<p class="poetry">Before they even call out,<n id="1" /> I will respond;p> <p class="poetry">while they are still speaking, I will hear.p>

Perhaps the <sc>Lordsc> your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.<n id="1" /> When the <sc>Lordsc> your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.<n id="2" /> So pray for this remnant that remains.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Listen, O heavens,p> <p class="poetry">pay attention, O earth!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> speaks:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I raised children,<n id="2" /> I brought them up,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">but<n id="4" /> they have rebelled<n id="5" /> against me!p>

<p class="poetry">When you spread out your hands in prayer,p> <p class="poetry">I look the other way;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when you offer your many prayers,p> <p class="poetry">I do not listen,p> <p class="poetry">because your hands are covered with blood.<n id="2" />p>

I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, &#8220;Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?&#8221;<n id="1" /> I answered, &#8220;Here I am, send me!&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Make the hearts of these people calloused;p> <p class="poetry">make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!p> <p class="poetry">Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,p> <p class="poetry">their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

So Isaiah replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Pay attention,<n id="2" /> family<n id="3" /> of David.<n id="4" /> Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

<p class="poetry">They will swoop down<n id="1" /> on the Philistine hills to the west;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">together they will loot the people of the east.p> <p class="poetry">They will take over Edom and Moab,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the Ammonites will be their subjects.p>

<p class="poetry">The people of<n id="1" /> Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,p> <p class="poetry">their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.p> <p class="poetry">For this reason Moab&#8217;s soldiers shout in distress;p> <p class="poetry">their courage wavers.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this reason my stomach churns;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">cramps overwhelm mep> <p class="poetry">like the contractions of a woman in labor.p> <p class="poetry">I am disturbed<n id="2" /> by what I hear,p> <p class="poetry">horrified by what I see.p>

<p class="poetry">From the ends of the earth we<n id="1" /> hear songs &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the Just One is majestic.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But I<n id="3" /> say, &#8220;I&#8217;m wasting away! I&#8217;m wasting away! I&#8217;m doomed!p> <p class="poetry">Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now, do not mock,p> <p class="poetry">or your chains will become heavier!p> <p class="poetry">For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,p> <p class="poetry">from the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, against the entire land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">For people will live in Zion;p> <p class="poetry">in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> you will weep no more.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;p> <p class="poetry">when he hears it, he will respond to you.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">You<n id="1" /> will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;This is the correct<n id="2" /> way, walk in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">whether you are heading to the right or the left.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will give a mighty shout<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and intervene in power,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.p>

<p class="poetry">You will no longer see a defiant<n id="1" /> peoplep> <p class="poetry">whose language you do not comprehend,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">whose derisive speech you do not understand.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.

<p class="bodytext">When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.<n id="1" />

<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>

<t /><p class="bodytext">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.