A reading from the book of Isaiah.

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,

to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey.

What will you do on the day of punishment, and the ruin that will come from afar,

to whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?

Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain,

for all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury, against the

godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and

seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend,

and his heart does not so

think. But it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few, for he says,

Are not my commanders all kings? Is not Conno like Carcumish? Is not Hamith like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols, as I have done to Samaria and her images?

When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem,

he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of

Assyria, and the boastful look in his eyes, for he says,

By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding,

I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures like a bull I bring down

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