Isaiah 28 - 39 — Legacy Standard Bible

Woe to Ephraim

28Woe to the proud crown of the ^adrunkards of ^bEphraim,And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valleyOf those who are ²overcome with wine!²Behold, the Lord has a strong and ^acourageous agent;As a storm of ^bhail, a tempest of destruction,Like a storm of ^cmighty overflowing waters,He has set it down to the earth with His hand.³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is ^atrodden under foot.⁴And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valley,Will be like the ^afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,Which ²one sees,And ³as soon as it is in his ⁴hand,He swallows it.⁵In that day ^aYahweh of hosts will become a beautiful ^bcrownAnd a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;⁶A ^aspirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,A ^bmight to those who turn back the ¹onslaught at the gate.⁷And these also ^areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:^bThe priest and ^cthe prophet reel with strong drink;They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from ^dstrong drink;They reel while ¹having ^evisions;They totter when rendering a verdict.⁸For all the tables are full of filthy ^avomit, without a single clean place.⁹“^aWhom would He instruct in knowledge,And whom would He provide understanding about the report?Those just ^bweaned from milk?Those just taken from the breast?¹⁰“For He says,‘¹^,^aOrder on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there.’”¹¹Indeed, He will speak to this peopleThrough ^astammering lips and a foreign tongue,¹²He who said to them, “Here is ^arest, give rest to the weary,”And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.¹³So the word of Yahweh to them will be,“¹Order on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there,”That they may go and ^astumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore, ^ahear the word of Yahweh, O ^bscoffers,Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,¹⁵Because you have said, “We have cut a ^acovenant with death,And with Sheol we have made a ¹pact.^bThe overflowing ²scourge will not reach us when it passes by,For we have made ^cfalsehood our refuge and we have ^dhidden ourselves with lying.”

¹⁶Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “^aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested ^bstone,A costly cornerstone for the foundation, ¹firmly placed.He who believes in it will not be ²disturbed.

¹⁷“I will make ^ajustice the measuring lineAnd righteousness the level;Then ^bhail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,And the waters will overflow the secret place.¹⁸“Your ^acovenant with death will be ¹^,^bcanceled,And your pact with Sheol will not stand;When the ^coverflowing scourge passes through,Then you will become its ^dtrampling place.¹⁹“As ^aoften as it passes through, it will take you;For ^bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,And it will be ¹sheer ^cterror to understand the report.”²⁰The bed is too short on which to stretch out,And the ^ablanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.²¹For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount ^aPerazim;He will be stirred up as in the valley of ^bGibeon,To work His ^cwork, His ¹^,^dunusual work,And to labor in His labor, His ²exceptional labor.²²So now do not carry on as ^ascoffers,Lest your fetters be made stronger;For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hostsOf complete ^bdestruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.²³Give ear and hear my voice,Pay attention and hear my words.²⁴Does the ¹farmer plow ²continually to plant seed?Does he continually ³turn and harrow his ground?²⁵Does he not level its surfaceAnd sow dill and scatter ^acuminAnd ¹plant ^bwheat in rows,Barley in its place and rye within its ²area?²⁶For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.²⁷For dill is not threshed with a ^athreshing sledge,Nor is the wheel of a cart ¹driven over cumin;But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.²⁸Grain for bread is crushed,But he does not continue to thresh it forever.Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ¹disturb it,He does not crush it longer.²⁹This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,Who has made His counsel ^awonderful and His wisdom ^bgreat.

Woe to Ariel

29Woe, O ¹Ariel, ²Ariel the city where David once ^acamped!Add year to year, ³^,^bobserve your feasts on schedule.²I will bring distress to ¹Ariel,And she will be a city of mourning and ^amoaning;And she will be like an Ariel to me.³And I will ^acamp against you ¹encircling you,And I will fortify siegeworks against you,And I will raise up fortifications against you.⁴Then you will ^abe brought low;From the earth you will speak,And from the dust where you are prostrateYour words will come.Your voice will also be like that of a ¹spirit from the ground,And your speech will whisper from the dust.⁵But it will be that the multitude of your ¹enemies will become like fine ^adust,And the multitude of the ^bruthless ones like the chaff which ²blows away;And it will happen ^cinstantly, suddenly.⁶From Yahweh of hosts you will be ^apunished with ^bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.⁷And it will be that the ^amultitude of all the nations who wage war against ¹Ariel,Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,Will be like a dream, a ^bvision of the night.⁸And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—And behold, he is eating;But he awakens, and his soul is empty,Or as when a thirsty man dreams—And behold, he is drinking,But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,And his soul is not quenched.^aThus the multitude of all the nations will beWho wage war against Mount Zion.⁹^aAstonish yourselves and be astonished,Blind yourselves and be blind;They ^bbecome drunk, but not with wine;They stagger, but not with strong drink.¹⁰For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep ^asleep;He has ^bshut your eyes, the prophets;And He has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed ¹^,^abook, which when they give it to the one who ²is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²Then the ¹book will be given to the one who ²does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I ³do not know how to read a book.”

¹³Then the Lord said, “Because ^athis people draw near with their mouthAnd honor Me with their lips,But they remove their hearts far from Me,And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,

¹⁴Therefore behold, I will once again deal ^amarvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;And ^bthe wisdom of their wise men will perish,And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”¹⁵Woe to those who deeply ^ahide their counsel from Yahweh,And whose ^bdeeds are done in a dark place,And they say, “^cWho sees us?” or “Who knows us?”¹⁶You turn things around!Shall the potter be considered ¹as equal with the clay,That ^awhat is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

¹⁷Is it not yet just a little while¹Before Lebanon will be turned into a ^afruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?¹⁸On that day the ^adeaf will hear ^bwords of a book,And out of ¹darkness and thick darkness the ^ceyes of the blind will see.¹⁹The ^aafflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,And the ^bneedy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.²⁰For the ^aruthless will come to an end and the ^bscoffer will be finished,Indeed ^call who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;²¹Who ¹cause a person to sin by a word,And ^aensnare him who reproves at the gate,And ²^,^bdefraud the one in the right with ³meaningless arguments.

²²Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed ^aAbraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob ^bshall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

²³But when ¹he sees his ^achildren, the ^bwork of My hands, in his midst,They will sanctify My name;Indeed, they will ^csanctify the Holy One of JacobAnd will stand trembling before the God of Israel.²⁴“Those who ^aerr in spirit will ^bknow discernment,And those who ¹criticize will ²^,^cgain learning.

Alliance with Egypt Condemned

30“Woe to the ^arebellious children,” declares Yahweh,“Who ^bexecute counsel, but not Mine,And ¹^,^cmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,In order to add sin to sin,²Who ^ago down to Egypt—But did not ^bask ¹Me—^cTo find strength in the strong defense of PharaohAnd to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!³“Therefore the strong defense of Pharaoh will be ^ayour shameAnd the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.⁴“For ^atheir princes are at ZoanAnd their messengers reach Hanes.⁵“Everyone will be ^aashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,Who are ^bnot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

⁶The ¹oracle concerning the ^abeasts of the ^bNegev. Through a land of ^cdistress and anguish,From ²where come lioness and lion, viper and ^dflying fiery serpent,They ^ecarry their wealth on the ³backs of young donkeysAnd their treasures on ^fcamels’ humps,To a people who cannot profit them;

⁷Even Egypt, whose ^ahelp is vain and empty.Therefore, I have called ¹her“²^,^bRahab who has ceased.”⁸Now go, ^awrite it on a tablet before themAnd inscribe it on a scroll,That it may be in the time to come¹As a witness forever.⁹For this is a ^arebellious people, ^bfalse sons,Sons who are not willing to ^clistenTo the law of Yahweh,¹⁰Who say to the ^aseers, “You must not see,”And to those who have visions, “You must not ^bbehold visions for us of what is right,^cSpeak to us ¹pleasant words,Behold visions of illusions.¹¹“Get out of the way, ^aturn aside from the path,¹^,^bCease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “^aSince you have rejected this wordAnd have put your trust in ^boppression and deviousness and have relied on them,

¹³Therefore this ^ainiquity will be to youLike a ^bbreach about to fall,A bulge in a high wall,Whose breaking comes ^csuddenly in an instant,¹⁴Whose breaking is like the breaking of a ^apotter’s jar,¹So ruthlessly shatteredThat a potsherd will not be found among its piecesTo ²take fire from a hearthOr to scoop water from a cistern.”

¹⁵For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In ¹repentance and ^arest you will be saved,In ^bquietness and trust is your might.”But you were not willing,

¹⁶And you said, “No, for we will flee on ^ahorses,”Therefore you shall flee!“And we will ride on swift horses,”Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.¹⁷^aOne thousand will flee at the threat of one man;You will flee at the threat of five,Until you are left as a ¹flag on a mountain topAnd as a ²standard on a hill.

Yahweh Is Gracious and Just

¹⁸Therefore Yahweh ^awaits with longing to be gracious to you,And therefore He is on ^bhigh to have compassion on you.For Yahweh is a ^cGod of justice;How blessed are all those who ^dwait for Him.

¹⁹¹O people in Zion, ^ainhabitant in Jerusalem, you will ^bweep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will ^canswer you. ²⁰The Lord has given you ^abread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer ^bhide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. ²¹And your ears will hear a word behind you, “¹This is the ^away, walk in it,” whenever you ^bturn to the right or to the left. ²²And you will defile your graven ^aimages overlaid with your silver, and your molten ^bimages plated with your gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing and say to ¹them, “^cBe gone!”

²³Then He will ^agive you rain for ¹the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be ²rich and fat; on that day ^byour livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. ²⁴Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which ¹has been ^awinnowed with shovel and fork. ²⁵And it will be that on every lofty mountain and on ^aevery lifted up hill there will be ¹streams running with water on the day of the great ^bslaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶^aAnd the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day ^bYahweh binds up the ^cfracture of His people and ^dheals the bruise ¹He has inflicted.

²⁷Behold, ^athe name of Yahweh comes from afar;^bBurning is His anger and heavy is His ¹smoke;His lips are filled with ^cindignationAnd His tongue is like a ^dconsuming fire;²⁸His ^abreath is like an overflowing torrent,Which ^breaches to the neck,To ^cshake the nations back and forth in a ¹sieve of worthlessness,And to put in the jaws of the peoples ^dthe bridle which staggers one to ruin.²⁹You will have ¹songs as in the night when you set yourself apart as holy for the festival,And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,To go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.³⁰And Yahweh will cause ¹His splendid voice to be heard,And the ²descending of His arm to be seen in raging anger,And in the flame of a consuming fireIn cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.³¹For ^aat the voice of Yahweh ^bAssyria will be dismayed,When He strikes with the ^crod.³²And every ¹blow of the ²^,^aappointed staff,Which Yahweh will cause to rest upon him,Will be with the music of ^btambourines and lyres;And in battles, ^cwaving weapons He will fight them.³³For ¹^,^aTopheth has long been ready,Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.He has made it deep and large,²A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;The ^bbreath of Yahweh, like a torrent of ^cbrimstone, sets it afire.

Woe to Those Who Go down to Egypt

31Woe to those who go down to ^aEgypt for helpAnd ^brely on horses,And trust in chariots because they are manyAnd in horsemen because they are very mighty,But they do not have ^cregard for the ^dHoly One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!²Yet He also is ^awise and will ^bbring about an evil demiseAnd does ^cnot turn His words aside,But will arise against the house of ^devildoersAnd against the help of the ^eworkers of iniquity.³Now the Egyptians are ^amen and not God,And their ^bhorses are flesh and not spirit;So Yahweh will ^cstretch out His hand,And ^dhe who helps will stumble,And he who is helped will fall,And all of them will come to an end together.

⁴For thus says Yahweh to me, “As the ^alion or the young lion growls over its prey,Against which a multitude of shepherds is called out,And it will not be dismayed at their voice nor afflicted at their noise,So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage ^bwar on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

⁵Like ¹flying ^abirds so Yahweh of hosts will defend Jerusalem.He will ^bdefend and deliver it;He will pass over and provide a way of escape.

⁶^aReturn to Him against whom ¹you have ^bdeeply rebelled, O sons of Israel. ⁷For in that day every man will ^areject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your ^bhands have made for you as ^ca sin.

