Woe to Tyrants

1Wo be vnto you yt make vnrightuous lawes, and devyse thinges, which be to harde for to kepe:

2wherthorow the poore are oppressed, on euery syde, and the innocetes of my people are there with robbed of iudgment: that wyddowes maye be youre praye, and that ye maye robbe the fatherlesse.

3What will ye do in tyme of the visitacion and destruction, that shal come from farre? To whom will ye renne for helpe? or to whom will ye geue youre honoure, that he maye kepe it?

4that ye come not amonge the presoners, or lye amonge the deed? After all this shal not the wrath of the LORDE ceasse, but yet shal his honde be stretched out still.

Judgment on Assyria

5Wo be also vnto Assur, which is a staff of my wrath, in whose honde is the rod of my punyshment.

6For I shal sende him amonge those ypocritish poeple, amonge the people that haue deserued my disfauoure shal I send him: that he maye utterly robbe them, spoyle them, and treade them downe like the myre in the strete.

7Howbeit his meanynge is not so, nether thinketh his harte of this fashion. But he ymagineth only, how he maye ouerthrowe and destroye moch people,

8for he saieth: are not my princes all kynges?

9Is not Calno as easie to wynne, as Charchamis? Is it harder to conquere Antiochia then Arphad? Or is it lighter to ouercome Damascus the Samaria?

10As who say: I were able to wynne the kingdome of the Idolaters and their goddes, but not Ierusalem and Samaria.

11Shal I not do vnto Ierusalem and their ymages, as I dyd vnto Samaria and their ymages?

12Wherfore the LORDE saieth: As soone as I haue perfourmed my whole worcke vpon the Hyl of Syon and Ierusalem: the will I also vyset the noble and stoute kynge of Assiria, with his wysdome and pryde.

13For he stondeth thus in his owne coceate: This do I, thorow the power of myne owne honde, and thorow my wisdome: For I am wyse, I am he that remoue the londes of the people, I robbe their prynces: and (like one of the worthies) I dryue them from their hie seates.

14My honde hath founde out the hoostes of the people, as it were a nest. And like as egges, that were layde here and there, are gathered together: So do I gather all countrees. And there is no man, yt darre be so bolde, as to touch a fether, that darre open his mouth, or once whisper.

15But doth the axe boost itself, agaynst him yt heweth therwith, or doth the sawe make eny krakinge, agaynst him that ruleth it? That were euen like, as yf the rod dyd exalte it self agaynst him, that beareth it: or as though ye staff shulde magnifie it self, as who saye: it were no wodd.

16Therfore shal the LORDE of hoostes sende him pouerte in his riches, and burne vp his power, as it were with a fyre.

17But the light of Israel shalbe yt fyre, and his Sanctuary shalbe the flame, and it shal kyndle, and burne vp his thornes and breyers in one daye,

18yee all the glory of his woddes and feldes shalbe consumed with body and soule. As for him self, he shalbe as one chased awaye.

19The trees also of his felde shalbe of soch a nombre, that a childe maye tell them.

A Remnant Shall Return

20After yt daye shal the remnaunt of Israel, and soch as are escaped out of the house of Iacob, seke no more coforte at him that smote them, but shal conforte them selues with faithfulnesse and treuth in the LORDE, the holy, one of Israel.

21The remnaunt, yee and the Posteryte of Iacob, shal couerte vnto God the mighty one

22For though thy people (o Israel) be as the sonde of the see, yet shal but the remnaunt of them only conuerte vnto him. Perfecte is the iudgmet of him that floweth in rightuousnesse:

23and therfore ye LORDE of hoostes shal perfectly fulfil the thinge, that he hath determyned in the myddest of the whole worlde.

24Therfore thus saieth the LORDE God of hoostes: Thou my people, that dwellest in Sion, be not afrayde for the kinge of the Assirians: He shal wagg his staff at the, yee and beate the with the rodd, as the Egiptias dyd sometyme: 25But soone after, shal my wrath and my indignacion be fulfylled agaynst their blasphemies. 26Morouer the LORDE of hoostes shal prepare a scourge for him, like as was the punyshmet of Madia vpo ye mount of Oreb. And he shal lift vp his rod ouer the see, as he dyd somtyme ouer the Egiptians. 27Then shal his burthen be taken from thy shulders, and his yock from thy neck, yee the same yock shal corrupte for very fatnesse.

28He shal come to Aiath, and go thorow toward Migron. But at Machnias shal he muster his hooste,

29and go ouer ye foorde. Gaba shalbe their restinge place, Rhama shalbe afrayde, Gabea Saul shal fle awaye.

30The voyce of ye noyse of thy horses (o doughter Gallim) shalbe herde vnto lais and to Anathoth, which also shalbe in trouble.

31Madmena shal tremble for feare, but the citesyns of Gabim are maly,

32yet shal he remayne at Nob that daye. After that, shal he lift vp his honde agaynst the mount Sion, and agaynst the hill of Ierusalem.

33But se, the LORde God of hoostes shal take awaye the proude from thence, wt feare. He shal hew downe the proude, and fel the hie mynded.

34The thornes of the wod shal be rooted out wt yron, and Libanus shal haue a mightie fal.