Lo, for righteousness doth a king reign, As to princes, for judgment they rule.

And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

The man of sudden impulses will become wise in heart, and he whose tongue is slow will get the power of talking clearly.

A fool is no more called 'noble,' And to a miser it is not said, 'rich;'

For the foolish man will say foolish things, having evil thoughts in his heart, working what is unclean, and talking falsely about the Lord, to keep food from him who is in need of it, and water from him whose soul is desiring it.

As for the rogue, his weapons are evil;
He conceives wicked plans
To ruin the poor with lies,
Even when the plea of the needy one is just and right.

But the noble man conceives noble and magnificent things;
And he stands by what is noble and magnificent.

Rise up, you women who are carefree,
And hear my voice,
You confident and unsuspecting daughters!
Listen to what I am saying.

Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.

For as the infants weep when their mothers' teats are dried, so shall you weep for your fair fields and fruitful vineyards.

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.

For the palace, is abandoned, the tumult of the city, hath ceased - Hill and watch-tower, serve as caves, unto times age-abiding, The joy of wild-asses, The pasture of flocks: -

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.

And it hath hailed in the going down of the forest, And in the valley is the city low.

Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

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!

O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

At the sound of the tumult, the peoples flee;
At the lifting up of Yourself nations scatter.

And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.

The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.

And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn't respect man.

The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Whoso is walking righteously, And is speaking uprightly, Kicking against gain of oppressions, Shaking his hands from taking hold on a bribe, Stopping his ear from hearing of blood, And shutting his eyes from looking on evil,

this is the one who will live on the heights; his refuge will be a mountain fortress. His food will be supplied, and his water will be guaranteed.

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?

The strong people thou seest not, A people deeper of lip than to be understood, Of a scorned tongue, there is no understanding.

Look [on] Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, a tent {that is not moved}. No one will ever pull out its tent pegs, and none of its ropes will be torn in two.

But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

Nor doth an inhabitant say, 'I was sick,' The people that is dwelling in it, is forgiven of iniquity!

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

And their slain shall be cast out; as for their corpses, their stench shall go up. And [the] mountains shall melt with their blood,

And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment.

The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat.

For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her.

But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land.

Its nobles--but no kingdom is there--shall call, and all its princes shall be nothing.

Seek from the book of Yahweh and {read}; none of these shall be missing; none shall miss her mate. For my mouth {is the one that} has commanded, and his spirit {is the one that} has gathered them.

And he {is the one that} has cast [the] lot for them, and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line; they shall take possession of it forever, they shall live in it {from generation to generation}.

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

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.

Say to those who are hasty of heart, "Be strong; you must not fear! Look! your God will come [with] vengeance, [with] {divine retribution}. He {is the one who} will come and save you."

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

And the parched ground shall become pool, and [the] thirsty ground springs of water. Her resting place [is] in a settlement of jackals; [the] grass [shall become] like reeds and rushes.

And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but is shall be for the redeemed : the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein .

No lion is there, yea, a destructive beast Ascendeth it not, it is not found there, And walked have the redeemed,

And the redeemed of the LORD shall convert, and come to Zion with thanksgiving. Everlasting joy shall they have, pleasure and gladness shall be among them. And as for all sorrow and heaviness, it shall vanish away.

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.

and go forth unto him doth Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who is over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer.

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

Thou sayest, but it is a word of the lips, There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou rely, that thou hast revolted against me?

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, [that is,] if you are able {put} riders for yourself on them!

Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have now come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

And Rab-shakeh said, Is it to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?

Thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you;

Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Do not give ear to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says, Make peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone will be free to take the fruit of his vine and of his fig-tree, and the water of his spring;

Unto the time that I come myself, and bring you into a land that is like your own: wherein is wheat and wine, which is both sown with seed, and planted with vineyards.'

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where is the God of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the God of Sepharvaim? And who was able to defend Samaria out of my hand?

And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, 'Do not answer him.'

And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who is over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of Rabshakeh.

As soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD's Temple.

And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Behold, I will raise up a wind against him, and he shall hear a rumor; and as soon as he heareth it, he shall go again into his country. There will I destroy him with the sword.'"

And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

'Thus do ye speak unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God lift thee up in whom thou art trusting, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

"Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel {who is enthroned on} the cherubim, you [are] the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth.

Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord; let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see: take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.

It is true, O Lord, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands,

so as to put their gods into fire -- for they are no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone -- and they destroy them.

Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:

This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!

If there be no water, I will grave and drink. And as for waters of defense, I shall dry them up with the feet of mine Host.

Hast thou not heard from afar? -- it I did, From days of old -- that I formed it. Now, I have brought it in, And it is to make desolate, Ruinous heaps -- fenced cities,

Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.