<p class="poetry">Your land is devastated,p> <p class="poetry">your cities burned with fire.p> <p class="poetry">Right before your eyes your cropsp> <p class="poetry">are being destroyed by foreign invaders.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They leave behind devastation and destruction.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,p> <p class="poetry">wise advisers as in earlier days.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then you will be called, &#8216;The Just City,p> <p class="poetry">Faithful Town.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I replied, &#8220;How long, sovereign master?&#8221; He said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,p> <p class="poetry">and houses are uninhabited,p> <p class="poetry">and the land is ruined and devastated,p>

<p class="poetry">Prepare to execute<n id="1" /> his sonsp> <p class="poetry">for the sins their ancestors have committed.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,p> <p class="poetry">or fill the surface of the world with cities.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Wail, O city gate!p> <p class="poetry">Cry out, O city!p> <p class="poetry">Melt with fear,<n id="1" /> all you Philistines!p> <p class="poetry">For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,p> <p class="poetry">and there are no stragglers in its ranks.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> their fortified cities will bep> <p class="poetry">like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">which they abandoned because of the Israelites;p> <p class="poetry">there will be desolation.p>

<p class="poetry">The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;p> <p class="poetry">the town is filled with revelry.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Your slain were not cut down by the sword;p> <p class="poetry">they did not die in battle.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> this song will be sung in the land of Judah:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;We have a strong city!p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s<n id="2" /> deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure.<n id="3" />p>

<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>

<p class="poetry">For the fortress is neglected;p> <p class="poetry">the once-crowded<n id="1" /> city is abandoned.p> <p class="poetry">Hill<n id="2" /> and watchtowerp> <p class="poetry">are permanently uninhabited.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Wild donkeys love to go there,p> <p class="poetry">and flocks graze there.<n id="4" />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.

Don&#8217;t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the <sc>Lordsc> by saying, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.&#8221;

<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="poetry">who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and brings to pass the announcements<n id="2" /> of his messengers,p> <p class="poetry">who says about Jerusalem,<n id="3" /> &#8216;She will be inhabited,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and about the towns of Judah, &#8216;They will be rebuilt,p> <p class="poetry">her ruins I will raise up,&#8217;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">The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;p> <p class="poetry">all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.p> <p class="poetry">They will call you, &#8216;The City of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">Zion of the Holy One of Israel.&#8217;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">But where are the gods you made for yourselves?p> <p class="poetry">Let them save you when you are in trouble.p> <p class="poetry">The sad fact is that<n id="1" /> you have as many godsp> <p class="poetry">as you have towns, Judah.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Come back to me, my wayward sons,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;for I am your true master.<n id="1" /> If you do,<n id="2" /> I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Announce<n id="2" /> this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem:<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Sound the trumpet<n id="4" /> throughout the land!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Shout out loudly,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Like a lion that has come up from its lair<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He is coming out to lay your land waste.p> <p class="poetry">Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.p>