<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to accomplish his work,p> <p class="poetry">his peculiar work,p> <p class="poetry">to perform his task,p> <p class="poetry">his strange task.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Is<n id="1" /> a mortal man<n id="2" /> righteous<n id="3" /> before<n id="4" /> God?p> <p class="poetry">Or a man pure<n id="5" /> before his Creator?<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">He causes everyone to stop working,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so that all people<n id="2" /> may know<n id="3" /> his work.p>

<p class="poetry">For<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s decrees<n id="2" /> are just,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and everything he does is fair.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Honest scales and balances<n id="1" /> are from the <sc>Lordsc>;p> <p class="poetry">all the weights<n id="2" /> in the bag are his handiwork.p>

<p class="poetry">They say, &#8220;Let him hurry, let him act quickly,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so we can see;p> <p class="poetry">let the plan of the Holy One of Israel<n id="2" /> take shape<n id="3" /> and come to pass,p> <p class="poetry">then we will know it!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Hezekiah dammed up the source of the waters of the Upper Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David.<n id="1" /> Hezekiah succeeded in all that he did.

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has made them undiscerning;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they lead Egypt astray in all she does,p> <p class="poetry">so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field.<n id="1" /> The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there.<n id="1" /> King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">But when<n id="1" /> the sovereign master<n id="2" /> finishes judging<n id="3" /> Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I<n id="4" /> will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.<n id="5" />