This is the vision that Amoz's son Isaiah had about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel's Mighty One, declares: "Now I'll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

"Note this! The Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah everything that your society needs all food supplies and all water supplies,

"For a man will grab his brother in his own father's house, and say, "You have a cloak, so you be our leader, and this heap of ruins will be under your rule!'

"At that time, seven women will cling tightly to one man and will make him this offer: "We'll provide our own bread. We'll provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you so we won't be stigmatized anymore.'"

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it: "Surely many houses will become desolate, great and beautiful houses, without occupants.

Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people, so he stretched out his hands against them and afflicted them. The mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away, and his hands are still stretched out to attack.

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

"Go!" he responded. "Tell this people: ""Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'

Dull the mind of this people, deafen their ears, and blind their eyes. By doing so, they won't see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed."

Aram, Ephraim, and Remaliah's son have plotted this evil against you:

"But this is what the Lord GOD has to say: ""It won't take place. It won't ever happen.

After this, I was intimate with the prophetess and she conceived. Later, she bore a son, and then the LORD told me, "Call him "Maher-shalal-hash-baz,'

"Because this people have rejected the gently-flowing waters of Shiloah, and because they keep rejoicing in Rezin and Remaliah's son,

For this is what the LORD spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:

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

for instruction and for testimony? Surely they are speaking like this because the truth hasn't dawned on them.

Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule over his kingdom, sitting on the throne of David, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west and they devour Israel with open mouths! "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations.

"Because this is what he is saying: "My commanders are all kings, are they not?

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.

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.

Because of this, every hand will go limp, and every man's courage will melt.

you will lift up this song of mockery against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has come to an end! How the attacker has ceased!

"Those who see you will stare at you. They will wonder about you: "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who made kingdoms quake,

"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:

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

For this is what the LORD told me: "I will remain quiet and watch in my dwelling place like dazzling heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

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?'"

For this is what the LORD told me: "Go post a lookout. Have him report what he sees.

For this is what the LORD is saying to me: "Within three years, according to the years of a contract worker, the pomp of Kedar will come to an end.

"Nevertheless, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has revealed himself to my hearing: ""Surely because of you this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,' says the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies."

This is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says:

"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?

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.

The earth will be utterly depopulated and completely laid waste for the LORD has spoken this message.

"On this mountain, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will prepare for all nations a banquet of rich food, a banquet of well-aged wines rich food full of marrow, and refined wines of the finest vintage

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."

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.

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.

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.

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."

Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners and foreign languages the LORD will speak to this people

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.

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

therefore this is what the LORD God says: "Look! I am laying a foundation stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation: Whoever believes firmly will not act hastily.

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,

This insight also comes from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who is distinguished in practical advice and magnificent in sound wisdom."

"And this entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book. When people give it to someone who can read, and say, "Read this, please,' he answers, "I cannot, because it is sealed.'

Or when they give the book to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this, please,' he answers, "I don't know how to read.'"

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."

"Therefore, this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale.

Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you reject this message, and put your trust in oppression and enjoy it, and since you rely on it,

therefore, for you this sin will become like a breach in a high wall that is about to collapse, bulging out, and whose crash comes suddenly in an instant.

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 whether you turn to the right or turn to the left, your ears will hear a message behind you: "This is the way, walk in it."

For this is what the LORD told me: "Just as a lion or a young lion growls over his objects of prey, even when a whole band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not alarmed at their shouting or disturbed by their clamor so the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.

and over the land of my people overgrown with thorns and briers yes, over all the houses of merriment and over this city of revelry.

this is the one who will live on the heights; his refuge will be a mountain fortress. His food will be supplied, and his water will be guaranteed.

"Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, "This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this "guarantee" that makes you yourself rely on it? Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you're rebelling against me?

Take note: you're relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him!

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'?

One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD's direction? The LORD himself ordered me, "March against this country to destroy it.'"

"Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king of Assyria says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you for he cannot save you!

Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, "The LORD will really deliver us!" and "This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!"

Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern,

As soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD's Temple.

"Here is what Hezekiah says," they told him. "This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them.

Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city."

"Here is what to tell your master," Isaiah told them. "This is what the LORD says: "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted 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."

Now King Sennacherib had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: "He has marched out to fight against you."

When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah: "Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: "Don't let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

Then Amoz's son Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, to whom you prayed concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.

This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: ""The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem she tosses her head behind you as you flee.

"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.

For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

"Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "He won't enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield.

By the same way that he came, he will return; he won't enter this city,' declares the LORD,

"because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!'"

After this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah's army awakened in the morning there were all the dead bodies!

During that time, Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. Then Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him, "This is what the LORD says: "Put your house in order, because you are going to die. You won't recover.'"

Then this message from the LORD came to Isaiah:

"Go tell Hezekiah, "This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David has to say: "I've heard your prayer and I've seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life.

I'll save you and this city from the king of Assyria, and I'll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.

This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will carry out this thing he has promised:

What can I say, so I tell myself, since he has done this to me? I will walk slowly all my years because of my soul's anguish.

Then Isaiah told Hezekiah, "Listen to this message from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies:

"The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon. They will come in, and nothing will be left,' says the LORD.