Isaiah 36 Cross References - LEB

¹ And this happened: In _⌊the fourteenth year_⌋* of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. ² And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh* from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the field of the washer. ³ And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who _⌊was in charge of the palace_⌋,* came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder. ⁴ And Rabshakeh said to them, "Now say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What is this confidence in which you trust? ⁵ I said, 'Only a word of lips! _⌊War has power and a plan_⌋!'* Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶ Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him. ⁷ And if you say to me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall bow down in the _⌊presence_⌋* of this altar.'" ⁸ And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, that is, if you are able _⌊put_⌋* riders for yourself on them! ⁹ But how can you drive back _⌊one governor among the least of my master's servants_⌋,* when* you trust in Egypt for chariots* and horsemen? ¹⁰ And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!" '" ¹¹ And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand* it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the _⌊hearing_⌋* of the people who are on the wall." ¹² But* Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? Was it not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine* with you?" ¹³ Then* Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean 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 And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, "Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!" ¹⁶ You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: "Make a blessing* with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat from his vine and from his fig tree and drink water from* his cistern, ¹⁷ until _⌊I come_⌋* and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, ¹⁸ lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, 'Yahweh will save us!' Did the gods of the nations each save his 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 Samaria from my hand? ²⁰ Who are there among all the gods of these countries who have saved their land from my hand, that Yahweh should save Jerusalem from my hand?" '" ²¹ But* they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, "You must not answer him." ²² Then* Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the _⌊palace_⌋,* Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

¹⁷ So the king of Assyria sent the commander in chief, the chief eunuch, and the _⌊chief advisor_⌋* from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a heavy army. They went up and came to Jerusalem, then they went up and came and stood at the aqueduct of the upper pool which is on the main road of the _⌊washer's_⌋* field.

¹ After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came, and he came against Judah. And he encamped against the fortified cities and planned to break them down for himself.

⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners. ⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged.*

¹⁷ "Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor* days that have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria."

⁷ therefore look! The Lord is bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory.
And he will rise above all his channels, and he will flow over all his banks. ⁸ And he will sweep into Judah; he will overflow and he will flood up to the neck. He will reach, and _⌊he will spread his wings out over your entire land_⌋,* God with us."

²⁸ He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he deposited his baggage. ²⁹ They crossed over the pass; Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. ³⁰ Daughter of Gallim, cry out with your voice; Laishah, listen! _⌊Anathoth is poor_⌋.* ³¹ Madmenah flees! The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety! ³² _⌊This day_⌋* _⌊taking a stand_⌋* at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter* of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

⁷ Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; the messengers of peace weep bitterly. ⁸ Highways are deserted; the traveler on the road ceases. One breaks a treaty, he rejects the cities,* he does not hold man in high regard.

¹⁷ So the king of Assyria sent the commander in chief, the chief eunuch, and the _⌊chief advisor_⌋* from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a heavy army. They went up and came to Jerusalem, then they went up and came and stood at the aqueduct of the upper pool which is on the main road of the _⌊washer's_⌋* field. ¹⁸ Then they called to the king, so Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them. ¹⁹ Then the chief advisor said to them, "Please say to Hezekiah: 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What is this confidence that you trust? ²⁰ You think only a word of lips, 'I have advice and power for the war.' Now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now, look! You _⌊rely_⌋* on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which when a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt for all who are trusting on him! ²² But if you say to me, 'On Yahweh our God we trust,' is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'In the presence of this altar you shall bow down only in Jerusalem?' ²³ So then, please make a wager with my lord, with the king of Assyria, and I will give to you a thousand horses _⌊if you are able on your part to put riders on them._⌋* ²⁴ How _⌊can you repulse a single captain among the least of the servants of my master_⌋*? Yet you rely for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen! ²⁵ Have I now come up against this place without Yahweh to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'" '" ²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the chief commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding, but you must not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall." ²⁷ The chief commander said to them, "Is it solely to your master and to you my master has sent me to speak these words? Is it not for the men who sit on the wall to eat their feces and to drink their urine with you?" ²⁸ Then the chief commander stood and called with a great voice in Judean, and he spoke and said, "Hear the word of the king, the great king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to rescue you from my* hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, "Certainly Yahweh will rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!" ' ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make with me a treaty of peace and come out to me that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water from his cistern! ³² Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that you may live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you by saying, "Yahweh will deliver us!" ³³ Did the gods of each of the nations ever rescue the land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? For did they rescue Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all of the gods of the countries have rescued their countries from my hand that Yahweh should rescue Jerusalem from my hand?'" ³⁶ The people were silent, and they did not answer him a word, for the command of that king was saying, "You shall not answer him." ³⁷ Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn clothes, and they told him the words of the chief commander.

⁹ After this Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (now he and all his armies with him were against Lachish) to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all of Judah that was in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ "Thus says Sennacherib the king of Assyria: 'On what are you relying that you are dwelling in siege works in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Is not Hezekiah urging you to give you up to die by starvation and thirst, saying, "Yahweh our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria"? ¹² Has not Hezekiah himself removed his high places and his altars and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, "You must bow down before one altar and upon it you must make offerings"? ¹³ Do you not know what I have done, I and my ancestors,* to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of all the lands at all able to save their land from my hand? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors* utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand? ¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors.* Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'" ¹⁶ And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant. ¹⁷ And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand." ¹⁸ Then they called with a great voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who were upon the wall to frighten them and terrify them, so that they could take the city captive. ¹⁹ And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind. ²⁰ Then King Hezekiah and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, prayed concerning this. And they cried to the heavens. ²¹ Then Yahweh sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty warrior of strength, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shamed face to his land and went into the house of his god. And some of the offspring of his loins fell upon him there with the sword. ²² So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the all their enemies, and gave them rest all around. ²³ And many brought tribute to Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations thereafter.

³ Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the washer's field.

⁹ and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many, and you gathered the waters of the lower pool. ¹⁰ And you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹ And you made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the old pool, but you did not look to its maker, and you did not see _⌊the one who created it long ago_⌋.*

¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary. ¹⁷ Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests and Seraiah was scribe.

²⁴ Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder. ²⁵ Shiya was secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

¹⁵ The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, says this:
"Go! Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house: ¹⁶ 'What _⌊business do you have_⌋* here, and who _⌊do you have_⌋* here, that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself, carving his grave on the height, a dwelling place for him in the rock? ¹⁷ Look! Yahweh is about to _⌊really hurl_⌋* you, man! And he is about to grasp you firmly; ¹⁸ he will wind a winding tightly around you like a ball, to a _⌊wide land_⌋.* There you shall die, and there the chariots of your splendor will be, disgrace to your master's house! ¹⁹ And I will push you from your office, and he will throw you down from your position. ²⁰ And this shall happen:
On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, ²¹ and I will clothe him with your tunic, and I will bind your sash firmly about him, and I will put your authority into his hand, and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants* of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

⁵ He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah.

¹⁰ "Thus you shall say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, 'Let not your God whom you are trusting deceive you, by his saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!"

⁷ "Be strong! Be courageous! Do not fear and do not be dismayed before the king of Assyria and before all the crowd that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is the arm of flesh, and with us is Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence with the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. ⁹ After this Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (now he and all his armies with him were against Lachish) to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all of Judah that was in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ "Thus says Sennacherib the king of Assyria: 'On what are you relying that you are dwelling in siege works in Jerusalem?

¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors* utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand? ¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors.* Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'" ¹⁶ And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant.

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

¹⁰ As with a shattering in my bones my oppressors taunt me, while they say to me _⌊all day_⌋,* "Where is your God?"

¹⁰ For my enemies talk concerning me, and those who watch for my life conspire together, ¹¹ saying, "His God has abandoned him. Pursue and seize him, because there is no deliverer."

¹⁸ Before destruction comes pride, and before a fall, a haughty spirit.*

⁸ For he says, "Are not my commanders altogether kings? ⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols* —and their images were _⌊greater than those of_⌋* Jerusalem and Samaria— ¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?" ¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against _⌊Mount Zion_⌋* and Jerusalem, "I will punish the _⌊arrogance_⌋* of the king of Assyria and _⌊his haughtiness_⌋."* ¹³ For he says,
"I have done it by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down _⌊the inhabitants_⌋.* ¹⁴ And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples, and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth. And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp."

¹¹ Look! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that my _⌊predecessors_⌋* destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or* Ivvah?'" ¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read* it. Then* he went up to the temple* of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the _⌊presence_⌋* of Yahweh. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,

³ Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches* and a forest giving shade, and _⌊very high_⌋,* and its treetop was between the clouds. ⁴ Waters made it great, the deep made it grow high; its rivers were going all around _⌊its planting area_⌋,* and its channels it sent out to all of the trees of the field. ⁵ Therefore it became tall, with its height more than all of the trees of the field, and its branches became numerous, and its branches became long _⌊from its sending its shoots from abundant water_⌋.* ⁶ In its branches all the birds* of the heaven* made their nest, and under its branches all the animals* of the field gave birth, and in its shadow all the many nations lived. ⁷ And it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was toward much water. ⁸ Cedars in the garden of God could not be equal to it; fir trees* could not resemble its branches, and plane trees were not even like its branches; any tree even in the garden of God could not resemble it in its beauty. ⁹ I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches, and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.'" ¹⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "_⌊Because_⌋* it was tall in height and it set its treetop between* thick clouds, and _⌊he took pride in his tallness_⌋,* ¹¹ then* I gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he _⌊dealt thoroughly_⌋* with it according to its wickedness. I drove it out. ¹² And strangers cut it off, the most ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all of the valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it. ¹³ On its fallen trunk all the birds* of the heaven* now dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches. ¹⁴ This occurred so that all of the trees with abundant water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between* their thick foliage,* and so that_⌊all of the trees that are abundantly watered_⌋* _⌊will not stand up to them_⌋* in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given over to death, to the world below in the midst of _⌊mortals_⌋,* to the people going down to the grave."* ¹⁵ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "On the day of its going down to Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it with the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they had fainted because of it. ¹⁶ From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with the people going down to the grave,* and so in the world below all of the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, _⌊all the well-watered trees_⌋* were comforted! ¹⁷ They also went down with it to Sheol to _⌊those who died by the sword_⌋,* and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations. ¹⁸ _⌊To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty_⌋* among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with _⌊those who died by the sword_⌋.* That is Pharaoh and _⌊his entire_⌋* crowd!"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

³⁰ And the king answered and said, "Is this not the great Babylon which I have built as a royal palace by the strength of my own power, and for the glory of my own majesty?"

²² But the people began to call out loudly,* "The voice of a god and not of a man!" ²³ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down _⌊because_⌋* he did not give the glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and* died.

¹⁶ These people are grumblers, discontented, proceeding according to their* desires, and their mouths speaking pompous words, _⌊showing partiality to gain an advantage_⌋*.

⁷ Yahweh was with him; everywhere he went, he succeeded. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

¹ In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up because Jehoiakim had become his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

¹⁹ But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" ²⁰ Then I answered and said to them, "The God of the heavens himself will let us succeed, and we his servants shall arise and build. But for you there is no share, right, or memorial in Jerusalem."

³⁰ There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel to oppose Yahweh. ³¹ A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but to Yahweh belongs the victory.

⁵ The warrior of wisdom is in strength, and a man of knowledge is strong in power. ⁶ For with wise guidance you shall make war for yourself, and victory is in an abundance of counsel.

³ For because of the _⌊anger_⌋* of Yahweh this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until his casting them from his _⌊presence_⌋.* And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

¹⁵ But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers to Egypt to give to him horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he escape doing these things, and can he break the covenant and escape?

⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria as he had year after year; so the king of Assyria arrested him, and confined him in a house of imprisonment.

²¹ Now, look! You _⌊rely_⌋* on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which when a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt for all who are trusting on him!

⁵ And they shall be dismayed, and they shall be ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and because of Egypt, their pride. ⁶ And the inhabitant* of the coastland will say this on that day:
'Look! This is our hope to whom we fled for help, to be delivered _⌊from_⌋* the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?'"

¹ "Oh rebellious children!" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh,
"to make a plan, but* not from me, and pour out a libation, but* not from my Spirit, _⌊so as to add_⌋* sin to sin. ² Who go to go down to Egypt, but* they do not ask of my mouth, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. ³ And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation. ⁴ For his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys reach to Hanes. ⁵ Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting, but for shame and also for disgrace." ⁶ An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, _⌊among_⌋* them are snake and flying serpent; they carry their wealth on the _⌊backs_⌋* of male donkeys and their treasures on the humps* of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. ⁷ For* _⌊Egyptians_⌋* help with vanity and emptiness, therefore I have called this one "Rahab, they are sitting."

³ And the Egyptians are human and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and the helper will stumble, and the one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.*

⁵ And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem. ⁶ And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, _⌊saying_⌋,* ⁷ "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, "Look, the army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, is going to return to his land Egypt. ⁸ And the Chaldeans will return, and they will fight against this city, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire." '

⁶ And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because of their* being a staff of reed for the house of Israel. ⁷ When they took hold of you with the hand, you snapped, and you split their every shoulder. And when they leaned on you, you broke, and you caused all of their loins to wobble."

² You must completely demolish all of the places there where they served their gods, that is, the nations whom you are about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.* ³ And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this. ⁵ _⌊But only_⌋* to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all of your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go. ⁶ And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and _⌊your donations_⌋* and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock.

¹³ "Take care for yourself so that you do not offer your burnt offerings at just any place that you happen to see, ¹⁴ _⌊but only_⌋* at the place that Yahweh will choose among one of your tribes; there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all the things that I am commanding you.

⁴ He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the _⌊Israelites_⌋* were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan. ⁵ He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah.

²² But if you say to me, 'On Yahweh our God we trust,' is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'In the presence of this altar you shall bow down only in Jerusalem?'

²⁰ And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he responded to their prayer because they trusted in him.

⁷ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram,* and since you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram* escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with very abundant chariots and horsemen? And because of your reliance on Yahweh he gave them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout all the earth to strengthen those whose heart is fully devoted to him. You have been foolish in this, for from now on you will have wars."

¹⁴ And they rose up and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem. And they removed all the incense altars and threw them away in the Wadi* Kidron.

¹ And when all this was finished, all Israel who were found in the cities of Judah went out and shattered the stone pillars, cut down the Asherahs, and destroyed the high places and the altars from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh _⌊to the very last one_⌋.* Then all the Israelites returned, each to his own property and to their cities.

⁷ "Be strong! Be courageous! Do not fear and do not be dismayed before the king of Assyria and before all the crowd that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is the arm of flesh, and with us is Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence with the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

¹² Has not Hezekiah himself removed his high places and his altars and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, "You must bow down before one altar and upon it you must make offerings"?

⁴ Our ancestors* trusted you; they trusted and you delivered them. ⁵ They cried to you and were saved; they trusted you and were not ashamed.

⁵ Why are you _⌊in despair_⌋,* O my soul, and disturbed within me? Hope in God, because I will again praise him, for the salvation of his presence.

¹⁰ As with a shattering in my bones my oppressors taunt me, while they say to me _⌊all day_⌋,* "Where is your God?" ¹¹ Why are you _⌊in despair_⌋,* O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, because I shall again praise him, _⌊my salvation_⌋* and my God.

¹⁵ Now the spiritual person discerns all things, but he himself is judged by no one.

⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi,* and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. ⁴¹ Then the Philistine _⌊came on, getting nearer and nearer_⌋* to David, with _⌊his shield bearer_⌋* in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

¹⁰ Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, "Thus may the gods do to me and thus may they add if the dust of Samaria is sufficient for the hollow of a hand for all of the people who are at my feet."

¹⁸ Then he said, "If they have come out for peace, seize them alive; and if they have come out for war, seize them alive."

¹⁴ He also took all of the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the temple of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, as well as the _⌊hostages_⌋;* then he returned to Samaria.

²³ So then, please make a wager with my lord, with the king of Assyria, and I will give to you a thousand horses _⌊if you are able on your part to put riders on them._⌋*

² Then he said before his brothers and the army of Samaria, "What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they restore these things for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble—even those burned up?" ³ Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, "Their wall of stone that they are building would break down if a fox went on it!" ⁴ Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn on their head and give them over to plunder in the land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. They have _⌊provoked the builders to anger_⌋.*

⁷ _⌊Some boast in chariots and others in horses_⌋,* but we boast in the name of Yahweh, our God. ⁸ They will collapse and fall, and we will rise and stand firm.

³ Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us, for long enough we have had our fill of contempt. ⁴ For long enough our soul has had its fill of the derision of the self-confident, the contempt of the arrogant.

¹⁶ Except, he may _⌊not make numerous_⌋* for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to to go to Egypt _⌊in order to increase horses_⌋,* for Yahweh has said to you that _⌊you may never return_⌋.*

²⁴ How _⌊can you repulse a single captain among the least of the servants of my master_⌋*? Yet you rely for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen!

³¹ A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but to Yahweh belongs the victory.

⁸ For he says, "Are not my commanders altogether kings?

⁵ And they shall be dismayed, and they shall be ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and because of Egypt, their pride.

² Who go to go down to Egypt, but* they do not ask of my mouth, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. ³ And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation. ⁴ For his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys reach to Hanes. ⁵ Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting, but for shame and also for disgrace."

⁷ For* _⌊Egyptians_⌋* help with vanity and emptiness, therefore I have called this one "Rahab, they are sitting."

¹⁶ and you said,
"No! For we will flee on horses!"* Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses!"* Therefore your pursuers shall be swift! ¹⁷ One thousand _⌊because of_⌋* a threat of one, _⌊because_⌋* of a threat of five you shall flee, until you are left like a flagstaff on _⌊top_⌋* of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill.

⁶ Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him.

³⁶ How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

¹⁸ Then he said, "I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.'" He lied to him.

²⁵ Have I now come up against this place without Yahweh to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'" '"

²¹ And he* sent messengers to him, saying, "_⌊What is there between us_⌋,* O king of Judah? I am not against you yourself this day, but against the house making war against me. And God has commanded me to make haste. Stop opposing God, who is with me that he will not destroy you."

⁵ Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger, and a staff is in their hand: my wrath! ⁶ I send him against a godless nation, and I command him against the people of my wrath, to capture spoil and to carry off plunder, and to make them* a trampling place, like the clay of the streets. ⁷ But he does not think this,* and his heart does not plan this. For it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

²⁸ And I know your sitting down and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging _⌊against_⌋* me.

