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.

But look! There is joy and festivity, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, you say, because we die tomorrow."

And he said: "You will revel no longer, you virgin daughter of Sidon, now crushed. Get up, cross over to Cyprus but even there you will find no rest.'"

Nevertheless, her profits and her earnings will be dedicated to the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded but her profits will go to those who live in the LORD's presence, for abundant food and choice clothing.

From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise: "Glory to the Righteous One!' "But I say, "I am pining away, I'm pining away. How terrible things are for me! For treacherous people betray treacherous people are betraying with treachery!'"

For the LORD's power will rest on this mountain, but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him, just as straw is trodden down in the slime of a manure pit.

They will spread out their hands in the thick of it, just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim, but the LORD will bring down their pride, together with the cleverness of their hands.

"LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. And let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame yes, let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them!

O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but through you alone we acknowledge your name.

"But you have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained honor; you have extended all the borders of the land.

We were pregnant, writhing in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not won your victory on earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world been born."

"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.

to whom he said, "This is the resting place, so give rest to the weary"' and, "This is the place of repose" - but they would not listen.

So, then, the message from the LORD to them will become: "Do this and do that, do this and do that, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there," so that they will go, but fall backward, and be injured, snared, and captured.

As often as it sweeps through, it will carry you away, for it will sweep by morning after morning in the day; but understanding this message will bring sheer terror at night,

But as for you, don't start mocking, or your chains will become tighter; for I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies about destruction, and it is decreed against the whole land.

"But the hordes of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the hordes of tyrants like flying chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

as when a hungry man dreams he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

"Act stupid! Be astonished! Act blind, and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger around, but not from strong drink.

Then the Lord said: "Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

"Oh, you stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out plans but they are not mine, and who make alliances but not by my Spirit, piling sin upon sin.

But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and sheltering in Egypt's shadow your longing.

There is only loathsome destruction through a people that cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace."

For this is what the LORD GOD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest you will be saved; in staying calm and trusting will be your strength. But you refused.

And although the LORD gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers won't hide themselves anymore, but your own eyes will see your teachers.

"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 is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity.

But those who are decent plan noble things, and by noble deeds they stand."

But it will hail when the forest comes down, and the wood will be leveled completely.

But there the LORD in majesty will be for us our source of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, where no stately ship can sail.

"But hawks and hedgehogs will possess it; owls and ravens will nest in it. God will stretch out over it a measuring line, and chaos, and plumb lines of emptiness, and its nobles.

"A highway will be there yes, there and people will call it "The Holy Way'. As for unclean people, they will not journey on it, but it will be for whomever is traveling on that Way not even fools will get lost.

No lions will be there no nor will any ferocious beasts get up on it, and they will not be found there. "But the redeemed will walk there,

But if you all say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God" - isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, "You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem'?

But the field commander asked, "Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn't it also to the men sitting on the wall who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?"

But the people remained silent and didn't respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, "Don't answer him."

and have thrown their gods into the fire but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them.

"And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

Yes, it was for my own good that I suffered extreme anguish. But in love you have held back my life from the Pit in which it has been confined; you have tossed all my sins behind your back.

Grass withers and flowers fade away, when the LORD's breath blows on them, but the word of our God will stand forever."

but those who keep waiting for the LORD will renew their strength. Then they'll soar on wings like eagles; they'll run and not grow weary; they'll walk and not grow tired."

"But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I've chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham

But when I look, there is no one among them there's no one to give counsel, no one to give an answer when I ask them.

You've seen many things, but you pay no attention. His ears are open, but he doesn't listen.

But this is a people who have been robbed and plundered, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become prey, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, "Send them back!'

so he drenched him with the heat that is his anger, the violence of war. It enveloped him in flames, but still he had no insight. It burned him up, but he didn't take it to heart."

But now this is what the LORD says, the one who created you, Jacob, the one who formed you, Israel: "Do not be afraid, because I've redeemed you. I've called you by name; you are mine.

"But now listen, Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen:

"I have aroused him in righteousness, and I'll make all his pathways smooth. It is he who will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price nor reward, " says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

But Israel will be saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you won't be put to shame or disgraced ever again."

