Isaiah 37 Cross References - ISV

¹ Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s CounselAs soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s Temple. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. ³ “Here is what Hezekiah says,” they told him. “This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city.” ⁵ That’s why King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah.
⁶ Isaiah Responds to Hezekiah“Here is what to tell your master,” Isaiah told them. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you’ve heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me. ⁷ Watch this! I’m going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he’ll return to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.”
⁸ Sennacherib RetreatsSo the field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. ⁹ Now King Sennacherib had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: “He has marched out to fight against you.”
When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah: ¹⁰ “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?’”
¹⁴ Hezekiah PraysHezekiah received the letters from the messengers, and read them. Then he went up to the LORD’s Temple and spread the letters in front of the LORD. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶ “O LORD of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Extend your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and look! Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ It is true, LORD, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries, ¹⁹ and have thrown their gods into the fire—but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them. ²⁰ So now, LORD our God, save us from his oppressive hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”
²¹ God’s AnswerThen Amoz’s son Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, to whom you prayed concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²² This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: “‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem— she tosses her head behind you as you flee. ²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. ²⁵ I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.” ²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I’ve made it happen— that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. ²⁷ Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They’ve become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings— and how you’ve become enraged at me. ²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.
³⁰ “And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.
³³ “Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He won’t enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. ³⁴ By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the LORD, ³⁵ ‘because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!’”
³⁶ Sennacherib is DefeatedAfter this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah’s army awakened in the morning—there were all the dead bodies!
³⁷ King Sennacherib broke camp, retreated, returned home to Nineveh, and remained there. ³⁸ Later, while he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with swords and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

¹ Isaiah Encourages HezekiahWhen King Hezekiah heard Eliakim’s report, he tore his clothes, put on a sackcloth covering, entered the LORD’s Temple, ² and sent Eliakim the household supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests—all of them covered in sackcloth—to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. ³ They announced to him: “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. ⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.’”
⁵ That is how the King Hezekiah’s servants approached Isaiah.
⁶ In reply, Isaiah responded to them, “Here’s how you’re to report to your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Look! I’m going to cause an attitude to grow within him so that he’ll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I’ll make him die by the sword in his own land!”’”
⁸ Sennacherib Defies God
So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ When he heard that it was being said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, “Look! He has come out to attack you!” he again sent messengers to Hezekiah.
The messengers were told, ¹⁰ “This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you “Jerusalem won’t be turned over to the control of Assyria’s king.” ¹¹ ‘Look! you’ve heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands—they completely destroyed them! Will you be spared? ¹² Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s descendants in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
¹⁴ Hezekiah’s Prayer for HelpHezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the LORD’s Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, “LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! ¹⁷ Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, ¹⁸ throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren’t gods but rather were the product of men’s handiwork—wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, LORD our God, I’m praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!”
²⁰ God’s Answer through Isaiah the ProphetThen Amoz’s son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.’”
²¹ “This is what the LORD has spoken against him: ‘She despises and mocks you, this virgin daughter of Zion! Behind your back she shakes her head, this daughter of Jerusalem! ²² Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²³ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, “With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest. ²⁴ I myself dug for and drank foreign water. With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!” ²⁵ ‘Didn’t you hear? I determined it years ago! I planned this from ancient times, and now I’ve brought it to pass, to turn fortified cities into piles of ruins ²⁶ while their inhabitants, lacking strength, stand dismayed and confused. They were like vegetation out in the fields, and like green herbs— just as grass that grows on a housetop dries out before it can grow. ²⁷ ‘But when you sit down, when you go out, and when you come in, I’m aware of it! ²⁸ Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I’ll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I’ll turn you back on the road by which you came.’
²⁹ “This will serve as a sign for you: you’ll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you’ll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit. ³⁰ Those who survive from Judah’s household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively, ³¹ because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD will bring this about.”
³² “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won’t approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it. ³³ He’ll return on the same route by which he came—he won’t come to this city,’ declares the LORD. ³⁴ ‘I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.’”
³⁵ God Destroys the Assyrian Army
That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead. ³⁶ As a result, King Sennacherib of Assyria left and returned to Nineveh where he lived. ³⁷ Later on, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword and fled into the territory of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

¹¹ When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes

⁵ Ezra’s Prayer of RepentanceAt the time of the evening sacrifice, I arose from my discouragement. Still in my torn garment and robe, I fell to my knees with my hands outstretched to the LORD my God,

²⁰ Job Blesses God Despite the CatastropheThen Job stood up, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, bowed very low, ²¹ and exclaimed: “I left my mother’s womb naked, and I will return to God naked. The LORD has given, and the LORD has taken. May the name of the LORD be blessed.”

²² Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said.

²² This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: “‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem— she tosses her head behind you as you flee. ²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. ²⁵ I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.” ²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I’ve made it happen— that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. ²⁷ Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They’ve become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings— and how you’ve become enraged at me. ²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.
³⁰ “And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.
³³ “Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He won’t enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. ³⁴ By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the LORD, ³⁵ ‘because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!’”
³⁶ Sennacherib is DefeatedAfter this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah’s army awakened in the morning—there were all the dead bodies!
³⁷ King Sennacherib broke camp, retreated, returned home to Nineveh, and remained there. ³⁸ Later, while he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with swords and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

²⁴ The king and all his officials who were listening to these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments.

⁵ The City of Nineveh RepentsThe people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least important. ⁶ When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his royal garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in ashes.

²¹ “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁸ When they called for the king, Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder went out to them.

² and sent Eliakim the household supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests—all of them covered in sackcloth—to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah.

¹² and issued these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan’s son Ahikam, Micaiah’s son Achbor, Shaphan the scribe, and the king’s servant Asaiah: ¹³ “Go ask the LORD for me, for the people, and for all of Judah about what’s written in this book that has been discovered, because the LORD’s anger is burning against us, since our ancestors have not listened to the words written in this book and have not lived according to everything that is written concerning us.”
¹⁴ Huldah Predicts DisasterSo Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Tikvah’s son Shallum, the grandson of Harhas and supervisor of the royal wardrobe, who lived in the Second Quarter in Jerusalem. They spoke with her,

²⁰ Jehoshaphat’s Instructions the Next MorningThe army got up early the next morning and headed out into the wilderness of Tekoa. Jehoshaphat stood up and addressed them. “Listen to me, you inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem,” he said. “Have faith in the LORD your God and you’ll be established! Have faith in his prophets and you’ll succeed!”

¹ The Vision of IsaiahThis is the vision that Amoz’s son Isaiah had about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

³ Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, went out to him.

¹⁴ Hezekiah PraysHezekiah received the letters from the messengers, and read them. Then he went up to the LORD’s Temple and spread the letters in front of the LORD.

¹³ A Call to Mourn and Repent“Put on your mourning clothes, you priests; and cry aloud, you ministering servants at the altar! Come! Stay the night in mourner’s clothes, you ministers of my God, because the grain offering and the wine offering is held back from the Temple of your God.

³ They announced to him: “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth.

⁴ but they turned to the LORD God of Israel in their distress. When they sought him, he let them become reacquainted with him.

¹⁵ Call on me in the day of distress; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

¹⁵ When he calls out to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in his distress. I will deliver him, and I will honor him.

⁸ do not be stubborn like your ancestors were at Meribah, as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,

³ The ropes of death were wound around me and the anguish of Sheol came upon me; I encountered distress and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD, “LORD, please deliver me!”

⁵ For to the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies belongs the day of tumult, trampling, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the pulling down of his Temple on its mountain.

⁸ he has swallowed up death forever! Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and he will take away the disgrace of his people from the entire earth.” for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁷ Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out during her labor when she is about to give birth, so were we because of you, LORD. ¹⁸ We were pregnant, writhing in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not won your victory on earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world been born.”

² A Prayer for Grace“LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you; and be our strength every morning, our salvation in times of trouble.

⁹ Am I to open the womb and not deliver?” asks the LORD. “And when I bring to delivery, am I to close the womb?” asks your God.

⁷ Oh how terrible! That time will be worse than any like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be rescued from it.

¹⁵ “I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me.”

¹³ When the time of childbirth comes, he will be so foolish that he will refuse to be born.”

¹⁹ I correct and discipline those whom I love, so be serious and repent!

¹² Now then, give me that hill country about which the LORD spoke back on that day, because you yourself heard back then that the Anakim were there, with great reinforced cities. Perhaps the LORD will be with me and I will expel them, just as the LORD said.”

⁸ The Israelis told Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the LORD our God for us that he may deliver us from the hand of the Philistines.”

¹⁹ Then all the people told Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants, so that we don’t die, because we made all our sins worse by asking for a king for ourselves.”

²³ Now as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I’ll also instruct you in the way that is good and right.

