Study Desk

What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed yourselves. You betray others, but you have never been betrayed. When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed. When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed.

But Lord , be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble.

But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.

But the Lord says: "Now I will stand up. Now I will show my power and might.

You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble. Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.

"But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!' But isn't he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

But Sennacherib's chief of staff replied, "Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine."

But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, "Do not answer him."

They told him, "This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.

But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!"

And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.

"But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.

"But I know you well— where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Here is the proof that what I say is true: "This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.

I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.

But what could I say? For he himself sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."

No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

"But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend,