I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, &#8220;Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?&#8221;<n id="1" /> I answered, &#8220;Here I am, send me!&#8221;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">The sovereign master<n id="2" /> decreed judgment<n id="3" /> on Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and it fell on Israel.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he drives her away<n id="2" /> with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">from Sela in the desert<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to the hill of Daughter Zion.p>

<p class="poetry">At the fords of the Arnon<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the Moabite women are like a birdp> <p class="poetry">that flies about when forced from its nest.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">you will be blessed,p> <p class="poetry">you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you who let your ox and donkey graze.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">You take olive oil as tribute<n id="1" /> to your king,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">along with many perfumes.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You send your messengers to a distant place;p> <p class="poetry">you go all the way to Sheol.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Where is your mother&#8217;s divorce certificatep> <p class="poetry">by which I divorced her?p> <p class="poetry">Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Look, you were sold because of your sins;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I sent him<n id="1" /> against a godless<n id="2" /> nation,p> <p class="poetry">I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">to take plunder and to carry away loot,p> <p class="poetry">to trample them down<n id="4" /> like dirt in the streets.p>

<p class="poetry">For this reason<n id="1" /> the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated.<n id="2" /> His majestic glory will go up in smoke.<n id="3" />p>

It<n id="1" /> will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies. When they cry out to the <sc>Lordsc> because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender<n id="3" /> who will rescue them.

<p class="poetry">For the fortified city<n id="1" /> is left alone;p> <p class="poetry">it is a deserted settlementp> <p class="poetry">and abandoned like the desert.p> <p class="poetry">Calves<n id="2" /> graze there;p> <p class="poetry">they lie down therep> <p class="poetry">and eat its branches bare.<n id="3" />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:

Pay attention, <sc>Lordsc>, and hear! Open your eyes, <sc>Lordsc>, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God!<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered.

<p class="poetry">My servant is truly blind,p> <p class="poetry">my messenger is truly deaf.p> <p class="poetry">My covenant partner,<n id="1" /> the servant of the <sc>Lordsc>, is truly blind.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">your protector,<n id="1" /> the Holy One of Israel:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;For your sake I send to Babylonp> <p class="poetry">and make them all fugitives,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">turning the Babylonians&#8217; joyful shouts into mourning songs.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">It is me &#8211; I stir him up and commission him;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make all his ways level.p> <p class="poetry">He will rebuild my city;p> <p class="poetry">he will send my exiled people home,p> <p class="poetry">but not for a price or a bribe,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.p>

<p class="poetry">Approach me! Listen to this!p> <p class="poetry">From the very first I have not spoken in secret;p> <p class="poetry">when it happens,<n id="1" /> I am there.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">So now, the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> has sent me, accompanied by his spirit.<n id="2" />p>