⁶ Jonathan told his armor bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. Perhaps the LORD will work for us, since nothing prevents the LORD from delivering, whether by many or by a few.”

²⁶ David asked the men who were standing by him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? Indeed, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he defied the armies of the living God.”

¹² Perhaps the LORD will take note of my troubles and return good to me instead of curses today!”

¹⁸ As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.

⁹ Shalmaneser Attacks SamariaIn the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. ¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, ¹² because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.
¹³ During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I’ll accept whatever tribute you impose.” So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD’s Temple and from the treasuries in the king’s palace. ¹⁶ At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD’s Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.

⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.’”

²² Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²³ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, “With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest.

¹⁹ because the LORD was humiliating Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, since Ahaz had brought about a lack of restraint within Judah and had remained unfaithful to the LORD.

¹⁵ Now therefore, don’t let Hezekiah lie to you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, because no god of any nation has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors. So how much less will your God deliver you from me?’”
¹⁶ King Sennacherib’s spokesmen said even worse things against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
¹⁷ Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: “Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven’t delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won’t deliver his people from me!” ¹⁸ His spokesmen shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city. ¹⁹ In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.
²⁰ Sennacherib is Defeated and Killed
Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet were praying about this and crying out to heaven.

²¹ These things you did, and I kept silent, because you assumed that I was like you. But now I am going to rebuke you, and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes.”

²³ He would have destroyed them but for Moses, his chosen one, who stood in the breach before him to avert his destructive wrath.

⁹ If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies hadn’t left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom; we would be like Gomorrah.

⁷ watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. ⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

⁵ Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment“How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands! ⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

²² For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

¹³ Then the commander stood up and shouted out loud in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The LORD will save us.” Has any god of any nation ever delivered his country from the king of Assyria?

²⁰ Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered their land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from me?’”

²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests.

⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my instruction in their hearts. Don’t fear the insults of mortals, and don’t be dismayed at their hateful words. ⁸ For moths will eat them up just like a garment, and worms will devour them like wool; but my deliverance will last forever, and my salvation to all generations.

¹⁷ As they serve between the porch and the altar, let the priests and ministers of the LORD weep and pray: ‘Spare your people, LORD, and do not make your heritage a disgrace so that nations ridicule them. Why should they say among the people, “Where is their God?”’”

¹⁵ Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in court— perhaps the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, will be gracious to the survivors of Joseph.’”

²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.

¹⁶ Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹³ Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you’re looking at today.

⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

⁶ But the LORD told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, because tomorrow about this time I am giving them all to you—dead—in the presence of Israel. Hamstring their horses and incinerate their chariots.”

⁵ That is how the King Hezekiah’s servants approached Isaiah.
⁶ In reply, Isaiah responded to them, “Here’s how you’re to report to your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Look! I’m going to cause an attitude to grow within him so that he’ll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I’ll make him die by the sword in his own land!”’”

¹⁵ and she told them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me: ¹⁶ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Look! I’m bringing disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—everything written in the book that the king of Judah has read— ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me, burned incense to other gods, and they have provoked me to anger with everything that they’ve done. Therefore my anger is kindled against this place and it won’t be quenched!’” ¹⁸ Nevertheless, tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the LORD about this, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Now about what you’ve heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself in the LORD’s presence when you heard what I had to say against this place and against its inhabitants—that they would become a desolation and a curse—and you have torn your clothes and cried out before me, be assured that I have truly heard you,’ declares the LORD. ²⁰ ‘Therefore, look! I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be placed in your grave in peace. Your eyes will never see all the evil that I will bring on this place.’”’”

¹⁵ “Pay attention, everyone in Judah, in Jerusalem, and you, too, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Stop being afraid, and stop being discouraged because of this vast invasion force, because the battle doesn’t belong to you, but to God. ¹⁶ Tomorrow you are to go down to attack them. Pay attention, now—they’ll be coming up near the ascent of Ziz. You’ll find them at the end of the valley that looks out over the Jeruel wilderness. ¹⁷ You won’t be fighting in this battle. Take your stand, but stand still, and watch the LORD’s salvation on your behalf, Judah and Jerusalem! Never fear and never be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, since the LORD is with you.’”
¹⁸ Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the assembled inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem fell face down in the LORD’s presence and worshipped the LORD. ¹⁹ Descendants of Levi from the descendants of Kohath and from the descendants of Korah stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel in a very loud voice that ascended to heaven.
²⁰ Jehoshaphat’s Instructions the Next MorningThe army got up early the next morning and headed out into the wilderness of Tekoa. Jehoshaphat stood up and addressed them. “Listen to me, you inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem,” he said. “Have faith in the LORD your God and you’ll be established! Have faith in his prophets and you’ll succeed!”

⁴ Tell him, ‘Be careful, be calm, don’t be afraid, and don’t lose heart because of these two smoldering stumps of torches, that is, because of the fierce anger of Rezin, from Aram, and Remaliah’s son.

²⁴ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says: “My people, you who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you, who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵ In just a little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger then will be directed to their destruction.

⁴ Say to those with anxious hearts, ‘Be strong, do not be afraid! Here is your God— he will bring vengeance, he will bring divine retribution, and he will save you.’

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you; don’t be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I’m truly helping you. I’m surely upholding you with my victorious right hand.”
¹¹ The Coming Defeat of God’s Enemies“Look! All who are enraged at you will be put to shame and disgraced; those who contend with you will all die. ¹² Those who quarrel with you will be as nothing; those who fight you like nothing at all!”
¹³ A Call to Courage“For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I’ll help you. ¹⁴ Don’t be afraid, you little worm Jacob, and you insects of Israel! I myself will help you,’ declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

¹ The Future Redemption of Israel But now this is what the LORD says, the one who created you, Jacob, the one who formed you, Israel: “Do not be afraid, because I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called you by name; you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you. when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze.

¹² “I—yes, I—am the one who comforts you. Who are you, that you are so afraid of humans who will die, descendants of mere men, who have been made like grass? ¹³ As a result, you have forgotten the LORD who made you, who stretched out the heavens and laid the earth’s foundations, and you live in constant fear every day because of the oppressor’s fury, since he’s ready to destroy. Now where is the oppressor’s fury?

⁴⁰ He asked them, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith yet?”

³⁶ But when Jesus heard what they said, he told the synagogue leader, “Stop being afraid! Just keep on believing.”

⁶ The LORD had made the Aramean army hear the sounds of chariots, horses, and a large army, so they told one another, “Look! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians to come attack us!”

²¹ So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords.

⁹ They perish by the breath of God; they are consumed by the storm that is his anger.

²¹ Terrifying sounds ring in his ears; when times are prosperous, the Destroyer will attack him.

⁹ Before your clay pots are placed on a fire of burning thorns— whether green or ablaze— wrath will sweep them away like a storm.

¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire. ¹⁷ “The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and briers in a single day. ¹⁸ The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy— both soul and body— and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away.

³³ Behold, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will lop off its boughs with terrifying power; the tallest in height will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. ³⁴ He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.”

¹³ The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm. ¹⁴ When the evening arrives, watch out—sudden terror! By morning they will be there no longer! So it will be for those who plunder us and what will happen to those who rob us.”

⁵ “But the hordes of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the hordes of tyrants like flying chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, ⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies— with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire. ⁷ Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel, all that attack her and her fortification and besiege her, will become like a dream, with its visions in the night— ⁸ as when a hungry man dreams— he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams— he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

²⁸ His breath is like an overflowing torrent, and it rises right up to the neck, to shake the nations in the sieve of destruction, and to place in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
²⁹ You will have songs as on nights when people celebrate a holy festival, and gladness of heart, as when they set out with flutes to go to the LORD’s mountain, to the Rock of Israel.
³⁰ God’s Judgment on AssyriaAnd the LORD will make heard—yes, he will make heard—his majestic voice, and make his arm seen descending in raging anger and in a flame of consuming fire, with a cloudburst, thunderstorm and hailstones. ³¹ Indeed, the Assyrians will be shattered at the LORD’s voice, when he strikes them with his scepter. ³² And every stroke of his punishing rod that the LORD brings down on them will be to the sound of tambourines and harps, as he fights against her in battle with a brandished arm.
³³ For the Fire Pit has long been prepared; truly it is for the king; it will indeed be made ready. And its pyre will be deep and wide, with abundant fire and wood. Like a stream of burning sulfur, the breath of the LORD will set it ablaze.

⁸ “Then Assyria will fall by a sword that is not from human beings only— a sword not wielded by mortal beings will devour them. They will flee from the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor. ⁹ Their stronghold will vanish by reason of terror, and their commanders will be filled with alarm because of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ God is Exalted“Now I’ll rise up,” the LORD has said, “now I’ll exalt myself; now I’ll be lifted up. ¹¹ You conceive dried grass, you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you. ¹² And the peoples will be burned as if to ashes; like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.

⁹ Now King Sennacherib had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: “He has marched out to fight against you.”
When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah:

²⁰ They traveled from Rimmon-perez, then rested in Libnah.
²¹ They traveled from Libnah, then rested in Rissah.

²⁹ Afterward, Joshua and all of Israel passed on from Makkedah to Libnah, where they fought against Libnah.

³¹ Then Joshua and all of Israel passed from Libnah to Lachish, camped near it, and attacked it. ³² The LORD gave Lachish into the control of Israel, and Joshua captured it the next day. He declared war on the city and executed everyone in it, the same way he had treated Libnah.
³³ Then Horam king of Gezer appeared to help Lachish. So Joshua attacked him and his army, until he left no one remaining. ³⁴ After this, Joshua, accompanied by all of Israel, proceeded from Lachish to Eglon, laid siege to it, and attacked it.

¹¹ The king of Jarmuth: 1
The king of Lachish: 1

³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

¹³ So they gave Hebron to the descendants of Aaron the priest to serve as a city of refuge for unintentional killers, along with its pasture lands, Libnah with its pasture lands,

²² Edom remains in rebellion against Judah to this day, and Libnah revolted at the same time.

⁸ Sennacherib Defies God
So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ When he heard that it was being said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, “Look! He has come out to attack you!” he again sent messengers to Hezekiah.
The messengers were told,

¹⁰ Edom remains in revolt against Judah to this day. Libnah revolted against Jehoram’s rule, too, because he had abandoned the LORD God of his ancestors.

²⁷ Then a messenger came to Saul with this news: “Come quickly, because the Philistines have made a raid on the land!” ²⁸ So Saul turned around from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines. Therefore, they call that place the Rock of Escape.

¹ A Rebuke to Cush Woe to the land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush,

⁵ Then they will be dismayed and put to shame because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their jewel.

⁷ Watch this! I’m going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he’ll return to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.”

⁵ He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah,

¹⁰ “This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you “Jerusalem won’t be turned over to the control of Assyria’s king.” ¹¹ ‘Look! you’ve heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands—they completely destroyed them! Will you be spared? ¹² Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s descendants in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or disheartened because of the king of Assyria or because of the army that accompanies him, because the one who is with us is greater than the one with him. ⁸ He only has the strength of his own flesh, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were encouraged from what King Hezekiah of Judah told them.

¹⁵ Now therefore, don’t let Hezekiah lie to you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, because no god of any nation has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors. So how much less will your God deliver you from me?’”
¹⁶ King Sennacherib’s spokesmen said even worse things against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
¹⁷ Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: “Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven’t delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won’t deliver his people from me!” ¹⁸ His spokesmen shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city. ¹⁹ In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.

⁸ They say, “Commit yourself to the LORD; perhaps the LORD will deliver him, perhaps he will cause him to escape, since he delights in him.”

⁴ The field commander told them: “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, ‘This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this “guarantee” that makes you yourself rely on it?

¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, “The LORD will really deliver us!” and “This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!”

⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him, if he wants to do so now. After all, he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

⁴ But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy involving Hoshea, who had sent envoys to King So of Egypt and stopped offering tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done annually. As a result, the king of Assyria placed him under arrest and sent him to prison. ⁵ After this, the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, approached Samaria, and began a three year siege. ⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

³³ Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?’”

⁷ But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations. ⁸ “Because this is what he is saying: ‘My commanders are all kings, are they not? ⁹ Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, ¹¹ will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”
¹² Assyria will be Judged“For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria’s king and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³ He keeps bragging: ‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I’m so clever. I removed the boundaries of peoples, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones. ¹⁴ My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.’

¹⁷ who made the world like a desert, who destroyed its cities, who would not open the jails for his prisoners?’

¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The LORD will save us.” Has any god of any nation ever delivered his country from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered their land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from me?’”

¹⁸ It is true, LORD, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries, ¹⁹ and have thrown their gods into the fire—but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them.

⁸ The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

¹ God Calls AbramThe LORD told Abram, “You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father’s house and go to the land that I’m going to show you. ² I’ll make a great nation of your descendants, I’ll bless you, and I’ll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I’ll bless those who bless you, but I’ll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed.”
⁴ So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

¹⁴ As Abram was entering Egypt, the Egyptians noticed how beautiful Sarai was.

¹⁰ God Visits Jacob in a DreamMeanwhile, Jacob had left Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran.

⁴ Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We’re from Haran,” they answered.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes,

¹² Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s descendants in Telassar?

⁵ “To whom will you compare me, count me equal, or liken me, so that I may be compared? ⁶ Those who pour out gold in a purse, weigh silver in a balance, hire a goldsmith in order to make a god, and then they bow down and even worship it. ⁷ And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

²³ Haran, Canneh, Eden, merchants from Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad did business with you,

¹³ You used to be in Eden— God’s paradise! You wore precious stones for clothing: ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and carbuncle. Your settings were crafted in gold, along with your engravings. On the day of your creation they had been prepared!

⁵ I will shatter the gate bars of Damascus, and I will cut off the residents of the Aven Valley, along with the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.

² Stephen replied: “Listen, brothers and fathers! “The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.

²⁴ Assyria Supplants the Northern KingdomBecause the king of Assyria brought captives from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

³⁰ Settlers from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers from Cuth built Nergal, settlers from Hamath built Ashima, ³¹ and settlers from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.

³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control?

¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

⁹ Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me?

²³ Prophecies against DamascusTo Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad will be humiliated. Their courage melts because they have heard bad news. There is anxiety like the sea that cannot be calmed.

²⁸ Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence today. ²⁹ Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said ‘My name will reside there.’ Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. ³⁰ Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, listen from the place where you reside in heaven, then hear and forgive.

³⁸ whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it’s made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple,

³ The LORD told him: “I’ve heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously.

¹⁴ Hezekiah’s Prayer for HelpHezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the LORD’s Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD.

²⁰ Let your eyes always look toward this Temple day and night, toward the location where you have said you would place your name. Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. ²¹ Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, and listen from the place where you reside—from heaven!—then hear and forgive. ²² “If a man sins against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, ²³ then listen from heaven, act, and judge your servants, recompensing the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness. ²⁴ “If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, ²⁵ then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to them and to their ancestors. ²⁶ “When the skies remain closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them, ²⁷ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. ²⁸ “If a famine comes to the land, or if there comes plant diseases, mildew, locusts, or grasshoppers, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, ²⁹ whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it’s made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own illness and anguish and stretching out their hands toward this Temple, ³⁰ then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of human beings— ³¹ so they will fear you and live life your way as long as they live in the land that you have given to our ancestors. ³² “Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power, when they come and pray in the direction of this Temple, ³³ then hear from heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name. ³⁴ “When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, ³⁵ then hear their prayer and their request from heaven, and fight for their cause. ³⁶ “When they sin against you—because there isn’t a single human being who doesn’t sin—and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to a land that’s near or far away, ³⁷ if they turn their hearts back to you in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you—even if they do so in the land where they have been taken captive—confessing, ‘We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,’ ³⁸ if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land where they have been taken captive, as they pray in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, ³⁹ then hear their prayer and requests from heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, forgiving your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰ “And now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers that are uttered in this place. ⁴¹ “And now may the LORD God arise, to your place of rest, you, and the ark of your power! Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and cause your godly ones to find their joy in what is good. ⁴² “LORD God, do not turn your face away from your anointed one. Remember your gracious love to your servant David.”

⁵ For he will conceal me in his shelter on the day of evil; He will hide me in a secluded chamber within his tent; He will place me on a high rock.

¹ To the Director: According to Jeduthun’s style. A Davidic Psalm.
A Psalm of Trust in God My soul rests quietly only when it looks to God; from him comes my deliverance. ² He alone is my rock, my deliverance, and my high tower; nothing will shake me. ³ How long will you rage against someone? Would you attack him as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

¹⁰ God, how long will the adversary scorn while the enemy despises your name endlessly?

¹ To the Director: With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.
The Awesome God God is known in Judah; in Israel his reputation is great. ² His abode is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. ³ There he shattered sharp arrows, shields, swords, and weapons of war. Interlude

¹ A Song of Ascents
A Prayer for Relief To you, who sit enthroned in heaven, I lift up my eyes. ² Consider this: as the eyes of a servant focus on what his master provides, and as the eyes of a female servant focus on what her mistress provides, so our eyes focus on the LORD our God, until he has mercy on us. ³ Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had more than enough of contempt. ⁴ Our lives overflow with scorn from those who live at ease, with contempt from those who are proud.

⁶ I stretch out my hands toward you, longing for you like a parched land. Interlude

¹ Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s CounselAs soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s Temple.

¹⁷ As they serve between the porch and the altar, let the priests and ministers of the LORD weep and pray: ‘Spare your people, LORD, and do not make your heritage a disgrace so that nations ridicule them. Why should they say among the people, “Where is their God?”’”
¹⁸ Response to the People’s RepentanceThen the LORD will show great concern for his land, and will have compassion on his people. ¹⁹ The LORD will say to his people, “Look! I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be content with them. I will no longer cause you to be a disgrace among the nations.”
²⁰ Destruction of the Invaders“I will remove the northerners from you, driving them to a barren and desolate land— the front toward the Dead Sea and the back toward the Mediterranean. Their stench will rise, and their stinking odor will ascend, because they have done great things.”

⁸ The Israelis told Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the LORD our God for us that he may deliver us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Samuel cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

¹⁸ David’s Prayer
Then King David went in to the presence of the LORD, sat down, and said: “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this? ¹⁹ And this is still a small thing to you, Lord GOD—you also have spoken about the future of your servant’s house, and this is the charter for mankind, O Lord GOD! ²⁰ “What more can David say to you, and you surely know your servant, Lord GOD. ²¹ For the sake of your word and consistent with your desire, you have done all of these great things, informing your servant. ²² And therefore you are great, Lord GOD, there is no one like you, there is no God except for you, just as we’ve heard with our own ears. ²³ “And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, to make a name for himself, and to carry out for them great and awe-inspiring accomplishments, driving out nations and their gods in front of your people, whom you redeemed to yourself from Egypt? ²⁴ You have prepared your people Israel to be your very own people for ever, and you, LORD, have become their God! ²⁵ “And now, LORD God, let what you have spoken concerning your servant and his household be done—and let it be done just as you’ve promised. ²⁶ May your name be made great forever with the result that it is said that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is God over Israel, and that the household of your servant David may be established before you. ²⁷ For you, LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant, telling him, ‘I will build a dynasty for you,’ so that your servant has found fortitude to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸ “Now therefore, Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have spoken to your servant these good things. ²⁹ So may it please you to bless the household of your servant, so that it might remain forever in your presence, because you, Lord GOD, have spoken, and from your blessing may the household of your servant be blessed forever.”

¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, “LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! ¹⁷ Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, ¹⁸ throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren’t gods but rather were the product of men’s handiwork—wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, LORD our God, I’m praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!”

¹¹ Asa cried out to the LORD his God, telling him, “LORD, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, LORD God, because we’re depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. LORD, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!”

⁶ and said: “LORD God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven, are you not? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, don’t you? In your own hands you grasp both strength and power, don’t you? As a result, no one can oppose you, can they? ⁷ You are our God, who expelled the former inhabitants of this land right in front of our people Israel, aren’t you? Then you gave it to your friend Abraham’s descendant forever, didn’t you? ⁸ They lived in it and have built there a sanctuary for your name, where they said, ⁹ ‘If evil comes upon us, such as war as punishment, disease, or famine and we stand in your presence in this Temple (because your Name is in this Temple) and cry out to you in our distress, then you will hear and deliver.’ ¹⁰ Now therefore look! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, whom you would not permit Israel to attack when they arrived from the land of Egypt—since they turned away from them and did not eliminate them— ¹¹ Look how they’re rewarding us! They’re coming to drive us from your property that you gave us to be our inheritance. ¹² Our God, you are going to punish them, aren’t you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you.”

³ “So I turned my attention to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, accompanied with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing and saying: ‘Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments,

⁶ Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving. ⁷ Then God’s peace, which goes far beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in union with the Messiah Jesus.

¹³ The Power of PrayerIs anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying. Is anyone cheerful? He should keep reciting psalms.

¹ The CreationIn the beginning, God created the universe.

²² I’ll meet with you there, and I’ll tell you all my commandments for the Israelis from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony.”

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes.

⁴ So the people sent word to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above the cherubim.
Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

²⁶ May your name be made great forever with the result that it is said that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is God over Israel, and that the household of your servant David may be established before you.

³² So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed.

¹⁵ Gehazi’s Greed is PunishedNaaman went back to the man of God, along with his entire entourage, and stood before him. “Please look!” he said. “I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel! So please, take a present from your servant.”

⁷ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; our refuge is the God of Jacob. Interlude

¹¹ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Interlude

¹ For the Director of Music: According to “The Lilies”. A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
A Prayer for Jerusalem Shepherd of Israel, listen! The one who leads Joseph like a flock, the one enthroned on the cherubim, display your glory.

¹⁰ For you are great, and you are doing awesome things; you alone are God.

¹ The LORD is Holy The LORD reigns— let people tremble; he is seated above the cherubim— let the earth quake.

² Give thanks to the God of gods, for his gracious love is everlasting. ³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his gracious love is everlasting—

⁶ maker of heaven and earth, the seas and everything in them, forever the guardian of truth,

³ They kept on calling to each other: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”

¹³ The LORD of the Heavenly Armies— he’s the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear, and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror!

²⁰ So now, LORD our God, save us from his oppressive hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”

²⁸ Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The LORD is the eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary; and his understanding cannot be fathomed.

¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and trust me and understand that I am the One. Before me no God was formed, nor will there be one after me. ¹¹ I, yes I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.

⁶ I am the First and the LastThis is what the LORD says, the King of Israel and its Redeemer— the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name— “I am the first and I am the last, and apart from me there is no God.

²⁴ “This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer and the one who formed you in the womb: ‘I am the LORD, who has made everything, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth— Who was with me at that time?—

²² Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.

⁵ For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth.

¹⁰ The LORD is the true God; he’s the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
¹¹ Tell this to them: “The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”
¹² A Hymn of Praise to GodThe LORD is the one who made the world by his power, who established the earth by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

³ Through him all things were made, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made.

¹⁶ For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.

¹⁶ So let us keep on coming boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

¹⁵ The Vision of the Seventh Angel Blowing His TrumpetWhen the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The world’s kingdom has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever.”
¹⁶ Then the twenty-four elders who were sitting on their thrones in God’s presence fell on their faces and worshipped God. ¹⁷ They said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to rule.

⁴⁰ “And now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers that are uttered in this place.

⁷ He won’t stop looking at righteous people; he seats them on thrones with kings forever, and they are exalted.

¹⁴ But you do see! You take note of trouble and grief in order to take the matter into your own hand. The helpless one commits himself to you; you have been the orphan’s helper. ¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; so that when you seek out his wickedness you will find it no more.

⁶ I call upon you, for you will answer me, God. Listen closely to me and hear my prayer.

² Rescue and deliver me, because you are righteous. Turn your ear to me and save me.

²² Get up, God, and prosecute your case— remember that you’re being scorned by fools all day long.

¹² Pay back our neighbors seven times the reproach with which they reproached you, LORD.

⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servant! I carry inside me all the insults of many people, ⁵¹ when your enemies reproached you, LORD, when they reproached the footsteps of your anointed.

¹ A Song of Ascents
A Prayer for Mercy I cry to you from the depths, LORD, ² Lord, listen to my voice; let your ears pay attention to what I ask of you!

⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city.”

¹⁷ ‘So now, O God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his requests, and look with favor on your desolate sanctuary, for the sake of the Lord. ¹⁸ Turn your ear and listen, O God. Open your eyes and look at our desolation and at the city that is called by your name. We’re not presenting our requests before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great compassion. ¹⁹ ‘Lord, listen!‘Lord, forgive!‘Lord, take note and take action!‘For your own sake, don’t delay, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.’”

¹² For the Lord watches the righteous, and he pays attention to their prayers. But the Lord opposes those who do wrong.”

²⁹ During the lifetime of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali, and carried its people off to Assyria.

⁹ so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.

²⁶ So the God of Israel incited King Pul of Assyria (also known as King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria), who took them prisoner and brought the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the Gozan River, where they remain to this day.

¹¹ Nineveh: the Lion’s Den DestroyedWhere is this lion’s den? Where is the place where the young lions fed, where the lion and its mate walked with their young, the place where they feared nothing? ¹² This lion renders its prey to pieces to feed its whelps, and strangles enough prey for its mate, filling its lairs with prey and its dens with rendered flesh.

²⁰ He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it.

²¹ The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his army carried them off.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, crafted by human hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see. ⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell. ⁷ They have hands, but cannot touch; feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even groan with their throats. ⁸ Those who craft them will become like them, as will all those who trust in them.

⁹ Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, ¹¹ will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”

¹⁴ The dead won’t live, and the departed spirits won’t rise— to that end, you punished and destroyed them, then locked away all memory of them.

