Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹ 

Trust in the Lord from this time forward, ¹  even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector! ² 

Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people: ¹ 

On this mountain he will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, ¹  the woven covering that is over all the nations; ² 

For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will not be redeemed for money.”

¹ “This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: ²  This year you will eat what grows wild, ³  and next year ⁴  what grows on its own. But the year after that ⁵  you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ⁶ 

So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹  and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ²  They will make all the stones of the altars ³  like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁴ 

For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. ¹  Look, this ²  young woman ³  is about to conceive ⁴  and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him ⁵  Immanuel. ⁶ 

¹ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow: “Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen.

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

this is what the Lord says about him: ¹  “The virgin daughter Zion ²  despises you – she makes fun of you; daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you. ³ 

For this reason what they have made and stored up, they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.

For this is what the sovereign master ¹  has told me: “Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees.

Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ¹  For this reason I call her ‘Proud one ²  who is silenced.’” ³ 

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

In light of all this, ¹  how can you still hold back, Lord? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

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

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! ¹  Say, ‘The Lord protects ²  his servant Jacob.

Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹  Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ²  bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out ³  on sackcloth and ashes? Is this really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

“As for me, this is my promise to ¹  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ²  says the Lord.