<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">that sends messengers by sea,p> <p class="poetry">who glide over the water&#8217;s surface in boats made of papyrus.p> <p class="poetry">Go, you swift messengers,p> <p class="poetry">to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to a people that are feared far and wide,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to a nation strong and victorious,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">whose land rivers divide.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that timep> <p class="poetry">tribute will be brought to the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,p> <p class="poetry">a people that are feared far and wide,p> <p class="poetry">a nation strong and victorious,p> <p class="poetry">whose land rivers divide.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The tribute<n id="2" /> will be brought to the place where the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The one who runs away from the sound of the terrorp> <p class="poetry">will fall into the pit;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who climbs out of the pit,p> <p class="poetry">will be trapped by the snare.p> <p class="poetry">For the floodgates of the heavens<n id="2" /> are opened up<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the foundations of the earth shake.p>

<p class="poetry">he will swallow up death permanently.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> will wipe away the tears from every face,p> <p class="poetry">and remove his people&#8217;s disgrace from all the earth.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> has announced it!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is a message<n id="1" /> about the animals in the Negev:p> <p class="poetry">Through a land of distress and danger,p> <p class="poetry">inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">by snakes and darting adders,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they transport<n id="4" /> their wealth on the backs of donkeys,p> <p class="poetry">their riches on the humps of camels,p> <p class="poetry">to a nation that cannot help them.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sword is dripping with blood,p> <p class="poetry">it is covered<n id="1" /> with fat;p> <p class="poetry">it drips<n id="2" /> with the blood of young rams and goatsp> <p class="poetry">and is covered<n id="3" /> with the fat of rams&#8217; kidneys.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> is holding a sacrifice<n id="4" /> in Bozrah,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">a bloody<n id="6" /> slaughter in the land of Edom.p>

One day,<n id="1" /> as he was worshiping<n id="2" /> in the temple of his god Nisroch,<n id="3" /> his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.<n id="4" /> They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.p>

Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, &#8220;What did these men say? Where do they come from?&#8221; Hezekiah replied, &#8220;They come from the distant land of Babylon.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Shout for joy, O sky, for the <sc>Lordsc> intervenes;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">shout out, you subterranean regions<n id="2" /> of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">O mountains, give a joyful shout;p> <p class="poetry">you too, O forest and all your trees!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> protects<n id="4" /> Jacob;p> <p class="poetry">he reveals his splendor through Israel.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who created the sky &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he is the true God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed the earth and made it;p> <p class="poetry">he established it,p> <p class="poetry">he did not create it without order,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he formed it to be inhabited &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, I have no peer.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Fall down! Sit in the dirt,p> <p class="poetry">O virgin<n id="1" /> daughter Babylon!p> <p class="poetry">Sit on the ground, not on a throne,p> <p class="poetry">O daughter of the Babylonians!p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.p>

<p class="poetry">he says, &#8220;Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,p> <p class="poetry">to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and restore the remnant<n id="1" /> of Israel?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you a light to the nations,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so you can bring<n id="4" /> my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Kings will be your children&#8217;s<n id="1" /> guardians;p> <p class="poetry">their princesses will nurse your children.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">With their faces to the ground they will bow down to youp> <p class="poetry">and they will lick the dirt on<n id="3" /> your feet.p> <p class="poetry">Then you will recognize that I am the <sc>Lordsc>;p> <p class="poetry">those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you forget<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, who made you,p> <p class="poetry">who stretched out the sky<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and founded the earth?p> <p class="poetry">Why do you constantly tremble all day long<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">at the anger of the oppressor,p> <p class="poetry">when he makes plans to destroy?p> <p class="poetry">Where is the anger of the oppressor?<n id="4" />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>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">The rain and snow fall from the skyp> <p class="poetry">and do not return,p> <p class="poetry">but instead water the earthp> <p class="poetry">and make it produce and yield crops,p> <p class="poetry">and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.p>

<p class="poetry">Who has ever heard of such a thing?p> <p class="poetry">Who has ever seen this?p> <p class="poetry">Can a country<n id="1" /> be brought forth in one day?p> <p class="poetry">Can a nation be born in a single moment?p> <p class="poetry">Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!p>

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="poetry">You people of this generation,p> <p class="poetry">listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then do you<n id="2" /> say, &#8216;We are free to wander.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We will not come to you any more?&#8217;p>