⁶ Or is a horn blown in a city and people are not afraid? Or does a disaster occur in the city and Yahweh has not done it?

²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the chief commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding, but you must not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall." ²⁷ The chief commander said to them, "Is it solely to your master and to you my master has sent me to speak these words? Is it not for the men who sit on the wall to eat their feces and to drink their urine with you?"

⁷ And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic.

⁴ And the _⌊astrologers_⌋* said to the king in Aramaic,* "O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants and we will reveal the explanation."

²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.*

²⁵ There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege was against it, until the head of a donkey went for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves went for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ It happened that the king of Israel was crossing over on the wall, and a woman called out to him, saying, "Help, my lord the king!" ²⁷ He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. _⌊How_⌋* can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?" ²⁸ The king said to her, "_⌊What is the problem_⌋?"* Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.' ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

²⁷ The chief commander said to them, "Is it solely to your master and to you my master has sent me to speak these words? Is it not for the men who sit on the wall to eat their feces and to drink their urine with you?"

²⁰ They devoured on the right but still were hungry and devoured on the left but they were not satisfied. Each one devoured the flesh of his arm,

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them." '

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field. ¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women, have cooked their children; they became as something to eat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹⁶ And he said to me, "Son of man,* look, I am going to break the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, _⌊anxiously_⌋,* and _⌊rationed water_⌋,* and they will drink with horror,

⁸ He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, "Why have you come out to form ranks for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Commission for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight with me and he defeats me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail over him and defeat him, then you will be our servants and you will serve us." ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, "I hereby defy the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so that we may fight each other!" ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very afraid.

²⁸ Then the chief commander stood and called with a great voice in Judean, and he spoke and said, "Hear the word of the king, the great king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to rescue you from my* hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, "Certainly Yahweh will rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!" ' ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make with me a treaty of peace and come out to me that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water from his cistern! ³² Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that you may live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you by saying, "Yahweh will deliver us!"

¹⁸ Then they called with a great voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who were upon the wall to frighten them and terrify them, so that they could take the city captive.

¹⁰ They have shut off their calloused* heart; with their mouth they speak arrogantly. ¹¹ Now they surround us at our every step. They _⌊intend_⌋* _⌊to pin_⌋* me to the ground. ¹² _⌊He is like_⌋* a lion; he longs to tear apart, and like a strong lion crouching in hiding places. ¹³ Rise up, O Yahweh, confront _⌊him_⌋.* Make him bow down. Rescue with your sword my life from the wicked,

⁸ They mock and speak maliciously of oppression; they speak as though from on high. ⁹ They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue roams the earth.

⁶ I have said,* "You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. ⁷ However, you will die like men,* and you will fall like one of the princes."

⁷ therefore look! The Lord is bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory.
And he will rise above all his channels, and he will flow over all his banks.

⁸ For he says, "Are not my commanders altogether kings? ⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols* —and their images were _⌊greater than those of_⌋* Jerusalem and Samaria— ¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?" ¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against _⌊Mount Zion_⌋* and Jerusalem, "I will punish the _⌊arrogance_⌋* of the king of Assyria and _⌊his haughtiness_⌋."* ¹³ For he says,
"I have done it by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down _⌊the inhabitants_⌋.*

⁴ And Rabshakeh said to them, "Now say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What is this confidence in which you trust?

³ Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches* and a forest giving shade, and _⌊very high_⌋,* and its treetop was between the clouds. ⁴ Waters made it great, the deep made it grow high; its rivers were going all around _⌊its planting area_⌋,* and its channels it sent out to all of the trees of the field. ⁵ Therefore it became tall, with its height more than all of the trees of the field, and its branches became numerous, and its branches became long _⌊from its sending its shoots from abundant water_⌋.* ⁶ In its branches all the birds* of the heaven* made their nest, and under its branches all the animals* of the field gave birth, and in its shadow all the many nations lived. ⁷ And it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was toward much water. ⁸ Cedars in the garden of God could not be equal to it; fir trees* could not resemble its branches, and plane trees were not even like its branches; any tree even in the garden of God could not resemble it in its beauty. ⁹ I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches, and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.'" ¹⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "_⌊Because_⌋* it was tall in height and it set its treetop between* thick clouds, and _⌊he took pride in his tallness_⌋,*

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are truth,* and his ways are justice and that he is able to humble those who walk in pride."

¹⁰ "Thus you shall say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, 'Let not your God whom you are trusting deceive you, by his saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!" ¹¹ Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, by utterly destroying them, and shall you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that my _⌊predecessors_⌋* destroyed deliver them? Not Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, nor the children of Eden who were in Tel Assar. ¹³ Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'"

²² Whom have you mocked and reviled? And against whom have you have raised your voice and have haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

¹¹ Is not Hezekiah urging you to give you up to die by starvation and thirst, saying, "Yahweh our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria"?

