Hezekiah welcomed 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. ² 

You counted the houses in Jerusalem, ¹  and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall. ² 

I know where you live and everything you do and how you rage against me. ¹ 

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, ¹  but they will not help you.

Then I will summon ¹  as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

Then the Lord provoked ¹  their adversaries to attack them, ²  he stirred up ³  their enemies –

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation ¹  with the Lord who commands armies.

You saw the many breaks in the walls of the city of David; ¹  you stored up water in the lower pool.

Who is the Lord ¹  trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? ²  Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ³ 

It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations ¹  and their lands.

and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’”

So the sovereign master was not pleased ¹  with their young men, he took no pity ²  on their orphans and widows; for the whole nation was godless ³  and did wicked things, ⁴  every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ⁵  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁶ 

Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ¹  clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Indeed,” says the Lord, “captives will be taken from a warrior; spoils will be rescued from a conqueror. I will oppose your adversary and I will rescue your children.

So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, ¹  he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, ²  because he willingly submitted ³  to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened ⁴  on behalf of the rebels.”

At that time ¹  men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, ²  into the caves where rodents and bats live, ³ 

At that time ¹  the sovereign master ²  will wash the excrement ³  from Zion’s women, he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, ⁴  as he comes to judge and to bring devastation. ⁵ 

They have stringed instruments, ¹  tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the Lord is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about. ² 

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ¹  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ² 

“Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ¹  Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.