The leaders of this nation were misleading people, and the people being led were destroyed. ¹ 

In the year King Ahaz died, ¹  this message was revealed: ² 

Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ¹  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ² 

you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ¹  “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility ²  has ceased!

Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking: ¹  “Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble?

The earth will be completely devastated and thoroughly ransacked. For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ¹ 

For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to these people. ¹ 

Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word, you who mock, you rulers of these people who reside in Jerusalem! ¹ 

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

Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ¹ 

“These people ¹  have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah ²  and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ³ 

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

“Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ¹  Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” ²  says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.

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 

The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ¹  At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine – tender meat and choicest wine. ² 

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 the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ¹  Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ²  as a heap of straw is trampled down in ³  a manure pile.

At that time ¹  this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city! The Lord’s ²  deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. ³ 

Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people – an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹  Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations.” ²