Why do you insist on taking a beating? Why do you persist in such reckless rebellion? Your bodies already suffer head to toe— your heads ache and hearts flutter; Your skin is covered with bruises, swollen with welts, and gaping with wounds, with no tending, no healing, no soothing.

Make their hearts hard, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, and then turn and be healed.

This is what happened: When our royal house (descended from David) heard that Aram was in league with Ephraim against us, the king was terrified. The news shook the hearts of the people like trees in the wind.

This is why all hands will shake and tremble; every heart will flutter and melt. People will be paralyzed with fear, weakened with terror. Taut and shaking, they’ll be overcome like a woman in labor. They’ll look to each other dumbfounded, their faces flushed with fear.

It breaks my heart to hear Moab. Refugees make for Zoar at Edom’s border to Eglath-shelishiyah. They climb, weeping, to the heights of Luhith and along roads to Horonaim. They go with shattering cries. The land itself is destroyed, dead.

My heart hums like a harp with grief for you, Moab. I ache with soul-sadness for Kir-hareseth.

A message about Egypt: The Eternal One will come winging in to Egypt On a swiftly moving cloud, making her idols quake. The Egyptians themselves will lose heart in the face of God.

The Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says, Eternal One: I will subject the Egyptians to oppressive forces and heartless leadership of a dictator-king. I will make them turn against each other, Egyptian against Egyptian, a civil war, Right down to the houses within a neighborhood— city against city, district against district. They’ll lose all courage and I’ll frustrate their plans. They’ll seek the advice of long dead ancestors and empty idols, mediums and fortune-tellers. But it is I who determine their fate.

My heart skips a beat; my mind is buzzing, terribly unsettled. Horror and trembling rattle the serenity of the evening I longed for.

You will keep the peace, a perfect peace, for all who trust in You, for those who dedicate their hearts and minds to You.

At night I long for You with all that is in Me. When morning comes, I seek You with all my heart. For when Your justice is done on earth, then everyone in the world will learn righteousness.

In the meantime, I will trouble Ariel to the point of mourning and crying. She will be for me a fiery hearth.

Eternal One: These people think they can draw near to Me by saying the right things, by honoring Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me. Their worship of Me consists of man-made traditions learned by rote; it is a meaningless sham.

Those whom the Eternal One has recalled from a punishing exile, they will go along so easily. They will walk this path, Come waltzing to Zion, singing their way to that place of right relation to God. An aura of joy never-ending will attend them; they will clasp gladness and joy to their hearts, While sadness and despair evaporate into thin air.

Hezekiah: Eternal One, I beg you to remember how I have followed the path You set before me, and how I did so with all my heart. Remember how I have done what You wanted with sincerity of purpose every step of the way. Then Hezekiah broke down and wept. He wept and wept.

That’s why God sent all fury against Jacob in the shape of war, and we were burned. We experienced all this; Yet we didn’t get it. God’s people did not take it to heart.

So we see again how it is that they’re blind—their eyes shut to the truth in front of them, their hearts and minds refusing to think and really understand what’s going on. So without stopping to think about it, the fool says, “Gosh, I used half of the wood to build a fire, and baked the bread and roasted the meat over its hot coals. After I eat, I think I’ll use the rest of it to make a repulsive god. Maybe I’ll bow down to this leftover lumber.”

A fool like this is feeding on ashes—his addled mind and deceived heart lead him nowhere. He can’t figure out how to save himself, much less see the error of his ways and say, “Is this idol in my right hand just a lie?” Eternal One: Let that be a lesson to you, My people.

Raise your head, lift up your eyes, and watch your heart’s desire come— All your children, gathered and returning to you. As I live, so I promise. You will wear them with pride all like shining ornaments; you will put them on as a bride on her wedding day.

Listen to Me, you who already live out what is true and right, who treasure My instruction within your hearts: Don’t be afraid of people’s scorn. Don’t let their dismissive criticism, bitter anger, or hatred get you down.

Eternal One: If you are thirsty, come here; come, there’s water for all. Whoever is poor and penniless can still come and buy the food I sell. There’s no cost—here, have some food, hearty and delicious, and beverages, pure and good.

Then you will discover joy such as only the Eternal can give. And I will raise you high and make your reach as wide as the earth, And you will live on all that I promised to Jacob, your ancestor, the heart of Israel. The Eternal One said these very things.

Your persistent wrongdoing has come between you and your God; since you constantly reject and push God away, He had to turn aside and ignore your cries.

And when you see it, your face will glow; your heart will race and be filled with joy; For great ships will arrive with gifts from across the sea, and the wealth of nations will make their way to you.

The Spirit of the Lord, the Eternal, is on me. The Lord has appointed me for a special purpose. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to repair broken hearts, And to declare to those who are held captive and bound in prison, “Be free from your imprisonment!”