⁸And the ^aAssyrian will fall by a sword not of man,And a ^bsword not of man will devour him.So he will ¹^,^cflee from the sword,And his choice men will become ^dforced laborers.⁹“His ^arock will pass away because of terror,And his princes will be dismayed at the ^bstandard,”Declares Yahweh, whose ^cfire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

A King Will Reign Righteously

32Behold, a ^aking will reign righteouslyAnd princes will rule justly.²Each will be like a ^arefuge from the windAnd a shelter from the storm,Like ¹^,^bstreams of water in a dry country,Like the ^cshade of a ²huge rock in ³a weary land.³Then ^athe eyes of those who see will not be ¹blinded,And the ears of those who hear will pay attention.⁴And the heart of the ^ahasty will discern knowledge,And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.⁵No longer will the ^awicked fool be called noble,Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.⁶For a wicked fool speaks wicked folly,And his heart ^adoes wickedness:To do ^bungodliness and to speak error against Yahweh,In order to ^cmake the hungry person empty;He even causes the thirsty to lack a drink.⁷As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;He ^acounsels wicked schemesTo ^bwreak destruction on the afflicted with lying words,^cEven though the needy one speaks justly.⁸But ^athe noble man counsels noble plans;And by noble plans he rises up.⁹Rise up, you ^awomen who are at ease,And hear my voice;^bGive ear to my word,You complacent daughters.¹⁰Within a year and a few daysYou will quake, O complacent daughters;^aFor the grape harvest is ended,And the fruit gathering will not come.¹¹Tremble, you women who are at ease;^aQuake, you complacent daughters;^bStrip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist,¹²^aBeat your breasts for the desirable fields, for the fruitful vine,¹³^aFor the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up,Indeed, against all the joyful houses and the ^bexultant city.¹⁴Because ^athe palace has been abandoned, the ¹populated ^bcity forsaken.²Hill and watchtower have become ^ccaves forever,A joy for ^dwild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,¹⁵Until the ^aSpirit is poured out upon us from on high,And the wilderness becomes a ^bfruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard is counted as a forest.¹⁶Then ^ajustice will dwell in the wilderness,And righteousness will live in the fruitful orchard.¹⁷And the ^awork of righteousness will be peace,And the service of righteousness, ^bquietness and security forever.¹⁸Then my people will live in a ^apeaceful abode,And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed ^bresting places;¹⁹And it will ^ahail when the ^bforest comes down,And ^cthe city will be utterly laid low.²⁰How ^ablessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,Who ¹let out freely the ox and the donkey.

The King in His Beauty

33Woe ^ato you, O destroyer,While you were not destroyed;And he ^bwho is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.As soon as you finish destroying, ^cyou will be destroyed;As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will ^ddeal treacherously with you.²O Yahweh, ^abe gracious to us; we have ^bhoped in You.Be ¹their ²^,^cstrength every morning,Our salvation also in the ^dtime of distress.³At the sound of the tumult ^apeoples flee;At the ^blifting up of Yourself nations scatter.⁴Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.⁵Yahweh is ^aexalted, for He dwells on high;He has ^bfilled Zion with justice and righteousness.⁶And He will be the ¹^,^astability of your times,A ^bwealth of salvation, wisdom, and ^cknowledge;The ^dfear of Yahweh is his treasure.⁷Behold, their brave men cry in ¹the streets;The ^amessengers of peace weep bitterly.⁸The highways are desolate, ¹the ^atraveler has ceased;He has ^bbroken the covenant, he has rejected the cities;He has no regard for man.⁹^aThe land mourns and languishes,^bLebanon is humiliated and withers;^cSharon is like a desert plain,And Bashan and Carmel ¹lose their foliage.¹⁰“Now ^aI will be on high,” says Yahweh,“Now I will be lifted up, now I will be lifted up.¹¹“You have ^aconceived ¹chaff, you will give birth to stubble;²My ^bbreath will consume you like a fire.¹²“The peoples will be burned to lime,^aLike cut thorns which are burned in the fire.¹³“You who are far away, ^ahear what I have done;And you who are near, ¹acknowledge My might.”¹⁴^aSinners in Zion are in dread;^bTrembling has seized the godless.“Who among us can sojourn with ^cthe consuming fire?Who among us can sojourn with ¹continual ^dburning?”¹⁵He who ^awalks righteously and speaks uprightly;He who rejects greedy gain of ¹oppression,And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshedAnd ^bshuts his eyes from looking upon evil;¹⁶He will dwell on the heights,^aHis refuge will be the strongholds of the cliffs;^bHis bread will be given him,His water will be sure.¹⁷Your eyes will behold ^athe King in His beauty;They will see ^ba far-distant land.¹⁸Your heart will meditate on ^aterror:“Where is ^bhe who counts?Where is he who weighs?Where is he who counts the towers?”¹⁹You will no longer see a fierce people,A people of ¹^,^aunintelligible speech ²which no one comprehends,Of a stammering tongue ³which no one understands.²⁰^aBehold Zion, the city of our appointed times;Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an ^babode at ease,^cA tent which will not be folded;Its stakes will never be pulled up,Nor any of its cords ever be torn apart.²¹But there the Mighty One, Yahweh, will be for usA place of ^arivers and wide canalsOn which no boat with oars will go,And on which no mighty ship will pass—²²For Yahweh is our ^ajudge,Yahweh is ^bour lawgiver,Yahweh is ^cour king;^dHe will save us—²³Your cords hang slack;They cannot hold the base of their mast firmly,Nor spread out the sail.Then the ^aprey of an abundant spoil will be divided;^bThe lame will take the plunder.²⁴And no one who dwells there will say, “I am ^asick”;The people who inhabit ¹there will be ^bforgiven their iniquity.

Yahweh’s Wrath Against the Nations

34Draw near, ^aO nations, to hear; and pay attention, O peoples!^bLet the earth hear, as well as its fullness, the world and all that springs from it.²For the ^aindignation of Yahweh is against all the nations,And His wrath against all their ¹hosts;He has ²^,^bdevoted them to destruction;He has given them over to ^cslaughter.³So their slain will be ^acast out,And their corpses ¹will give off their ^bstench,And the mountains will ²be drenched with their ^cblood.⁴And ^aall the host of heaven will rot away,And the ^bsky will be rolled up like a scroll;All their hosts will also wither awayAs a leaf withers from the vine,Or as one withers from the fig tree.⁵For ^aMy sword is satiated in heaven;Behold, it shall descend for judgment upon ^bEdomAnd upon the people whom I have ^cdevoted to destruction.⁶The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood;It is ¹sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,With the fat of the kidneys of rams.For Yahweh has a sacrifice in ^aBozrahAnd a great slaughter in the land of ^bEdom.⁷^aAnd wild oxen will also ¹fall with them,And ^byoung bulls with strong ones;Thus their land will be ^csoaked with blood,And their dust ²become greasy with fat.⁸For Yahweh has a day of ^avengeance,A year of recompense for the ¹cause of Zion.⁹¹And its streams will be turned into pitch,And its dust into ^abrimstone,And its land will become burning pitch.¹⁰It will ^anot be quenched night or day;Its ^bsmoke will go up forever.From ^cgeneration to generation it will be laid waste;^dNone will pass through it forever and ever.¹¹But ¹^,^apelican and hedgehog will possess it,And ²owl and raven will dwell in it;And He will stretch over it the ^bline of utter formlessnessAnd the ³plumb line of utter void.¹²Its nobles—there is ^ano one thereWhom they may proclaim king—And all its princes will be ^bnon-existent.¹³And thorns will come up in its ^afortified towers,Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;It will also be a haunt of ^bjackalsAnd an abode of ostriches.¹⁴And the desert ^acreatures will meet with the ¹wolves;The ²^,^bhairy goat also will cry to its kind;Surely, the ³night creature will obtain relief thereAnd will find itself a resting place.¹⁵The ¹owl will make its nest and find its escape there,And it will hatch its eggs and gather them in its shade.Surely, ^athe ²falcons will be gathered there,Every one with its kind.

¹⁶Seek from the ^abook of Yahweh, and read: Not one of these will be missing;None will lack its mate.For ¹^,^bHis mouth has commanded,And His Spirit has gathered them.

¹⁷He has cast the ^alot for them,And His hand has divided it to them by ^bline.They shall possess it forever;From ^cgeneration to generation they will dwell in it.

