Bible in 90 Days
Woe to Jerusalem
29 Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!
Add year to year,
let festivals recur.
2 Yet[a] I will inflict Ariel,
and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.[b]
3 And I will encamp in a circle[c] against you,
and I will lay siege to you with towers[d]
and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4 Then[e] you shall be low;
you shall speak from the earth,
and your words[f] will be low, from dust.
And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,
and your word will whisper from the dust.
5 But[g] the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.
And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.
6 You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great sound,
storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!
And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.
Or[h] as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!
And he wakes up and look, he is faint,
and his inner self is longing for water.
So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be astonished and be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blinded!
They are drunk but[i] not from wine;
they stagger but[j] not from strong drink.
10 For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,
and he has covered your heads, the seers.
11 And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the[k] document, saying, “Read[l] this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read,[m] saying, “Read[n] this now!” he says, “I do not know how to read.”[o]
13 And the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with its mouth,
and with its lips it honors me,
and its heart is far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,
14 therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular
and a spectacle with this spectacular people.
And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”
15 Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,
and their deeds are[p] in a dark place.
And they say, “Who sees us?
And who knows us?”
16 Your perversity!
As if a potter[q] shall be regarded as the clay!
That the product of its maker says,
“He did not make me,”
and the thing made into shape says of its potter,[r]
“He has no understanding.”
Blessing after Punishment
17 In a very little while[s] shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,
and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
18 And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.
19 And the meek have joy after joy[t] in Yahweh,
and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall come to an end.
And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;
21 those who mislead a person into sin with a word
and set a trap for the arbitrator[u] in the gate
and guide away the righteous by emptiness.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
and his face will no longer grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will treat my name as holy,
and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,
and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will acquire[v] understanding,
and those who grumble will learn instruction.
Warning against Alliance with Egypt
30 “Oh rebellious children!” declares[w] Yahweh,
“to make a plan, but[x] not from me,
and pour out a libation, but[y] not from my Spirit,
so as to add[z] sin to sin.
2 Who go to go down to Egypt,
but[aa] they do not ask of my mouth,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
3 And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,
and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.
4 For his officials are at Zoan,
and his envoys reach to Hanes.
5 Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting,
but for shame and also for disgrace.”
Oracle regarding the Negev
6 An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
among[ab] them are snake and flying serpent;
they carry their wealth on the backs[ac] of male donkeys
and their treasures on the humps[ad] of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 For[ae] Egyptians[af] help with vanity and emptiness,
therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet with them,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
that[ag] it may be for the time to come,[ah]
forever, forever.
9 For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,
children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
10 who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”
and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;
speak smooth things to us,
see illusions,
11 turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path,
put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”
12 Therefore the holy one of Israel says this:
“Because you are rejecting this word
and you trust in oppression and cunning[ai]
and you rely on it,
13 therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall,
bulging out on a high wall that breaks[aj] suddenly, in an instant.
14 And he breaks it like a vessel of a potter[ak] breaks,
that is crushed; he has no compassion,
and no potsherd is found among its fragments[al] to take fire[am] from the hearth,
or to skim[an] water from the cistern.”
15 For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
your strength shall be in quietness and in trust.”
But[ao] you were not willing, 16 and you said,
“No! For we will flee on horses!”[ap] Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses!”[aq] Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17 One thousand because of[ar] a threat of one,
because[as] of a threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left like a flagstaff on top[at] of a mountain,
and like a signal on a hill.
Yahweh Will Show Mercy
18 Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy,
for Yahweh is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem, you will surely not weep.
Surely he will be gracious to you;
when he hears the sound of your cry, he will answer you.
20 And the Lord will give you the bread of distress
and the water of oppression,
but[au] your teachers will not hide themselves[av] any longer.
And your eyes shall see[aw] your teachers.
21 And your ears shall hear a word from behind you, saying,
“this is the way; walk in it,”
when you go to your right
and when you go to your left.
22 And you will defile the plating of your silver idols
and the covering of your gold image.
You will scatter them like contaminated things;[ax]
you will say to it, “Filth!”[ay]
23 And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground,
and grain, the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fertile.[az]
On that day, your cattle will graze in broad pastures;[ba]
24 and the oxen and the donkeys that till[bb] the ground will eat fodder, sorrel
that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25 And there will be streams on every high mountain and elevated hill,
watercourses of water, on a day of great slaughter, when towers fall.
26 And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days,
on the day when Yahweh binds up the breakage of his people,
and he heals the wound of his blow.
Judgment against Assyria
27 Look! The name of Yahweh comes from afar,
burning with his anger and heaviness of cloud.
His lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
28 And his breath is like an overflowing river;
it reaches up to the neck
to shake the nations with the sieve of worthlessness;
and a bridle that leads astray is on the jawbones of the peoples.
29 You shall have a song[bc] as in the night when a holy festival is kept,
and a gladness of heart like one who goes with the flute,
to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the rock of Israel.
30 And Yahweh will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard,
and he will cause the descent of his arm to be seen,
in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire,
with a cloudburst and a rainstorm and stones[bd] of hail.
31 Indeed, Assyria will be shattered by the voice of Yahweh;
he strikes with the rod.
32 And every stroke of the staff of foundation[be] that Yahweh lays will be on it with timbrels and lyres,
and he will fight against it[bf] with battles of brandishing.
33 For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday;
indeed, it is made ready for the king.
He makes its pile of wood deep and wide;
he makes fire and wood abundant.[bg]
The breath of Yahweh burns in it like a stream of sulfur.
The Egyptians are No Help
31 Ah! Those who go down to Egypt for help!
They rely on horses
and trust in chariots because they are many,
and in horsemen because they are very numerous,
and they do not look to the holy one of Israel,
and they do not consult Yahweh.
2 And indeed, he is wise, and he brings disaster,
and he does not remove his words,
and he will rise against the house of evildoers
and against the help of workers of iniquity.
3 And the Egyptians are human and not God,
and their horses are flesh and not spirit.
And Yahweh stretches out his hand,
and the helper will stumble,
and the one being helped will fall,
and together all of them will come to an end.[bh]
4 For Yahweh said this to me:
“As which a lion growls
and a young lion over its prey
when a full group[bi] of shepherds is called against him,
it is not terrified by their voice,
and to their noise it does not respond,
so Yahweh of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion
and upon its hill.
5 Like birds flying overhead, so Yahweh of hosts will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will pass over and rescue it.
6 Turn back to the one against whom the sons of Israel have made deep rebellion.
7 For on that day, each one will reject his idols of silver
and his idols of gold which your hands have made in sin for you.
8 And Assyria shall fall by a sword not of a man,
and a sword not of a human shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
9 And his rock will pass over because of terror,
and his officers will be terrified because of the flag,”
declares[bj] Yahweh,
who has a fire in Zion
and has a furnace in Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Righteousness
32 See, a king will rule according to righteousness,
and princes will rule according to justice.
2 And each one will be like a hiding place from the wind
and a covering from the rainstorm,
like streams of water in a dry region,
like the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of those who see will not gaze,[bk]
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 And the minds[bl] of the rash will understand knowledge,[bm]
and the tongues[bn] of stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
5 A fool will no longer be called noble,
and a scoundrel will not be said to be eminent.
6 For a fool speaks folly,
and his mind[bo] does iniquity:
to behave wickedly,[bp]
and to speak error concerning Yahweh,
to leave the throat of the hungry empty,
and he deprives the thirsty of drink.
7 And a scoundrel, his weapons are evil;
he plans evil devices
to ruin the poor with words of deception
even[bq] when the speech of the needy is right.
8 But[br] the nobleman plans noble things,
and he stands upon noble things.
Against the Carefree Women
9 Women who are at ease, rise up; hear my voice!
Carefree daughters, listen to my word!
10 In a year[bs] you will tremble, carefree ones,
for the vintage will come to an end;
the harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you who are at ease;
tremble, carefree ones;
strip, and strip yourself,
and gird yourself on your loins,[bt]
12 mourning over breasts,
over fields of delight,
over the fruitful vine,
13 over the soil of my people.
It goes up in thorns[bu] and briers,[bv]
indeed over all of the houses of joy in the jubilant city.
