His leadership will bring such prosperity as you’ve never seen before— sustainable peace for all time. This child: God’s promise to David—a throne forever, among us, to restore sound leadership that cannot be perverted or shaken. He will ensure justice without fail and absolute equity. Always. The intense passion of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will carry this to completion.

Remember how you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven—reach higher and with more power— and set my throne high above God’s own stars?” Remember how you thought you could be a god, saying: “I will sit among them at the mount of assembly in the northern heights.

The poor among us will have enough to eat; the needy and most vulnerable will sleep in peace. But I will go after your key people with famine, and then wipe out any who remain.

With papyrus-reed boats shuttling ambassadors back and forth! Go quickly, you messengers, to those impressive people, Those fearsome and terrifying people so lank and smooth. Theirs is a powerful nation divided by rivers.

Isaiah (Amoz’s son) was told by the Eternal to deliver a message by acting it out. Eternal One: Take off all your clothes of mourning, and take off your shoes too. Of course, Isaiah did that, which left him utterly naked, head to toe.

Meanwhile, back in Judah, Hezekiah became very sick and was about to die. Learning of it, Isaiah, Amoz’s son, went to visit him. Isaiah: Here is what the Eternal One has to say: Eternal One: Get your affairs in order. You are going to die. You are not going to recover from this.

And so I join the living in giving thanks to You. After all, thankful voices never rise from the land of the dead. After all, the songs of praise never soar from death’s dark realm. Those who go down into the pit—that great black nothingness— They can’t even begin to hope for Your faithfulness.

So don’t be afraid. I am here, with you; don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, help you. I am here with My right hand to make right and to hold you up.

So don’t be afraid. I am here. I will reunite you with your children, bringing them back from wherever in the world they are—East, West, North, or South. No place will be able to hold you when I demand your release, when I order them, “Bring My children—My sons and daughters—from far away.

Do you see the irony? He sits around, warming himself and roasting dinner with wood from the same tree from which he crafted a god to which he bows and worships and prays—one time saying, “I am warmed by the wood fire”; another time saying, “O dear god, save me.”

How bad it will be for anyone who disputes with the very One who created him! After all, a human being is nothing more than one clay pot among many. Imagine the clay saying to the potter, “What do you think you’re doing?” or “You don’t have the hands for this.”

On account of My reputation, I hold back my anger; for My own weighty grandeur, I am patient with you, So that I don’t make an absolute break with you.

Eternal One: I am the One who comforts you and gives you peace. So why are you afraid of human beings? The children of men are only grass; they’ll wither and die.

Because I, the Eternal, am your God, I can make the oceans roil with storm and roll with great waves. They call Me, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

I have given you My words to speak and protected you with the shadow of My hand. I am the One who pulled the skies tight and made the earth rock solid. And I am the same who said to Zion, “You are indeed Mine!”

Then when you do call out, “My God, Where are You?” The Eternal One will answer, “I am here, I am here.” If you remove the yoke of oppression from the downtrodden among you, stop accusing others, and do away with mean and inflammatory speech,

Eternal One: This is My covenant promise to them: My Spirit, which rests on and moves in you, and My words, which I have placed within you, will continue to be spoken among you and move you to action. And not only you, but so it will be for your children and their children too. And so on through the generations for all time.

We remember that long ago You did amazing things for us that we had never dreamed You’d do. You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence.