<p class="poetry">Your<n id="1" /> silver has become scum,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">your beer is diluted with water.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Our holy temple, our pride and joy,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the place where our ancestors praised you,p> <p class="poetry">has been burned with fire;p> <p class="poetry">all our prized possessions have been destroyed.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the year King Ahaz died,<n id="1" /> this message was revealed:<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> will sing to my love &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">a song to my lover about his vineyard.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">My love had a vineyardp> <p class="poetry">on a fertile hill.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, be merciful to us! We wait for you.p> <p class="poetry">Give us strength each morning!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Deliver us when distress comes.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The land<n id="1" /> dries up<n id="2" /> and withers away;p> <p class="poetry">the forest of Lebanon shrivels up<n id="3" /> and decays.p> <p class="poetry">Sharon<n id="4" /> is like the desert;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">Bashan and Carmel<n id="6" /> are parched.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the waters of Nimrim are gone;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the grass is dried up,p> <p class="poetry">the vegetation has disappeared,p> <p class="poetry">and there are no plants.p>

<p class="poetry">Look at the land of the Chaldeans,p> <p class="poetry">these people who have lost their identity!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.p> <p class="poetry">They erected their siege towers,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">demolished<n id="3" /> its fortresses,p> <p class="poetry">and turned it into a heap of ruins.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the fortress is neglected;p> <p class="poetry">the once-crowded<n id="1" /> city is abandoned.p> <p class="poetry">Hill<n id="2" /> and watchtowerp> <p class="poetry">are permanently uninhabited.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Wild donkeys love to go there,p> <p class="poetry">and flocks graze there.<n id="4" />p>

Isaiah<n id="1" /> asked, &#8220;What have they seen in your palace?&#8221; Hezekiah replied, &#8220;They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything in my treasuries.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,p> <p class="poetry">as one gathers up abandoned eggs,p> <p class="poetry">I gathered up the whole earth.p> <p class="poetry">There was no wing flapping,p> <p class="poetry">or open mouth chirping.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed me from birth<n id="1" /> to be his servant &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he did this<n id="2" /> to restore Jacob to himself,p> <p class="poetry">so that Israel might be gathered to him;p> <p class="poetry">and I will be honored<n id="3" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight,p> <p class="poetry">for my God is my source of strength<n id="4" /> &#8211;p>

Hezekiah welcomed<n id="1" /> them and showed them his storehouse with its silver, gold, spices, and high-quality olive oil, as well as his whole armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.<n id="2" />