14 For the palace will be forsaken,
the crowded city[bw] deserted;
the hill and the watchtower will become[bx] a cave forever,
the joy of wild asses, a pasture for[by] flocks.
15 Until a spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is reckoned as the forest.
16 Then[bz] justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness will live in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness will be peace,
and the work of righteousness, quietness and security forever.
18 And my people will dwell in a settlement of peace
and in a dwelling place of security
and in undisturbed resting places.
19 And it hails when the forest comes down,[ca]
and the city will become low in humiliation.
20 Happy are you who sow by all waters,
who let the foot of the ox and the donkey go free.
Yahweh’s Judgment and Help
33 Ah, destroyer, and yourself not destroyed!
And treacherous one, and no one has dealt treacherously with him![cb]
When you cease[cc] destroying, you will be destroyed.
When you stop dealing treacherously, one will deal treacherously with you.
2 Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you.
Be our[cd] arm in the mornings,
indeed our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;
because of your exaltation, nations scattered.
4 And your spoil is gathered,
as the gathering of the locust,
as a swarm of locusts storming on it.
5 Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he filled Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 and he will be the security of your times,
an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.
7 Look! Their heroes cry out in the street;
the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8 Highways are deserted;
the traveler on the road ceases.
One breaks a treaty,
he rejects the cities,[ce]
he does not hold man in high regard.
9 The land mourns; it languishes.
Lebanon feels abashed; it withers.
Sharon is like the desert,
and Bashan and Carmel are losing their leaves.[cf]
10 “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh.
“Now I will lift myself up proudly;
now I will raise myself.
11 You conceive dry grass, you bring forth stubble;
your breath is a fire; it will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be burning to lime—
they are burned like thorns that have been cut down in the fire.
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done;
and you who are near, know my might!”
14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who of us can live[cg] with devouring fire?
Who of us can live[ch] with everlasting consuming hearths?”
15 He who walks in righteousness
and speaks uprightness,
who rejects the gain of extortion,
who refuses[ci] a bribe,
who stops up his ears[cj] from hearing bloodshed[ck]
and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.
16 That one will live on the heights;
the fortresses of rocks will be his refuge.
His food will be given;
his waters[cl] will endure.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will see a distant land.[cm]
18 Your mind[cn] will meditate on the terror:
“Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed out?
Where is the one who counted the towers?”
19 You will not see the insolent people,
the people whose language is too obscure to understand,[co]
whose stammering of tongue cannot be understood.[cp]
20 Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed settlement,
a tent that is not moved.[cq]
No one will ever pull out its tent pegs,
and none of its ropes will be torn in two.
21 Rather, there Yahweh will be mighty for us,
a place of rivers and broad streams,[cr]
a galley ship with[cs] oars[ct] cannot go in it,
and a mighty ship cannot pass through it.
22 For Yahweh is our judge; Yahweh is our lawgiver.
Yahweh is our king; he is the one who will save us.
23 Your riggings hang slack;
they do not hold the base of their mast firm,
they do not spread out the sail.
Then the prey of spoil in abundance will be divided;
the lame will take plunder.
24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who live in it, their iniquity will be taken away.
Judgment on the Nations
34 Come near, nations, to hear;
and peoples, listen attentively!
Let the earth hear, and that which fills it;
the world and all its offspring.
2 For the anger of Yahweh is against all the nations,
and his wrath is against all their armies;
he has put them under a ban,
he has given them up for slaughter.
3 And their slain shall be cast out;
as for[cu] their corpses, their stench shall go up.
And the mountains shall melt with[cv] their blood,
4 and all the host of heaven shall rot.
And the skies shall roll up like a scroll,
and all their host shall wither
like the withering of a leaf from a vine,
or[cw] like the withering from a fig tree.
5 When my sword is drenched in the heavens,
look! It will descend upon Edom,
and upon the people of my ban, for judgment.
6 Yahweh has a sword;[cx]
it is full of blood.
It is covered with[cy] fat,
with[cz] the blood of lambs and goats,
with[da] the fat of the kidneys of rams,
for Yahweh has a sacrifice[db] in Bozrah
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And wild oxen shall go down with them,
and steers with strong bulls.
And their land shall be drenched with[dc] blood,
and their soil shall be fattened with[dd] fat.
8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,[de]
a year of retribution for the strife of Zion.
9 And its streams shall be changed to pitch and its soil to sulfur,
and its land shall become like burning pitch.
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall be in ruins;
forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her.
11 But[df] the large bird and the hedgehog shall take possession of it,
and the owl and the raven shall live in it.
And he shall stretch the measuring line of confusion out over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—but no kingdom is there—shall call,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall go up her citadel fortress,
weeds[dg] and thistle plants[dh] in her fortresses;
and it shall be the settlement of jackals,
green grass for the daughters of an ostrich.
14 And desert creatures shall meet with hyenas,
and a goat-demon shall call to his neighbor;
surely there Lilith[di] shall repose,
and she shall find a resting place for herself.
15 There the owl shall nest and lay
and hatch and care for her chicks in her shadow;
surely there the birds of prey shall be gathered,
each one with her mate.
16 Seek from the book of Yahweh and read;[dj]
none of these shall be missing;
none shall miss her mate.
For my[dk] mouth is the one that[dl] has commanded,
and his spirit is the one that[dm] has gathered them.
17 And he is the one that[dn] has cast the lot for them,
and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line;
they shall take possession of it forever,
they shall live in it from generation to generation.[do]
The Ransomed Return to Zion
35 Wilderness and dry land shall be glad,[dp]
and desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
2 It shall blossom abundantly,
and it shall rejoice indeed with rejoicing and exulting.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They are the ones who[dq] shall see the glory of Yahweh,
the majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands
and make the staggering knees firm.
4 Say to those who are hasty of heart,
“Be strong; you must not fear!
Look! your God will come with vengeance,
with divine retribution.[dr]
He is the one who[ds] will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened.
6 Then the lame shall leap like the deer,
and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy,
for waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.
Her resting place is in a settlement of jackals;
the grass shall become like reeds[dt] and rushes.[du]
8 And a highway shall be there, and a way,
and it shall be called the way of holiness.
The unclean shall not travel through it,
but[dv] it is for them, he who walks on the way;
and fools shall not wander about.
9 No lion shall be there,
and no ferocious wild beast shall go up it.
It shall not be found there,
but[dw] the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return,
and they shall come to Zion with rejoicing.
And everlasting joy shall be on their head;
joy and gladness shall overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
36 And this happened: In the fourteenth year[dx] of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh[dy] from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the field of the washer. 3 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace,[dz] came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.
4 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence in which you trust? 5 I said, ‘Only a word of lips! War has power and a plan!’[ea] Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him. 7 And if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down in the presence[eb] of this altar.’” 8 And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, that is, if you are able put[ec] riders for yourself on them! 9 But how can you drive back one governor among the least of my master’s servants,[ed] when[ee] you trust in Egypt for chariots[ef] and horsemen? 10 And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it!”’”
11 And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand[eg] it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the hearing[eh] of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But[ei] Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? Was it not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine[ej] with you?”
13 Then[ek] Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you! 15 And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, “Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!” 16 You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make a blessing[el] with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat from his vine and from his fig tree and drink water from[em] his cistern, 17 until I come[en] and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, 18 lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, ‘Yahweh will save us!’ Did the gods of the nations each save his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who are there among all the gods of these countries who have saved their land from my hand, that Yahweh should save Jerusalem from my hand?”’”
21 But[eo] they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, “You must not answer him.” 22 Then[ep] Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace,[eq] Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
37 And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple[er] of Yahweh. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of[es] the palace,[et] and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests covered[eu] with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. 3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the cervical opening, and there is no strength to give birth. 4 Maybe Yahweh your God heard the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.’”
5 When[ev] the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “You must say this to your master: ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You must not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Look! I am about to put[ew] a spirit in him so that[ex] he shall hear a rumor and he shall return to his land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.”’”
8 And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left from Lachish. 9 Now[ey] he[ez] heard concerning Tirhakah the king of Cush, saying, “He has set out to fight against[fa] you.”
