"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.

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?

"So when they advise you, "Ask the mediums your questions, and quiz the spiritists who chirp and mutter,' shouldn't a people instead be consulting their God and not the dead on behalf of those who are living

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.

Whoever is captured will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall dead, killed by the sword.

"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.

But you are brought down to join the dead, to the far reaches of the Pit.

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,

The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage, and I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult idols and spirits of the dead, and mediums and spiritists.

at that time the LORD spoke through Amoz's son Isaiah: "Go loosen the sackcloth that's around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet." So that's what he did: he went around naked and barefoot.

you who are full of commotion, you passionate city, you rollicking town? Your slain weren't killed by the sword, nor are they dead in battle.

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.

The dead won't live, and the departed spirits won't rise to that end, you punished and destroyed them, then locked away all memory of them.

"But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy! For your dew is like the dew of dawn, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

For the LORD will stand upon Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself in the Valley of Gibeon; to carry out his work his strange deed, and to perform his task his alien task!

He has turned the tables on you as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, "He did not make me?' Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, "He has no skill?'

Their slain will be thrown out; and as for their dead bodies their stench will ascend; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar?

After this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah's army awakened in the morning there were all the dead bodies!

The living yes the living they thank you, just as I am doing today; fathers will tell their children about your faithfulness.

Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything in his treasure-houses the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah replied, "From a distant land they came to me from Babylon."

"What did they see in your palace?" he asked. "They saw everything in my palace," Hezekiah replied. "There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them."

With whom did he consult to enlighten and instruct him on the path of justice? Or who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of wisdom?

You said, "I will always continue Queen forever!' You didn't take these things into your thinking, nor did you think about their consequences.

"But stand up now with your spells and your many incantations, at which you have labored from your childhood until today,

So will they be to you those with whom you toiled and did business since your childhood they wander about, each in his own direction; there is not one who can save you.

I told you these things long ago; I announced them to you before they happened so that you couldn't say, "My idol did them; my carved image or metal idol ordained them.'

They are created now, and not long ago; you didn't hear them before today, so you cannot say, "Yes, I knew them.'

And neither had you heard, nor did you understand, nor did you open your ear long ago. Indeed, I knew that you would act very deceitfully, and they would call you a rebel from birth.

This is what the LORD says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It's because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away.

My Lord GOD has opened my ears, and I did not rebel; I did not shrink back.

I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting.

"He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, intimately familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces; and we despised him and did not value him.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he didn't open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

""Come!' they say, "let's have some wine, and let's fill ourselves with strong drink! Then, tomorrow will be like today, or even much better!'"

You grew tired with your many wanderings, but you wouldn't say: "It is hopeless.' You found new strength for your desire, and so you did not falter.

"Whom did you so dread and while you feared me that you lied, and you did not remember me, and did not lay to heart these things? Haven't I remained silent for a long time, and still you don't fear me?"

"Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard on high.

Let's grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people.

who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble;

When you did awesome deeds that we expected, you came down, and the mountains shuddered before you.

I'll consign you to the sword, and all of you will bend down for the slaughter because when I called, you didn't answer, when I spoke, you didn't listen; but you did what was evil in my sight, and chose what I took no pleasure in."

Therefore I, too, will choose harsh treatment for them, and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn't listen; but they did what I consider to be evil, and chose what doesn't please me."

"Then they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of the people who rebelled against me. For their worm will not die, nor will their fire be extinguished, and they will remain an object of revulsion to all humanity."