Today’s Scripture:

What sorrow awaits the unjust judges    and those who issue unfair laws.2 They deprive the poor of justice    and deny the rights of the needy among my people.They prey on widows    and take advantage of orphans.3 What will you do when I punish you,    when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?To whom will you turn for help?    Where will your treasures be safe?4 You will stumble along as prisoners    or lie among the dead.But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.    His fist is still poised to strike.

5 “What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.    I use it as a club to express my anger.6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,    against a people with whom I am angry.Assyria will plunder them,    trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;    his mind does not work that way.His plan is simply to destroy,    to cut down nation after nation.8 He will say,    ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.9 We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.    Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.    And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom    whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,    just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”

12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,

“By my own powerful arm I have done this.    With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.I have broken down the defenses of nations    and carried off their treasures.    I have knocked down their kings like a bull.14 I have robbed their nests of riches    and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.No one can even flap a wing against me    or utter a peep of protest.”

15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?    Is the saw greater than the person who saws?Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?    Can a wooden cane walk by itself?16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,    will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,    and a flaming fire will consume its glory.17 The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;    the Holy One will be a flame.He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,    burning up the enemy in a single night.18 The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory    like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;    it will waste away like sick people in a plague.19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—    so few that a child could count them!

20 In that day the remnant left in Israel,    the survivors in the house of Jacob,will no longer depend on allies    who seek to destroy them.But they will faithfully trust the Lord,    the Holy One of Israel.21 A remnant will return;[a] ...