Here is a message about Damascus: “Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins!

Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help!

When you will look for your opponents, you will not find them; your enemies will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

“I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.

Look at Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who gave you birth. When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, but I blessed him and gave him numerous descendants.

Look all around you! They all gather and come to you – your sons come from far away and your daughters are escorted by guardians.

Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give is permanent; the vindication I provide will not disappear.

Look, the Lord will throw you far away, you mere man! He will wrap you up tightly.

Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent; the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.

Look, all of them are nothing, their accomplishments are nonexistent; their metal images lack any real substance.

Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery.

Why are your clothes red? Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat?

They will pass through the land destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, and they will curse their king and their God as they look upward.

The dogs have big appetites; they are never full. They are shepherds who have no understanding; they all go their own way, each one looking for monetary gain.

Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me!

I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on.

He said, “Go and tell these people: ‘Listen continually, but don’t understand! Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking: “Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble?

They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, seeking Pharaoh’s protection, and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade.

Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants.