You said to yourself, ¹  “I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El ²  I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ³ 

For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ¹ 

The look on their faces ¹  testifies to their guilt; ²  like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. ³  Too bad for them! ⁴  For they bring disaster on themselves.

This is what the true God, ¹  the Lord, says – the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ²  the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it: ³ 

Those who live uprightly enter a place of peace; they rest on their beds. ¹ 

“Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor ¹  of the Lord shines on you!

“Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin ¹  daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, ²  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

They will not be hungry or thirsty; the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ¹  for one who has compassion on them will guide them; he will lead them to springs of water.

All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices. ¹  They will go up on my altar acceptably, ²  and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple.

When its branches get brittle, ¹  they break; women come and use them for kindling. ²  For these people lack understanding, ³  therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them; the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

The Lord takes his position to judge; he stands up to pass sentence on his people. ¹ 

Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” ¹  And then the shadow went back ten steps. ² 

When King Hezekiah heard this, ¹  he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

I trampled nations in my anger, I made them drunk ¹  in my rage, I splashed their blood on the ground.” ² 

For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy; he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you. ¹  Indeed, the Lord is a just God; all who wait for him in faith will be blessed. ² 

In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.

On every high mountain and every high hill there will be streams flowing with water, at the time of ¹  great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.

One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ¹  at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ²  until the remaining few are as isolated ³  as a flagpole on a mountaintop or a signal flag on a hill.”

The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ² 

At that time ¹  men will trust in their creator; ²  they will depend on ³  the Holy One of Israel. ⁴