Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he'll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.

"Terror and pit and snare are coming in your direction, you inhabitants of the earth!

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.

Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz's son, the prophet Isaiah.

No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the earth, than he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest sweeps them away like stubble.

Who has ever heard of such a thing? And who ever sees such things? Can a country be born in a single day, or can a nation be brought forth in a single moment? Yet no sooner was Zion in labor than she delivered her children.