<p class="poetry">Your children hurry back,p> <p class="poetry">while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.p>

<p class="poetry">Leave Babylon!p> <p class="poetry">Flee from the Babylonians!p> <p class="poetry">Announce it with a shout of joy!p> <p class="poetry">Make this known!p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it throughout the earth!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Say, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> protects<n id="2" /> his servant Jacob.p>

<p class="poetry">Leave! Leave! Get out of there!p> <p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t touch anything unclean!p> <p class="poetry">Get out of it!p> <p class="poetry">Stay pure, you who carry the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s holy items!<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">A shoot will grow out of Jesse&#8217;s<n id="1" /> root stock,p> <p class="poetry">a bud will sprout<n id="2" /> from his roots.p>

<p class="poetry">I know where you livep> <p class="poetry">and everything you dop> <p class="poetry">and how you rage against me.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,p> <p class="poetry">those who are deaf, even though they have ears!p>

<p class="poetry">This also comes from the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;p> <p class="poetry">survivors will come out of Mount Zion.p> <p class="poetry">The intense devotion of the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="1" /> will accomplish this.p>

&#8216;Some of your very own descendants whom you father<n id="1" /> will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="poetry">A crushed reed he will not break,p> <p class="poetry">a dim wick he will not extinguish;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will faithfully make just decrees.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">to open blind eyes,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to release prisoners<n id="2" /> from dungeons,p> <p class="poetry">those who live in darkness from prisons.p>

<p class="poetry">the one who led chariots and horses to destruction,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">together with a mighty army.p> <p class="poetry">They fell down,<n id="2" /> never to rise again;p> <p class="poetry">they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I announced events beforehand,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I issued the decrees and made the predictions;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">suddenly I acted and they came to pass.p>

<p class="poetry">You will say<n id="1" /> to the prisoners, &#8216;Come out,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and to those who are in dark dungeons,<n id="2" /> &#8216;Emerge.&#8217;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will graze beside the roads;p> <p class="poetry">on all the slopes they will find pasture.p>

<p class="poetry">I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.p> <p class="poetry">My chosen ones will take possession of the land;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">my servants will live there.p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellationsp> <p class="poetry">no longer give out their light;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,p> <p class="poetry">and the moon does not shine.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t be so happy, all you Philistines,p> <p class="poetry">just because the club that beat you has been broken!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For a viper will grow out of the serpent&#8217;s root,p> <p class="poetry">and its fruit will be a darting adder.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">You will desecrate your silver-plated idols<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and your gold-plated images.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,p> <p class="poetry">saying to them, &#8220;Get out!&#8221;p>

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.p>

The king<n id="1" /> heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia<n id="2" /> was marching out to fight him.<n id="3" /> He again sent<n id="4" /> messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: