“What are all your sacrifices to Me?” asks the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.

“Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.”

But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”

The watchman said, “Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again.”

For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.”

And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.

And Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?” Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”

Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

“Who will you compare Me to, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.

This is what the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says: “Ask Me what is to happen to My sons, and instruct Me about the work of My hands.

They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

The Lord’s Response

“I was sought by those who did not ask; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said: Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by My name.