When[fb] he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Look! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors[fc] destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or[fd] Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read[fe] it. Then[ff] he went up to the temple[fg] of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the presence[fh] of Yahweh. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, 16 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel who is enthroned on[fi] the cherubim, you are the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth. 17 Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God! 18 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands[fj] and their land, 19 to set[fk] their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them. 20 So[fl] now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that[fm] all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, you alone!”
God’s Answer
21 And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning[fn] Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion;
she shakes her head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.
23 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed,
and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward?
To the holy one of Israel!
24 By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord,
and you have said, “With my many chariots,[fo]
I myself have gone up the height of the mountains,
to the remote areas of Lebanon.
And I cut off its tall cedars,[fp]
the choicest of its junipers.
And I came to the height of its limit,
the forest of its orchard.[fq]
25 I myself dug and drank waters,
and I caused all the streams of Egypt to dry up by the sole of my feet.”
26 Have you not heard from a long time ago?[fr] I have made it
from days of primeval time, and I formed it.
Now I have brought it about,
and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones.
27 And their inhabitants are weak;[fs]
they are dismayed, and they are ashamed;
they have become like plants[ft] of the field,
and like greens of grass,
like grass on[fu] the roofs
and a cultivated field before[fv] the standing grain.
28 And I know your sitting down and your going out,
and your coming in, and your raging against[fw] me.
29 Because you were enraged against[fx] me,
and your noise[fy] has come up to[fz] my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bridle on your lips,
and I will turn you back
on the way by which you came.
30 And this shall be the sign for you: the eating of volunteer plants[ga] this[gb] year, and in the second year self-seeded plants,[gc] and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the remnant of the house of Judah that remain shall grow[gd] roots[ge] downwards and make fruit upwards.
32 For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem
and survivors[gf] from mountain Zion.
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’
33 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning[gg] the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not come to this city,
and he shall not shoot an arrow there,
and he shall not meet it with a shield,
and he shall not heap a siege ramp up against her.
34 He shall return by the way that he came,
and he shall not come to this city,’
declares[gh] Yahweh.
35 ‘And I will defend this city, to save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’”
Sennacherib’s Defeat
36 And the angel of Yahweh set out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When[gi] they rose in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. 37 Then[gj] Sennacherib king of Assyria left, went, and returned and lived at Nineveh. 38 And this happened: he was bowing in worship in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.
Hezekiah’s Illness
38 In those days, Hezekiah became sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Order your house, for you are about to die, and you shall not recover.’” 2 Then[gk] Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3 and he said, “O Yahweh, please remember how[gl] I have walked before your presence[gm] in faithfulness with a whole heart, and I have done the good in your eyes!” And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.
4 Then[gn] the word of Yahweh came[go] to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your ancestor:[gp] “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to[gq] add fifteen years to your days. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.”’
7 And this is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken: 8 Look! I will cause the shadow of the steps, which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to turn backwards ten steps.” And the sun turned back ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.
9 A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I was the one who said, “I must go in the quiet of my days;
I am summoned through the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living!
I shall no more look at humankind among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd;
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the thrum;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
13 I lie down[gr] until morning;
like a lion, so he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weak toward the height.
Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!
15 What can I say? For[gs] he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 Lord, they live by them, and the life of my spirit belongs to all among them.
And restore me to health and keep me alive!
17 Look! Bitterness was bitter to me for peace.
And you were the one who loved[gt] my life from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For Sheol cannot praise you; death cannot praise you.
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living one praises you like me today;
a father will make your faithfulness known to children.
20 Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple[gu] of Yahweh.”
21 And Isaiah said, “Let them take[gv] a lump of figs, and let them rub it on the boil so that[gw] he may recover.” 22 And Hezekiah said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple[gx] of Yahweh?”
The Delegation from Babylon
39 At that time, Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for[gy] he heard that he had been sick and recovered. 2 And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them his house of aromatic gum, the silver, gold, spices, good oil, all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them in his house or in all his dominion. 3 And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah answered,[gz] “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.” 4 And he[ha] said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered,[hb] “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing that I have not shown them in my storehouses.”
5 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: 6 ‘Look! days are coming, and all that is in your house and that which your ancestors[hc] have stored up to this day shall be carried off to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says Yahweh. 7 ‘And some of your sons who go out from you, whom you fathered, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh that you have spoken is good,” for[hd] he thought,[he] “Surely there will be peace and security in my days.”
