Hezekiah said, “What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”

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

“I will go before you and level mountains. ¹  Bronze doors I will shatter and iron bars ²  I will hack through.

The one who suffers ¹  will soon be released; he will not die in prison, ²  he will not go hungry. ³ 

He said, “Go and tell these people: ‘Listen continually, but don’t understand! Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices.

I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” ¹  I answered, “Here I am, send me!”

“Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, ¹  O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, ²  you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’

This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, ¹  and tell him: ² 

Tell the innocent ¹  it will go well with them, ²  for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ³ 

He will go back the way he came – he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

“Take the harp, go through the city, forgotten prostitute! Play it well, play lots of songs, so you’ll be noticed!” ¹ 

Now go, write it ¹  down on a tablet in their presence, ²  inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be preserved for a future time as an enduring witness. ³ 

Go up into the rocky cliffs, hide in the ground. Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, ¹  from his royal splendor!

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over! ¹ 

Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” ¹  And then the shadow went back ten steps. ² 

“They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ³ 

At that time the Lord announced through ¹  Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments ²  and barefoot.

“Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ¹  David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the Holy One of Israel: ²  “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.