Strengthen the hands that have gone limp, steady the knees that shake! ¹ 

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the word of the Lord who commands armies:

So Death ¹  will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; ²  Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. ³ 

They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ¹  is the Lord who commands armies! ²  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ²  was marching out to fight him. ³  He again sent ⁴  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

“I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹  in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ² 

Now they come into being, ¹  not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, ²  I know about them.’

“Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. ¹ 

Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ¹  I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. 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 

You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool – but you did not trust in ¹  the one who made it; ²  you did not depend on ³  the one who formed it long ago!

So the Lord’s word to them will sound like meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹  As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ²  and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ³ 

I decreed and delivered and proclaimed, and there was no other god among you. You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God.

Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ¹  shout out, you subterranean regions ²  of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees! ³  For the Lord protects ⁴  Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel. ⁵ 

Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat ¹  of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. ² 

Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes, firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, ¹  a permanent reminder that will remain. ² 

Men bow down to them in homage, they lie flat on the ground in worship. ¹  Don’t spare them! ² 

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” ¹  The sovereign Lord who commands armies ²  has spoken.

He will eat sour milk ¹  and honey, which will help him know how ²  to reject evil and choose what is right.