Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a burning coal in his hand that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth and said, "Look! Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sins atoned for."

So the LORD told Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool that proceeds along the highway to Launderer's Field.

Tell him, "Be careful, be calm, don't be afraid, and don't lose heart because of these two smoldering stumps of torches, that is, because of the fierce anger of Rezin, from Aram, and Remaliah's son.

"At that time, the LORD will call for flies that will come from far away from the headwaters of Egypt's rivers and for bees that are in the land of Assyria.

At that time, the LORD will hire a barber to come from beyond the Euphrates River that is, the king of Assyria and he will shave your heads, your leg hair, and your beards, too.

"At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep,

and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey.

"At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow.

As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."

"Don't call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and don't fear what they fear, or live in terror.

or they'll look toward the earth, but they'll see only distress and darkness, the gloom that comes from anguish, and then they'll be thrown into total darkness."

Now as to the yoke that has been his burden, and the bar laid on his shoulder the rod of his oppressor you have broken it as on the day of Midian.

"For wickedness has burned like a blaze that consumes briers and thorns; it sets thickets of the forest on fire, and skyward they swirl in a column of smoke.

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed

to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!

What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

"For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria's king and the haughty look in his eyes.

My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.'

What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few that a child can count them."

At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

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.

At that time, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you've become obese."

This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem's hill.

At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

At that time, the LORD will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And there will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

At that time, you will say: "I will praise you, LORD, for although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.

You will draw water joyfully from the wells of salvation. And you will say at that time:

"Give thanks to the LORD; call on his name. Make known his actions among the nations. Proclaim that his name is exalted.

A message that Amoz's son Isaiah received about Babylon:

"Listen! There's a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There's an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle.

Babylon, that jewel of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, when God overthrew them

that struck down nations in anger with unceasing blows, that oppressed nations in fury with relentless persecution.

Even the cypresses rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Now that you've been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sworn: "Surely as I have planned, that's what she will become; and just as I have determined, so will it remain

"This is what I've planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

In the year that King Ahaz died this message came:

"Don't rejoice, all of you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, because from the snake's root a viper will spring up, and its offspring will be a darting, poisonous serpent.

This was the message that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past.

The cities of Oraru will be deserted they will be devoted to herds that will lay at rest, and terrorism will be no more.

"At that time, Jacob's glory will have become weakened, and his strong flesh will turn gaunt;

At that time, men will look upon their Maker, and their eyes will honor the Holy One of Israel.

They will not look upon the altars, the products that their own fingers have made, and they will have no regard for Asherah poles or incense altars.

"At that time, their fortified cities that they abandoned because of the Israelis will be like desolate places of the forests and hilltops there will be desolation.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock that is your strength. Therefore even though you plant delightful plants, sowing them with imported vine-seedlings,

at the time that you plant them, carefully making them grow, the very morning you make your seed to sprout, your harvest will be ruined in a time of grief and unbearable pain."

The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm.

Woe to the land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush,

which sends envoys by the sea, in papyrus boats over the water! Go, swift messengers, to a tall, smooth-skinned nation, to a people feared far and wide, a nation that metes out punishment and oppresses, whose land the rivers divide.

And they will all be left for birds of prey that live on the mountains and for wild animals. Birds of prey will pass the summer feeding on them, and all the wild animals will pass the winter feeding on them.

At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies from a tall and smooth-skinned people, from a people feared far and wide, a nation that metes out punishment and oppresses, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place that bears the name of the LORD.

The LORD has mixed within them a spirit of confusion; so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does, like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.

At that time, the Egyptians will be like women they will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.

And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid, because of the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies that is turning in their direction.

At that time, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

At that time, there will be an altar to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies in the heart of the land of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border.

At that time, they will worship with sacrifices and offerings, and they will make vows to the LORD and carry them out. The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague, striking but then healing. Then they will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

At that time, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and they will worship with the Assyrians.

At that time, Israel will be in a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria; they will be a blessing in the midst of the earth.

In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod, attacked it, and captured it

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.

At that time, the inhabitants of this coastland will say, "See, this is what has happened to those on whom we counted and relied for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How, then, can we escape?'"

Therefore my body is racked with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am so upset that I cannot hear; I am so frightened that I cannot see while I'm reeling around.

A message concerning the Valley of Vision. "What troubles you, now that you've all gone up to the rooftops,

And it will come about that your choicest valleys will be filled with chariots, and horsemen will take their positions at the gates.

At that time, you looked at the arsenal of the Palace of the Forest, and saw that there were many breaches in the City of David. So you stored up water from the Lower Pool,

On that day the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies called for weeping and mourning, for shaving heads and wearing sackcloth.

"Come, go to this steward, to Shebna who is in charge of the household, and ask him: "What are you doing here, and who are your relatives here that you could carve out a grave for yourself here cutting out a tomb at the choicest location, chiseling out a resting place for yourself out of solid rock?

"At that time, I'll call for my servant, Hilkiah's son Eliakim,

At that time," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "the peg that was driven into a secure place will give way; it will be sheared and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down." The LORD has spoken.

Is this your exciting city, that was founded long ago, whose feet carried her to settle in far-off lands?

Who has planned this against Tyre, that bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the most renowned on earth?

"Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is a people that no longer exist; Assyria destined her for desert creatures. They raised up her siege towers, they stripped her fortresses bare and turned her into a ruin.

It will happen at that time that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the span of a king's life. Then, at the end of those 70 years, it will turn out for Tyre as in the prostitute's song:

"The celebrations of the tambourine have ended, the noise of the jubilant has stopped, and the mirth that the harp produces has ended.

The chaotic city lies broken down; every house is closed up so that no one can enter them.

The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies so heavy upon it, that it falls, never to rise again.

"And it will come about at that time, the LORD will punish the armies of the exalted ones in the heavens, and the rulers of the earth on earth.

And on this mountain, he will swallow up the burial shroud that enfolds all nations, the veil that is spread over all nations

"And you will say at that time, "Look! It's the LORD! This is our God! We waited for him, and he saved us. This is the LORD! We waited for him, so let us rejoice, and we will be glad that he has saved us."

At that time, people will sing this song in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God crafts victory, its walls and ramparts.

Open your gates, so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.

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.

For see, the LORD is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins; the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it, and will no longer conceal its slain."

At that time, with his fierce, mighty, and powerful sword, the LORD will punish the gliding serpent Leviathan the coiling serpent Leviathan and he will kill the dragon that's in the sea.

At that time, "A fermenting vineyard sing about it!

By this, then, Jacob's guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full harvest that comes from the removal of his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalkstones, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

When its branches are dry, they are broken off, and women come and kindle fires with them, since this is a people who show no consideration. That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion; the One who created them shows them no mercy.

At that time, the LORD will winnow grain from the Euphrates River channel to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered in one by one, O people of Israel.

Furthermore, at that time, a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.

How terrible it will be for that arrogant garland the drunks of Ephraim! How terrible it will be for that fading flower of his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, of people overcome with wine!

With hands and feet, that proud garland those drunks of Ephraim will be trampled.

And that fading flower, his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, will be like an early fig before summer whenever someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it's in his hand.

At that time, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will become a glorious crown, a beautiful diadem for the remnant of his people,

For it is: "Do this and do that, do this and do that, Line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there."

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.

"Therefore hear the message from the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people that are in Jerusalem.

Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel, all that attack her and her fortification and besiege her, will become like a dream, with its visions in the night