They will disappoint you, ¹  those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ²  Each strays off in his own direction, ³  leaving no one to rescue you.”

For the sake of my reputation ¹  I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige ²  I restrain myself from destroying you. ³ 

Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹  Pay attention, you people who live far away! The Lord summoned me from birth; ²  he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³ 

Shout for joy, O sky! ¹  Rejoice, O earth! Let the mountains give a joyful shout! For the Lord consoles his people and shows compassion to the ²  oppressed.

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹  Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ²  Even if mothers ³  were to forget, I could never forget you! ⁴ 

Look, I create the craftsman, who fans the coals into a fire and forges a weapon. ¹  I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

All their watchmen ¹  are blind, they are unaware. ²  All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, ³  lie down, and love to snooze.

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ¹  but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ²  You get renewed energy, ³  so you don’t collapse. ⁴ 

For I will not be hostile ¹  forever or perpetually angry, for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ²  the life-giving breath I created.

“Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet! Yell as loud as a trumpet! Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; ¹  confront Jacob’s family with their sin! ² 

They sit among the tombs ¹  and keep watch all night long. ²  They eat pork, ³  and broth ⁴  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

They ¹  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, ²  trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ³  and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁴ 

so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, ¹  trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ²  and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ³ 

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

Their roar is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.

Tell him, ‘Make sure you stay calm! ¹  Don’t be afraid! Don’t be intimidated ²  by these two stubs of smoking logs, ³  or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ¹  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ² 

They will pass through the land ¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²  and they will curse their king and their God ³  as they look upward.

They will swoop down ¹  on the Philistine hills to the west; ²  together they will loot the people of the east. They will take over Edom and Moab, ³  and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

The Lord will divide ¹  the gulf ²  of the Egyptian Sea; ³  he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁴  and send a strong wind, ⁵  he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ⁶  and enable them to walk across in their sandals.