Even if the forest is destroyed ¹  and the city is annihilated, ² 

Highways are empty, ¹  there are no travelers. ²  Treaties are broken, ³  witnesses are despised, ⁴  human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

You conceive straw, ¹  you give birth to chaff; your breath is a fire that destroys you. ² 

It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations ¹  and their lands.

And now, ¹  I will break Assyria’s ²  yoke bar ³  from your neck; ⁴  I will tear apart the shackles ⁵  that are on you.” ⁶ 

The commander ¹  orders ²  his officers; they stumble ³  as they advance; ⁴  they rush to the city wall ⁵  and they set up ⁶  the covered siege tower. ⁷ 

For ¹  the burial place is already prepared; ²  it has been made deep and wide for the king. ³  The firewood is piled high on it. ⁴  The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it.

The Lord has issued a decree against you: ¹  “Your dynasty will come to an end. ²  I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods. I will desecrate ³  your grave – because you are accursed!” ⁴ 

The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request; ¹  he ²  attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people ³  to Kir and executed Rezin.

After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.

The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? 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 

The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet ¹  and inscribe these words ²  on it with an ordinary stylus: ³  ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ ⁴ 

You will be broken, ¹  O nations; you will be shattered! ²  Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, ¹  for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations. ² 

For this reason ¹  the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. ²  His majestic glory will go up in smoke. ³ 

The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, ¹  as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ² 

At that time ¹  the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, ²  and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. ³ 

This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain ¹  – at the hill of Jerusalem.

Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. ¹  The tallest trees ²  will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.