“Against a defiled nation I send him, and against the people of My wrath I command him to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mud of the streets.
Therefore יהוה does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is defiled and evil, and every mouth speaks foolishness. With all this His displeasure has not turned back, and His hand is still stretched out.
“And they shall be like mighty men, who trample down the mud of the streets in the battle. And they shall fight because יהוה is with them, and the riders on horses shall be put to shame.
‘See, I am commanding,’ declares יהוה, ‘and shall bring them back to this city, and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. And I shall make the cities of Yehuḏ
And let my enemy see it, and let shame cover her who said to me, “Where is יהוה your Elohim?” Let my eyes look on her: now she is trampled down like mud in the streets.
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. And I trod them down in My displeasure, and I trampled them in My wrath. Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have defiled all My raiment.
“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes; from the rising of the sun he calls on My Name. And he comes against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay.
Sinners in Tsiyon shall be afraid; trembling shall grip the defiled ones, “Who of us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who of us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”
And יהוה says, “Because this people has drawn near with its mouth, and with its lips they have esteemed Me, and it has kept its heart far from Me, and their fear of Me has become a command of men that is taught!
For it is a day of uproar and treading down and perplexity by the Master יהוה of hosts in the Valley of Vision – breaking down of a wall and of crying to the mountain.
“And now, please let Me inform you what I am doing to My vineyard: To take away its hedge and it shall be burned; to break down its wall and it shall be trampled down;
Therefore the displeasure of יהוה has burned against His people, and He stretches out His hand against them and smites them, and the mountains tremble. And their carcass is as filth in the middle of the streets. With all this His displeasure has not turned back, and His hand is still stretched out!
for a fool speaks folly, and his heart works wickedness: to practise filthiness, and to speak against יהוה that which misleads, to starve the being of the hungry, and to withhold the drink from the thirsty.
Woe to you ravager, while you have not been ravaged, and you treacherous, while they have not betrayed you! When you have ceased ravaging, you shall be ravaged. And when you stop betraying, they shall betray you.
Yet thus said יהוה, “Even the captives of the mighty is taken away, and the prey of the ruthless is delivered; and I strive with him who strives with you, and I save your children.
to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the gentiles, acquiring livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the land.
Are You not from everlasting, O יהוה my Elohim, my Set-apart One? You do not die! O יהוה, You have appointed them for right-ruling, O Rock, You have established them for reproof.
for before the child knows to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Shomeron is taken away before the sovereign of Ashshur.”