Study Desk

But he is the wise one who is bringing the disaster. And they will not be able to stop what he commanded. The Lord will attack those who are evil and all who try to help them.

The Lord told me: "When a lion or its cub catches an animal to eat, the lion stands over the dead animal and roars, and nothing can frighten it away. If men come and yell at the lion, the lion will not be afraid. They might make a lot of noise, but the lion will not run away." In the same way, the Lord All-Powerful will come down to Mount Zion. He will fight on that hill.

It is true that Assyria will be defeated with a sword, but it will not be a human sword that defeats him. Assyria will be destroyed, but that destruction will not come from a man's sword. Assyria will run away from God's sword, but the young men will be caught and made slaves.

But a good leader plans good things to do, and that will make him a leader over other leaders.

Some of you women are calm now; you feel safe. But you should stand and listen to the words I say.

You feel safe now, but after one year you will be troubled. That is because you will not gather grapes next year—there will be no grapes to gather.

Women, you are calm now, but you should be afraid. You feel safe now, but you should be worried. Take off your nice clothes and put on sackcloth. Wrap it around your waist.

Beat your breasts in sorrow. Cry because your fields are empty. Your vineyards once gave grapes, but now they are empty.

But before this happens, the forest must fall and the city must be torn down.

But listen! The messengers are crying outside. The messengers who bring peace are crying very hard.

The land is sick and dying. Lebanon is dying and Sharon Valley is dry and empty. Bashan and Carmel once grew beautiful plants—but now those plants have stopped growing.

because the Lord is our powerful leader there. That land is a place with streams and wide rivers, but there will be no enemy boats or powerful ships on those rivers. You men who work on such boats can stop your work with the ropes. You cannot make the mast strong enough. You will not be able to open your sails, because the Lord is our judge. He makes our laws. He is our king. He saves us. The Lord will give us our wealth. Even crippled people will get their share.

Now people see mirages that look like water, but then there will be real pools of water. There will be wells in the dry land where water flows from the ground. Tall water plants will grow where wild animals once ruled.

I tell you, if you are trusting in power and great battle plans, that is useless. Those are nothing but empty words. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me?

"‘So maybe you will say, "We trust the Lord our God to help us." But Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped your God, right? Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem."

But even then, you couldn't beat even one of my master's lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt's chariots and horse soldiers?

But the commander said, "My master sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you and your master. I must also speak to those people sitting there on the wall. When we surround your city, they will suffer too. Like you, they will become so hungry they will eat their own waste and drink their own urine!"

But the people were silent. They did not say a word to the commander, because King Hezekiah had commanded them, "Don't say anything to him."

They said to Isaiah, "King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day—as sad as when a baby should be born, but there is not enough strength for the birth.

They did throw the gods of those nations into the fire, but they were not real gods. They were only wood and stone—statues that people made. That is why the kings of Assyria could destroy them.