<p class="poetry">I will lay siege to you on all sides;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will besiege you with troops;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will raise siege works against you.p>

<p class="poetry">Disaster will overtake you;p> <p class="poetry">you will not know how to charm it away.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Destruction will fall on you;p> <p class="poetry">you will not be able to appease it.p> <p class="poetry">Calamity will strike you suddenly,p> <p class="poetry">before you recognize it.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Terror, pit, and snarep> <p class="poetry">are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will attack you;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will purify your metal with flux.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will remove all your slag.<n id="3" />p>

Syria has plotted with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah to bring about your demise.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">(just as many were horrified by the sight of you)<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he was so disfigured<n id="2" /> he no longer looked like a man;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">If anyone dares to<n id="1" /> challenge you, it will not be my doing!p> <p class="poetry">Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!p> <p class="poetry">The splendor<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> shines on you!p>

<p class="poetry">Both of these will come upon youp> <p class="poetry">suddenly, in one day!p> <p class="poetry">You will lose your children and be widowed.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">despite<n id="3" /> your many incantationsp> <p class="poetry">and your numerous amulets.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">You are tired out from listening to so much advice.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them take their stand &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the ones who see omens in the sky,p> <p class="poetry">who gaze at the stars,p> <p class="poetry">who make monthly predictions &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For, look, darkness covers the earthp> <p class="poetry">and deep darkness covers<n id="1" /> the nations,p> <p class="poetry">but the <sc>Lordsc> shines on you;p> <p class="poetry">his splendor<n id="2" /> appears over you.p>

<p class="poetry">Then you will look and smile,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For the riches of distant lands<n id="3" /> will belong to youp> <p class="poetry">and the wealth of nations will come to you.p>

<p class="poetry">As a young man marries a young woman,p> <p class="poetry">so your sons<n id="1" /> will marry you.p> <p class="poetry">As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,p> <p class="poetry">so your God will rejoice over you.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> will bring on you, your people, and your father&#8217;s family a time<n id="1" /> unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah &#8211; the king of Assyria!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> here is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says: &#8220;My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The profit<n id="1" /> of Egypt and the revenue<n id="2" /> of Ethiopia,p> <p class="poetry">along with the Sabeans, those tall men,p> <p class="poetry">will be brought to you<n id="3" /> and become yours.p> <p class="poetry">They will walk behind you, coming along in chains.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They will bow down to youp> <p class="poetry">and pray to you:<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Truly God is with<n id="6" /> you; he has no peer;<n id="7" />p> <p class="poetry">there is no other God!&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah&#8217;s time,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when I vowed that the waters of Noah&#8217;s flood<n id="2" /> would never again cover the earth.p> <p class="poetry">In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.p>

<p class="poetry">No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;p> <p class="poetry">you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> will do for his servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will vindicate them,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;As for me, this is my promise to<n id="1" /> them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>