Lord, I am not proud.\par I don’t try to act important.\par I don’t try to do great things.\par I don’t worry about things\par that are too hard for me.\par
My Master will finish doing the things he planned to Jerusalem and Mount Zion. {\cf2\super [116]} Then the Lord will punish Assyria. {\cf2\super [117]} The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do many bad things. So God will punish him.
Watch! Our Master, the Lord All-Powerful, will chop down the great tree (Assyria). The Lord will do this with his great power. The great and important people will be cut down—they will become not important.
\{God says,\} “I will cause bad things to happen to the world. I will punish the evil people for their sin. I will cause the proud people to lose their pride. I will stop the bragging of the people that are mean to others.
The Lord has a special day planned. On that day, the Lord will punish the proud and boastful people. Then those proud people will be made not important.
But who did you insult and make fun of?\par Who did you speak against?\par You were against the Holy One of Israel!\par You acted like you were better than him!\par
Yes, you were upset at me.\par I heard your proud insults.\par So I will put my hook in your nose.\par And I will put my bit {\cf2\super [356]} in your mouth.\par Then I will turn you around\par and lead you back the way you came.’”\par
Should I punish the people of Judah\par for doing these things?”\par This message is from the Lord.\par “Yes! You know I should punish a nation\par that lives like that.\par I will give them the punishment\par that they deserve.\par
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give praise, honor, and glory to the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right. He is always fair. And he is able to make proud people humble!
“Then, Jerusalem, you will no longer be ashamed of the bad things your people do against me. Why? Because I will remove all of those bad people from Jerusalem. I will take away all of those proud people. There won’t be any of those proud people on my holy mountain. {\cf2\super [21]}
Young men, I have something to say to you, too. You should accept the authority of the elders. {\cf2\super [32]} All of you should be very humble with each other.