“What are all your sacrifices to Me?”
asks the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams
and the fat of well-fed cattle;
I have no desire for the blood of bulls,
lambs, or male goats.

When you lift up your hands in prayer,
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood.

“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.

If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land.

Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.

For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.

For You have abandoned Your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of divination from the East
and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines.
They are in league with foreigners.

The Lord also says:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
going along with prancing steps,
jingling their ankle bracelets,

Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem who are destined to live—

Woe to those who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land.

Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.

Humanity is brought low, man is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.

Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion
and clever in their own sight.

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are fearless at mixing beer,

Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses’ hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And He replied:

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,

You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy.
Only He should be feared;
only He should be held in awe.

They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.

The leaders of the people mislead them,
and those they mislead are swallowed up.

The land is scorched
by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.
No one has compassion on his brother.

They carve meat on the right,
but they are still hungry;
they have eaten on the left,
but they are still not satisfied.
Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

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.

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For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?

They crossed over at the ford, saying,
“We will spend the night at Geba.”
The people of Ramah are trembling;
those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.

They are coming from a far land,
from the distant horizon—
the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.

Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

They all respond to you, saying:
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!

Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”

But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.

The waters of Nimrim are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.

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.

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Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
Mourn, you who are completely devastated,
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”

The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.

The princes of Zoan are complete fools;
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise,
a student of eastern kings”?

Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

The princes of Zoan have been fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.
Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.

What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a crypt for yourself out of rock?

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

Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the windows are opened from heaven,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Yahweh, You are my God;
I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,
for You have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

I long for You in the night;
yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You,
for when Your judgments are in the land,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

You have added to the nation, Lord.
You have added to the nation; You are honored.
You have expanded all the borders of the land.

When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

These also stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
priest and prophet stagger because of beer,
they are confused by wine.
They stumble because of beer,
they are muddled in their visions,
they stumble in their judgments.

Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.

Stop and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine;
they stagger, but not with beer.

The Lord said:

Because these people approach Me with their mouths
to honor Me with lip-service—
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship consists of man-made rules
learned by rote—

Those who are confused will gain understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.

For though his princes are at Zoan
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

They are a rebellious people,
deceptive children,
children who do not want to obey the Lord’s instruction.

For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“You will be delivered by returning and resting;
your strength will lie in quiet confidence.
But you are not willing.”

Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,
for the Lord is a just God.
All who wait patiently for Him are happy.

Look, Yahweh comes from far away,
His anger burning and heavy with smoke.
His lips are full of fury,
and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the Lord raises His hand to strike,
the helper will stumble
and the one who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.

The scoundrel’s weapons are destructive;
he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies,
even when the poor says what is right.

Those who sow seed are happy
beside abundant waters;
they let ox and donkey range freely.

Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered;
people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.

The highways are deserted;
travel has ceased.
An agreement has been broken,
cities despised,
and human life disregarded.

You who are far off, hear what I have done;
you who are near, know My strength.”

The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling seizes the ungodly:
“Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?”

For the majestic One, our Lord, will be there,
a place of rivers and broad streams
where ships that are rowed will not go,
and majestic vessels will not pass.

Your ropes are slack;
they cannot hold the base of the mast
or spread out the flag.
Then abundant spoil will be divided,
the lame will plunder it,

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

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

I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?

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’?

Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”

But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power?

Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God—You alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord—You alone.

Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind.

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.’”

The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.

He protects His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.

Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;
He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

All the nations are as nothing before Him;
they are considered by Him
as nothingness and emptiness.

God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

The islands see and are afraid,
the whole earth trembles.
They approach and arrive.

I brought you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are My servant;
I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Be sure that all who are enraged against you
will be ashamed and disgraced;
those who contend with you
will become as nothing and will perish.

The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Tell us the coming events,
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe and perceive.

Look, you are nothing
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

I was the first to say to Zion:
Look! Here they are!
And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.

Look, all of them are a delusion;
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.

They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in idols
and say to metal-plated images:
You are our gods!

Though seeing many things, you do not obey.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”

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.

Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.

Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,
and are deaf, yet have ears.

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.”

“You are My witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and My servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me
and understand that I am He.
No god was formed before Me,
and there will be none after Me.

I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—
and not some foreign god among you.
So you are My witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and I am God.

who brings out the chariot and horse,
the army and the mighty one together
(they lie down, they do not rise again;
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick)—

Do not be startled or afraid.
Have I not told you and declared it long ago?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any God but Me?
There is no other Rock; I do not know any.