Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them his storehouse with its silver, gold, spices, and high-quality olive oil, as well as his whole armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.

You counted the houses in Jerusalem, and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall.

I know where you live and everything you do and how you rage against me.

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.

Then I will summon as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

Then the Lord provoked their adversaries to attack them, he stirred up their enemies –

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation with the Lord who commands armies.

You saw the many breaks in the walls of the city of David; you stored up water in the lower pool.

Who is the Lord trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast!

It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands.

and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’”

So the sovereign master was not pleased with their young men, he took no pity on their orphans and widows; for the whole nation was godless and did wicked things, every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Indeed,” says the Lord, “captives will be taken from a warrior; spoils will be rescued from a conqueror. I will oppose your adversary and I will rescue your children.

So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live,

At that time the sovereign master will wash the excrement from Zion’s women, he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, as he comes to judge and to bring devastation.

They have stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the Lord is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about.

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

“Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.