<p class="poetry">So<n id="1" /> the sovereign master<n id="2" /> will afflict the foreheads of Zion&#8217;s women<n id="3" /> with skin diseases,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> will make the front of their heads bald.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

For this reason the sovereign master,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;It will not take place;p> <p class="poetry">it will not happen.p>

<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">Why do you crush my peoplep> <p class="poetry">and grind the faces of the poor?&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="2" /> has spoken.p>

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">At that time<n id="2" /> the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry,<n id="3" /> neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments,

The sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the sovereign master<n id="1" /> has told me:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go, post a guard!p> <p class="poetry">He must report what he sees.p>

<p class="poetry">At that time the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,p> <p class="poetry">for shaved heads and sackcloth.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;p> <p class="poetry">may years of life be restored to me.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Restore my health<n id="2" /> and preserve my life.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> has spoken to me clearly;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not rebelled,p> <p class="poetry">I have not turned back.p>

<p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says this,p> <p class="poetry">the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will still gather them up.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> will kill you,p> <p class="poetry">but he will give his servants another name.p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> the sovereign master<n id="2" /> will wash the excrement<n id="3" /> from Zion&#8217;s women,p> <p class="poetry">he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem&#8217;s midst,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as he comes to judgep> <p class="poetry">and to bring devastation.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the year of King Uzziah&#8217;s death,<n id="1" /> I saw the sovereign master<n id="2" /> seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

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;

<p class="poetry">I replied, &#8220;How long, sovereign master?&#8221; He said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,p> <p class="poetry">and houses are uninhabited,p> <p class="poetry">and the land is ruined and devastated,p>

For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign.<n id="1" /> Look, this<n id="2" /> young woman<n id="3" /> is about to conceive<n id="4" /> and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him<n id="5" /> Immanuel.<n id="6" />

At that time<n id="1" /> the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River,<n id="2" /> the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair;<n id="3" /> it will also shave off the beard.

<p class="poetry">Then the guard<n id="1" /> cries out:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;On the watchtower, O sovereign master,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I stand all day long;p> <p class="poetry">at my postp> <p class="poetry">I am stationed every night.p>

<p class="bodytext">For this is what the sovereign master<n id="1" /> has told me: &#8220;Within exactly one year<n id="2" /> all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.