For these are rebellious people – they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law.

There was no one to lead her among all the children she bore; there was no one to take her by the hand among all the children she raised.

Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, they will not look with pity on children.

He said, “Certainly they will be my people, children who are not disloyal.” He became their deliverer.

Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me!

“The rebellious children are as good as dead,” says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, and thereby compound their sin.

The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.

“This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.