Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: "I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me!

An ox recognizes its owner, a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; but Israel does not recognize me, my people do not understand."

"Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?" says the Lord. "I am stuffed with burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want.

When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this -- animals trampling on my courtyards?

Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning!

Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, the powerful ruler of Israel, says this: "Ah, I will seek vengeance against my adversaries, I will take revenge against my enemies.

At that time the brother will shout, 'I am no doctor, I have no food or coat in my house; don't make me a leader of the people!'"

Oppressors treat my people cruelly; creditors rule over them. My people's leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions.

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?" The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

I will sing to my love -- a song to my lover about his vineyard. My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

So now, residents of Jerusalem, people of Judah, you decide between me and my vineyard!

What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead?

Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there.

The Lord who commands armies told me this: "Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them.

Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink.

I said, "Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies."

But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth with it and said, "Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven."

I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, "Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?" I answered, "Here I am, send me!"

So Isaiah replied, "Pay attention, family of David. Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

The Lord told me, "Take a large tablet and inscribe these words on it with an ordinary stylus: 'Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.'

Then I will summon as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah."

I then had sexual relations with the prophetess; she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord told me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,

for before the child knows how to cry out, 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

The Lord spoke to me again:

Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people:

Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God's instructions and give it to my followers.

Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me are reminders and object lessons in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.

Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.

Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings?

For he says: "By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.

My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping."

So here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.

For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction."

They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord's sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.

At that time you will say: "I praise you, O Lord, for even though you were angry with me, your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

Look, God is my deliverer! I will trust in him and not fear. For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer."

I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones.

You said to yourself, "I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon.

I will break Assyria in my land, I will trample them underfoot on my hills. Their yoke will be removed from my people, the burden will be lifted from their shoulders.

This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth; my hand is ready to strike all the nations."

The poor will graze in my pastures; the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors.

My heart cries out because of Moab's plight, and for the fugitives stretched out as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah. For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith; they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.

So I weep along with Jazer over the vines of Sibmah. I will saturate you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly over your fruit and crops.

So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth.

For this is what the Lord has told me: "I will wait and watch from my place, like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest."

The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, "Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!"

Later the Lord explained, "In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush,

For this reason my stomach churns; cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am disturbed by what I hear, horrified by what I see.

My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror.

For this is what the sovereign master has told me: "Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees.

Then the guard cries out: "On the watchtower, O sovereign master, I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night.

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

Here is a message about Dumah: Someone calls to me from Seir, "Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?"

For this is what the sovereign master has told me: "Within exactly one year all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

So I say: "Don't look at me! I am weeping bitterly. Don't try to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people."

The Lord who commands armies told me this: "Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live," says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.

"At that time I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.

From the ends of the earth we hear songs -- the Just One is majestic. But I say, "I'm wasting away! I'm wasting away! I'm doomed! Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!"

O Lord, you are my God! I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. For you have done extraordinary things, and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed.

I look for you during the night, my spirit within me seeks you at dawn, for when your judgments come upon the earth, those who live in the world learn about justice.

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over!

unless they became my subjects and made peace with me; let them make peace with me.

Pay attention and listen to my message! Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!

I will threaten Ariel, and she will mourn intensely and become like an altar hearth before me.

The sovereign master says, "These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual.

Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? Or should the pottery say about the potter, "He doesn't understand"?

For when they see their children, whom I will produce among them, they will honor my name. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; they will respect the God of Israel.

"The rebellious children are as good as dead," says the Lord, "those who make plans without consulting me, who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, and thereby compound their sin.

They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, seeking Pharaoh's protection, and looking for safety in Egypt's protective shade.

For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: "If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, but you are unwilling.

Indeed, this is what the Lord says to me: "The Lord will be like a growling lion, like a young lion growling over its prey. Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it, it is not afraid of their shouts or intimidated by their yelling. In this same way the Lord who commands armies will descend to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.

You complacent women, get up and listen to me! You carefree daughters, pay attention to what I say!

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.

My people will live in peaceful settlements, in secure homes, and in safe, quiet places.

You who are far away, listen to what I have done! You who are close by, recognize my strength!"

He says, "Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. Look, it now descends on Edom, on the people I will annihilate in judgment."

Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar.'

Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

Certainly you will not refuse one of my master's minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, 'March up against this land and destroy it!'"'"

But the chief adviser said, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!"

Don't listen to Hezekiah!' For this is what the king of Assyria says, 'Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?

Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?'"

Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master this: 'This is what the Lord says: "Don't be afraid because of the things you have heard -- these insults the king of Assyria's servants have hurled against me.

Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed -- the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar -- rescued by their gods?

Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord."

Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, 'With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, its thickest woods.

I dug wells and drank water. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.'

I know where you live and everything you do and how you rage against me.

Because you rage against me and the uproar you create has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came."

I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant."'"

"I thought, 'In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.'

My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me like a shepherd's tent. I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; from the loom he cuts me off. You turn day into night and end my life.

I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life.

Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me!