<p class="poetry">For the fortified city<n id="1" /> is left alone;p> <p class="poetry">it is a deserted settlementp> <p class="poetry">and abandoned like the desert.p> <p class="poetry">Calves<n id="2" /> graze there;p> <p class="poetry">they lie down therep> <p class="poetry">and eat its branches bare.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah&#8217;s reign,<n id="1" /> King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">Certainly you must have heard!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Long ago I worked it out,p> <p class="poetry">in ancient times I planned<n id="3" /> it,p> <p class="poetry">and now I am bringing it to pass.p> <p class="poetry">The plan is this:p> <p class="poetry">Fortified cities will crashp> <p class="poetry">into heaps of ruins.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> said to me:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who remain in Israel will bep> <p class="poetry">like the grapes thoroughly gleaned<n id="3" /> from a vine.p> <p class="poetry">So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvesterp> <p class="poetry">passing your hand over the branches one last time.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,p> <p class="poetry">a fortified wall of bronze.p> <p class="poetry">They will attack you,p> <p class="poetry">but they will not be able to overcome you.p> <p class="poetry">For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and fortifies her elevated stronghold,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will send destroyers against her,&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />p>

Mark out the routes for the sword to take: &#8220;Rabbah of the Ammonites&#8221; and &#8220;Judah with Jerusalem in it.&#8221;<n id="1" />

They will say, &#8220;This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,p> <p class="poetry">and Judah has built many fortified cities.p> <p class="poetry">But I will send fire on their cities;p> <p class="poetry">it will consume their royal citadels.p>

<p class="poetry">Howl, fir tree,p> <p class="poetry">because the cedar has fallen;p> <p class="poetry">the majestic trees have been destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">Howl, oaks of Bashan,p> <p class="poetry">because the impenetrable forest has fallen.p>

And the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;If as one people all sharing a common language<n id="1" /> they have begun to do this, then<n id="2" /> nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.<n id="3" />

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage<n id="1" /> by describing people who are more numerous<n id="2" /> and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven<n id="3" /> itself! Moreover, they said they saw<n id="4" /> Anakites<n id="5" /> there.&#8221;

They will besiege all of your villages<n id="1" /> until all of your high and fortified walls collapse &#8211; those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the <sc>Lordsc> your God has given you.

Now, assign me this hill country which the <sc>Lordsc> promised me at that time! No doubt you heard at that time that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities.<n id="1" /> But, assuming the <sc>Lordsc> is with me, I will conquer<n id="2" /> them, as the <sc>Lordsc> promised.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Then David said to Abishai, &#8220;Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord&#8217;s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure<n id="1" /> fortified cities for himself and get away from us.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">After this Manasseh<n id="1" /> built up the outer wall of the City of David<n id="2" /> on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.p>

They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things &#8211; wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full<n id="1" /> and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If thieves came to rob you<n id="1" /> during the night,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they would steal only as much as they wanted!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">they would leave some behind for the poor!<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">But you will be totally destroyed!<n id="6" />p>