<p class="poetry">So now, do not mock,p> <p class="poetry">or your chains will become heavier!p> <p class="poetry">For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,p> <p class="poetry">from the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, against the entire land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Judgment will come from the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,p> <p class="poetry">by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.p>

<p class="poetry">Those who try to hide their plans from the <sc>Lordsc> are as good as dead,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">who do their work in secret and boast,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who sees us? Who knows what we&#8217;re doing?&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;The rebellious<n id="1" /> children are as good as dead,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;those who make plans without consulting me,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">who form alliances without consulting my Spirit,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and thereby compound their sin.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look, the name<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> comes from a distant placep> <p class="poetry">in raging anger and awesome splendor.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He speaks angrilyp> <p class="poetry">and his word is like destructive fire.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">You will singp> <p class="poetry">as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.p> <p class="poetry">You will be happy like one who plays a flutep> <p class="poetry">as he goes to the mountain of the <sc>Lordsc>, the Rock who shelters Israel.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will give a mighty shout<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and intervene in power,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.p>

<p class="poetry">Every blow from his punishing cudgel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">with which the <sc>Lordsc> will beat them,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">will be accompanied by music from the<n id="3" /> tambourine and harp,p> <p class="poetry">and he will attack them with his weapons.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;p> <p class="poetry">their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will strike with<n id="1" /> his hand;p> <p class="poetry">the one who helps will stumblep> <p class="poetry">and the one being helped will fall.p> <p class="poetry">Together they will perish.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> is angry at all the nationsp> <p class="poetry">and furious with all their armies.p> <p class="poetry">He will annihilate them and slaughter them.p>

<p class="poetry">those whom the <sc>Lordsc> has ransomed will return that way.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will enter Zion with a happy shout.p> <p class="poetry">Unending joy will crown them,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">happiness and joy will overwhelm<n id="3" /> them;p> <p class="poetry">grief and suffering will disappear.<n id="4" />p>

Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will rescue us.&#8221; Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?<n id="1" />

Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the <sc>Lordsc> rescue Jerusalem from my power?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />

this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says about him:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The virgin daughter Zion<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">despises you &#8211; she makes fun of you;p> <p class="poetry">daughter Jerusalemp> <p class="poetry">shakes her head after you.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger<n id="1" /> went out and killed 185,000 troops<n id="2" /> in the Assyrian camp. When they<n id="3" /> got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses!<n id="4" />

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word which you have announced is appropriate.&#8221;<n id="1" /> Then he thought,<n id="2" /> &#8220;For<n id="3" /> there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Do you not know?p> <p class="poetry">Have you not heard?p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is an eternal God,p> <p class="poetry">the creator of the whole earth.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He does not get tired or weary;p> <p class="poetry">there is no limit to his wisdom.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But those who wait for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s help<n id="1" /> find renewed strength;p> <p class="poetry">they rise up as if they had eagles&#8217; wings,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they run without growing weary,p> <p class="poetry">they walk without getting tired.p>

<p class="poetry">Who acts and carries out decrees?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Who<n id="2" /> summons the successive generations from the beginning?p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, am present at the very beginning,p> <p class="poetry">and at the very end &#8211; I am the one.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">men of<n id="2" /> Israel.p> <p class="poetry">I am helping you,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">your protector,<n id="3" /> the Holy One of Israel.<n id="4" />p>