Comfort for God’s People
40 “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God.
2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her,
that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for,
that she has received[hf] from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”
3 A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh!
Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill shall become low,
And the rough ground shall be like a plain,
and the rugged ground like a valley-plain.
5 And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed,
and all humankind[hg] together shall see it,
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
6 A voice is saying, “Call!”
And he said, “What shall I call?”
All humankind[hh] are grass,
and all his loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
7 Grass withers; the flower withers
when the breath of Yahweh blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
8 Grass withers; the flower withers,
but[hi] the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get yourself[hj] up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news!
Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news!
Lift it up; you must not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength,[hk]
and his arm rules for him.
Look! His reward is with him,
and his recompense in his presence.[hl]
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arm,
and he will carry them in his bosom;
he will lead those who nurse.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure
and weighed out the mountains in the scales,[hm] and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh
or informed him as his counselor[hn]?
14 With whom has he consulted, that[ho] he enlightened him[hp]
and taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and made the way of understanding known to him?
15 Look! The nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and they are counted like dust of the balances!
Look! He weighs the islands like a thin covering.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire,
and its animals[hq] not enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him;
they are counted by him as[hr] nothing and emptiness.
18 And to whom will you liken God?
And to what likeness will you compare him?
19 A craftsman pours out the idol,
and a goldsmith[hs] overlays it with gold,
and he smelts chains of silver.
20 The one who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.
21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?[ht]
Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
22 He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil
and spreads them out like a tent to live in,
23 the one who brings[hu] princes to nothing;
he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.
24 Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly are they sown;
indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth
when[hv] he blows on them and they wither,
and the tempest carries them like stubble.
25 “And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.
26 Lift your eyes up on high, and see! Who created these?
The one who brings out their host by number.
He calls all them by name.
Because he is great of power
and mighty of power, no man is missing.
27 Why[hw] do you say, Jacob,
and you speak, Israel,
“My way is hidden from Yahweh,
and my judgment is passed over by my God?”
28 Have you not known,
or have you not heard?
Yahweh is the God of eternity,
the creator of the ends of the earth!
He is not faint, and he does not grow weary!
There is no searching his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weary,
and he increases power for the powerless.[hx]
30 Even[hy] young people will be faint and grow weary,
and the young will stumble, exhausted.
31 But[hz] those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength.
They shall go up with wings[ia] like eagles;
they shall run and not grow weary;
they shall walk and not be faint.
God Helps Israel
41 Listen to me in silence, coastlands,
and let nations renew their strength.
Let them approach, then let them speak;
let us draw near together for judgment.
2 Who has roused salvation from the east,
summoned[ib] him to his foot,
gives nations in his presence,[ic]
and subjugates kings?
He makes[id] them like the dust with his sword,
like scattered stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on in peace;
he does not enter the path with his feet.
4 Who has accomplished and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?[ie]
I, Yahweh, am first;
and I am the one with the last.
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble.
They have drawn near,
and they have come.
6 Each one helps[if] his neighbor;
he says to his brother, “Take courage!”
7 And the artisan encourages the goldsmith,[ig]
the one who makes smooth with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good!”
And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over.
8 But[ih] you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you, the offspring[ii] of Abraham my friend,[ij]
9 you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth
and called from its remotest parts
and told, “You are my servant;
I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”
10 You must not fear, for I am with you;
you must not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you,
indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
11 Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated;
your opponents[ik] shall be like nothing and shall become lost.
12 You shall seek them,
but[il] you shall not find them;
your opponents[im] shall be like nothing,
and the men of your war like nothing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand;
it is I who say[in] to you,
“You must not fear;
I myself, I will help you.
14 You must not fear, O worm of Jacob;
people of Israel,
I myself, I will help you,” declares[io] Yahweh,
“and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel.
15 Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge,
with[ip] sharp edges.
You shall thresh and crush the mountains,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16 You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh;
you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy are seeking water and there is none;
their tongue is dried up with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness like a pool of water
and the land of dryness like springs of water.
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