¹⁹ To an idol? A craftsman makes the image, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains. ²⁰ To the impoverished person? He prepares an offering— wood that won’t rot— Or to the one who chooses a skilled craftsman and seeks to erect an idol that won’t topple?”
²¹ The Majesty of the LORD“You know, don’t you? You have heard, haven’t you? Hasn’t it been told you from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

⁷ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the hammersmith encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says about the welding, ‘It’s good!’ and he reinforces it with nails so that it won’t topple.”

²⁴ “Look! You and your work are less than nothing; whoever finds you pleasing is disgusting.”

²⁹ See, none of them exist, and their deeds are nothing. Their metal images are only wind and confusion.’”

⁹ A Rebuke to Idol WorshipNow, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame.
¹⁰ Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing?

¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, “Save me, since you are my god.”

¹ God is Unique and Eternal “Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low. Their idols are on beasts, on livestock. Your loads are more burdensome than their reports. ² They stoop, they bow down together, and they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go off into captivity.

³ For the practices of the people are worthless. Indeed, a tree is cut down from the forest; it’s the work of the hands of a craftsman with an ax. ⁴ They decorate it with silver and gold. They secure it with nails and hammers so it won’t totter. ⁵ Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They can’t speak! They must always be carried because they can’t walk! Don’t be afraid of them because they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.” ⁶ There is no one like you, LORD. You are great, and your name is great and powerful.

¹¹ Tell this to them: “The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”

⁶ Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria’s calf will be broken in pieces.

¹⁵ Indeed, by now I could have sent forth my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. ¹⁶ However, I’ve kept you standing in order to show you my power and to declare my name in all the earth.

⁸ Lord, what am I to say, now that Israel has run away from its enemies? ⁹ The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this, will surround us, and eliminate us from the earth! Then what will you do about your great reputation?”

⁴⁵ Then David told the Philistine, “You come at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I’ll strike you down and remove your head from you. And this very day I’ll give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and this whole congregation will know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or spear. Indeed, the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hands.”

⁴³ then hear in heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name.

³⁶ Elijah’s Prayer and God’s Answer by FireAs the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. ³⁷ Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again.”

¹⁰ Be in awe and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted throughout the earth.

¹³ Go ahead and destroy them in anger! Wipe them out, and they will know to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Interlude

¹ To the Director of music: Accompanied by stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song.
A Call to Thanksgiving May God show us favor and bless us; may he truly show us his favor. Interlude ² Let your ways be known by all the nations of the earth, along with your deliverance.

¹⁷ Let them be humiliated and terrified permanently until they die in shame. ¹⁸ Then they will know that you alone— whose name is LORD— are the Most High over all the earth.

⁸ I, the LORD, am the one, and I won’t give my name and glory to another, nor my praise to idols.

²³ I’m going to affirm my great reputation that has been defiled among the nations (that is, that you have defiled in their midst), and those people will learn that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I affirm my holiness in front of their very eyes.

¹¹ Even so, from where the sun rises to where it sets my name will be great among the Gentiles. Incense will be brought to me everywhere, along with pure offerings, because my name will be great among the Gentiles,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

³¹ Just then, someone told David, “Ahithophel is one of Absalom’s conspirators!”
So David prayed, “LORD, please turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”

²³ Ahithophel’s SuicideMeanwhile, when Ahithophel observed that his counsel was not being acted upon, he saddled his donkey, got up, and left for his hometown. Leaving behind a set of orders for his household, he hanged himself. After his death he was buried in his father’s tomb.

²⁰ God’s Answer through Isaiah the ProphetThen Amoz’s son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.’”
²¹ “This is what the LORD has spoken against him: ‘She despises and mocks you, this virgin daughter of Zion! Behind your back she shakes her head, this daughter of Jerusalem!

²⁷ You’ll entreat him and he’ll listen to you as you fulfill your vows.

² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah.

³ “Please, LORD,” he said, “Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
⁴ Then this message from the LORD came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David has to say: “I’ve heard your prayer and I’ve seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ I’ll save you and this city from the king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.

⁹ Then you’ll call, and the LORD will answer; you’ll cry for help, and he’ll respond, ‘Here I am.’ “If you do away with the yoke among you, and pointing fingers and malicious talk;

²⁴ Before they call, I will answer, while they are still speaking, I’ll hear.

²⁰ Gabriel’s Answer: The Seventy Weeks“While I was still speaking in prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and placing my request in the presence of the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of God— ²¹ while I was still speaking, Gabriel the man of God whom I had seen in the previous vision, appeared to me about the time of the evening offering. ²² He gave instructions, and this is what he spoke to me: ‘Daniel, I’ve now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³ Because you’re highly regarded, the answer was issued when you began your prayer, and I’ve come to tell you. Pay attention to my message and you’ll understand the vision.

³¹ When they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak messages from God boldly.

⁴⁴ told David, “Come to me! I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field.”

⁴ “I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you

² As the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his anointed one, they say, ³ “Let us tear off their shackles from us, and cast off their chains.” ⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

¹⁴ so I may declare everything for which you should be praised in the gates of the daughter of Zion, so I will rejoice in your deliverance.

⁷ Everyone who sees me mocks me; they gape at me with open mouths and shake their heads at me. ⁸ They say, “Commit yourself to the LORD; perhaps the LORD will deliver him, perhaps he will cause him to escape, since he delights in him.”

¹ Davidic
Confidence in the LORD The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom will I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom will I be afraid? ² When those who practice evil, my enemies, and my oppressors come near me to devour my flesh, they stumble and fall. ³ If an army encamps against me, my heart will not fear. If a war is launched against me, I will even trust in that situation.

¹⁸ Let the lying lips be made still, especially those who speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt.

¹ To the Director: A song by the Sons of Korah, to the tune of “The Maidens”.
God is the Refuge of His People God is our refuge and strength, a great help in times of distress. ² Therefore we will not be frightened when the earth roars, when the mountains shake in the depths of the seas, ³ when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains tremble despite their pride. Interlude ⁴ Look! There is a river whose streams make the city of God rejoice, even the Holy Place of the Most High. ⁵ Since God is in her midst, she will not be shaken. God will help her at the break of dawn. ⁶ The nations roared; the kingdoms were shaken. His voice boomed; the earth melts. ⁷ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; our refuge is the God of Jacob. Interlude

⁸ “The daughter of Zion is left abandoned, like a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, or like a city under siege.

⁹ “Band together, you peoples, but be shattered! Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor, but be shattered. ¹⁰ Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us.”

³² This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem’s hill.

¹² And he said: ‘You will revel no longer, you virgin daughter of Sidon, now crushed. Get up, cross over to Cyprus— but even there you will find no rest.’”

¹¹ Here is the LORD! Proclaim to the ends of the earth, say to the inhabitants of Zion: ‘See, your salvation is coming! See, his reward is with him, and his recompenses are before him.’

¹⁷ “And deliver this message to them: ‘Let tears run down my face, night and day, and don’t let them stop, because my virgin daughter—my people— will be broken with a powerful blow, with a severe wound.

¹⁵ He rejected all the valiant men— the LORD, in my midst. He set a time to meet with me to crush my young warriors. The LORD has trampled, as in a winepress, the fair virgin that is Judah.

¹³ What can be said about you? To what should you be compared, fair Jerusalem? To what may I liken you, so I may comfort you, fair one of Zion? Indeed, your wound is as deep as the sea— who can heal you?

⁹ The LORD’s Call to Judgment“Declare this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up your elite forces! Let all the soldiers draw near! Call them up! ¹⁰ Beat your plow blades into swords, and your pruning knives into spears! Let the frail say, “I am strong!” ¹¹ Hurry and come, all you gentiles! Gather yourselves together!’” “LORD, cause your mighty army to come down. ¹² “Let the nations be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; because I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

² Fallen is Israel the virgin—never to rise again! She is abandoned on her own land, with no one to raise her up.’

¹⁴ “Sing aloud, daughter of Zion! Shout out, Israel! Rejoice with all of your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

¹⁰ The LORD will Live in Zion“Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! Take note! I am coming to live in your midst,” declares the LORD.

⁹ The Coming of Zion’s King“Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; cry out, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you. He is righteous, and he is able to save. He is humble, and is riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you! He is humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt of a donkey.’”

³⁹ Those who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads,

² Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know about the LORD, nor will I let Israel go!”

¹⁷ You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go.

¹¹ “Who is like you among the gods, LORD? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, and working wonders?

²² Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel!

¹⁷ Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: “Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven’t delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won’t deliver his people from me!”

¹⁶ because of the voice of the one who mocks and reviles, because of the enemy and the avenger.

⁹ They choose to speak against heaven; while they talk about things on earth.

