When you come to appear before Me,
who requires this from you—
this trampling of My courts?

“Come, let us discuss this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.

Observe this: The Lord God of Hosts
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,

A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying:
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of His people:
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.

Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against His people.
He raised His hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

He touched my mouth with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but he could not succeed.

This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur.

For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west
have consumed Israel with open mouths.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Manasseh is with Ephraim,
and Ephraim with Manasseh;
together, both are against Judah.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

>

There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.

For he said:

I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.

Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.

Sing to Yahweh, for He has done glorious things.
Let this be known throughout the earth.

you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!

Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,

“I will make her a swampland and a region for screech owls, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

This is the plan prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.

In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:

The waters of Dibon are full of blood,
but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.

>

This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab.

The fortress disappears from Ephraim,
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Only gleanings will be left in Israel,
as if an olive tree had been beaten—
two or three berries at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord,
the God of Israel.

In the evening—sudden terror!
Before morning—it is gone!
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who ravage us.

I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters,
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.

And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”

For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

The Lord of Hosts has directly revealed to me:
“This sin of yours will never be wiped out.”
The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?

Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?

The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.

For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast
for all the peoples on this mountain—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine.

On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;

On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moab will be trampled in his place
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city.
Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.

Therefore Jacob’s iniquity will be purged in this way,
and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:
when he makes all the altar stones
like crushed bits of chalk,
no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

So He will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.

He had said to them:
“This is the place of rest,
let the weary rest;
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.

Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you mockers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.

This also comes from the Lord of Hosts.
He gives wonderful advice;
He gives great wisdom.

Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob:

Jacob will no longer be ashamed
and his face will no longer be pale.

Woe to the rebellious children!
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan, but not Mine;
they make an alliance,
but against My will,
piling sin on top of sin.

Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,

this iniquity of yours will be
like a spreading breach,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!

and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

For this is what the Lord said to me:

As a lion or young lion growls over its prey
when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
and is not terrified by their shouting
or subdued by their noise,
so the Lord of Hosts will come down
to fight on Mount Zion
and on its hill.

His rock will pass away because of fear,
and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag.

This is the Lord’s declaration—whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?

Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.

Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?

Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”

Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly deliver us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”

who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with.

The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.

this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

Virgin Daughter Zion
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head
behind your back.

“‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.

He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I will defend this city and rescue it
because of Me
and because of My servant David.”

In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.

And I will deliver you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.

This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised:

‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.

Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Yahweh, am the first,
and with the last—I am He.”

so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say: He is right?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.

“This is My Servant; I strengthen Him,
this is My Chosen One; I delight in Him.
I have put My Spirit on Him;
He will bring justice to the nations.

This is what God, Yahweh, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life to those who walk on it—

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them
and rough places into level ground.
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not forsake them.

But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”

Who among you will pay attention to this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.

Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and tell us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses
to vindicate themselves,
so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

Because of you, I will send to Babylon
and bring all of them as fugitives,
even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.

This is what the Lord says—
who makes a way in the sea,
and a path through surging waters,

This is the word of the Lord
your Maker who formed you from the womb;
He will help you:
Do not fear; Jacob is My servant;
I have chosen Jeshurun.

This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”

This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, says:

I am the first and I am the last.
There is no God but Me.

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says:

I am Yahweh, who made everything;
who stretched out the heavens by Myself;
who alone spread out the earth;

The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him,
to disarm kings,
to open the doors before him
and the gates will not be shut:

This is what the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says:
“Ask Me what is to happen to My sons,
and instruct Me about the work of My hands.

This is what the Lord says:

The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will follow you,
they will come over in chains
and bow down to you.
They will confess to you:
God is indeed with you, and there is no other;
there is no other God.

For this is what the Lord says—
God is the Creator of the heavens.
He formed the earth and made it.
He established it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
“I am Yahweh,
and there is no other.

Speak up and present your case—
yes, let them take counsel together.
Who predicted this long ago?
Who announced it from ancient times?
Was it not I, Yahweh?
There is no other God but Me,
a righteous God and Savior;
there is no one except Me.

“Remember this and be brave;
take it to heart, you transgressors!

“So now hear this, lover of luxury,
who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’

Look, they are like stubble;
fire burns them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!

This is what they are to you—
those who have wearied you
and have traded with you from your youth—
each wanders on his own way;
no one can save you.

“Listen to this, house of Jacob—
those who are called by the name Israel
and have descended from Judah,
who swear by the name of Yahweh
and declare the God of Israel,
but not in truth or righteousness.