1 The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the bdays of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

2 cHear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!

For the Lord has spoken:

“I have nourished and brought up children,

And they have rebelled against Me;

3 dThe ox knows its owner

And the donkey its master’s 1crib;

But Israel edoes not know,

My people do not 2consider.”

4 Alas, sinful nation,

A people 3laden with iniquity,

fA 4brood of evildoers,

Children who are corrupters!

They have forsaken the Lord,

They have provoked to anger

The Holy One of Israel,

They have turned away backward.

5 gWhy should you be stricken again?

You will revolt more and more.

The whole head is sick,

And the whole heart faints.

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,

There is no soundness in it,

But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;

They have not been closed or bound up,

Or soothed with ointment.

7 hYour country is desolate,

Your cities are burned with fire;

Strangers devour your land in your presence;

And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 So the daughter of Zion is left ias a 5booth in a vineyard,

As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,

jAs a besieged city.

9 kUnless the Lord of hosts

Had left to us a very small remnant,

We would have become like lSodom,

We would have been made like Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of the Lord,

You rulers mof Sodom;

Give ear to the law of our God,

You people of Gomorrah:

11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your nsacrifices to Me?”

Says the Lord.

“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed cattle.

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

Or of lambs or goats.

12 “When you come oto appear before Me,

Who has required this from your hand,

To trample My courts?

13 Bring no more pfutile 6sacrifices;

Incense is an abomination to Me.

The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and qthe calling of assemblies—

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

14 Your rNew Moons and your sappointed feasts

My soul hates;

They are a trouble to Me,

I am weary of bearing them.

15 tWhen you 7spread out your hands,

I will hide My eyes from you;

uEven though you make many prayers,

I will not hear.

Your hands are full of 8blood.

16 “Wash vyourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.

wCease to do evil,

17 Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke 9the oppressor;

1Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow.

18 “Come now, and let us xreason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

yThey shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient,

You shall eat the good of the land;

20 But if you refuse and rebel,

You shall be devoured by the sword”;

zFor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The Degenerate City

21 aHow the faithful city has become a 2harlot!

It was full of justice;

Righteousness lodged in it,

But now bmurderers.

22 cYour silver has become dross,

Your wine mixed with water.

23 dYour princes are rebellious,

And ecompanions of thieves;

fEveryone loves bribes,

And follows after rewards.

They gdo not defend the fatherless,

Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

24 Therefore the Lord says,

The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,

“Ah, hI will 3rid Myself of My adversaries,

And 4take vengeance on My enemies.

25 I will turn My hand against you,

And ithoroughly 5purge away your dross,

And take away all your alloy.

26 I will restore your judges jas at the first,

And your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward kyou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice,

And her 6penitents with righteousness.

28 The ldestruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,

And those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

29 For 7they shall be ashamed of the 8terebinth trees

Which you have desired;

And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens

Which you have chosen.

30 For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,

And as a garden that has no water.

31 mThe strong shall be as tinder,

And the work of it as a spark;

Both will burn together,

And no one shall nquench them.

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.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer

8 Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of …