¹⁸ Remember this: The enemy scorns the LORD and a foolish people despises your name.

²³ Don’t ignore the shout of those opposing you, The uproar of those who rebel against you continuously.

¹³ Some people—what an arrogant look they have!— raise their eyebrows haughtily.

¹¹ The haughty looks of mankind will be brought low, the lofty pride of human beings will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted at that time.

¹³ He keeps bragging: ‘I’ve done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I’m so clever. I removed the boundaries of peoples, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones. ¹⁴ My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.’ ¹⁵ “Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

²⁰ The Remnant ReturnsAt that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ Shout aloud, and sing for joy, you who live in Zion, because great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

¹³ You said in your heart, ‘I’ll ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I’ll erect my throne; I’ll sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north; ¹⁴ I’ll ascend above the tops of the clouds; I’ll make myself like the Most High.’

⁷ Revival to Come to IsraelAt that time, men will look upon their Maker, and their eyes will honor the Holy One of Israel.

¹¹ get out of the way, turn aside from the path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.”
¹² Rejecting God’s MessageTherefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you reject this message, and put your trust in oppression and enjoy it, and since you rely on it,

¹⁰ “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?’”

¹⁴ Don’t be afraid, you little worm Jacob, and you insects of Israel! I myself will help you,’ declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

¹⁶ You’ll winnow them, and the wind will lift them up, and a tempest will blow them away. Then you’ll rejoice in the LORD, and you’ll make your boast in the Holy One of Israel.”

³ “I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer. And I’ve given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and the people of Seba in exchange for you.

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I will send to Babylon, and bring them all down as fugitives. Now as for the Babylonians, their ringing cry will become lamentation.

² “Son of Man, tell Tyre’s Commander-in-Chief, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Because your heart is arrogant, and because you keep saying, ‘I have taken my seat, I am a god, seated in God’s seat right in the middle of the sea,’ and because you’re a man, and not a god, even though you pretend that you have a god-like heart…

⁹ Is that when you’ll say, ‘I’m God’ to the face of those who will be killing you? After all, you’re a man, and have never been a god, especially when you’re under the control of those who will defile you!

⁷ I’ll make my holiness and reputation known in the midst of my people Israel, and I won’t let my holiness be profaned anymore. The nations will learn that I, the LORD, am holy in the midst of Israel.

²⁰ But when he became arrogant and his spirit hardened, he was removed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. ²¹ He was driven away from human society and given the mind of an animal. He lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like cattle, and his body was soaked with dew from the sky until he realized that the Most High God is sovereign over human kingdoms and places over them whomever he desires.
²² “But you, Belshazzar, his grandson, haven’t humbled yourself, even though you knew all of this.
²³ “You’ve exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven.
“You’ve had the vessels from his Temple brought into your presence.
“And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them.
“You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can’t see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge.
“But you didn’t honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways.

²⁵ He’ll speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One. He’ll attempt to alter times and laws, and they’ll be given into his control for a time, times, and half a time.

¹² The Prophet’s Second Complaint“Haven’t you existed forever, LORD my God, my Holy One? We won’t die! LORD, you’ve prepared them for judgment; Rock, you’ve sentenced them to correction. ¹³ Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil; and you cannot tolerate wickedness. So why do you tolerate the treacherous? And why do you stay silent while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?

⁴ He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship. As a result, he seats himself in the sanctuary of God and himself declares that he is God.

¹ The Vision of the Beast from the SeaI saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten royal crowns on its horns. On its heads were blasphemous names. ² The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and complete authority.
³ One of the beast’s heads looked like it had sustained a mortal wound, but its fatal wound was healed. Rapt with amazement, the whole world followed the beast. ⁴ They worshipped the dragon because it had given authority to the beast. They also worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight a war with it?” ⁵ The beast was allowed to speak arrogant and blasphemous things, and it was given authority for 42 months. ⁶ It uttered blasphemies against God, against his name, and against his residence, that is, against those who are living in heaven.

⁹ “The enemy said, ‘I’ll pursue them, I’ll overtake them, I’ll divide the spoil. I’ll satisfy my anger on them, I’ll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.’

⁷ Some boast in chariots, others in horses; but we will boast in the name of the LORD our God.

¹⁸ The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy— both soul and body— and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away.

⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Now that you’ve been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

¹⁷ “In a very little while, will not Lebanon be turned into a garden of fruit, and the garden of fruit seem like a forest?

⁹ How, then, can you repulse even one officer from the least of my master’s officials, when you are depending for yourselves on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, “The LORD will really deliver us!” and “This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!” ¹⁶ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—to a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’

³ Think about Assyria, that cedar of Lebanon, beautiful with its branches, like a shady forest, with an awesome height, its summit touches the clouds. ⁴ Abundant water made it great, Subterranean rivers made it grow. Rivers surrounded the area where it had been planted, and water channels nourished all the trees in the fields. ⁵ That’s why it grew taller than any of the trees in the fields. Its boughs flourished. Its branches grew luxurious because all the water made it spread out well. ⁶ The birds in the sky made nests in its boughs; all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches. All the great nations rested in its shade. ⁷ ‘Beautiful because it was so great, with its long branches, it was rooted in many bodies of water. ⁸ The cedars in God’s garden could not compare to it; Fir trees could not match its boughs. The plane tree never grew branches like it, and no tree in God’s garden compares to its beauty. ⁹ I made it beautiful, including all of its branches; all the trees in God’s garden of Eden envied it!’”
¹⁰ Assyria’s Fall Due to Arrogance“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because of its towering height, with its summit reaching into the clouds, and because it was haughty in its position, ¹¹ I turned it over to the leader of those nations, who dealt with it thoroughly. I have driven it away because of its wickedness. ¹² Foreign dictators have trimmed it down to size and abandoned it. Its branches have fallen off on mountains and in all the valleys. Its boughs have broken off in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth have moved out of its shade and abandoned it. ¹³ All the birds in the sky will live among its ruins, and the wild animals will forage among its branches. ¹⁴ As a result, none of its watered trees will grow tall, their tops will never reach to the clouds, and they’ll never grow so high again, because all of them have been appointed to death in the world beneath where human beings go, that is, down to the Pit.’”
¹⁵ Fear at Assyria’s Fall“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day that it descended into Sheol, I shut down its water supplies, covered over its deep water, and shut down its rivers. As a result its abundant water sources dried up, and I caused Lebanon to mourn for it. All the trees of the field wilted because of it. ¹⁶ I made the nations tremble when they heard that Assyria was falling, descending into Sheol to join those who go down into the Pit. Then all of the trees of Eden in the world below were comforted, including the choicest and best of Lebanon, all of whom were well-watered. ¹⁷ They also went down with it into Sheol, to those who had been killed violently and to those who had trusted in its strength by living in its shadow among the nations. ¹⁸ So tell me now, which of the trees of Eden compares to you in glory or greatness? Nevertheless, you’ll be brought down, along with those trees of Eden, to the earth below. You’ll lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who have been killed in war. Pharaoh and all his gang will be just like this!’ declares the Lord GOD.”

⁸ Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream: ⁹ “Belteshazzar, chief of the diviners, since I know that the spirit of the holy gods is within you, and no mystery too difficult for you, explain to me the vision of my dream that I saw, along with its interpretation. ¹⁰ This is what I saw in the visions of my head while I was in bed: I was looking and—listen carefully!—I saw a tree in the middle of the earth, the height of which was very great. ¹¹ The tree grew large, became strong, and its top reached the sky. It could be seen to the ends of the earth. ¹² Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit bountiful, and its food sufficient for everyone. The animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it. ¹³ “Then I saw in the visions of my head while I was in bed—and take careful notice!—I saw a holy observer descend from heaven. ¹⁴ He called out aloud:‘Cut down the tree and cut off its branches. Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals get out from under it, and let the birds leave its branches.

²⁰ The tree that you saw, which grew large and strong until its top reached the sky and became visible to the whole earth ²¹ with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit—enough food for everyone—and under which wild animals of the field found shelter and the birds of the air had nests in its branches— ²² it’s you, your majesty! You’ve become great and strong, your greatness has grown to the heavens, and your dominion reaches to the distant parts of the earth.

³⁰ he commented to himself, “Isn’t Babylon great? I’ve built a royal palace in it by my own might and power, for the sake of my majesty.”

¹ Destruction of Lebanon and Bashan Open your doors, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars. ² Wail, cypress tree, for the cedar has fallen while the stately trees are destroyed. Wail, oak trees of Bashan, for the old growth forest has been cut down.

¹⁰ For the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden.

¹⁰ Beh-hadad sent this message back: “May the gods do so to me, and more than that also, if the dust that remains of Samaria is enough to fill up a few handfuls for all of the armies at my disposal.”

