2 Nephi 20

THE SECOND BOOK OF NEPHI

CHAPTER 20

Destruction of Assyria is a type of destruction of wicked at the Second Coming—Few people shall be left after the Lord comes again—Remnant of Jacob shall return in that day—Compare Isaiah 10. Between 559 and 545 B.C.

1 aWo unto them that decree bunrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

2 To turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the apoor of my people, that bwidows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is atheir indignation.

6 I will send him aagainst a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

8 For he saith: Are not my aprinces altogether kings?

9 Is not aCalno as bCarchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as cDamascus?

10 As amy hand hath founded the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her aidols, so do to Jerusalem and to her idols?

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of aAssyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13 For ahe saith: By the strength of bmy hand and by my wisdom I have done these things; for I am prudent; and I have moved the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man;

14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

15 Shall the aax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood!

16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, send among his fat ones, leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

17 And the light of Israel shall be for a afire, and his Holy One for a flame, and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.

19 And the arest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the ahouse of Jacob, shall no more again bstay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 The aremnant shall return, yea, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

22 For though thy people aIsrael be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall breturn; the cconsumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

23 For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a aconsumption, even determined in all the land.

24 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts: O my people that dwellest in Zion, abe not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the bmanner of Egypt.

25 For yet a very little while, and the aindignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

26 And the Lord of Hosts shall astir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of bMidian at the rock of Oreb; and as his rod was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of cEgypt.

27 And it shall come to pass in that day that his aburden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the banointing.

28 aHe is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages.

29 They are gone over the apassage; they have taken up their lodging at bGeba; Ramath is afraid; cGibeah of Saul is fled.

30 Lift up the voice, O daughter of aGallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor bAnathoth.

31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

32 As yet shall he remain at aNob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror; and the ahigh ones of stature shall be bhewn down; and the chaughty shall be humbled.

34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.