Study Desk

Alas! for Assyria, the rod of mine anger, - Yea, the very staff in their hand, is, my displeasure:

Against an irreligious nation, will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth, will I command him, - To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.

But as for him, not so, doth he deem, And in his heart, not so, doth he think, - For, to destroy, is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;

For he saith: - Are not, my generals, all alike, kings?

Is not, Calno, like Carchemish? Is not, Hamath, like Arpad? Is not, Samaria, like Damascus?

As my hand hath reached unto the kingdoms of idols, - whose images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria,

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

Wherefore it shall come to pass - When My Lord shall finish his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will bring punishment - Upon the fruit of the greatness of heart of the king of Assyria. And upon the vainglory of his uplifted eyes,

For he hath said - By the strength of mine own hand, have I effectually wrought, And by my wisdom - for I have discernment, - That I might remove the bounds of peoples, Yea their treasures, have I plundered That I might lay prostrate as a mighty one the inhabitants;

And my hand hath found as a nest the wealth of the peoples, And as the gathering of eggs that are forsaken, all the earth, have, I, gathered, - And there was none to flap a wing, or open a mouth or chirp.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or, the saw, magnify itself, against him that wieldeth it? As if a rod, could wield, them who lift it up! As if a staff, could raise, what is, not wood!

Therefore, shall the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Send, among his fat ones, leanness, And under his glory, shall he kindle a kindling, like the kindling of fire;

So shall, the Light of Israel, become, a fire, And his Holy One, a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars, in one day;

And the glory of his forest and of his garden land, both soul and body, shall it bring to an end, - And it shall be like the wasting away of a consumptive.

And, the remnant of his forest-trees, few in number, shall become, - yea, a child, might describe them!