<t /><p class="poetry">Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">those who rely on war horses,p> <p class="poetry">and trust in Egypt&#8217;s many chariots<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and in their many, many horsemen.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and do not seek help from the <sc>Lordsc>.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">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>

<p class="poetry">Let it richly bloom;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">let it rejoice and shout with delight!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">It is given the grandeur<n id="3" /> of Lebanon,p> <p class="poetry">the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.p> <p class="poetry">They will see the grandeur of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">the splendor of our God.p>

Isaiah said to them, &#8220;Tell your master this: &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid because of the things you have heard &#8211; these insults the king of Assyria&#8217;s servants have hurled against me.<n id="1" />

&#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim!<n id="1" /> You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky<n id="2" /> and the earth.

<p class="bodytext">Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">So this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says about the king of Assyria:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;He will not enter this city,p> <p class="poetry">nor will he shoot an arrow here.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He will not attack it with his shielded warriors,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">nor will he build siege works against it.p>

<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;

&#8220;Please, <sc>Lordsc>. Remember how I have served you<n id="1" /> faithfully and with wholehearted devotion,<n id="2" /> and how I have carried out your will.&#8221;<n id="3" /> Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.<n id="4" />p>

&#8216;Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors<n id="1" /> have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.

<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">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says to his chosen<n id="1" /> one,p> <p class="poetry">to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">in order to subdue nations before him,p> <p class="poetry">and disarm kings,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">to open doors before him,p> <p class="poetry">so gates remain unclosed:p>

<p class="poetry">Tell me! Present the evidence!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them consult with one another!p> <p class="poetry">Who predicted this in the past?p> <p class="poetry">Who announced it beforehand?p> <p class="poetry">Was it not I, the <sc>Lordsc>?p> <p class="poetry">I have no peer, there is no God but me,p> <p class="poetry">a God who vindicates and delivers;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">there is none but me.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Listen to this, O family of Jacob,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you who are called by the name &#8216;Israel,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and are descended from Judah,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">who take oaths in the name of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">and invoke<n id="3" /> the God of Israel &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">but not in an honest and just manner.<n id="4" />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">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Where is your mother&#8217;s divorce certificatep> <p class="poetry">by which I divorced her?p> <p class="poetry">Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Look, you were sold because of your sins;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you forget<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, who made you,p> <p class="poetry">who stretched out the sky<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and founded the earth?p> <p class="poetry">Why do you constantly tremble all day long<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">at the anger of the oppressor,p> <p class="poetry">when he makes plans to destroy?p> <p class="poetry">Where is the anger of the oppressor?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is what your sovereign master,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God, says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Look, I have removed from your handp> <p class="poetry">the cup of intoxicating wine,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the goblet full of my anger.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You will no longer have to drink it.p>