¹³ Do you not know what I have done, I and my ancestors,* to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of all the lands at all able to save their land from my hand? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors* utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand? ¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors.* Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'" ¹⁶ And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant. ¹⁷ And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand." ¹⁸ Then they called with a great voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who were upon the wall to frighten them and terrify them, so that they could take the city captive. ¹⁹ And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind.

¹⁰ "You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ¹¹ Look! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that my _⌊predecessors_⌋* destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or* Ivvah?'"

¹⁵ Now if you are ready so that _⌊when_⌋* you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and the drum and all kinds of music, you fall down and you worship the statue that I have made, that will be good. But if you do not worship it, _⌊immediately_⌋* you will be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and _⌊who is the god_⌋* who* will rescue you from my hands?" ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, "We have no need on this matter _⌊to present a defense to you_⌋.* ¹⁷ _⌊If it is so_⌋,* our God, whom we serve, is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. And from your hand, O king, let him rescue us.

²⁰ And _⌊when he came near_⌋* to the pit, he cried out to Daniel with a distressed voice, and the king _⌊spoke_⌋* and said to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve faithfully, was he able to rescue you from the lions?"

²⁵ And he will speak words against the Most High, and he will wear out the holy ones* of the Most High, and he will attempt to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time and two times and half a time.

⁴ who opposes and who exalts himself over every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits down in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God.

⁵ And a mouth was given to him speaking great things and blasphemies, and authority to act was given to him for forty-two months. ⁶ And he opened his mouth for blasphemies toward God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling, those who live in heaven.

² O sons of man, how long will my honor* be a disgrace? How long will you love vanity? How long will you seek lies?* Selah

⁷ All who see me mock me. They open wide their lips; they shake the head, saying: ⁸ "_⌊He trusts Yahweh_⌋.* Let him rescue him. Let him deliver him because he delights in him."

⁹ Do not cast me away in the time of old age; when my strength fails do not abandon me.

⁷ And if you say to me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall bow down in the _⌊presence_⌋* of this altar.'"

¹⁰ "You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

²³ Whom have you taunted and blasphemed, and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward?
To the holy one of Israel! ²⁴ By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said, "With my many chariots,* I myself have gone up the height of the mountains, to the remote areas of Lebanon. And I cut off _⌊its tall cedars_⌋,* the choicest of its junipers. And I came to the height of its limit, the forest of its orchard.*

⁴³ He trusts in God; let him deliver him now if he wants to,* because he said, 'I am the Son of God'!"

²⁰ And moreover, you shall say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he thought, "_⌊Let me appease him_⌋* with the gift going before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will _⌊show me favor_⌋."*

¹¹ Please take my gift which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me, and because _⌊I have enough_⌋."* And he urged him, so he took it.

³ So the elders of Jabesh said to him, "Leave us alone for seven days so that we may send messengers in all the territory of Israel, and if there is no deliverer for us, then we will come out to you."

²⁷ So then, this gift which your female servant has brought to my lord, may it be given to the young men _⌊who follow my lord_⌋.*

⁶ David placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, so Aram became servants of David, bringing tribute. Yahweh protected David everywhere he went.

²⁰ Judah and Israel were as many as the sand which is on the seashore in abundance, eating and drinking and rejoicing!

²⁵ Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

¹⁵ When he returned to the man of God, he and all of his army, he came and stood before him and said, "Please now, I know that there is no God in all of the world except in Israel. So then, please take a gift from your servant."

³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make with me a treaty of peace and come out to me that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water from his cistern!

¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. ¹⁴ He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ¹⁶ of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors _⌊fit for war_⌋* the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern and flowing waters from inside your own well.

⁴ But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.

¹⁰ On that day,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite _⌊one another_⌋* under the vine and under the fig tree.'"

⁵ Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers that they should go on ahead to you and make arrangements in advance for your generous gift that was promised previously, so this would be prepared as a generous gift and not as grudgingly granted.

⁸ And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from this land to a good and wide land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites* and the Hittites* and the Amorites* and the Perizzites* and the Hivites* and the Jebusites.*

⁷ For Yahweh your God is bringing you to a good land with streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys* and in the hills,* ⁸ to a land of wheat and barley and vines* and fig trees* and pomegranate trees,* a land of olive trees,* olive oil and honey; ⁹ to a land where you may eat food in it _⌊without scarcity_⌋;* you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones are iron and from its mountains you can mine copper.

¹² a land that Yahweh your God is caring for it; continually the eyes of Yahweh your God are on it, from the beginning of the year up to the end of the year.

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷ Now this happened because the _⌊Israelites_⌋* had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods. ⁸ They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* which the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The _⌊Israelites_⌋* secretly did things which were not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh. ¹² They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!" ¹³ Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, with every seer saying, "Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors,* which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets." ¹⁴ But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors* who did not believe in Yahweh their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he _⌊made_⌋* with their ancestors,* and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and went after all the nations which were all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal. ¹⁷ They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. ¹⁸ So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone. ¹⁹ Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced, ²⁰ so Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel and punished them, and he gave them into the hand of the plunderers until he banished them from his presence. ²¹ For he had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, but Jeroboam detached Israel from following Yahweh, and he made them sin a great sin. ²² The _⌊Israelites_⌋* walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed, and they did not depart from it, ²³ until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

⁹ It happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, that is, the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came against Samaria and laid siege against her. ¹⁰ At the end of three years, he captured it in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel; Samaria was captured. ¹¹ Then the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen to nor did they obey.

³² Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that you may live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you by saying, "Yahweh will deliver us!"

¹¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it.

¹⁷ _⌊He will not enjoy the streams_⌋,* the torrents of honey and curds.

¹⁰ The righteous knows the life* of his animal, but the compassion* of the wicked is cruel.

³³ Did the gods of each of the nations ever rescue the land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? For did they rescue Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all of the gods of the countries have rescued their countries from my hand that Yahweh should rescue Jerusalem from my hand?'"

¹⁷ Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have utterly destroyed the nations and their land. ¹⁸ He has hurled their gods in the fire because they are not gods, but the work of the hands of a human made of wood and stone, so they destroyed them.

¹³ Do you not know what I have done, I and my ancestors,* to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of all the lands at all able to save their land from my hand? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors* utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand? ¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors.* Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'" ¹⁶ And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant. ¹⁷ And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand."

⁴ those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are on our side. Who is master over us?"

⁵ How great are your deeds, O Yahweh; how very deep are your thoughts. ⁶ The brutish man does not know, and the fool cannot understand this. ⁷ When the wicked flourish like grass and all the workers of evil blossom, it is so they can be destroyed forever.

² Why should the nations say, "Where, _⌊pray tell_⌋,* is their God?" ³ But our God is in the heavens; all that he desires, he does. ⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ⁷ they have their hands, but they cannot feel, their feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot utter a sound in their throats. ⁸ Those who make them become like them, as does everyone who trusts in them.

⁵ For I know that Yahweh is great, and our Lord is greater than all gods. ⁶ All that Yahweh desires, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of the hands of humankind. ¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear; there is not even breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them become like them, as does everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁰ And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!" '"

¹⁵ And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, "Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!"

¹⁷ Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God! ¹⁸ Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands* and their land,

³ For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, for it is a tree cut down from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool. ⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger. ⁵ They are like scarecrows* in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them."

¹⁰ But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God, and _⌊an everlasting king_⌋.* Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger. ¹¹ "_⌊Thus_⌋* you shall say to them,
'Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens. ¹² He is the maker of the earth by his power, who created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.

¹⁵ Now if you are ready so that _⌊when_⌋* you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and the drum and all kinds of music, you fall down and you worship the statue that I have made, that will be good. But if you do not worship it, _⌊immediately_⌋* you will be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and _⌊who is the god_⌋* who* will rescue you from my hands?"

¹⁹ Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Wake up!' And to a lifeless stone, 'Arise!' Can he teach? Look, it is covered with gold and silver, and there is no breath within it. ²⁰ But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him."

⁸ From Mount Hor you will make a boundary to reach Hamath; the limits of the territory will be at Zedad.

⁹ When Toi, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer,

⁵ So the king of Assyria went up in all the land, then he went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷ Now this happened because the _⌊Israelites_⌋* had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods.

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities.

⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols* —and their images were _⌊greater than those of_⌋* Jerusalem and Samaria— ¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?"

²³ Concerning Damascus:
"Hamath and Arpad are ashamed, for they have heard bad news; they melt. There is concern in the sea. It is not able to keep quiet.

² And Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh that I should listen to his voice to release Israel? I do not know Yahweh, and also I will not release Israel."

²³ The servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we.* Let us fight with them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they.

²² Whom have you mocked and reviled? And against whom have you have raised your voice and have haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²³ By the hand of your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, 'With my many chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains. To the remote areas of Lebanon, I have felled the tallest of its cedars, the choicest of its cypresses. I have entered the place of overnight lodging. Even to the edge of forest of its fertile land. ²⁴ I dug wells and I drank foreign water, and I dried up with the sole of my steps all the canals of Egypt.' ²⁵ Have you not heard? From long ago I have determined it, from the days of old I have planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. It shall be turned into a pile of rocks; fortified cities are ruined. ²⁶ Their inhabitants, short of hand, shall be dismayed; and they shall be ashamed. They have become green plants of the open field, and tender grass, green grass of the roof and blight before the standing grain. ²⁷ Your sitting, your going out, and your coming in I know, and your raging against me. ²⁸ Because you are raging against me, and your arrogance has come up in my ears, I will put my nose ring in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. And I will turn you back on the way that you have come. ²⁹ " 'This will be the sign for you: Eat the volunteer plants for the year, and in the second year, the volunteer plants that spring up from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰ The remainder of the house of Judah which survives will again take root below and bear fruit above. ³¹ For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and survivors from Mount Zion; the zeal of Yahweh will do this. ³² " 'Therefore thus says Yahweh to the king of Assyria, "He shall not come to this city, nor shall he shoot an arrow there, nor shall he bring a small shield near her, nor shall he cast a siege ramp against her. ³³ By the way that he came to her he shall return; but to this city, he shall not come," declares Yahweh. ³⁴ And I will defend this city to save her for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.'" ³⁵ It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and went and returned and lived in Nineveh. ³⁷ It happened that he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer* struck him with the sword. Then they escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors.* Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'"

¹⁹ And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind.

²⁵ Because he stretched out his hand against God, and he was arrogant to Shaddai; ²⁶ he _⌊stubbornly_⌋* runs against him _⌊with his thick-bossed shield_⌋.*

⁹ Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? ¹⁰ Adorn* yourself with pride and dignity, and clothe yourself with splendor. ¹¹ Pour out the overflowing of your anger, and look at all the proud, and humble them. ¹² Look at all the proud, humble them, and tread down the wicked _⌊where they stand_⌋.*

²¹ These things you have done, and I have been silent; You imagined that I was just like you. I will rebuke you and present an argument before your eyes.

⁹ They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue roams the earth.

¹⁸ Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands* and their land, ¹⁹ to _⌊set_⌋* their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them.

²³ Whom have you taunted and blasphemed, and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward?
To the holy one of Israel! ²⁴ By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said, "With my many chariots,* I myself have gone up the height of the mountains, to the remote areas of Lebanon. And I cut off _⌊its tall cedars_⌋,* the choicest of its junipers. And I came to the height of its limit, the forest of its orchard.* ²⁵ I myself dug and drank waters, and I caused all the streams of Egypt to dry up by the sole of my feet." ²⁶ Have you not heard from _⌊a long time ago_⌋?* I have made it from days of primeval time, and I formed it. Now I have brought it about, and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones. ²⁷ And their inhabitants are _⌊weak_⌋;* they are dismayed, and they are ashamed; they have become like plants* of the field, and like greens of grass, like grass on* the roofs and a cultivated field _⌊before_⌋* the standing grain. ²⁸ And I know your sitting down and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging _⌊against_⌋* me. ²⁹ Because you were enraged _⌊against_⌋* me, and your noise* has come up to* my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle on your lips, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.

¹⁶ All of them are ashamed and indeed humiliated; the craftsmen of idols go together in insult. ¹⁷ Israel is saved by Yahweh with everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed, and you shall not be humiliated _⌊to all eternity_⌋.*

²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the chief commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding, but you must not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall."

³⁷ Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn clothes, and they told him the words of the chief commander.

¹³ But as for me, like the deaf I cannot hear, and I am like the mute who cannot open his mouth. ¹⁴ And so I am like a man who hears not, and in whose mouth there are no retorts. ¹⁵ Rather for you I wait, O Yahweh. You will answer, O Lord my God.

¹ For the music director. For Jeduthun.* A psalm of David.*
I said, "I will guard my ways _⌊that I may not sin_⌋* with my tongue. I will keep a muzzle over my mouth as long as the wicked are before me."

⁷ He who corrects a scoffer gains abuse for himself, and he who rebukes the wicked _⌊gets hurt_⌋.* ⁸ Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke the wise and he will love you.

⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly lest you become like him—even you.

¹³ Therefore, whoever has insight will keep silent in that time, for it is a time of evil.

⁶ "Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls in front of pigs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn around and* tear you to pieces.

⁷ It happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to cause death or to give life? This man is sending a man to me to cure his disease. Indeed! But know and see that he seeks an opportunity against me."

³ When I heard this I tore my garment and my robe, and I pulled the hair out from my head and beard, and I sat appalled.

⁷ Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

³ And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who _⌊was in charge of the palace_⌋,* came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.

¹¹ And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand* it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the _⌊hearing_⌋* of the people who are on the wall."

¹ And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple* of Yahweh. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was _⌊in charge of_⌋* the palace,* and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests _⌊covered_⌋* with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes, saying, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have just now heard the blasphemy!