Why should ye be smitten any more? Ye would again turn aside! The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faint:

If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors, we would have been as few as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

There kneeleth the man, there falleth the man down before them; but thou, O LORD, wilt not leave them unpunished.

The brave man and the warrior [He is also removing],
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.

Jehovah will go into judgment with the old men of his people and his chiefs: and ye burnt up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

A roar, hath he, like a lioness, - He will roar like wild lions - And will growl, and lay hold on prey, and carry into safety, and there be none to deliver.

Wherefore let My Lord Himself give you a sign, - Lo! a Virgin, being with child and giving birth to a son, thou wilt call his name Immanuel.

He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.

For before the child is old enough to make a decision between evil and good, the land whose two kings you are now fearing will have become waste.

and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat [only] curds and [wild] honey.

Then you must recall the Lord's instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.

A word, hath My Lord, sent unto Jacob, - And it shall alight on Israel;

The old man and they lifting up faces, he the head; and the prophet teaching falsehood, be the tail.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood.

Therefore, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Do not fear O my people dwelling in Zion, because of Assyria, - When with his rod, he would smite thee, And when his staff, he would lift up against thee in the manner of Egypt;

Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! hearken, O Laishah! O thou poor Anathoth!

And thou saidst in that day, I will praise thee, O Jehovah: for thou wert angry with me, thine anger will turn back and thou wilt comfort me,

Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not permit his prisoners to return home?’

and thou art cast out of thy grave like a wild branch - like as dead men's raiment that are shot through with the sword, as they that go down to the stones of the deep, as a dead corpse that is trodden under feet -

“I will make her a swampland and a region for screech owls, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

And Heshbon crieth out, and Elealeh; their voice is heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembleth within him.

My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

This is the word which Jehovah hath spoken from of old concerning Moab.

But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."

in the day of thy planting wilt thou make them to grow, and on the morrow wilt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest will flee in the day of taking possession, and the sorrow will be incurable.

They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds will spend the summer on them,
and all the animals, the winter on them.

Also the chiefs of Zoan are foolish, the wise counseling Pharaoh the counsel became brutish: how shall ye say to Pharaoh, I the son of the wise, the son of kings of old?

I am come of the old regal Progeny"? Where are they? Where are now thy wise men? Let them tell thee, if they can, what the LORD of Hosts hath taken in hand against Egypt.

And it shall become a sign and a witness unto Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt, - For they will make outcry unto Yahweh, because of oppressors, That he would send them a saviour - and a great one Then will he deliver them.

So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):

As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”

For the Lord said to me, "Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,

And he will uncover the covering of Judah, and thou wilt look in that day to the weapons of the house of the forest

Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

Is this your exulting one? From the days of old is her antiquity, Carry her do her own feet afar off to sojourn.

Now look at the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia)—this is the people which was not; the Assyrians allocated Tyre for desert creatures—they set up their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

And the moon blushed, and the sun was ashamed, for Jehovah of armies reigned in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and was honored before his old men.

O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

As the heat in a dry place wilt thou bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

Then will Yahweh of hosts prepare for all the peoples in this mountain, A banquet of fat things, A banquet of old wines, - Of fat things full of marrow, Of old wines well refined;

Should he spread forth his hands in the midst thereof, As a swimmer spreadeth forth to swim, Then would be laid low his pride, together with the devices of his hands.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

The path of equity wilt thou grant unto the just, O thou most righteous; thou shalt order the path of him that is righteous.

O Yahweh though thy hand be lifted up, - yet do they not see, Would they might see - and turn pale at a peoples zeal, - Surely, the fire of thine enemies, must consume them!

LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

The dead shall not live; shades shall not rise; for this, thou reviewedst and thou wilt destroy them, and all remembrance to them shall perish.

Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

“Or let him (Israel) cling to My strength and rely on My protection [My stronghold],
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”

In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

Even a spirit of justice - to him that presideth over justice, And strength to them who would turn back the battle at the gate.

Whom, would he teach knowledge? And, whom, would he cause to understand the message? Them who are weaned from the milk? taken from the breasts?

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow when he would wrap himself in it.

Bread corn is crushed, because he will not ever be threshing it; and if he drove the wheels of his cart and his horses over it, he would not crush it.

Alas! for them who would fain have been too deep for Yahweh by giving secret counsel, - and therefore in the dark, have been their doings, and they have said Who can see us? and - Who can understand us?

You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,
That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

For their princes have been, in Zoan, - And, their messengers unto Hanes, would draw near.

The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

But, the Egyptians, with vanity and emptiness, would help, - Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this, Insolent, they sit still!

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

So shall, thine own ears, hear a word from behind thee saying, - This, is the way, walk ye therein, When ye would turn to the right hand Or when ye would turn to the left.

Then will ye defile - The overlaying of thy graven images of silver, And the coating of thy molten image, of gold, - Thou wilt cash them away, as a woman the token of her sickness, Begone! shalt thou say thereto,

Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

Alas! for them who are going down to Egypt for help, On horses, would rely, - And have trusted - In chariots - because they are many, and In horsemen, because they are very bold, But have not looked unto the Holy One of Israel, And onto Yahweh, have not sought.

Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

And the yield of righteousness, shall be, peace, - And the tillage of righteousness, quietness, and confidence! to times age-abiding;

And the wild-oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

Owls and wild animals will live there, all kinds of wild birds will settle in it. The Lord will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line of destruction.

And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches.

The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

The Lord has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided and apportioned Edom to the wild beasts by measuring-line.
They will possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

And the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of wild dogs, where they lay down, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

No lion shall be there, and no ferocious wild beast shall go up it. It shall not be found there, but [the] redeemed shall walk [there].

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?

How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

And he will send Eliakim who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the old men of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, son of Amos, the prophet

Whom didst thou reproach and revile, and against whom didst thou raise up the voice, and wilt thou lift up thine eyes on high to the Holy One of Israel?

By the hand of thy servants thou didst reproach Jehovah, and wilt thou say, By the multitude of my chariots I came up to the height of the mountains, to the thighs of Lebanon; and I will cut down the stature of his cedars, the choicest of his cypresses: and I will go into the height of his extremity, the forest of his Carmel.

Hast thou not heard from afar? -- it I did, From days of old -- that I formed it. Now, I have brought it in, And it is to make desolate, Ruinous heaps -- fenced cities,

"This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own. But the year after that you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.

and said, - I beseech thee, O Yahweh, remember, I pray thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with an undivided heart, and, that which is good in thine eyes, have I done. And Hezekiah wept aloud.

Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

And [the forests of] Lebanon cannot supply sufficient fuel to start a fire,
Nor are its wild beasts enough for a burnt offering [worthy of the Lord].

“To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

For what wilt thou say, O Jacob, and wilt thou speak, O Israel, My way was hid from Jehovah, and my judgment will pass over from my God.

“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,

Who declared this from the beginning, and we will know him; or from the old times, and we will confess and say that he is righteous? But there is none that showeth or declareth anything; there is none also that heareth your words.