The Joy of the Redeemed

35The ^awilderness and the desert will be delighted,And the ¹^,^bArabah will rejoice and flourish;Like the crocus²It will ^aflourish profuselyAnd ^brejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.The ^cglory of Lebanon will be given to it,The majesty of ^dCarmel and Sharon.They will see the ^eglory of Yahweh,The majesty of our God.³^aStrengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling.⁴Say to those with an ^aanxious heart,“Be strong, fear not.Behold, your God will come with ^bvengeance;The ^crecompense of God will come,But He will ^dsave you.”⁵Then the ^aeyes of the blind will be opened,And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.⁶Then the ^alame will leap like a deer,And the ^btongue of the mute will shout for joy.For waters will break forth in the ^cwildernessAnd streams in the ¹Arabah.⁷Then the ¹scorched land will become a poolAnd the thirsty ground ^asprings of water;In the ^bhaunt of jackals, its resting place,Grass becomes reeds and rushes.⁸^aAnd a ¹roadway will be there, ^ba highway,And it will be called the Highway of ^cHoliness.The unclean will not pass by on it,But it will be for him who walks in that way,And ^dignorant fools will not wander on it.⁹No ^alion will be there,Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;¹These will not be found there.But ^bthe redeemed will walk there,¹⁰And ^athe ransomed of Yahweh will returnAnd come with joyful shouting to Zion,With everlasting gladness upon their heads.They will ¹attain delight and gladness,And ^bsorrow and sighing will flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36^aNow it happened in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, that ^bSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ²And the ^aking of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a heavy military force. And he stood by the ^bconduit of the upper pool on the highway of the ¹fuller’s field. ³Then ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^bShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

⁴Then ^aRabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this trust that you have? ⁵“I say, ‘Your counsel and might for the war are only ¹empty words.’ Now in whom do you trust, that ^ayou have rebelled against me? ⁶“Behold, you trust in the ^astaff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ¹hand and pierce it. ^bSo is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not He ^awhose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? ⁸“So now, ¹come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to give riders for them. ⁹“How then can you ¹turn away one ²official of the least of my master’s servants and ^atrust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰“So now, have I come up ¹without the approval of Yahweh against this land to make it a ruin? ^aYahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and make it a ruin.’”’”

¹¹Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in ^aAramaic, for we ¹understand it; and do not speak with us in ²^,^bJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ¹²But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

¹³Then Rabshakeh stood and ^acried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴“Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah ^adeceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; ¹⁵and do not let Hezekiah make you ^atrust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘¹Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his ^avine and each of his fig tree, and drink each of the ^bwaters of his own cistern, ¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸‘Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, “^aYahweh will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹‘Where are the gods of ^aHamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^bSepharvaim? And when have they ^cdelivered Samaria from my hand? ²⁰‘Who among all the ^agods of these lands ¹have delivered their land from my hand, that ^bYahweh would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

²¹But they were silent and ^aanswered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ²²Then ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^bShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

37Now it happened that ^awhen King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. ²Then he sent ^aEliakim, who was over the household with ^bShebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^cIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^aday of distress, reproof, and rejection; for ^bchildren have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. ⁴‘Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ¹^,^areproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for ^bthe remnant that is left.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aDo not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷“Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will ^ahear a report and ^breturn to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^aLibnah, for he had heard that ¹the king had set out from ^bLachish. ⁹Then he ^aheard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ¹^,^bEthiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” So he heard it and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ¹Judah, ‘^aDo not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹‘^aBehold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. So will you be delivered? ¹²‘Did the gods of ¹those nations, which my fathers have brought to ruin, deliver them, even ^aGozan and ^bHaran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³‘Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

¹⁴Then Hezekiah took the ¹letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of Yahweh and ²spread it out before Yahweh. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh saying, ¹⁶“O Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ^awho is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^bGod, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^cYou have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷“^aIncline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and ^blisten to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ¹^,^creproach the living God. ¹⁸“Truly, O Yahweh, the ^akings of Assyria have laid waste to all the countries and their lands ¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the ^awork of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have ^bdestroyed them. ²⁰“But now, O Yahweh our God, ^asave us from his hand that ^ball the kingdoms of the earth may know that ¹You are Yahweh, You alone.”

Yahweh’s Answer Through Isaiah

²¹Then ^aIsaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you,The ^avirgin ^bdaughter of Zion;She has ^cshaken her head behind you,The daughter of Jerusalem!

