Zechariah 11:2

³¹For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

²“Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness? ³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.

³³Behold, the Lord, GOD of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. ³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

¹²For there will be a day of the LORD of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low— ¹³for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan, ¹⁴for all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, ¹⁵for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, ¹⁶for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. ¹⁷The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹⁷They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.

⁴⁶“Son of man, set your face toward the south, and preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the south.

⁸Are you better than No-Amon,^[+] who was situated among the rivers,^[+] who had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? ⁹Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers. ¹⁰Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. ¹¹You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy. ¹²All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. ¹³Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong. ¹⁵There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust. ¹⁶You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips and flees away. ¹⁷Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them. ¹⁹There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you, for who hasn’t felt your endless cruelty?

¹Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

¹⁵until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest. ¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. ¹⁷The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. ¹⁸My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places, ¹⁹though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely.