The Land of the Majestic King

17 Your eyes will see the King in His rbeauty;

They will see the land that is very far off.

18 Your heart will meditate on terror:

s“Where is the scribe?

Where is he who weighs?

Where is he who counts the towers?”

19 tYou will not see a fierce people,

uA people of obscure speech, beyond perception,

Of a 5stammering tongue that you cannot understand.

20 vLook upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;

Your eyes will see wJerusalem, a quiet home,

A tabernacle that will not be taken down;

xNot one of yits stakes will ever be removed,

Nor will any of its cords be broken.

21 But there the majestic Lord will be for us

A place of broad rivers and streams,

In which no 6galley with oars will sail,

Nor majestic ships pass by

22 (For the Lord is our zJudge,

The Lord is our aLawgiver,

bThe Lord is our King;

He will save us);

23 Your tackle is loosed,

They could not strengthen their mast,

They could not spread the sail.

Then the prey of great plunder is divided;

The lame take the prey.

24 And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”;

cThe people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

Judgment on the Nations

34 Come anear, you nations, to hear;

And heed, you people!

bLet the earth hear, and all that is in it,

The world and all things that come forth from it.

2 For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations,

And His fury against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

He has given them over to the cslaughter.

3 Also their slain shall be thrown out;

dTheir stench shall rise from their corpses,

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

4 eAll the host of heaven shall be dissolved,

And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;

fAll their host shall fall down

As the leaf falls from the vine,

And as gfruit falling from a fig tree.

5 “For hMy sword shall be bathed in heaven;

Indeed it ishall come down on Edom,

And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

6 The jsword of the Lord is filled with blood,

It is made 1overflowing with fatness,

With the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For kthe Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 The wild oxen shall come down with them,

And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;

Their land shall be soaked with blood,

And their dust 2saturated with fatness.”

8 For it is the day of the Lord’s lvengeance,

The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 mIts streams shall be turned into pitch,

And its dust into brimstone;

Its land shall become burning pitch.

10 It shall not be quenched night or day;

nIts smoke shall ascend forever.

oFrom generation to generation it shall lie waste;

No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

11 pBut the 3pelican and the 4porcupine shall possess it,

Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.

And qHe shall stretch out over it

The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.

12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,

But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 And rthorns shall come up in its palaces,

Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;

sIt shall be a habitation of jackals,

A courtyard for ostriches.

14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the 5jackals,

And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;

Also 6the night creature shall rest there,

And find for herself a place of rest.

15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs

And hatch, and gather them under her shadow;

There also shall the hawks be gathered,

Every one with her mate.

16 “Search from tthe book of the Lord, and read:

Not one of these shall fail;

Not one shall lack her mate.

For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.

17 He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”

The Future Glory of Zion

35 The awilderness and the 1wasteland shall be glad for them,

And the bdesert 2shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

2 cIt shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,

Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the dglory of the Lord,

The excellency of our God.

3 eStrengthen the 3weak hands,

And make firm the 4feeble knees.

4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted,

“Be strong, do not fear!

Behold, your God will come with fvengeance,

With the recompense of God;

He will come and gsave you.”

5 Then the heyes of the blind shall be opened,

And ithe ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then the jlame shall leap like a deer,

And the ktongue of the dumb sing.

For lwaters shall burst forth in the wilderness,

And streams in the desert.

7 The parched ground shall become a pool,

And the thirsty land springs of water;

In mthe habitation of jackals, where each lay,

There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 A nhighway shall be there, and a road,

And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.

oThe unclean shall not pass over it,

But it shall be for others.

Whoever walks the road, although a fool,

Shall not go astray.

9 pNo lion shall be there,

Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;

It shall not be found there.

But the redeemed shall walk there,

10 And the qransomed of the Lord shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness,

And rsorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord

36 Now ait came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent the 1Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3 And bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, cShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

4 dThen the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust? 5 I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are 2mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 6 Look! You are trusting in the estaff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who ftrust in him.

7 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” ’ 8 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in 3Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; gand every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the hgods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered iSamaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

21 But they 4held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Assures Deliverance

37 And aso it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of btrouble and rebuke and 1blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to creproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”