"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."

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.

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.

Many groups of people will come, commenting, "Come! Let's go up to the Temple of the God of Jacob, that they may teach us his ways. Then let's walk in his paths." "Instruction will proceed from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with practices learned from the East and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They cut deals with foreigners.

against all the ships from Tarshish, and against all their impressive watercraft.

"Note this! The Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah everything that your society needs all food supplies and all water supplies,

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

The LORD will signal for nations far away, whistling for them to come from the ends of the earth. Look how quickly and how swiftly they come!

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a burning coal in his hand that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

Tell him, "Be careful, be calm, don't be afraid, and don't lose heart because of these two smoldering stumps of torches, that is, because of the fierce anger of Rezin, from Aram, and Remaliah's son.

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

"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.

"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.

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."

or they'll look toward the earth, but they'll see only distress and darkness, the gloom that comes from anguish, and then they'll be thrown into total darkness."

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.

But the LORD has raised adversaries from Rezin against him, and he stirs up his enemies

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."

So the LORD has cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day

From the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies the land has been scorched, and the people have become like fuel for the fire; no one will spare his neighbor.

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,

"For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria's king and the haughty look in his eyes.

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."

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

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.

He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.

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.

You will draw water joyfully from the wells of salvation. And you will say at that time:

They're coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon the LORD and the weapons of his anger to destroy the entire land."

Wail out loud, because the Day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty!

Watch out! The Day of the LORD is coming cruel, with wrath and fierce anger to turn the entire inhabited earth into a desolation and to annihilate sinners from it.

I'll make people scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than gold from Ophir.

Therefore I'll make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, at the time of his burning anger.

At the time, when the LORD gives you rest from your suffering, turmoil, and the cruel bondage which they forced you to serve,

"The afterlife below is all astir to meet you when you arrive; it rouses up the spirits of the dead to greet you everyone who used to be world leaders. It has raised up from their thrones all who used to be kings of the nations.

"How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the Dawn! How you have been thrown down to earth, you who laid low the nation!

But you are cast away from your grave, like a repulsive branch, your clothing is the slain, those pierced by the sword; those who go down to the Pit. Like a dead body trampled underfoot,

"I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and I will eliminate from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendants," declares the LORD.

to crush the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will turn away from you, and his burden from your shoulders."

"Don't rejoice, all of you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, because from the snake's root a viper will spring up, and its offspring will be a darting, poisonous serpent.

Wail, you gate! Cry out, you city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For smoke comes from the north, and there's no one to take measure in its festivals.

"Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Selah, by way of the desert, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion.

Let the fugitives from Moab settle among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor comes to an end, and destruction has ceased, and the marauder has vanished from the land,

Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards, in the vineyards people will sing no songs, and no cheers are raised. No vintner treads out wine in the presses, because I've put an end to the shouting.

The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and royal authority from Damascus; the survivors from Aram will be like the glory of the Israelis," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm.

At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies from a tall and smooth-skinned people, from a people feared far and wide, a nation that metes out punishment and oppresses, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place that bears the name of the LORD.

At that time, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and they will worship with the Assyrians.

so the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and exiles from Cush, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot with even their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt.

At that time, the inhabitants of this coastland will say, "See, this is what has happened to those on whom we counted and relied for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How, then, can we escape?'"

A message concerning the pasture by the Sea. "Like whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a distant land.

O my downtrodden people, my wall! I'll tell you what I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel."

A message concerning Dumah. "Someone is calling to me from Seir: "Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?'

For he has fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle."

Therefore I said: "Look away from me; and let me weep bitter tears; don't try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people."

At that time, you looked at the arsenal of the Palace of the Forest, and saw that there were many breaches in the City of David. So you stored up water from the Lower Pool,

and built a reservoir between the walls to store water from the Old Pool. But you did not look at the One who did it, nor did you see the One who planned it long ago.

I will depose you from your office, ousting you from your position.

The entire reputation of his father's house will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots all its smaller vessels, from the cups to all the jars.

A message concerning Tyre. "Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is destroyed and is without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it was revealed to them.

"They raise their voices; they shout for joy; from the west they shout aloud over the LORD's majesty.

From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise: "Glory to the Righteous One!' "But I say, "I am pining away, I'm pining away. How terrible things are for me! For treacherous people betray treacherous people are betraying with treachery!'"

Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit, and whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. For the windows of judgment from above are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

For you have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat for the blistering attack from the ruthless is like a rainstorm beating against a wall,

he has swallowed up death forever! Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and he will take away the disgrace of his people from the entire earth." for the LORD has spoken.

For see, the LORD is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins; the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it, and will no longer conceal its slain."

By this, then, Jacob's guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full harvest that comes from the removal of his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalkstones, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

At that time, the LORD will winnow grain from the Euphrates River channel to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered in one by one, O people of Israel.

These people also stagger from wine and reel from strong drink. Priests and prophets stagger from strong drink; they're drunk from wine; they reel from strong drink, waver when seeing visions, and stumble when rendering decisions.

To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? To children just weaned from milk? To those just taken from the breast?

So, then, the message from the LORD to them will become: "Do this and do that, do this and do that, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there," so that they will go, but fall backward, and be injured, snared, and captured.

"Therefore hear the message from the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people that are in Jerusalem.

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.

This insight also comes from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who is distinguished in practical advice and magnificent in sound wisdom."

and you will be brought down. You will speak from the ground, and your speech will mumble from the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust.

you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire.

"Act stupid! Be astonished! Act blind, and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger around, but not from strong drink.

Then the Lord said: "Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

"How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, "Who can see us? Who has recognized us?'

get out of the way, turn aside from the path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel."

Its breaking will be like when potters' vessels are broken, shattered so ruthlessly that among its fragments not even a broken sliver will be found for taking fire from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."

He will also provide rain for your seed that you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the ground will be rich and abundant. At that time, your cattle will graze in broad meadows,

See, the name of the LORD comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire.

"Then Assyria will fall by a sword that is not from human beings only a sword not wielded by mortal beings will devour them. They will flee from the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a hiding place from storms, like streams of water in the desert, in the shadow of a great rock in an exhausted land.

until the Spirit from on high is poured upon us, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest."

The one who walks righteously and has spoken sincere words, who rejects gain from extortion and waves his hand, rejecting bribes, who blocks his ears from hearing plots of murder and shuts his eyes against seeing evil

The LORD has a sword bathed in blood; it's covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with fat from the kidneys of rams." "For the LORD holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

It will burn night and day, and will never be extinguished. Its smoke will rise from generation to generation, and it will lie desolate forever and ever. And no one will pass through it.

"Study and read from the book of the LORD: And not one will be missing, each will not long for its mate. For it is the mouth of the LORD that has issued the order, and it is his Spirit that has gathered them.

It is he who has allotted their portions, and his hand has divided it for them with a measuring line forever. They will possess it forever; from generation to generation they will live in it."

Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander, along with a very large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the field commander stopped at the aqueduct at the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman's Field,

How, then, can you repulse even one officer from the least of my master's officials, when you are depending for yourselves on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD's direction? The LORD himself ordered me, "March against this country to destroy it.'"

Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern,