2 Kings 19:21–28

This is my response to him:

The Virgin Daughter of Zion

holds you in utter contempt;

Daughter Jerusalem

thinks you’re nothing but scum.

²²Who do you think it is you’ve insulted?

Who do you think you’ve been bad-mouthing?

Before whom do you suppose you’ve been strutting?

The Holy One of Israel, that’s who!

²³You dispatched your errand boys

to humiliate the Master.

You bragged, “With my army of chariots

I’ve climbed the highest mountains,

snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!

I’ve cut down its giant cedars,

chopped down its prize pine trees.

I’ve traveled the world,

visited the finest forest retreats.

²⁴I’ve dug wells in faraway places

and drunk their exotic waters;

I’ve waded and splashed barefoot

in the rivers of Egypt.”

²⁵Did it never occur to you

that I’m behind all this?

Long, long ago I drew up the plans,

and now I’ve gone into action,

Using you as a doomsday weapon,

reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,

²⁶Leaving their people dispirited,

slumped shoulders, limp souls.

Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,

insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.

²⁷I know when you sit down, when you come

and when you go;

And, yes, I’ve marked every one

of your temper tantrums against me.

²⁸It’s because of your temper,

your blasphemous foul temper,

That I’m putting my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth

And turning you back

to where you came from.