A Prayer for Help

33 It is bad for you, O destroyer, you who were not destroyed yourself! You cannot be trusted, but others have trusted you. As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed. As soon as you stop lying, others will lie to you. ² O Lord, be kind to us. We have waited for You. Be our strength every morning. Save us in the time of trouble. ³ At the loud noise of battle, the people run. When You lift Yourself up, nations divide and run. ⁴ The things taken in war will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men rush upon it like locusts. ⁵ The Lord is honored, for He lives on high. He has filled Zion with what is right and fair and good. ⁶ He will be for you what is sure and faithful for your times, with much saving power, wisdom and learning. The fear of the Lord is worth much. ⁷ See, their men with strength of heart cry in the streets. The men sent to bring peace cry many tears. ⁸ The roads are empty. The traveler does not travel. He has broken the agreement. He has hated the cities. He does not care for man. ⁹ The land is filled with sorrow and wastes away. Lebanon is put to shame and wastes away. Sharon is like a desert. And Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰ “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord. “Now I will be honored. Now I will be lifted up. ¹¹ You bring life to what is of no worth. You give birth to what is of no use. My breath will destroy you like a fire. ¹² The people will be burned to white dust, like thorns cut down and burned in the fire.

¹³ “You who are far away, hear what I have done. And you who are near, speak of My power.” ¹⁴ Sinners in Zion are filled with fear. The sinful shake with fear. They cry, “Who among us can live with the fire that destroys? Who among us can live with the fire that burns forever?” ¹⁵ He who walks with God, and whose words are good and honest, he who will not take money received from wrong-doing, and will not receive money given in secret for wrong-doing, he who stops his ears from hearing about killing, and shuts his eyes from looking at what is sinful, ¹⁶ he will have a place on high. His safe place will be a rock that cannot be taken over. He will be given food and will have water for sure.

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the King in His beauty. They will see a land that is far away. ¹⁸ Your heart will think about fear, asking, “Where is he who numbers? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who numbers the towers?” ¹⁹ You will not see people who show no pity, people whose language no one knows, whose strange tongue you cannot understand. ²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our special suppers! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting place, a tent that will not be moved. Its tie-downs will never be pulled up, and none of its ropes will be broken. ²¹ But there the Lord in His great power will be for us. It will be a place of rivers and wide waterways, where no rowboats can go, and where no powerful ships can pass. ²² For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our law-giver. The Lord is our king. He will save us. ²³ Your ropes are loose. They cannot hold the sail up in its place or spread it out. Then the many riches taken in battle will be divided. Even those who cannot walk will take the riches. ²⁴ And no one living there will say, “I am sick.” The people who live there will be forgiven of their sin.

God Will Punish the Nations

34 Come near, O nations, to hear! Listen, O people! Let the earth and all that is in it listen, the world and all that comes from it. ² For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations. And His anger is against all their armies. He has destroyed all of them. He has given them over to be killed. ³ Their dead will be thrown out. Their dead bodies will give off a bad smell. The mountains will flow with their blood. ⁴ All the stars of the heavens will waste away. And the sky will be rolled up like writings. All that are in them will waste away also, as a leaf dries up from the vine, or as one dries up from the fig tree. ⁵ For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven. See, it will come down to punish Edom. It will come down upon the people whom I have given over to be destroyed. ⁶ The sword of the Lord is covered with blood. It is filled with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a killing in Bozrah, and much killing in the land of Edom. ⁷ Wild oxen will fall with them, and young bulls with strong ones. So their land will be filled with blood, and their dust will become rich with fat. ⁸ For the Lord has a day when He will punish, a year when He pays back which will help Zion. ⁹ Edom’s rivers will be turned into tar, and its dust into sulphur. Her land will become burning tar. ¹⁰ Its fire will not be put out night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From one family to their children’s children and on into the future, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever. ¹¹ But the pelican and hedgehog will have it for their own. The owl and raven will live in it. The Lord will make it into an empty waste land. ¹² Its rulers will be gone. And no kings will be named there. All their rulers will be no more. ¹³ Thorns will grow in its strong towers. Thistles will grow in cities where battles were fought. It will be a place for wild dogs, and a home for ostriches. ¹⁴ The desert animals will meet with the wolves. The wild goats will cry to its kind. Yes, the night-demon will stop there and find a resting place. ¹⁵ The snake will make its nest and lay eggs there. Her young will be born from the eggs and she will gather them under her shadow. Yes, the hawks will be gathered there, every one with its kind.

