Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless? ¹ 

A man uses it to make a fire; ¹  he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. ² 

No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹ 

Listen to me, you stubborn people, ¹  you who distance yourself from doing what is right. ² 

This is what the Lord, the protector ¹  of Israel, their Holy One, ²  says to the one who is despised ³  and rejected ⁴  by nations, ⁵  a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise in respect, ⁶  princes will bow down, because of the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

“Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me, the sovereign master ¹  has forgotten me.’

Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth ¹  and every garment dragged through blood is used as fuel for the fire.

Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; ¹  the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. ² 

At that time ¹  their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, ²  which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.

The Lord who commands armies planned it – to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ¹  to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.

They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, ¹  seeking Pharaoh’s protection, and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ² 

A deceiver’s methods are evil; ¹  he dreams up evil plans ²  to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right. ³ 

Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ¹ 

When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ¹ 

At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” ¹  Then he thought, ²  “For ³  there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”

Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ¹  and your children ²  like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. ³ 

But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; ¹  even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ² 

I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. ¹  Complete prosperity ²  is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,” says the Lord, “and I will heal them.

Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The Lord watches and is displeased, ¹  for there is no justice.