<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> again spoke to Ahaz:

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I will rise up against them,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">including the offspring she produces,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">and the <sc>Lordsc> has sent the people off to a distant place,p> <p class="poetry">and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned.<n id="1" />p>

For this reason the sovereign master,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;It will not take place;p> <p class="poetry">it will not happen.p>

<p class="bodytext">This is the message the <sc>Lordsc> previously announced about Moab.

<p class="poetry">They<n id="1" /> lift their voices and shout joyfully;p> <p class="poetry">they praise<n id="2" /> the majesty of the <sc>Lordsc> in the west.p>

<p class="poetry">Listen to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word,p> <p class="poetry">you leaders of Sodom!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Pay attention to our God&#8217;s rebuke,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">people of Gomorrah!p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you crush my peoplep> <p class="poetry">and grind the faces of the poor?&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="2" /> has spoken.p>

The sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,p> <p class="poetry">for shaved heads and sackcloth.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies planned it &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.p>

<p class="poetry">If the wicked are shown mercy,p> <p class="poetry">they do not learn about justice.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they do not see the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s majesty revealed.p>

<p class="poetry">For I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God,p> <p class="poetry">the one who takes hold of your right hand,p> <p class="poetry">who says to you, &#8216;Don&#8217;t be afraid, I am helping you.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says this,p> <p class="poetry">the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will still gather them up.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will be called, &#8220;The Holy People,p> <p class="poetry">the Ones Protected<n id="1" /> by the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">You will be called, &#8220;Sought After,p> <p class="poetry">City Not Abandoned.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Yet,<n id="1" /> <sc>Lordsc>, you are our father.p> <p class="poetry">We are the clay, and you are our potter;p> <p class="poetry">we are all the product of your labor.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> will kill you,p> <p class="poetry">but he will give his servants another name.p>

<p class="poetry">many peoples will come and say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Come, let us go up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s mountain,p> <p class="poetry">to the temple of the God of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">so<n id="1" /> he can teach us his requirements,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and<n id="3" /> we can follow his standards.&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For Zion will be the center for moral instruction;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> will issue edicts from Jerusalem.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that timep> <p class="poetry">tribute will be brought to the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,p> <p class="poetry">a people that are feared far and wide,p> <p class="poetry">a nation strong and victorious,p> <p class="poetry">whose land rivers divide.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The tribute<n id="2" /> will be brought to the place where the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.<n id="3" />p>

Perhaps the <sc>Lordsc> your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.<n id="1" /> When the <sc>Lordsc> your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.<n id="2" /> So pray for this remnant that remains.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>