Then will he give rain to the seed that ye shall sow in the earth, and give you bread of the increase of the earth, so that all shall be plenteous and abundant. Thy cattle also shall he feed in the broad meadows;

Goodly rivers shall flow out of all his mountains and hills. In the day of the great slaughter when the towers shall fall,

the moon shall shine as the sun, and the sunshine shall be seven fold, and have as much shine, as in seven days beside. In that day shall the LORD bind up the bruised sores of his people, and heal their wounds.

Behold, the glory of the LORD shall come from far, his face shall burn, that no man shall be able to abide it, his lips shall wag for very indignation, and his tongue shall be as a consuming fire.

His breath is like a vehement flood of water, which goeth up to the throat. That he may take away the people, which have turned themselves unto vanity, and the bridle of error, that lieth in other folks' jaws.

But ye shall sing, as the use is in the night of the holy solemnity. Ye shall rejoice from your heart, as they that come with the pipe, when they go up to the mount of the LORD, unto the rock of Israel.

And it shall come to pass that whithersoever he goeth the rod shall cleave unto him which the LORD shall lay upon him, with tabrets and harps: and with a great war shall he fight against his host.

For in that day every man shall cast out his Idols of silver and gold, which ye have made with your sinful hands.

He shall go for fear to his strongholds, and his princes shall flee from his badge. This hath the LORD spoken, whose light burneth in Zion, and his fire in Jerusalem.

Behold, a king shall govern after the rule of righteousness, and the princes shall rule according to the balance of equity.

The heart of the unwise shall attain to knowledge, and the imperfect tongue shall speak plainly and distinctly.

But the churl will be churlishly minded, and his heart will work evil and play the hypocrite, and imagine abominations against God, to make the hungry lean, and withhold drink from the thirsty.

O ye rich idle cities, ye that fear no peril: ye shall be abashed and removed, when ye see the bareness, the nakedness, and preparing to war.

The palaces also shall be broken, and the greatly occupied cities desolate. The towers and bulwarks shall be become dens forevermore, the pleasure of Mules shall be turned to pasture for sheep:

LORD be merciful unto us, we wait for thee. Thine arm is at a point to visit us, but be thou our health in the time of trouble.

Now hearken to, ye that are far off, how I do with them; and consider my glory, ye that be at hand.

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.

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.

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.

For the LORD is angry with all people, and his displeasure is kindled against all the multitude of them, to curse them and to slay them:

Unto thee also, O Zion, shall come the day of the vengeance of God, and the year when thine own judgments shall be recompensed.

Thy floods shall be turned to pitch, and thine earth to brimstone, and therewith shall the land be kindled,

so that it shall not be quenched day nor night, but smoke evermore and so forth to lie waste. And no man shall go through thy land forever.

There shall the owl make her nest, build, be there at home, and bring forth her young ones. There shall the kites come together, each one to his like.

Upon whomsoever the lot falleth, or to whom he dealeth it with the line: those shall possess the inheritance from generation to generation, and dwell therein.

Say unto them that are of a fearful heart, "Be of good cheer, and fear not. Behold, your God cometh, to take vengeance, and to reward, God cometh his own self, and will deliver you."

The dry ground shall turn to rivers, and the thirsty to springs of water. Whereas dragons dwelt afore, there shall grow sweet flowers and green rushes.

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.

In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came down, to lay siege unto all the strong cities of Judah.

Thou thinkest, peradventure, that thou hast counsel and power enough to maintain this war: or else whereto trustest thou, that thou castest thyself off from me?

But if thou wouldest say unto me: 'We trust in the LORD our God': is not he that God whose High places and altars Hezekiah took down, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only before this altar?

Now therefore deliver hostages that thou rebel no more against my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give thee two thousand horses if thou be able to set men upon them.

Moreover, thinkest thou that I am come down hither, to destroy this land without the LORD's will? The LORD said unto me: Go down into the land, that thou mayest destroy it.'"

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."

Then answered Rabshakeh, "Think ye, that the king sent me to speak this only unto you? Hath he not sent me to them also, that lie upon the wall? That they be not compelled to eat their own dung, and drink their own stale with you?"

