted have the first-born of the poor, And the needy in confidence lie down, And I have put to death with famine thy root, And thy remnant it slayeth.

They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.

In their streets, have they girded them with sackcloth, - On their housetops, and in their broadways, every one is howling - melting in tears;

My heart crieth out for Moab; their fugitives have fled unto Zoar, unto Eglath-Sheli-shijah: for by the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up by it; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.

Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.

For the waters of Dimon have been full of blood, For I set on Dimon additions, For the escaped of Moab a lion, And for the remnant of Adamah!

For the daughters of Moab will be like wandering birds, like a place from which the young birds have gone in flight, at the ways across the Arnon.

“Let our outcasts of Moab live among you;
Be a [sheltered] hiding place to them from the destroyer.”
For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
Oppressors [who trample men] have completely disappeared from the land,

We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent
over your summer fruit and your harvest.

And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

And when Moab goes up to the high place, and makes prayer in the house of his god, it will have no effect.

The word about Damascus. See, they have made Damascus a town no longer; it has become a waste place.

Forsaken are the cities of Aroer, For droves they are, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

"At that time, Jacob's glory will have become weakened, and his strong flesh will turn gaunt;

And left in him have been gleanings, As the compassing of an olive, Two -- three berries on the top of a branch, Four -- five on the fruitful boughs, The affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel!

At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

In that day are the cities of his strength As the forsaken thing of the forest, And the branch that they have left, Because of the sons of Israel, It also hath been a desolation.

Because you [Judah] have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the Rock of your Stronghold—
Therefore you plant lovely plants
And set the grounds with vine slips of a strange god,

In the day when thou plantest, fence thou in, And in the morning, cause thou, they slip, to blossom, - A harvest will have waved in the day of destiny, and mortal pain.

That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

The burden of Egypt. Lo, Jehovah is riding on a swift thick cloud, And He hath entered Egypt, And moved have been the idols of Egypt at His presence, And the heart of Egypt melteth in its midst.

And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

And I have delivered the Egyptians Into the hand of a hard lord, And a strong king doth rule over them, An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts.

And failed have waters from the sea, And a river is wasted and dried up.

And they have turned away the flowings, Weak and dried up have been brooks of the bulwark, Reed and flag have withered.

And lamented have the fishers, And mourned have all casting angle into a brook, And those spreading nets on the face of the waters have languished.

And ashamed have been makers of fine flax, And weavers of net-works.