And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me , and with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them ;

Therefore, watch out! "As for me, I will once again do amazing things with this people, wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the insights of their discerning men will stay hidden."

Woe be unto them that seek so deep, to hide their imagination before the LORD, which rehearse their counsels in the darkness, and say, "Who seeth us, or who knoweth us?"

For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

such as labour to draw men unto sin; and that deceive him which reproveth them in the gate; and such as turn good persons to vanity.

They also which have been of an erroneous spirit shall come to understanding, and they that have been scornful shall learn doctrine."

Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

A [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the beasts of the Negev (the South):

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and [fiery] flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people (Egyptians) who cannot benefit them.

to Egypt, which gives help that is worthless and useless. Therefore I call her, "Rahab, who just sits still.'"

Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

For this, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach falling, gushing out in a high wall, of which the breaking will come suddenly at a moment

And he will let it be broken as a potter's vessel is broken: it will be smashed to bits without mercy; so that there will not be a bit in which one may take fire from the fireplace, or water from the spring.

A thousand of you shall flee for one, or at the most for five, which do but only give you evil words: until ye be desolate, as a ship mast upon a high mountain, and as a beacon upon a hill.

And at your back, when you are turning to the right hand or to the left, a voice will be sounding in your ears, saying, This is the way in which you are to go.

And he will give the rain of thy seed with which thou shalt sow the ground; and bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich. 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.

and his breath as an overflowing torrent, which reacheth even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to put a bridle into the jaws of the peoples, that causeth them to go astray.

For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a 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 the fire of pain is ordained from the beginning: yea, even for kings it is prepared. This hath the LORD set in the deep, and made it wide: the burning whereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the LORD, which is a river of brimstone, doth kindle it.

For Yahweh said this to me: "As which lion growls and young lion over its prey when {a full group} of shepherds is called against him, it is not terrified by their voice, and to their noise it does not respond, so Yahweh of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

For, a base man, with baseness, will speak, And, his heart, will practise iniquity, - Practising profanity, And speaking, against Yahweh that which misleadeth, Emptying the soul of the hungry, And the drink of the thirsty, he causeth to fail;

Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry.

For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

Wherefore woe be unto thee, O robber: shalt not thou be robbed also? And unto thee that layest wait: as who say there should no wait be laid for thee? Woe unto thee which doest hurt: even so shalt thou be hurt also. And as thou layest wait, so shall wait be laid for thee also.

At the sound of the tumult, the peoples flee;
At the lifting up of Yourself nations scatter.

And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.

Hear, ye far off, that which I have done, And know, ye near ones, 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 that leadeth a godly life - say I - and speaketh the truth; He that abhorreth to do violence and deceit; he that keepeth his hand that he touch no reward; which stoppeth his ears, that he hear no counsel against the innocent; which holdeth down his eyes, that he see none evil.

You will no longer see a fierce people,
A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends,
Of a stammering tongue which no one understands.

Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken.

But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there.

Come near, nations, to hear; and peoples, listen attentively! Let the earth hear, and that which fills it; [the] world and all its offspring.

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven, and shall immediately come down upon Idumaea, and upon the people which I have cursed for my vengeance.

Then the eyes of the blind will see, and the ears which are stopped will be open.

Then will the feeble-footed be jumping like a roe, and the voice which was stopped will be loud in song: for in the waste land streams will be bursting out, and waters in the dry places.

The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.

Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which thou trustest?

Behold, thou reliest upon the staff of that broken reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it goes into his hand, and pierces it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that rely upon him.

Then said Eliakim, Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, "Speak to us thy servants, we pray thee, in the Syrians language, for we understand it well: And speak not to us in the Jews' Tongue, lest the folk hear, which lieth upon the wall."

Unto the time that I come myself, and bring you into a land that is like your own: wherein is wheat and wine, which is both sown with seed, and planted with vineyards.'

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad [in Aram]? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they rescued Samaria from my hand?