Thus sayeth the king, 'Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you.'

But thus sayeth the king of Assyria, 'Obtain my favour, incline to me: so may every man enjoy his vineyards and fig trees, and drink the water of his cistern:

Where is the God of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the God of Sepharvaim? And who was able to defend Samaria out of my hand?

When Hezekiah heard that, he rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went in to the temple of the LORD.

and they said unto him, "Thus sayeth Hezekiah, 'This is the day of trouble, of plague, and of wrath: like as when a child cometh to the birth, but the woman hath no power to bring it forth.

The LORD thy God, no doubt, hath well considered the words of Rabshakeh, whom his lord the king of the Assyrians hath sent, to defy and blaspheme the living God: with such words as the LORD thy God hath heard right well. And therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that yet are left.'"

So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah,

Now when Rabshakeh returned, he found the king of Assyria laying siege to Libnah; for he had understood that he was departed from Lachish.

For there came a rumor, that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was come forth to war against him. And when the king of Assyria heard that, he sent other messengers to king Hezekiah with this commandment:

"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.'

For thou knowest well how the kings of Assyria have handled all the lands that they have subverted; and hopest thou to escape?

Incline thine ear LORD, and consider, open thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and ponder all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent his embassage to blaspheme the living God.

Yea, sayest thou, hast thou not heard what I have taken in hand, and brought to pass of old time? That same will I do now also: waste, destroy, and bring the strong cities into heaps of stones.

For the escaped shall go out of Jerusalem, and the remnant from the mount Zion. And this shall the jealousy of the LORD of Hosts bring to pass.'

Not long afore this, was Hezekiah sick unto death: And the Prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came unto him, and said, "Thus commandeth the LORD, 'Set thine house in order: for thou must die, and shall not escape.

and said, "Remember, O LORD, that I have walked before thee in truth and a steadfast heart, and have done the thing that is pleasant to thee." And Hezekiah wept sore.

And take thee this token of the LORD, that he will do it, as he hath spoken:

"I thought I should have gone to the gates of hell in my best age, and have wanted the residue of my years.

Mine age is folden up together, and taken away from me, like a shepherd's cottage: my life is hewn off, like as a weaver cutteth off his web. While I was yet taking my rest, he hewed me off, and made an end of me in one day.'

I thought I would have lived unto the morrow, but he bruised my bones like a lion, and made an end of me in one day.

Then chattered I like a swallow, and like a crane, and mourned as a dove. I lift up mine eyes to the height: 'O LORD,' say I, 'violence is done unto me, be thou surety for me.'

What shall I say? The Lord hath made a promise to me. Yea, and he himself hath performed it. I shall therefore, as long as I live, remember bitterness of my life.

O LORD, men may live beyond their years, and I will declare to all men that even in those years, it was thou that causedest me to sleep, and again thou hast given me life.

Behold, bitter as gall was my pensiveness: so sore longed I for health. And it was thy pleasure to deliver me from the filthy pit: for thou it is, O Lord, that hath cast all my sins behind thy back.

but the living, yea the living acknowledge thee, like as I do this day. The father telleth his children of thy faithfulness.

Then said Hezekiah, "O what a great thing is this, that I shall go up in to the house of the LORD."

At that same time Merodachbaladan, Baladan's son, king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Hezekiah. For he understood how that he had been sick, and was recovered again.

Then came Isaiah the Prophet to king Hezekiah, and said unto him, "What have the men said, and from whence came they unto thee?" Hezekiah answered, "They came out of a far country unto me, out of Babylon."

'Behold, the time will come, that everything which is in thine house, and all that thy progenitors have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon, and nothing left behind. Thus sayeth the LORD.

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "Good is the word of God which thou hast told me." He said moreover, "For there shall be peace and faithfulness in my time."

Who hath reformed the mind of the LORD? Or who is of his counsel to teach him?

At whom hath he asked counsel, to make him understand, and to learn him the way of judgment: to teach him science: and to instruct him in the way of understanding?

Behold, all people are in comparison of him, as a drop to a bucketful, and are counted as the least thing that the balance weigheth. Behold, the Isles are in comparison of him, as the shadow of the sunbeam.

