<p class="bodytext">At that time five cities<n id="1" /> in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun.<n id="2" />

It<n id="1" /> will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies. When they cry out to the <sc>Lordsc> because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender<n id="3" /> who will rescue them.

The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession,<n id="2" /> Israel!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">For the sovereign master,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">In the Valley of Vision<n id="3" /> people shout<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and cry out to the hill.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace,<n id="1" /> and tell him:<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The full moon will be covered up,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the bright sun<n id="2" /> will be darkened;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">for the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will rule<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">on Mount Zion in Jerusalem<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">tender meat and choicest wine.<n id="2" />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">Judgment will come from the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,p> <p class="poetry">by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>, Israel&#8217;s king, says,p> <p class="poetry">their protector,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the first and I am the last,p> <p class="poetry">there is no God but me.p>

<p class="poetry">It is me &#8211; I stir him up and commission him;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make all his ways level.p> <p class="poetry">He will rebuild my city;p> <p class="poetry">he will send my exiled people home,p> <p class="poetry">but not for a price or a bribe,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.p>

<p class="poetry">For your husband is the one who made you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is his name.p> <p class="poetry">He is your protector,<n id="1" /> the Holy One of Israel.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He is called &#8220;God of the entire earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as flaming fire<n id="1" /> devours straw,p> <p class="poetry">and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,p> <p class="poetry">so their root will rot,p> <p class="poetry">and their flower will blow away like dust.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rejected the law of the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">they have spurned the commands<n id="3" /> of the Holy One of Israel.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I said, &#8220;Too bad for me! I am destroyed,<n id="1" /> for my lips are contaminated by sin,<n id="2" /> and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin.<n id="3" /> My eyes have seen the king, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.&#8221;<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">His dominion will be vast<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and he will bring immeasurable prosperity.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will rule on David&#8217;s thronep> <p class="poetry">and over David&#8217;s kingdom,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">establishing it<n id="4" /> and strengthening itp> <p class="poetry">by promoting justice and fairness,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">from this time forward and forevermore.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s intense devotion to his people<n id="6" /> will accomplish this.p>

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> here is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says: &#8220;My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.<n id="2" />

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is planning to do to them.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;At that time,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, &#8220;the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Indeed,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken.p>

&#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.

<t /><p class="poetry">Indeed, this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says to me:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will be like a growling lion,p> <p class="poetry">like a young lion growling over its prey.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,p> <p class="poetry">it is not afraid of their shoutsp> <p class="poetry">or intimidated by their yelling.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">In this same way the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will descendp> <p class="poetry">to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.<n id="3" />p>