For this is what the LORD says, who created the heavens he is God, and the one who formed the earth and made it, and he is the one who established it; he didn't create itfor chaos, but formed it to be inhabited "I am the LORD and there is no other.

They stoop, they bow down together, and they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go off into captivity.

And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

"But disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will not be able to ward off; and devastation will come upon you suddenly, and you won't anticipate it.

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

"Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who have come forth from Judah's loins; you who swear oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel but not in truth, nor in good faith.

Look, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have purified you in the furnace of affliction.

"But there is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

"But Zion said, "The LORD has abandoned me, and my God has forgotten me.'

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or have no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these mothers may forget; But as for me, I'll never forget you!

Then you'll ask in your heart, "Who bore these children for me, although I was childless and barren, and an exile and cast aside? Who brought these up? Look! For my part I was left all alone; but as for these, where have they come from?'

But this is what the LORD says: "He will seize even the warriors' plunder, and the captives of tyrants will be rescued. I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you, and I myself will save your children.

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many.

"Lift up your eyes, you heavens and look to the earth beneath; and see who created these. Its inhabitants will die just like this; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never fail.

For moths will eat them up just like a garment, and worms will devour them like wool; but my deliverance will last forever, and my salvation to all generations.

Now listen to this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine:

But I will put it into the hands of those who tormented and oppressed you, those who said to you, "Lie down, so we can step over you,' so that you had to make your back like the ground, and like a street for them to walk over."

But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

"For a brief moment I abandoned you; but I'll gather you with great compassion.

I hid my face from you for a moment in a surge of anger, but I will have compassion on you with my everlasting gracious love," says the LORD your Redeemer.

For the mountains may collapse and the hills may reel, but my gracious love will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace totter," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

"Also the righteous are perishing, but no one takes it to heart; devout people are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous person is taken away from calamity.

"But as for you, come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

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.

When you cry out, let your collection deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, and a mere breath will sweep them all away." "But whoever takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.

Because of his wicked greed I was angry, so I punished him; and I hid my face, and was angry but he kept turning back to his stubborn will.

But the wicked are tossed like the sea; for it is not able to keep still, and its waters toss up mire and mud.

"Why have we fasted,' they ask, "but you do not see? "Why have we humbled ourselves,' they ask, "but you take no notice?'" "Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.

"So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look there is darkness; we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness.

We all growl like bears; we sigh mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, and for deliverance, but it's far from us.

For look! Darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness is over the people, but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

Then violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; but you'll call your walls "Salvation', and your gates "Praise'.

But as for you, you will be called priests of the LORD, and you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of the nations, and you will boast about their riches.

And you'll no longer be called "Deserted,' and your land will no longer be called "Desolate'; but people will call you "Hephzibah,' and your land "Beulah' for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married."

but surely those who harvest it will eat it and praise the name of the LORD, and those who gather it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary,' says your God."

I looked, but there was no helper, I was appalled that there was no one to give support; so my own arm brought me victory, and as for my wrath, it supported me.

In all their distress he wasn't distressed, but the angel of his presence saved them; in his acts of love and in his acts of pity he redeemed them; he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old.

But you are our Father, even Abraham does not know us and Israel has not acknowledged us; you are he, O LORD, our Father, from long ago, "Our Redeemer' is your name.

Your holy people took possession for a little while, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.

You come to the aid of those who gladly do what's right, To those who remember you in your ways. See, you were angry, and we sinned against them for a long time, but we will be saved.

But as for you, O LORD, you are our Father; and we are clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands.

Watch out! It stands written before me: "I won't keep silent, but I will pay back in full; I'll indeed repay into their laps

But as for you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill drink offerings for Destiny,

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, this is what the LORD says: "See, my servants will eat, but you'll go hungry; my servants will drink, but you'll go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you'll be put to shame.

My servants will sing in gladness of heart, but you'll cry for help from anguish of heart, and you'll howl from brokenness of spirit.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; but as for the serpent its food will be dust! They won't harm or destroy on my entire holy mountain," says the LORD.

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But this is the one to whom I will look favorably: to the one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my message.

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."