Or which, of all the Gods of the lands, hath delivered their country out of my power, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"

It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

and Isaiah saith unto them, 'Thus do ye say unto your lord, Thus said Jehovah, Be not afraid because of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.

Watch this! I'm going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he'll return to his own country. Then I'll have him cut down by the sword in his own land."

"Say thus to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou hopest, and which sayest, 'Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.'

Lo, thou hast heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands -- to devote them -- and thou art delivered!

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

"O LORD of Hosts, thou God of Israel, which dwellest upon Cherubim; Thou art the God, that only is God of all the kingdoms of the world, for thou only hast created heaven and earth.

Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

And Isaiah son of Amoz sendeth unto Hezekiah, saying, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed unto me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur --

This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste.

Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

For, out of Jerusalem, shall come forth a remnant, And that which hath escaped, out of Mount Zion, - the jealousy of Yahweh of hosts, will perform, this.

In the way which he came in it he shall turn back, and to this city he shall not come in, says Jehovah.

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

And I will keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria: and I will keep watch over this town.

And, this, to thee, shall be the sign from Yahweh, - that Yahweh will do this thing which he hath spoken: -

Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

A thanksgiving, which Hezekiah king of Judah wrote, when he had been sick, and was recovered.

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.

And Hezekiah was glad at their coming, and let them see all his store of wealth, the silver and the gold and the spices and the oil, and all the house of his arms, and everything there was in his stores: there was nothing in all his house or his kingdom which he did not let them see.

And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said in answer, They saw everything in my house: there is nothing among my stores which I did not let them see.

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

He will give food to his flock like a keeper of sheep; with his arm he will get it together, and will take up the lambs on his breast, gently guiding those which are with young.

The wise workman makes selection of the mulberry-tree of the offering, a wood which will not become soft; so that the image may be fixed to it and not be moved.

Lift up your eyes on high, and consider who hath made those things, which come out by so great heaps; and he can call them all by their names. For there is nothing hid unto the greatness of his power, strength, and might.

Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD which made all the corners of the earth, is neither weary nor faint: and that his wisdom cannot be comprehended?

Who hath made, created, and called the generations from the beginning? Even I the LORD, which am the first, and with the last.

“In fact, I have made of you a new, sharp threshing implement with sharp edges;
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
And make the hills like chaff.

They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things -- what they are declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear.

Tell ye the events which shall be here-after, That we may perceive that gods, ye are, - Surely ye must do something - good or bad, That we may be amazed and behold it, at once.

Nevertheless, I have waked up one from the North, and he shall come. And another from the East, which shall call upon my name, and shall come to the princes, as the Potter to his clay, and as the Potter treadeth down the mire.

Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,

Sing a new song to Yahweh; praise him from the end of the earth, you who go down [to] the sea and that which fills it, [the] coastlands and their inhabitants.

And I will take the blind by a way of which they had no knowledge, guiding them by roads strange to them: I will make the dark places light before them, and the rough places level. These things will I do and will not give them up.

Seeing many things, and thou wilt not watch; opening the ears, and he will not bear.

Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His anger
And the fierceness of battle;
And engulfed him in fire,
Yet he did not recognize [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach];
It burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

Bring forth that people which is blind, yet hath eyes; which is deaf yet hath ears.

All nations shall come in one, and be gathered in one people. But which among yonder gods shall declare such things, and tell us what is to come? Let them bring their witnesses, so shall they be free: for then men shall hear it, and say, "It is truth."

This is what the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says,

“For your sake I have sent [one] to Babylon,
And I will bring down all of them as fugitives,
Even the Chaldeans [who reign in Babylon], into the ships over which they rejoiced.

Even I the LORD your holy one, which have made Israel, and am your King."

Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds.

Watch! I'm about to carry out something new! And now it's springing up don't you recognize it? I'm making a way in the wilderness and paths in the desert.

the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.

Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

For what is he that ever was like me, which am from everlasting? Let him show his name, and do wherethrough he may be likened unto me. Let him tell you forth, plainly, things that are past, and for to come:

All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

Who would form a god and cast an image of [which] he cannot profit?