"Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! "They've abandoned the LORD; they've despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they've walked away from me.

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's no soundness evident only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven't been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil."

"Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land they've brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

"Listen to what the LORD says, you rulers of Sodom, and pay attention to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I'll hide my eyes from you. Even though you pray repeatedly, I won't listen. Your hands are full of blood, your fingers drenched with iniquity."

"Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean; remove your evil behavior from my presence; stop practicing what is evil.

Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.

"Please come, and let's reason together," implores the LORD. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they'll be white like snow. Though they're like crimson, they'll become like wool.

If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the best that the land produces;

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don't bring justice to orphans, and the widow's case never comes up for review in their court."

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel's Mighty One, declares: "Now I'll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

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.

Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

The haughty looks of mankind will be brought low, the lofty pride of human beings will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted at that time.

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.

"Stop trusting in human beings, whose life breath is in their nostrils, for what are they really worth?"

People will oppress one another It will be man against man and neighbor against neighbor. The young will be disrespectful to the old, and the worthless to the honorable.

"But at that time, he'll protest! He'll say, "I won't be your healer. I have neither food nor clothing in my house! You're not going to make me a leader of the people!'

"For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and do opposes the LORD; they keep defying him.

"The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don't even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!"

"How terrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster is headed their way, because what they did with their hand will be repaid to them.

"At that time, the LORD will take away the finery of the ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,

"And it will come about that instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a fine robe, sackcloth; and instead of beauty, shame.

"At that time, seven women will cling tightly to one man and will make him this offer: "We'll provide our own bread. We'll provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you so we won't be stigmatized anymore.'"

"At that time, the LORD's branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel and Judah.

He plowed its land and cleared it of stones. Then he planted it with the choicest vines, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and dug a wine vat in it; He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only wild ones."

What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven't already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

"Now, let me tell you, won't you please, what I'm going to do to my vineyard. "I'm going to take away its protective hedge, and it will be devoured; I'll break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

I'll make it a wasteland, and it won't be pruned or cultivated. Instead, briers and thorns will grow up. I'll also issue commands to the clouds, that they drop no rain upon it."

"How terrible it will be for you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you have settled yourselves alone in the middle of the land!"

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it: "Surely many houses will become desolate, great and beautiful houses, without occupants.

"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.

Therefore Sheol's appetite has grown; it has opened its mouth beyond limit. Jerusalem's nobility and her multitudes will go there, along with her brawlers and whoever is reveling within her.

Then the lambs will graze in their pasture; fatlings and foreigners will eat among the waste places of the rich."

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

who say: "Let God be quick, let him speed up his work so we may see it! Let it happen! let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near, so we may recognize it!'"

"How terrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute what is bitter for what is sweet and what is sweet for what is bitter!"

"How terrible it will be for those who are wise in their own opinion, and clever in their own reckoning!

"How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine, and champions in mixing strong drink,

Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people, so he stretched out his hands against them and afflicted them. The mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away, and his hands are still stretched out to attack.

With a roar like a lion, they snarl, and like young lions, they growl; they seize their prey and then carry it off, with no one to rescue.

They will roar over it at that time, like the sea waves roar. If one surveys the land, watch out! There's darkness and distress; even the daylight is darkened by its clouds.

The foundations of the thresholds quaked at the sound of those who kept calling out, and the Temple was filled with smoke.

"How terrible it will be for me!" I cried, "because I am ruined! I'm a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies!"

Even though a tenth of its people remain in it, it will once again be burned, like a terebinth or an oak tree, the stump of which, though the tree has been felled, still contains holy seed."

During the reign of Jotham's son Ahaz, Uzziah's grandson, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah's son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem and waged war against it, but they could not mount an attack against it.

When it was reported to the house of David, "Aram has joined forces with Ephraim!" the heart of the people of Ahaz trembled like forest trees in a windstorm.

So the LORD told Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool that proceeds along the highway to Launderer's Field.

"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!"'

"But this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ""It won't take place. It won't ever happen.

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

In reply, the LORD announced, "Please listen, you household of David. Is it such a minor thing for you to try the patience of men? Must you also try the patience of my God?

He'll eat cheese and honey, when he knows enough to reject what's wrong and choose what's right.

However, before the youth knows enough to reject what's wrong and choose what's right, the land whose two kings you dread will be devastated."

"At that time, the LORD will call for flies that will come from far away from the headwaters of Egypt's rivers and for bees that are in the land of Assyria.

At that time, the LORD will hire a barber to come from beyond the Euphrates River that is, the king of Assyria and he will shave your heads, your leg hair, and your beards, too.

"At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep,

and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey.

"At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow.

The LORD also told me, "Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus pen, "For Maher-shalal-hash-baz'.

for before the young lad knows how to call out to his father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.

"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!"

Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us."

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:

"Don't call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and don't fear what they fear, or live in terror.

I'll wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I'll put my trust in him.

Watch out! I and the children whom the LORD has given me are a sign and a wonder in Israel from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who resides on Mount Zion."

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.

Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule over his kingdom, sitting on the throne of David, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

"The LORD has sent a plague against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;

Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west and they devour Israel with open mouths! "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

"For wickedness has burned like a blaze that consumes briers and thorns; it sets thickets of the forest on fire, and skyward they swirl in a column of smoke.

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed

What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

"How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands!

But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations.

"Because this is what he is saying: "My commanders are all kings, are they not?

He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones.

"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 light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria's thorns and briers in a single day.

What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few that a child can count them."

At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

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.

At that time, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you've become obese."

"The Assyrian commander has come upon Aiath and has passed through Migron; he stores his supplies at Michmash.

He has crossed over by the pass; his overnight lodging is at Geba. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem's hill.

"A shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch will bear fruit from his roots.

His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He won't judge by what his eyes see, nor decide disputes by what his ears hear,

The cow and the bear will graze, and their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

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.

At that time, the LORD will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.