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    For thus says the Lord to me:
As a lion or its young
    growling over the prey,
With a band of shepherds
    assembled against it,
Is neither dismayed by their shouts
    nor cowed by their noise,
So shall the Lord of hosts come down
    to wage war upon Mount Zion, upon its height.(A)
Like hovering birds, so the Lord of hosts
    shall shield Jerusalem,
To shield and deliver,
    to spare and rescue.(B)

Return, O Israelites, to him whom you have utterly deserted.(C) On that day each one of you shall reject his idols of silver and gold, which your hands have made.(D)

Assyria shall fall by a sword, not wielded by human being,
    no mortal sword shall devour him;
He shall flee before the sword,
    and his young men shall be impressed as laborers.(E)
He shall rush past his crag[a] in panic,
    and his princes desert the standard in terror,
Says the Lord who has a fire in Zion
    and a furnace in Jerusalem.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 31:9 Crag: the king as the rallying point of the princes. Panic: terror is an element of Israel’s holy war tradition, in which defeat of the enemy is accomplished by the Lord rather than by human means (cf. v. 8).

This is what the Lord says to me:

“As a lion(A) growls,
    a great lion over its prey—
and though a whole band of shepherds(B)
    is called together against it,
it is not frightened by their shouts
    or disturbed by their clamor(C)
so the Lord Almighty will come down(D)
    to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Like birds hovering(E) overhead,
    the Lord Almighty will shield(F) Jerusalem;
he will shield it and deliver(G) it,
    he will ‘pass over’(H) it and will rescue it.”

Return,(I) you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted(J) against. For in that day(K) every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold(L) your sinful hands have made.(M)

“Assyria(N) will fall by no human sword;
    a sword, not of mortals, will devour(O) them.
They will flee before the sword
    and their young men will be put to forced labor.(P)
Their stronghold(Q) will fall because of terror;
    at the sight of the battle standard(R) their commanders will panic,(S)
declares the Lord,
    whose fire(T) is in Zion,
    whose furnace(U) is in Jerusalem.

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