From one month<n id="1" /> to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people<n id="2" /> will come to worship me,&#8221;<n id="3" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.

<t /><p class="poetry">Indeed, this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says to me:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will be like a growling lion,p> <p class="poetry">like a young lion growling over its prey.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,p> <p class="poetry">it is not afraid of their shoutsp> <p class="poetry">or intimidated by their yelling.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">In this same way the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will descendp> <p class="poetry">to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.<n id="3" />p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">The sinful nation is as good as dead,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the people weighed down by evil deeds.p> <p class="poetry">They are offspring who do wrong,p> <p class="poetry">children<n id="3" /> who do wicked things.p> <p class="poetry">They have abandoned the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">and rejected the Holy One of Israel.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They are alienated from him.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as flaming fire<n id="1" /> devours straw,p> <p class="poetry">and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,p> <p class="poetry">so their root will rot,p> <p class="poetry">and their flower will blow away like dust.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rejected the law of the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">they have spurned the commands<n id="3" /> of the Holy One of Israel.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So the <sc>Lordsc> is furious<n id="1" /> with his people;p> <p class="poetry">he lifts<n id="2" /> his hand and strikes them.p> <p class="poetry">The mountains shake,p> <p class="poetry">and corpses lie like manure<n id="3" /> in the middle of the streets.p> <p class="poetry">Despite all this, his anger does not subside,p> <p class="poetry">and his hand is ready to strike again.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I said, &#8220;Too bad for me! I am destroyed,<n id="1" /> for my lips are contaminated by sin,<n id="2" /> and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin.<n id="3" /> My eyes have seen the king, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.&#8221;<n id="4" />

So the <sc>Lordsc> told Isaiah, &#8220;Go out with your son Shear-jashub<n id="1" /> and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> will bring on you, your people, and your father&#8217;s family a time<n id="1" /> unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah &#8211; the king of Assyria!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">His dominion will be vast<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and he will bring immeasurable prosperity.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will rule on David&#8217;s thronep> <p class="poetry">and over David&#8217;s kingdom,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">establishing it<n id="4" /> and strengthening itp> <p class="poetry">by promoting justice and fairness,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">from this time forward and forevermore.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s intense devotion to his people<n id="6" /> will accomplish this.p>

<p class="bodytext">At that time<n id="1" /> those left in Israel, those who remain of the family<n id="2" /> of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them.<n id="3" /> Instead they will truly<n id="4" /> rely on the <sc>Lordsc>, the Holy One of Israel.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> here is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says: &#8220;My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.<n id="2" />

Now the <sc>Lordsc> makes this announcement: &#8220;Within exactly three years<n id="1" /> Moab&#8217;s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be just a few, insignificant survivors left.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is planning to do to them.<n id="1" />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">For look, the <sc>Lordsc> is coming out of the place where he lives,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.p> <p class="poetry">The earth will display the blood shed on it;p> <p class="poetry">it will no longer cover up its slain.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> will punishp> <p class="poetry">with his destructive,<n id="2" /> great, and powerful swordp> <p class="poetry">Leviathan the fast-moving<n id="3" /> serpent,p> <p class="poetry">Leviathan the squirming serpent;p> <p class="poetry">he will kill the sea monster.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word to them will sound likep> <p class="poetry">meaningless gibberish,p> <p class="poetry">senseless babbling,p> <p class="poetry">a syllable here, a syllable there.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and be injured, ensnared, and captured.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So this is what the <sc>Lordsc>, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Jacob will no longer be ashamed;p> <p class="poetry">their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The light of the full moon will be like the sun&#8217;s glarep> <p class="poetry">and the sun&#8217;s glare will be seven times brighter,p> <p class="poetry">like the light of seven days,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when the <sc>Lordsc> binds up his people&#8217;s fractured bones<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and heals their severe wound.<n id="3" />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>