²³“Whom have you ¹^,^areproached and blasphemed?And against whom have you heightened your voiceAnd ²haughtily ^blifted up your eyes?Against the ^cHoly One of Israel!²⁴“Through your servants you have ¹reproached the Lord,And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,To the remotest parts of ^aLebanon;And I cut down its tall ^bcedars and its choice cypresses.And I will go to its ²highest peak, its thickest ^cforest.²⁵‘I dug wells and drank waters,And ^awith the sole of my feet I dried upAll the rivers of ¹Egypt.’²⁶“^aHave you not heard?Long ago I did it;From days of old I ^bformed it.Now ^cI have brought it to pass,That ^dyou should devastate fortified cities into ^eruinous heaps.²⁷“So their inhabitants were short of power;They were dismayed and put to shame;They were as the ^aplant of the field and as the green herb,As ^bgrass on the rooftops ¹is scorched before it rises.²⁸“But I ^aknow your sitting downAnd your going out and your coming inAnd your raging against Me.²⁹“Because of your raging against MeAnd because your ¹^,^apresumptuousness has come up to My ears,Therefore I will put My ^bhook in your noseAnd My ^cbridle in your lips,And I will turn you back ^dby the way which you came.

³⁰“Then this shall be the sign for you: ¹you will eat this year what ^agrows of its own accord, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹“And the ^asurviving ^bremnant of the house of Judah will again ^ctake root downward and bear fruit upward. ³²“For out of Jerusalem will go forth a ^aremnant and out of Mount Zion ¹survivors. The ^bzeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.”’

³³“Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a ^asiege ramp against it. ³⁴‘^aBy the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares Yahweh. ³⁵‘Indeed I will ^adefend this city to save it ^bfor My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

The Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

³⁶Then the ^aangel of Yahweh went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And ¹the men arose early in the morning, and behold, all of them were dead bodies. ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and ¹returned home and lived at ^aNineveh. ³⁸Now it happened that as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of ^aArarat. And ^bEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38^aIn those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And ^bIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^cSet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh ³and said, “^aRemember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have ^bwalked before You in truth and with a ^cwhole heart and ^dhave done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah ^ewept ¹greatly.

⁴Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; behold, I will add ^afifteen years to your ¹life. ⁶“And I will ^adeliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’

⁷“Now this shall be the ^asign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this word that He has spoken: ⁸“Behold, I will ^acause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the ^bsun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and ¹recovery:

¹⁰I said, “^aIn the middle of my ¹lifeI am to enter the ^bgates of Sheol;I am to be ^cdeprived of the rest of my years.”¹¹I said, “I will not see Yah,Yah ^ain the land of the living;I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.¹²“Like a shepherd’s ^atent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;As a ^bweaver I ^crolled up my life.He ^dcuts me off from the loom;From ^eday until night You make an end of me.¹³“I soothed my soul until morning.^aLike a lion—so He ^bshatters all my bones;From ^cday until night You make an end of me.¹⁴“^aLike a swallow, like a crane, so I chirped;I ^bmoan like a dove;My ^ceyes look wistfully to the heights;O Lord, I am oppressed, be my ^dsecurity.¹⁵“^aWhat shall I say?¹Indeed, He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;I will ^bwander about all my years because of the ^cbitterness of my soul.¹⁶“O Lord, ^aby these things men live,And in all these is the life of my spirit;¹^,^bO restore me to health and ^clet me live!¹⁷“Behold, for my own well-being I had great bitterness;But it is You who has ¹^,^aheld back my soul from the pit of ²nothingness,For You have ^bcast all my sins behind Your back.¹⁸“For ^aSheol cannot thank You;Death cannot praise You;Those who go down ^bto the pit cannot keep watch for Your truth.¹⁹“It is the ^aliving, the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;A ^bfather makes known to his sons about Your truth.²⁰“Yahweh is here to save me;So we will ^aplay my songs on stringed instruments^bAll the days of our life ^cat the house of Yahweh.”

²¹Now ^aIsaiah had said, “Let them take up a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may live.” ²²Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the ^asign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?”

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures to Babylon

39^aAt that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and was growing stronger. ²And Hezekiah was ^aglad about these things and showed them all his treasure house, the ^bsilver and the gold and the spices and the good oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then Isaiah the ^aprophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far ^bcountry, from Babylon.” ⁴And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the ^aword of Yahweh of hosts, ⁶‘Behold, the days are coming when ^aall that is in your house and all that your fathers have treasured up to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh. ⁷‘And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, ^awill be taken away, and ^bthey will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ⁸^aThen Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good.” For he said, “For there will be peace and truth ^bin my days.”