During his time of trouble King Ahaz was even more unfaithful to the Lord.

Teach me what I cannot see. If I have done evil, I will do so no more.’

For he adds transgression to his sin; in our midst he claps his hands, and multiplies his words against God.”

when I said, ‘To here you may come and no farther, here your proud waves will be confined’?

You defend the fatherless and oppressed, so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them.

They say, ‘An awful disease overwhelms him, and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’

Give the king long life! Make his lifetime span several generations!

A person with great anger bears the penalty, but if you deliver him from it once, you will have to do it again.

You will say, “They have struck me, but I am not harmed! They beat me, but I did not know it! When will I awake? I will look for another drink.”

So I was far wealthier than all my predecessors in Jerusalem, yet I maintained my objectivity:

Why do you insist on being battered? Why do you continue to rebel? Your head has a massive wound, your whole body is weak.

The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord; the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.

Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,

“The virgin Israel has fallen down and will not get up again. She is abandoned on her own land with no one to help her get up.”

I thought I had been banished from your sight, that I would never again see your holy temple!

Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground.

When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him this time.

Abraham spoke to him again, “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”