<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has broken the club of the wicked,p> <p class="poetry">the scepter of rulers.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">a cudgel with which I angrily punish.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s shout will shatter Assyria;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will beat them with a club.p>

<p class="poetry">The officials of Zoan are fools,p> <p class="poetry">the officials of Memphis<n id="1" /> are misled;p> <p class="poetry">the rulers<n id="2" /> of her tribes lead Egypt astray.p>

<p class="poetry">Why, <sc>Lordsc>, do you make us stray<n id="1" /> from your ways,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Return for the sake of your servants,p> <p class="poetry">the tribes of your inheritance!p>

<p class="poetry">For their oppressive yokep> <p class="poetry">and the club that strikes their shoulders,p> <p class="poetry">the cudgel the oppressor uses on them,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you have shattered, as in the day of Midian&#8217;s defeat.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,p> <p class="poetry">or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,p> <p class="poetry">or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!p>

<p class="poetry">He will treat the poor fairly,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and make right decisions<n id="2" /> for the downtrodden of the earth.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and order the wicked to be executed.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t be so happy, all you Philistines,p> <p class="poetry">just because the club that beat you has been broken!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For a viper will grow out of the serpent&#8217;s root,p> <p class="poetry">and its fruit will be a darting adder.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Certainly<n id="1" /> caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge,p> <p class="poetry">nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick,p> <p class="poetry">and cumin seed with a flail.p>

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> here is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says: &#8220;My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">he says, &#8220;Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,p> <p class="poetry">to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and restore the remnant<n id="1" /> of Israel?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you a light to the nations,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so you can bring<n id="4" /> my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.&#8221;p>