The Judgment of Edom
5
When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
it will then come down on Edom
and on the people I have
•set
apart for destruction.
6
The
Lord
's sword is covered with blood.
It drips with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the
Lord
has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7
The wild oxen will be struck down with them,
and young bulls with the mighty bulls.
Their land will be soaked with blood,
and their soil will be saturated with fat.
8
For the
Lord
has a day of vengeance,
a time of paying back Edom
for its hostility against
•Zion
.
9
Edom's streams will be turned into pitch,
her soil into sulfur;
her land will become burning pitch.
10
It will never go out — day or night.
Its smoke will go up forever.
It will be desolate, from generation to generation;
no one will pass through it forever and ever.
11
The desert owl and the screech owl will possess it,
and the great owl and the raven will dwell there.
The
Lord
will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line over her
for her destruction and chaos.
12
No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
13
Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode for ostriches.
14
The desert creatures will meet hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
Indeed, the screech owl will stay there
and will find a resting place for herself.
15
The sand partridge will make her nest there;
she will lay and hatch her eggs
and will gather her brood under her shadow.
Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there,
each with its mate.
16
Search and read the scroll of the
Lord
:
Not one of them will be missing,
none will be lacking its mate,
because He has ordered it by my mouth,
and He will gather them by His Spirit.
17
He has ordained a lot for them;
His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.
They will possess it forever;
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.
Isaiah
The Ransomed Return to Zion
35
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;
the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
2
It will blossom abundantly
and will also rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the
Lord
,
the splendor of our God.
3
Strengthen the weak hands,
steady the shaking knees!
4
Say to the cowardly:
“Be strong; do not fear!
Here is your God; vengeance is coming.
God's retribution is coming; He will save you.”
5
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,
for water will gush in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7
the parched ground will become a pool of water,
and the thirsty land springs of water.
In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs,
there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.
8
A road will be there and a way;
it will be called the Holy Way.
The
•unclean
will not travel on it,
but it will be for the one who walks the path.
Even the fool will not go astray.
9
There will be no lion there,
and no vicious beast will go up on it;
they will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk on it,
10
and the redeemed of the
Lord
will return
and come to
•Zion
with singing,
crowned with unending joy.
Joy and gladness will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee.
Isaiah
Sennacherib's Invasion
36
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
2
Then the king of Assyria sent the
•Rabshakeh
, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller's Field.
3
Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4
The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?
5
I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
6
Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
7
Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the
Lord
our God.' Isn't He the One whose
•high
places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar'?
8
Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you're able to supply riders for them!
9
How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master's officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10
Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the
Lord
's approval? The
Lord
said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.' ”
11
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
12
But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine? ”
13
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:
Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14
This is what the king says: “Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
15
Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the
Lord
, saying, ‘The
Lord
will certainly deliver us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' ”
16
Don't listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern
17
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land — a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18
Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The
Lord
will deliver us.' Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria?
19
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power?
20
Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the
Lord
deliver Jerusalem.”
21
But they kept silent; they didn't say anything, for the king's command was, “Don't answer him.”
22
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Isaiah
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Counsel
37
When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, put on
•sackcloth
, and went to the
Lord
's temple.
2
Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3
They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
4
Perhaps
•Yahweh
your God will hear all the words of the
•Rabshakeh
, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.' ”
5
So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6
who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The
Lord
says: Don't be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria's attendants have blasphemed Me with.
7
I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.' ”
Sennacherib's Letter
8
When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he returned and found him fighting against Libnah.
9
The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of
•Cush
: “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10
“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don't let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.
11
Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they
•completely
destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
12
Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?
13
Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ' ”
Hezekiah's Prayer
14
Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the
Lord
's temple and spread it out before the
Lord
.
15
Then Hezekiah prayed to the
Lord
:
16
Lord
of
•Hosts
, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the
•cherubim
, You are God — You alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17
Listen closely,
Lord
, and hear; open Your eyes,
Lord
, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.
18
Lord
, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.
19
They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands — wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
20
Now,
Lord
our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the
Lord
— You alone.
God's Answer through Hezekiah
21
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The
Lord
, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22
this is the word the
Lord
has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter
•Zion
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head
behind your back.
23
Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24
You have mocked the
Lord
through your servants.
You have said, “With my many chariots
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its distant heights,
its densest forest.
25
I dug wells and drank water.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.”