The Lord Will Give True Security

9 You complacent women,

get up and listen to me!

You carefree daughters,

pay attention to what I say!

10 In a year’s time

you carefree ones will shake with fear,

for the grape harvest will fail,

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

11 Tremble, you complacent ones!

Shake with fear, you carefree ones!

Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –

put sackcloth on your waist!

12 Mourn over the field,

over the delightful fields

and the fruitful vine!

13 Mourn over the land of my people,

which is overgrown with thorns and briers,

and over all the once-happy houses

in the city filled with revelry.

14 For the fortress is neglected;

the once-crowded city is abandoned.

Hill and watchtower

are permanently uninhabited.

Wild donkeys love to go there,

and flocks graze there.

15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven.

Then the desert will become an orchard

and the orchard will be considered a forest.

16 Justice will settle down in the desert

and fairness will live in the orchard.

17 Fairness will produce peace

and result in lasting security.

18 My people will live in peaceful settlements,

in secure homes,

and in safe, quiet places.

19 Even if the forest is destroyed

and the city is annihilated,

20 you will be blessed,

you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,

you who let your ox and donkey graze.

33 The destroyer is as good as dead,

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead,

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you!

2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning!

Deliver us when distress comes.

3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;

the nations scatter when you spring into action!

4 Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it;

they swarm over it like locusts!

5 The Lord is exalted,

indeed, he lives in heaven;

he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

6 He is your constant source of stability;

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;

he gives all this to those who fear him.

7 Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets;

messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly.

8 Highways are empty,

there are no travelers.

Treaties are broken,

witnesses are despised,

human life is treated with disrespect.

9 The land dries up and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up and decays.

Sharon is like the desert;

Bashan and Carmel are parched.

10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.

“Now I will exalt myself;

now I will magnify myself.

11 You conceive straw,

you give birth to chaff;

your breath is a fire that destroys you.

12 The nations will be burned to ashes;

like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.

13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!

You who are close by, recognize my strength!”

14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic grips the godless.

They say, ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?’

15 The one who lives uprightly

and speaks honestly;

the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures

and rejects a bribe;

the one who does not plot violent crimes

and does not seek to harm others –

16 This is the person who will live in a secure place;

he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds;

he will have food

and a constant supply of water.

17 You will see a king in his splendor;

you will see a wide land.

18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,

and you will ask yourselves, “Where is the scribe?

Where is the one who weighs the money?

Where is the one who counts the towers?”

19 You will no longer see a defiant people

whose language you do not comprehend,

whose derisive speech you do not understand.

20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!

You will see Jerusalem,

a peaceful settlement,

a tent that stays put;

its stakes will never be pulled up;

none of its ropes will snap in two.

21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;

no war galley will enter;

no large ships will sail through.

22 For the Lord, our ruler,

the Lord, our commander,

the Lord, our king –

he will deliver us.

23 Though at this time your ropes are slack,

the mast is not secured,

and the sail is not unfurled,

at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;

even the lame will drag off plunder.

24 No resident of Zion will say, “I am ill”;

the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.

34 Come near, you nations, and listen!

Pay attention, you people!

The earth and everything it contains must listen,

the world and everything that lives in it.

2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

3 Their slain will be left unburied,

their corpses will stink;

the hills will soak up their blood.

4 All the stars in the sky will fade away,

the sky will roll up like a scroll;

all its stars will wither,

like a leaf withers and falls from a vine

or a fig withers and falls from a tree.

5 He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers.

Look, it now descends on Edom,

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,

it is covered with fat;

it drips with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah,

a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them,

as well as strong bulls.

Their land is drenched with blood,

their soil is covered with fat.

8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge,

a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.

9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

10 Night and day it will burn;

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

11 Owls and wild animals will live there,

all kinds of wild birds will settle in it.

The Lord will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line of destruction.

12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear.

13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;

thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities.

Jackals will settle there;

ostriches will live there.

14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there;

wild goats will bleat to one another.

Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there

and make for themselves a nest.

15 Owls will make nests and lay eggs there;

they will hatch them and protect them.

Yes, hawks will gather there,

each with its mate.

16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord!

Not one of these creatures will be missing,

none will lack a mate.

For the Lord has issued the decree,

and his own spirit gathers them.

17 He assigns them their allotment;

he measures out their assigned place.

They will live there permanently;

they will settle in it through successive generations.

35 Let the desert and dry region be happy;

let the wilderness rejoice and bloom like a lily!

2 Let it richly bloom;

let it rejoice and shout with delight!

It is given the grandeur of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake!

4 Tell those who panic,

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”

5 Then blind eyes will open,

deaf ears will hear.

6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow in the desert,

streams in the wilderness.

7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,

the parched ground springs of water.

Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,

grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness.

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it –

fools will not stray into it.

9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way.

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them,

happiness and joy will overwhelm them;

grief and suffering will disappear.

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.

4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? 5 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? 6 Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him! 7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’ 8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 10 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’ ” ’ ”

11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!”

13 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’ ” 21 They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”

22 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

37 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz: 3 “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.’ ”

5 When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. 7 Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land.” ’ ”

8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. 9 The king heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued? 12 Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? 13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: 16 “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth. 17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! 18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands. 19 They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. 20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 this is what the Lord says about him:

“The virgin daughter Zion

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you.

23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly?

At the Holy One of Israel!

24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions,

its thickest woods.

25 I dug wells

and drank water.

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

26 

Certainly you must have heard!

Long ago I worked it out,

in ancient times I planned it,

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins.

27 Their residents are powerless;

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field

or green vegetation.

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops

when it is scorched by the east wind.

28 I know where you live

and everything you do

and how you rage against me.

29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose,

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

30 

“This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own. But the year after that you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. 31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

32 “For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies will accomplish this.

33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here.

He will not attack it with his shielded warriors,

nor will he build siege works against it.

34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.” ’ ”

36 The Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 troops in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! 37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 38 One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

38 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’ ” 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 The Lord told Isaiah, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life, 6 and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.” ’ ” 7 Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: 8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” And then the shadow went back ten steps.