And the Lord saith: Because drawn near hath this people, with its mouth, And with its lips they have honoured Me, And its heart it hath put far off from Me, And their fear of Me is -- A precept of men is taught!

For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.

Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide [it] from Yahweh, and their deeds are in a dark place. And they say, "Who sees us? And who knows us?"

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

And the humble shall add joy in Jehovah, and the poor of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For [the] tyrant shall be no more, and [the] scoffer shall come to an end. And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;

Those who cause a person to be condemned with a [false] word,
And lay a trap for him who upholds justice at the [city] gate,
And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

Therefore, the Lord, who redeemed Abraham [from paganism] says this, concerning the house of Jacob (Israel):

“Jacob will not be ashamed, nor will his face turn pale [with disappointment because of his children’s degenerate behavior];

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

“All will be ashamed because of a people (the Egyptians) who cannot benefit them,
Who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and also a disgrace.”

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah;

Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions from God”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right!
Speak to us pleasant things and smooth words,
Prophesy [deceitful] illusions [that we will enjoy].

Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Therefore, thus said the Holy One of Israel, Because of your kicking against this word, And ye trust in oppression, And perverseness, and rely on it,

Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, said, In quiet and rest is your salvation: peace and hope are your strength: but you would not have it so.

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

On every high mountain and every high hill there will be streams flowing with water, at the time of great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.

Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden of it is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

And His breath is as an overflowing stream, Unto the neck it divideth, To sift nations with a sieve of vanity, And a bridle causing to err, Is on the jaws of the peoples.

You will have songs as on nights when people celebrate a holy festival, and gladness of heart, as when they set out with flutes to go to the LORD's mountain, to the Rock of Israel.

And the Lord will send out the sound of his great voice, and they will see his arm stretched out, with the heat of his wrath, and the flame of a burning fire; with a cloud-burst, and storm, and a rain of ice.

For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrians will be terrified,
When He strikes [them] with the rod.

And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.

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.

"How terrible it will be for those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the chariot, because there are so many, and in charioteers, because they are so strong but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the LORD!

Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

For thus saith Jehovah unto me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds be called forth against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so will Jehovah of hosts come down to fight upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof.

As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

For at that time, everyone will throw away their idols of silver and their idols of gold that your hands have sinfully made for yourselves.

And his rock shall pass away by reason of terror, and his princes shall be dismayed at the ensign, saith Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

A fool is no more called 'noble,' And to a miser it is not said, 'rich;'

For the foolish man will say foolish things, having evil thoughts in his heart, working what is unclean, and talking falsely about the Lord, to keep food from him who is in need of it, and water from him whose soul is desiring it.

As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.

But the noble man conceives noble and magnificent things;
And he stands by what is noble and magnificent.

Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

After years and days shall ye be brought in fear, O ye careless cities. For Harvest shall be out, and the grape gathering shall not come.

Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

over the soil of my people. It goes up [in] thorns [and] briers, indeed over all of [the] houses of joy [in the] jubilant city.

Till emptied out on us is the Spirit from on high, And a wilderness hath become a fruitful field, And the fruitful field for a forest is reckoned.

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

Blessed are yet that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass.

"How terrible it will be for you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed yourself! And how terrible it will be for you, traitor, one whom people have not betrayed! When you have sunk so low in destroying others, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you."

Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you. Be our arm in the mornings, indeed our salvation in [the] time of trouble.

At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.

And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathereth: as locusts leap shall men leap upon it.

And hath been the stedfastness of thy times, The strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, Fear of Jehovah -- it is His treasure.

Look! Their heroes cry out [in the] street; [the] messengers of peace weep bitterly.

The land mourneth, it languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, is withered; the Sharon is become as a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped.

You conceive dry grass, you bring forth stubble; your breath [is] a fire; it will consume you.

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.

The sinners at Zion are afraid, and a sudden fearfulness is come upon the hypocrites. "What is he among us," say they, "that will dwell by that consuming fire? Which of us may abide that everlasting heat?"

He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil --

He it is, that shall dwell on high; whose safeguard shall be in the true rock, to him shall be given the right true meat and drink.

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will see a far-distant land.

Your {mind} will meditate [on the] terror: "Where [is the] one who counted? Where [is the] one who weighed out? Where [is the] one who counted the towers?"

There shalt thou not see a people of a strange tongue to have so diffused a language, that it may not be understood: neither so strange a speech but it shall be perceived.

Look [on] Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, a tent {that is not moved}. No one will ever pull out its tent pegs, and none of its ropes will be torn in two.

But there mighty is Jehovah for us, A place of rivers -- streams broad of sides, No ship with oars doth go into it, And a mighty ship doth not pass over it.

For the LORD is our judge, and the LORD is our lawgiver; and the LORD is our king, and it is he who will save us.

Left have been thy ropes, They strengthen not rightly their mast, They have not spread out a sail, Then apportioned hath been a prey of much spoil, The lame have taken spoil.

Nor doth an inhabitant say, 'I was sick,' The people that is dwelling in it, is forgiven of iniquity!

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

For the Lord is angry at all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

Then shall be dissolved all the host of the heavens, And the heavens shall roll up as a scroll, - Yea, all their host, shall fade - Like the fading and falling of a leaf from a vine, and Like what fadeth and falleth from a fig-tree.

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

And the streams of [Edom] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust of it into brimstone. And the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

To the kingdom her freemen they call, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end.

And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and goat-demons will call out to each other. There also Liliths will settle, and find for themselves a resting place.

The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.

Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

And the burning sand will become a pool, and the dry earth springs of waters: the fields where the sheep take their food will become wet land, and water-plants will take the place of grass.

And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

And the redeemed of the LORD shall convert, and come to Zion with thanksgiving. Everlasting joy shall they have, pleasure and gladness shall be among them. And as for all sorrow and heaviness, it shall vanish away.

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.

And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh [his military commander] from Lachish [the Judean fortress commanding the road from Egypt] to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a large army. And he stood by the canal of the Upper Pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.