Lebanon is not sufficient to minister fire for his offering, and all the beasts thereof are not enough to one sacrifice.

"To whom then will ye liken God? Or what similitude will ye set up unto him?

Moreover, shall the image maker, that the poor man which is disposed may have something to set up also, seek out and choose a tree, that is not rotten, and carve thereout an image, that moveth not?

That he sitteth upon the Circle of the world, and that all the inhabiters of the world are, in comparison of him, but as grasshoppers; That he spreadeth out the heavens as a covering, he stretcheth them out as a tent to dwell in;

That he bringeth princes to nothing, and the judges of the earth to dust;

'To whom now will ye liken me, and whom shall I be like?' sayeth the holy one.

Be still, ye Islands, and hearken unto me. Be strong ye people; Come hither, and show your cause: we will go to the law together.

Who raiseth up the just from the rising of the Sun, and calleth him to go forth? Who casteth down the people, and subdueth the kings before him: that he may throw them all to the ground with his sword, and scatter them like stubble with his bow?

Be not afraid, for I will be with thee. Look not behind thee, for I will be thy God, to strengthen thee, help thee, and to keep thee with this righthand of mine.

Behold, all they that resist thee, shall come to confusion and shame: and thine adversaries shall be destroyed and brought to naught.

So that whoso seeketh after them, shall not find them. Thy destroyers shall perish, and so shall they that undertake to make battle against thee.

Behold, I will make thee a treading cart and a new flail, that thou mayest thresh and grind the mountains, and bring the hills to powder.

I bring forth floods in the hills, and wells in the plain fields. I turn the wilderness to rivers, and the dry land to conduits of water.

All this do I, that they altogether may see a mark, perceive with their hearts and consider, that the hand of the LORD maketh these things, and that the holy one of Israel bringeth them to pass.

Let the gods come forth themselves, and show us the things that are past, what they be: let them declare them unto us, that we may take them to heart, and know them hereafter.

Either, let them show us things for to come, and tell us what shall be done hereafter: so shall we know, that they be gods. Show something, either good or bad: so will we both knowledge the same, and tell it out.

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.

The first is he that shall say unto Zion, "Behold, behold, they are present!" And to Israel itself will I give an Evangelist.

Behold now therefore, this is my servant whom I will keep to myself: mine elect; In whom my soul shall be pacified. I will give him my spirit, that he may show forth judgment and equity among the Gentiles.

For thus sayeth God the LORD unto him, even he that made the heavens, and spread them abroad, and set forth the earth with her increase: which giveth breath unto the people that is in it, and to them that dwell therein,

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and led thee by the hand. Therefore will I also defend thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, and to be the light of the Gentiles.

Even I am the LORD, and this is my name: and my glory will I give to none other, neither mine honour to graven images.

Behold, old things are come to pass, and new things I do declare; and before they come I tell you of them."

The LORD shall come forth as a giant, and take a stomach to himself like a fresh man of war. He shall roar and cry, and overcome his enemies.

I will bring the blind into the street, that they know not: and lead them in to a foot path, that they are ignorant in. I shall make darkness light before them, and the thing that is crooked to be straight. These things will I do, and not forget them.

And therefore let them convert, and be ashamed earnestly, that hope in Idols and say to fashioned images, "Ye are our gods."

Hear, O ye deaf men, and sharpen your sights to see, O ye blind!

But it is a mischevious and wicked people. Their young men belong all to the snare, and shall be shut into prison houses. They shall be carried away captive, and no man shall loose them. They shall be trodden under foot, and no man shall labour to bring them again.

But who is he among you, that pondereth this in his mind, that considereth it, and taketh it for a warning in time to come?

Who suffered Jacob to be trodden under foot, and Israel to be spoiled? Did not the LORD? Now have we sinned against him, and have had no delight to walk in his ways, neither been obedient unto his law.

Therefore hath he poured upon us his wrathful displeasure, and strong battle, which maketh us have to do on every side, yet will we not understand. He burneth us up, yet sinketh it not into our hearts.

I will say to the North, 'Let go.' And to the South, 'Keep not back: but bring me my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the world: