Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; ¹  they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold. ² 

You will not be buried with them, ¹  because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

They will no longer trust in ¹  the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ² 

The noisy city is full of raucous sounds; the town is filled with revelry. ¹  Your slain were not cut down by the sword; they did not die in battle. ² 

You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool – but you did not trust in ¹  the one who made it; ²  you did not depend on ³  the one who formed it long ago!

He said, “You will no longer celebrate, oppressed ¹  virgin daughter Sidon! Get up, travel to Cyprus, but you will find no relief there.” ² 

Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it.

Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read ¹  and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” ² 

Your thinking is perverse! ¹  Should the potter be regarded as clay? ²  Should the thing made say ³  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

“The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, ³  who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴  and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

They ¹  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!” and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ²  Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages. ³ 

It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ¹  Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ²  to scoop a hot coal from a fire ³  or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁴ 

The Egyptians are mere humans, not God; their horses are made of flesh, not spirit. The Lord will strike with ¹  his hand; the one who helps will stumble and the one being helped will fall. Together they will perish. ² 

Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ¹  a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ²  They will run away from this sword ³  and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

The destroyer is as good as dead, ¹  you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead, ²  the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish ³  deceiving, others will deceive you!

A thoroughfare will be there – it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹  The unclean will not travel on it; it is reserved for those authorized to use it ²  – fools ³  will not stray into it.

No lions will be there, no ferocious wild animals will be on it ¹  – they will not be found there. Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

“I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹  in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ² 

Isaiah ¹  asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything in my treasuries.”

To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ¹  he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make ²  an idol that will not fall over.