Judgment Against the Nations

34 Come near, you nations, and listen;e

pay attention, you peoples!f

Let the earthg hear, and all that is in it,

the world, and all that comes out of it!h

2 The Lord is angry with all nations;

his wrathi is on all their armies.

He will totally destroya j them,

he will give them over to slaughter.k

3 Their slainl will be thrown out,

their dead bodiesm will stink;n

the mountains will be soaked with their blood.o

4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolvedp

and the heavens rolled upq like a scroll;

all the starry host will fallr

like withereds leaves from the vine,

like shriveled figs from the fig tree.

5 My swordt has drunk its fill in the heavens;

see, it descends in judgment on Edom,u

the people I have totally destroyed.v

6 The swordw of the Lord is bathed in blood,

it is covered with fat—

the blood of lambs and goats,

fat from the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrificex in Bozrahy

and a great slaughterz in the land of Edom.

7 And the wild oxena will fall with them,

the bull calves and the great bulls.b

Their land will be drenched with blood,c

and the dust will be soaked with fat.

8 For the Lord has a dayd of vengeance,e

a year of retribution,f to uphold Zion’s cause.

9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,

her dust into burning sulfur;g

her land will become blazing pitch!

10 It will not be quenchedh night or day;

its smoke will rise forever.i

From generation to generationj it will lie desolate;k

no one will ever pass through it again.

11 The desert owlb l and screech owlc will possess it;

the great owld and the ravenm will nest there.

God will stretch out over Edomn

the measuring line of chaoso

and the plumb linep of desolation.

12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,

all her princesq will vanishr away.

13 Thornss will overrun her citadels,

nettles and brambles her strongholds.t

She will become a haunt for jackals,u

a home for owls.v

14 Desert creaturesw will meet with hyenas,x

and wild goats will bleat to each other;

there the night creaturesy will also lie down

and find for themselves places of rest.

15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,

she will hatch them, and care for her young

under the shadow of her wings;z

there also the falconsa will gather,

each with its mate.

16 Look in the scrollb of the Lord and read:

None of these will be missing,c

not one will lack her mate.

For it is his mouthd that has given the order,e

and his Spirit will gather them together.

17 He allots their portions;f

his hand distributes them by measure.

They will possess it forever

and dwell there from generation to generation.g

Joy of the Redeemed

35 The deserth and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.i

Like the crocus,j 2 it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.k

The glory of Lebanonl will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmelm and Sharon;n

they will see the gloryo of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.p

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the kneesq that give way;

4 sayr to those with fearful hearts,s

“Be strong, do not fear;t

your God will come,u

he will come with vengeance;v

with divine retribution

he will come to savew you.”

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be openedx

and the ears of the deafy unstopped.

6 Then will the lamez leap like a deer,a

and the mute tongueb shout for joy.c

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streamsd in the desert.

7 The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty grounde bubbling springs.f

In the haunts where jackalsg once lay,

grass and reedsh and papyrus will grow.

8 And a highwayi will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;j

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The uncleank will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

9 No lionl will be there,

nor any ravenous beast;m

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemedn will walk there,

10 and those the Lord has rescuedo will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;p

everlasting joyq will crown their heads.

Gladnessr and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.s

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

36:1–22pp—2Ki 18:13,17–37; 2Ch 32:9–19

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’st reign, Sennacheribu king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.v 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachishw to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,x 3 Eliakimy son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,z Shebnaa the secretary,b and Joahc son of Asaph the recorderd went out to him.

4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 5 You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebele against me? 6 Look, I know you are dependingf on Egypt,g that splintered reedh of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 7 But if you say to me, “We are dependingi on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,j saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?k

8 “ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horsesl—if you can put riders on them! 9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egyptm for chariotsn and horsemena?o 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself toldp me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joahq said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,r since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?s”

13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,t “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!u 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceivev you. He cannot deliver you! 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliverw us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’x

16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig treey and drink water from your own cistern,z 17 until I come and take you to a land like your owna—a land of grain and new wine,b a land of bread and vineyards.

18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?c Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?d Have they rescued Samariae from my hand? 20 Who of all the godsf of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”g

21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”h

22 Then Eliakimi son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorderj went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,k and told him what the field commander had said.