<p class="poetry">The sovereign master<n id="1" /> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;These people say they are loyal to me;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they say wonderful things about me,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">but they are not really loyal to me.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Their worship consists ofp> <p class="poetry">nothing but man-made ritual.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">For<n id="1" /> the burial place is already prepared;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">it has been made deep and wide for the king.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The firewood is piled high on it.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,p> <p class="poetry">will ignite it.p>

<p class="poetry">For a fool speaks disgraceful things;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">his mind plans out sinful deeds.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He commits godless deeds<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and says misleading things about the <sc>Lordsc>;p> <p class="poetry">he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Instead the <sc>Lordsc> will rule there as our mighty king.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">no war galley will enter;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no large ships will sail through.<n id="4" />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>

<p class="poetry">Carefully read the scroll of the <sc>Lordsc>!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Not one of these creatures will be missing,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">none will lack a mate.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> has issued the decree,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and his own spirit gathers them.<n id="5" />p>

Perhaps you will tell me, &#8216;We are trusting in the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8217; But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, &#8216;You must worship at this altar.&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, &#8220;Speak to your servants in Aramaic,<n id="1" /> for we understand it. Don&#8217;t speak with us in the Judahite dialect<n id="2" /> in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.&#8221;

Don&#8217;t listen to Hezekiah!&#8217; For this is what the king of Assyria says, &#8216;Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.<n id="1" /> Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

&#8220;This is what Hezekiah says:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is a day of distress, insults,<n id="2" /> and humiliation,<n id="3" /> as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness.<n id="1" /> The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="poetry">You are my witnesses,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;my servant whom I have chosen,p> <p class="poetry">so that you may consider<n id="1" /> and believe in me,p> <p class="poetry">and understand that I am he.p> <p class="poetry">No god was formed before me,p> <p class="poetry">and none will outlive me.<n id="2" />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">You did not hear,p> <p class="poetry">you do not know,p> <p class="poetry">you were not told beforehand.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For I know that you are very deceitful;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">you were labeled<n id="3" /> a rebel from birth.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">Indeed,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;captives will be taken from a warrior;p> <p class="poetry">spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.p> <p class="poetry">I will oppose your adversaryp> <p class="poetry">and I will rescue your children.p>

<p class="poetry">Certainly the <sc>Lordsc> will console Zion;p> <p class="poetry">he will console all her ruins.p> <p class="poetry">He will make her wilderness like Eden,p> <p class="poetry">her desert like the Garden of the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">Happiness and joy will be restored to<n id="1" /> her,p> <p class="poetry">thanksgiving and the sound of music.p>

<p class="poetry">Look up at the sky!p> <p class="poetry">Look at the earth below!p> <p class="poetry">For the sky will dissipate<n id="1" /> like smoke,p> <p class="poetry">and the earth will wear out like clothes;p> <p class="poetry">its residents will die like gnats.p> <p class="poetry">But the deliverance I give<n id="2" /> is permanent;p> <p class="poetry">the vindication I provide<n id="3" /> will not disappear.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Wake up! Wake up!p> <p class="poetry">Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!p> <p class="poetry">Put on your beautiful clothes,p> <p class="poetry">O Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> holy city!p> <p class="poetry">For uncircumcised and unclean pagansp> <p class="poetry">will no longer invade you.p>