The Lord says, ¹  “I will make youths their officials; malicious young men ²  will rule over them.

Even youths get tired and weary; even strong young men clumsily stumble. ¹ 

There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. ¹ 

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ¹  they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ²  they will not ³  look with pity on children.

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ¹  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ² 

A wolf will reside ¹  with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, ²  as a small child leads them along.

so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. ¹ 

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 

Never again will one of her infants live just a few days ¹  or an old man die before his time. ²  Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, ³  anyone who fails to reach ⁴  the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.