¹⁶ Look in the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these will be missing. None will be without its mate. For the mouth of the Lord has said so, and His Spirit has gathered them. ¹⁷ He will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. It will be theirs forever. From one family to their children’s children and on into the future, they will live in it.

The Future Greatness of Zion

35 The waste-land and the dry land will be glad. The desert will be full of joy and become like a rose. ² Many flowers will grow in it, and it will be filled with joy and singing. The greatness of Lebanon will be given to it, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the shining-greatness of the Lord, the wonderful power of our God. ³ Give strength to weak hands and to weak knees. ⁴ Say to those whose heart is afraid, “Have strength of heart, and do not be afraid. See, your God will come ready to punish. He will come to make sinners pay for their sins, but He will save you.” ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened. And the ears of those who cannot hear will be opened. ⁶ Then those who cannot walk will jump like a deer. And the tongue of those who cannot speak will call out for joy. For waters will break out in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ⁷ The burning sand will become a pool. The thirsty ground will become wells of water. The resting place of the wild dog will be filled with river-grasses. ⁸ And a road will be there. It will be called the Holy Way. Those who are unclean will not travel on it. But it will be for those who walk in that way. Fools will not walk on it. ⁹ No lion will be there. No angry and hungry animal will go up on it. They will not be found there. But those whose sin has been paid for will walk there. ¹⁰ Those whom the Lord has paid for and set free will return. They will come to Zion with singing. Joy that lasts forever will crown their heads. They will be glad and full of joy. Sorrow and sad voices will be gone.

Assyria Takes Cities of Judah

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the strong cities of Judah and took them. ² The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a large army. And he stood by the ditch of the upper pool on the road of the Fuller’s Field. ³ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and Joah the son of Asaph, who wrote down the things that happened, came out to him.

⁴ Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Syria, says, “What is the reason for this hope you have? ⁵ Do you think that empty words are plans and strength for war? In whom do you trust, that you have turned against me? ⁶ See, you are trusting in Egypt, whose power is like a broken piece of grass. If a man rests against it, it will cut into his hand. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷ But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar’? ⁸ So now come and make an agreement with my leader, the king of Assyria. And I will give you 2,000 horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them. ⁹ How then can you turn away from one captain of the least of my king’s servants, and trust in Egypt for war-wagons and horsemen? ¹⁰ Have I now come up to destroy the land against the Lord’s will? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”’”

¹¹ Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in the language of Judah so the people who are on the wall will hear.” ¹² But Rabshakeh said, “Has my king sent me only to speak to your leader and to you, and not to the men who sit on the wall? They will have to eat and drink their own body waste with you.”

¹³ Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in the language of Judah, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴ The king says, ‘Do not let Hezekiah lie to you. For he will not be able to bring you out of your trouble. ¹⁵ And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “For sure the Lord will bring us out of our trouble. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Each one of you should eat of his own vine and fig tree, and drink the water of his own well, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land. It is a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and grape-fields. ¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah lead you the wrong way, saying, “The Lord will bring us out of our trouble.” Has any of the gods of the nations saved his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? When have they taken Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these lands have taken their land out of my hand? So why should the Lord save Jerusalem from my hand?’”

²¹ But they were quiet and did not answer him. For the king had told them, “Do not answer him.” ²² Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and Joah the son of Asaph, who wrote down the things that happened, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him the words of Rabshakeh.