Stop bringing useless offerings! Incense is detestable to me, as are your New Moons, Sabbaths, and calling of convocations. I cannot stand iniquity within a solemn assembly.

As for your New Moons and your appointed festivals, I abhor them. They've become a burden to me; I've grown weary of carrying that burden.

When I turn my attention to you, I'll refine your dross as in a furnace. I'll remove all your alloy.

Let me restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you'll be called "The Righteous City' and "The Faithful City of Zion'.

"It will come about in the last days that the mountain that is the LORD's Temple will be established as the highest of mountains, and will be raised above the hills; all the nations will stream to it.

At that time, mankind will throw their silver and gold idols that their fingers have made as objects of worship to the moles and to the bats.

"As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders are misleading you they're giving you confusing directions."

How dare you crush my people as you grind down the face of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

The LORD also says: "Because Zion's women are so haughty, and walk with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, prancing along as they walk, and making tinkling noises with their ankle bracelets,

and also to serve as a refuge and shelter from storms and rain."

"How terrible it will be for those who rise at dawn in order to grab a stiff drink, for those who stay up late at night as wine inflames them!

They have the lyre and harp, the tambourine and flute, as well as wine at their festivals, but they don't respect what the LORD is doing, nor do they consider his actions.

"How terrible it will be for those who parade iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin along as with a cart rope;

Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw, as dry grass collapses in flames, so their root will be rotten, and their blossom will blow away like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Then I heard the voice of the LORD as he was asking, "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am!" I replied. "Send me."

"Let's go attack Judah, let's terrorize it, and let's conquer it for ourselves. Then we'll install Tabeel's son as king!"'

Because Aram's head is Damascus, and Rezin is its king, within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.

"Ask a sign from the LORD your God. Make it as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven above."

But Ahaz replied, "I won't ask! I won't put the LORD to the test."

"The LORD will bring to you, to your people, and to your ancestor's house such a time as has never been since Ephraim broke away from Judah the king of Assyria will come.

As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."

Then I will call Uriah the priest and Jeberechiah's son Zechariah as reliable witnesses to testify on my behalf."

"It's the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river's channels and run over all of its banks. He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person's neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!"

For this is what the LORD spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies he's the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear, and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror!

"So when they advise you, "Ask the mediums your questions, and quiz the spiritists who chirp and mutter,' shouldn't a people instead be consulting their God and not the dead on behalf of those who are living

You have increased the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice in your presence as they rejoice at the harvest, as they are glad when they're dividing the spoils of war.

Now as to the yoke that has been his burden, and the bar laid on his shoulder the rod of his oppressor you have broken it as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping soldier in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be used for burning as fuel for a fire.

As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?'"

My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.'

"Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy both soul and body and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away.

For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

because the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughout the entire region.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says: "My people, you who live in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you, who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his staff was stretched out over the sea, so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt.

They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

And there will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Even the cypresses rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Now that you've been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

In answer, all of them will tell you, "You've also become as weak as we are! You have become just like us!'

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sworn: "Surely as I have planned, that's what she will become; and just as I have determined, so will it remain

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the loins of Moab cry aloud; its heart quakes for itself.

My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent to Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction.

For the cry has gone out along the border of Moab; her wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, her wailing reaches as far as Beer-elim.

"Give us advice; reach a decision! Cast your shadow as if night had come at high noon. Shelter the fugitives, And don't betray a single refugee.

For the fields of Heshbon wither, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and pushed to the desert. Its shoots spread out and passed over the sea."

it will be as if harvesters gather standing grain, reaping the ears by hand, or it will be as if grain is harvested in the valley of Rephaim.

Nevertheless, gleanings will remain in Israel, as when an olive tree is beaten two or three ripe olives left in the topmost branches, four or five left among the branches of a fruit-filled tree," declares the LORD God of Israel.

For before the harvest, when the season of budding is over, and sour grapes ripen into mature grapes, he cuts off the shoots with pruning knives, clearing away the spreading branches as he lops them off.

As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.

Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a warning for Egypt and Ethiopia,

And as for my heart, horror has terrified me; the twilight I longed for has started to make me tremble.

The watchman replies: "Morning is coming, but also the night. If you want to ask, then ask; come back again.'"

"Come, go to this steward, to Shebna who is in charge of the household, and ask him: "What are you doing here, and who are your relatives here that you could carve out a grave for yourself here cutting out a tomb at the choicest location, chiseling out a resting place for yourself out of solid rock?

It will happen at that time that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the span of a king's life. Then, at the end of those 70 years, it will turn out for Tyre as in the prostitute's song:

It will be the same for the lay people as for priests, the same for servants as for their masters, for female servants as for their mistresses, for buyers as for sellers, for lenders as for borrowers, and for creditors as for debtors.

So it will be on the earth and among the nations as when an olive tree is beaten, or as gleanings when the grape harvest has ended."

and the noise of foreigners is like the heat of the desert. Just as you subdue heat by the shade of clouds, so the victory songs of violent men will be stilled.

For the LORD's power will rest on this mountain, but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him, just as straw is trodden down in the slime of a manure pit.

They will spread out their hands in the thick of it, just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim, but the LORD will bring down their pride, together with the cleverness of their hands.

Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out during her labor when she is about to give birth, so were we because of you, LORD.

Has the LORD struck them down, just as he struck down those who struck them? Or have they been killed, just as their killers were killed?

Measure by measure, in their exile you contended with them; with his fierce blast he removed them, as on a day when the east wind blows.

And that fading flower, his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, will be like an early fig before summer whenever someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it's in his hand.

As often as it sweeps through, it will carry you away, for it will sweep by morning after morning in the day; but understanding this message will bring sheer terror at night,

But as for you, don't start mocking, or your chains will become tighter; for I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies about destruction, and it is decreed against the whole land.

as when a hungry man dreams he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

Therefore, watch out! "As for me, I will once again do amazing things with this people, wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the insights of their discerning men will stay hidden."

He has turned the tables on you as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, "He did not make me?' Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, "He has no skill?'

Indeed, you people who live in Zion and in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious the LORD will be to you at the sound of your cry! As soon as he hears it, he will answer you.

You will have songs as on nights when people celebrate a holy festival, and gladness of heart, as when they set out with flutes to go to the LORD's mountain, to the Rock of Israel.

And every stroke of his punishing rod that the LORD brings down on them will be to the sound of tambourines and harps, as he fights against her in battle with a brandished arm.

For this is what the LORD told me: "Just as a lion or a young lion growls over his objects of prey, even when a whole band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not alarmed at their shouting or disturbed by their clamor so the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.

"As for you ladies of leisure Get up and listen to my voice! You daughters who feel so complacent hear what I have to say!

Your plunder is gathered as when grasshoppers gather; just like locusts pounce, people have pounced on it.

And the nations will be burned as if to ashes; like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.

Their slain will be thrown out; and as for their dead bodies their stench will ascend; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

"A highway will be there yes, there and people will call it "The Holy Way'. As for unclean people, they will not journey on it, but it will be for whomever is traveling on that Way not even fools will get lost.

But the people remained silent and didn't respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, "Don't answer him."

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

"Here is what Hezekiah says," they told him. "This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them.

This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: ""The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem she tosses her head behind you as you flee.

The living yes the living they thank you, just as I am doing today; fathers will tell their children about your faithfulness.

Who has fathomed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has taught him?

"Look! The nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are reckoned as dust on the scales. Look! He even lifts up the islands like powder!

All the nations are as nothing before him they are reckoned by him as nothing and chaos.

"But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I've chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham

Those who quarrel with you will be as nothing; those who fight you like nothing at all!"

"As for the poor, the needy, those seeking water when there is none and their tongues are parched from thirst I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, won't abandon them.

Let them approach and ask us, "What will happen? As to the former things, what were they? Tell us, so that we may consider them and know. Or the latter things or the things to come let us hear.

Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could ask, "Is it right?' Indeed, no one told of this, no one made an announcement, and no one heard your words:

But when I look, there is no one among them there's no one to give counsel, no one to give an answer when I ask them.

"I've called you in righteousness. I'll take hold of your hand. I'll preserve you and appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light for the nations,

"I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer And I've given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and the people of Seba in exchange for you.

This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon, and bring them all down as fugitives. Now as for the Babylonians, their ringing cry will become lamentation.

They'll spring up as among the green grass, like willows by flowing streams.

To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified they will be humiliated together.