²³ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, “With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest. ²⁴ I myself dug for and drank foreign water. With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!”

¹² But the field commander asked, “Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn’t it also to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁰ As far as you’re concerned, you were planning evil against me, but God intended it for good, planning to bring about the present result so that many people would be preserved alive.

¹³ Arise, LORD, confront them, bring them to their knees! Deliver me from the wicked by your sword—

¹⁰ Even human anger praises you; you will wear the survivors of your wrath as an ornament.

¹⁵ “Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

¹ Praise to the Victorious God LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for you have done marvelous things, plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth. ² For you have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified city into a ruin; the foreigners’ citadel is no longer a city— it will never be rebuilt!

⁷ God is Sovereign“I form light and create darkness, I make goodness and create disaster. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

¹⁰ I declare from the beginning things to follow, and from ancient times things that have not yet been done; saying, ‘My purpose will stand, and he will accomplish everything that I please.’ ¹¹ I am calling a bird of prey from the east, and from a far country a man with his purpose. Indeed, I’ve spoken; I will certainly make it happen; I’ve planned it; and I will certainly carry it out.

⁶ And when an alarm sounds in the city, the people will tremble, won’t they? If there is trouble in a city, the LORD has brought it about, has he not?”

²³ After he was arrested according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified this very man and killed him using the hands of lawless men.

²⁷ For in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate actually met together with unbelievers and the people of Israel to oppose your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ²⁸ to carry out everything that your hand and will had predetermined to take place.

⁸ a stone they stumble over and a rock they trip on.”They keep on stumbling because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁴ For some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. They were written about long ago as being deserving of this condemnation because they are ungodly. They turn the grace of our God into uncontrollable lust and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah.

⁹ However, don’t rebel against the LORD or be afraid of the people who live in the land, because we’ll gobble them right up. Their defenses will collapse, because the LORD is with us. You are not to be afraid of them.”

²⁶ while their inhabitants, lacking strength, stand dismayed and confused. They were like vegetation out in the fields, and like green herbs— just as grass that grows on a housetop dries out before it can grow.

² Indeed, they soon will wither like grass, and like green herbs they will fade away.

⁵ You will sweep them away while they are asleep— by morning they are like growing grass. ⁶ In the morning it blossoms and is renewed, but toward evening, it fades and withers.

⁷ Though the wicked sprout like grass; and all who practice iniquity flourish, it is they who will be eternally destroyed.

¹⁵ A person’s life is like grass— it blossoms like wild flowers,

¹ A Solomonic Song of Ascents
God’s Blessing in the Family Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor uselessly. Unless the LORD guards the city, its security forces keep watch uselessly. ² It is useless to get up early and to stay up late, eating the food of exhausting labor— truly he gives sleep to those he loves.

⁶ May they become like a tuft of grass on a roof top, that withers before it takes root—

¹⁶ Egypt and Syria Will Worship GodAt that time, the Egyptians will be like women—they will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.

⁶ The Word of God Endures ForeverA voice says, “Cry out!” So I asked, “What am I to cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ Grass withers and flowers fade away when the LORD’s breath blows on them; surely the people are like grass. ⁸ Grass withers and flowers fade away, when the LORD’s breath blows on them, but the word of our God will stand forever. “

¹⁰ The People Reject God’s Warning“Go through her rows of vines and destroy them, but don’t completely destroy them. Strip away her branches, because they aren’t the LORD’s.

¹⁰ Indeed, even if you defeated the entire Chaldean army that is fighting against you, and they had only wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn this city with fire.’”’”

¹⁰ and a rich person in his having been humbled, because he will fade away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass. The flower in it drops off, and its beauty is gone. That is how the rich person will fade away in his pursuits.

²⁴ For “All human life is like grass, and all its glory is like a flower in the grass. The grass dries up and the flower drops off,

¹ To the Music Director: A Davidic Song
God’s Knowledge and Presence LORD, you have examined me; you have known me. ² You know when I rest and when I am active. You understand what I am thinking when I am distant from you. ³ You scrutinize my life and my rest; you are familiar with all of my ways. ⁴ Even before I have formed a word with my tongue, you, LORD, know it completely! ⁵ You encircle me from back to front, placing your hand upon me. ⁶ Knowledge like this is too amazing for me. It is beyond my reach, and I cannot fathom it.
⁷ The Magnitude of GodWhere can I flee from your spirit? Or where will I run from your presence? ⁸ If I rise to heaven, there you are! If I lay down with the dead, there you are! ⁹ If I take wings with the dawn and settle down on the western horizon ¹⁰ your hand will guide me there, too, while your right hand keeps a firm grip on me. ¹¹ If I say, “Darkness will surely conceal me, and the light around me will become night,”

²¹ Indeed, what a man does is always in the LORD’s presence, and he weighs all his paths.

³ The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing both the evil and the good.

²³ “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “rather than a God who is far away? ²⁴ If a person hides himself in secret places, will I not see him?” declares the LORD. “I fill the heavens and the earth, do I not?” declares the LORD.

¹³ ‘I know where you live. Satan’s throne is there. Yet you hold on to my name and have not denied your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed in your presence, where Satan lives.

²⁷ ‘But when you sit down, when you go out, and when you come in, I’m aware of it! ²⁸ Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I’ll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I’ll turn you back on the road by which you came.’

²⁵ “For he has raised his fist against God, defying the Almighty. ²⁶ He defiantly ran against him carrying his thick, reinforced shield.

² Can you attach a bridle to his snout, or pierce his jaw with a hook?

¹ The Nations and God’s Anointed Why are the nations in an uproar, and their people involved in a vain plot? ² As the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his anointed one, they say, ³ “Let us tear off their shackles from us, and cast off their chains.”

⁹ Don’t be like a horse or mule, without understanding. They are held in check by a bit and bridle in their mouths; otherwise they will not remain near you.

⁶ The nations roared; the kingdoms were shaken. His voice boomed; the earth melts.

⁴ Those who are opposing you roar where we were meeting with you; they unfurl their war banners as signs.

² See! Your enemies rage; those who hate you issue threats.

³ The rivers have flooded, LORD; the rivers have spoken aloud, the rivers have lifted up their crushing waves. ⁴ More than the sound of surging waters— the majestic waves of the sea— the LORD on high is majestic.

¹² Assyria will be Judged“For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria’s king and the haughty look in his eyes.

²⁸ His breath is like an overflowing torrent, and it rises right up to the neck, to shake the nations in the sieve of destruction, and to place in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.

¹⁰ One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself ordered me, ‘March against this country to destroy it.’”

¹⁰ “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

³⁴ By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the LORD,

⁴ ‘So I’m going to plant a hook in your jaw and make the fish in your waterways grab hold of your scales. I’ll bring you up out of the middle of your waterways, along with all of the fish from your waterways that cling to your scales,

⁴ I’m going to turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out—you and your whole army—along with your horses and cavalry riders, all of them richly attired, a magnificent company replete with buckler and shield, and all of them wielding battle swords.

² The Lord GOD has taken a sacred oath: “The day is coming when they will take you away on fishhooks, every last one of you on fishhooks.

⁹ What are you scheming against the LORD? He will bring about utter desolation— adversity will not strike twice! ¹⁰ Indeed, while tangled as by a thorn bush, while drunken as by a strong drink, the Ninevites will be burned like dry straw. ¹¹ Someone has left you who plans evil against the LORD. He is a demonic counselor.

²⁴ Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Attend to that yourselves.”

²² “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The person who hates me also hates my Father.

⁴ He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

²² Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! He’s not fit to go on living!”

¹² Then God said, “I certainly will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will serve God on this mountain.”

⁴ But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of rest for the land—a Sabbath for the LORD. You are not to plant your field or prune your vineyard. ⁵ You are not to gather what grows from the spilled kernels of your crops. You are not to pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. Let it be a year of Sabbath for the land.

²⁰ “Now if you ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year? After all, we may not plant or even gather our produce!’ ²¹ I’ll command my blessing on you during the sixth year so that it will yield produce for three years! ²² That way, you are to sow in the eighth year, eating the produce from the old harvest. Until the ninth year when its produce comes in, you’ll eat from the old harvest.”

³ Later that same day, he gave them a special display of power of what was to come when he said, “Here’s proof that the LORD has decreed this: Look! This altar will be split apart and the ashes that are on it will spill out.”
⁴ When he heard the man of God curse the altar in Bethel, the king pointed at the man of God from where the king was standing at the altar. “Seize him!” he ordered. But all of a sudden his hand that he had stretched out dried up, and he could not bring it back to his side! ⁵ Also, the altar broke apart and the ashes that were on it spilled out from the altar, providing just the proof that the man of God had predicted in his message from the LORD!

²⁹ “This will serve as a sign for you: you’ll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you’ll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit.

⁹ So Isaiah replied, “This will be your sign from the LORD that the LORD will do what he has promised. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁴ “Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Watch! The virgin is conceiving a child, and will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.

²¹ “At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep, ²² and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey.
²³ “At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow.
²⁴ “People will come there armed with bows and arrows, because the entire land will be nothing but briers and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won’t go there, because you’ll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze.”

⁷ This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will carry out this thing he has promised:

³⁰ Those who survive from Judah’s household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively, ³¹ because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD will bring this about.”

⁹ You cleared the ground so that its roots grew and filled the land.

¹³ Even though a tenth of its people remain in it, it will once again be burned, like a terebinth or an oak tree, the stump of which, though the tree has been felled, still contains holy seed.”

²⁰ The Remnant ReturnsAt that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. ²¹ A remnant will return—a remnant of Jacob—to the Mighty God. ²² For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

⁶ In times to come, Jacob will take root, and Israel will blossom, sprout shoots, and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁹ I’ll bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah they will inherit my mountains; my chosen people will inherit it, and my servants will live there.

¹⁹ Thanksgiving and the sounds of laughter will come out of them. I’ll cause them to increase in numbers and not decrease. I’ll honor them and not make them insignificant.

²⁸ The ones who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have come into the land of Egypt to settle will know whose message will stand, mine or theirs.

⁵ So it is at the present time: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

²⁹ And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.

³¹ because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD will bring this about.”

⁷ Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule over his kingdom, sitting on the throne of David, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

¹⁷ He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury like a cloak.

¹⁸ Response to the People’s RepentanceThen the LORD will show great concern for his land, and will have compassion on his people.

¹⁴ The LORD’s Concern for ZionThen the angel who was speaking to me told me, “Announce this: ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “I have a deep concern for Jerusalem, a great concern for Zion.

³² “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won’t approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it. ³³ He’ll return on the same route by which he came—he won’t come to this city,’ declares the LORD. ³⁴ ‘I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.’”
³⁵ God Destroys the Assyrian Army
That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

⁷ watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. ⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

³² This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem’s hill.

¹² “How terrible it will be for many peoples, who rage like the roaring sea! Oh, how the uproar of nations is like the sound of rushing, mighty water— How they roar!

¹⁴ When the evening arrives, watch out—sudden terror! By morning they will be there no longer! So it will be for those who plunder us and what will happen to those who rob us.”

²⁰ “Look at Zion, city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed abode, an immovable tent; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor will any of its ropes be broken.

²² On his right hand he is divining against Jerusalem, preparing to set up battering rams, preparing for the slaughter, getting ready to sound the alarm for battle, setting the battering rams in place at the gates, building siege mounds, and erecting a siege wall.

⁴³ because the days will come when your enemies will build walls around you, surround you, and close you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will level you to the ground—you and those who live within your city limits. They will not leave one stone on another within your walls, because you didn’t recognize the time when you were visited.”

³⁰ No wisdom, insight, or counsel can prevail against the LORD.

²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.

²⁷ if it weren’t for dreading the taunting of their enemies— otherwise, their adversary might misinterpret and say, “Our power is great. It isn’t the LORD who made all of this happen.”’”

¹² I’m not going to do this during your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of your son’s control. ¹³ For the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I won’t tear away the entire kingdom. I’ll leave one tribe for your son to govern.”

³⁶ I’ll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name.

⁴ Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God maintained a lamp for David in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him so that Jerusalem would be established,

⁶ Furthermore, I’ll add fifteen years to your life. I’ll deliver you and this city from domination by the king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”’”

⁵ Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will protect Jerusalem; he will shield and deliver it; and he will pass over and bring it to safety.

⁶ I’ll save you and this city from the king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.

²⁵ “I, I am the one who blots out your transgression for my own sake, and I’ll remember your sins no more.

⁹ I defer my anger for my name’s sake, and as my first act I’m restraining it for you, so as not to cut you off. ¹⁰ Look, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have purified you in the furnace of affliction. ¹¹ For my own sake—Yes, for my own sake!—I’m doing it; indeed, how can I be profaned? Furthermore, I won’t give my glory to another.”

⁵ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

⁹ Rather, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁵ In those days and at that time I’ll cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he will uphold justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ At that time Judah will be delivered and Jerusalem will dwell in safety. And this is the name people will call it, “The LORD is Our Righteousness.”’

⁹ I did this so my reputation might not be tarnished among the nations where they were living, among whom I made myself known in their presence when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²² The Coming Renewal of Israel“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “I’m not about to act for your sake, you house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you have been defiling throughout all of the nations where you’ve gone.

²⁴ David’s Rule as King“‘“My servant King David will be there for them, and one shepherd will be appointed for them. They will live according to my decrees, keep my regulations, and practice them. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob and on which your ancestors lived. They will live in that land, along with their children and grandchildren, forever. David my servant will be their everlasting leader.

⁶ so that we would praise his glorious grace that he gave us in the Beloved One.

¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory.

²³ because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.

³⁰ Pharaoh got up during the night, he, all his officials, and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, because there was not a house without someone dead in it.

¹⁶ As the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity, so he told the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Stay your hand!” So the angel of the LORD remained near the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

³⁵ God Destroys the Assyrian Army
That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

¹² Either three years of famine, or three months of reversals as you are swept away by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days with the sword of the LORD, consisting of pestilence infecting the land, with the angel of the LORD wreaking destruction from border to border throughout all of Israel.’ Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me.”

¹⁶ David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

²¹ So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords. ²² That’s how the LORD delivered Hezekiah, as well as those who lived in Jerusalem, from Assyria’s King Sennacherib and all his forces, and provided for all of their needs.

⁵ The wicked triumph only briefly; the joy of the godless is momentary. ⁶ Though he grow as tall as the sky, or though his head touches the clouds, ⁷ he’ll perish forever, like his own excrement; those who saw him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

²⁴ They’re exalted momentarily, but then they are gone; they are humbled, just like all the others. They are cut down like heads of corn.

⁵ Make them like the chaff before the wind, as the messenger of the LORD pushes them aside. ⁶ May their path be dark and slippery, as the messenger of the LORD tracks them down.

⁶ The nations roared; the kingdoms were shaken. His voice boomed; the earth melts. ⁷ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; our refuge is the God of Jacob. Interlude ⁸ Come, observe the mighty works of the LORD, who causes desolation in the earth. ⁹ He causes wars to cease all over the earth, he causes the bow to break, the spear to snap, the chariots to ignite and burn. ¹⁰ Be in awe and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted throughout the earth. ¹¹ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Interlude

⁵ Brave men were plundered while they slumbered in their sleep. All the men of the army were immobilized. ⁶ At the sound of your battle cry, God of Jacob, both horse and chariot rider fell into deep sleep. ⁷ You are awesome! who can stand in your presence when you’re angry?

¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire. ¹⁷ “The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and briers in a single day. ¹⁸ The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy— both soul and body— and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away. ¹⁹ What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few that a child can count them.”

⁸ “Then Assyria will fall by a sword that is not from human beings only— a sword not wielded by mortal beings will devour them. They will flee from the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

²³ Immediately the angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

² for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ When people say, “There is peace and security,” destruction will strike them as suddenly as labor pains come to a pregnant woman, and they will not be able to escape.

¹¹ From there he went north to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah, ¹² along with Resen, which was located between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.

⁹ Their stronghold will vanish by reason of terror, and their commanders will be filled with alarm because of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

² “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city! Then cry out in protest against it, because their evil has come to my attention.”

³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh to do what the LORD had ordered.
Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it.

¹¹ So why shouldn’t I be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 human beings who do not know their right hand from their left, as well as a lot of livestock?

¹ Nahum’s VisionA pronouncement about Nineveh: The record of the vision of Nahum from Elkosh.

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look—something greater than Jonah is here!

⁴ The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

¹⁴ What god, out of all the gods of those nations that my predecessors utterly destroyed, has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors?

¹⁹ In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.

² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families with this message: “Let’s build along with you, because, like you, we seek your God, as do you, and we’ve been making sacrifices to him since the reign of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

⁹ “The afterlife below is all astir to meet you when you arrive; it rouses up the spirits of the dead to greet you— everyone who used to be world leaders. It has raised up from their thrones all who used to be kings of the nations.

¹² The Fall of the Day Star“How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the Dawn! How you have been thrown down to earth, you who laid low the nation!

²⁷ Lift up a battle standard in the land. Blow a trumpet among the nations. Consecrate the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz against her. Appoint a commander against her, bring up horses like bristling locusts.