Study Desk

Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, those who rely on war horses, and trust in Egypt's many chariots and in their many, many horsemen. But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel and do not seek help from the Lord .

For at that time everyone will get rid of the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.

For a fool speaks disgraceful things; his mind plans out sinful deeds. He commits godless deeds and says misleading things about the Lord ; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.

In a year's time you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded city is abandoned. Hill and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there.

Lord , be merciful to us! We wait for you. Give us strength each morning! Deliver us when distress comes.

For the Lord , our ruler, the Lord , our commander, the Lord , our king— he will deliver us.

For the Lord is angry at all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

The Lord 's sword is dripping with blood, it is covered with fat; it drips with the blood of young rams and goats and is covered with the fat of rams' kidneys. For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah, a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.

For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.

Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; wild goats will bleat to one another. Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there and make for themselves a nest.

Carefully read the scroll of the Lord ! Not one of these creatures will be missing, none will lack a mate. For the Lord has issued the decree, and his own spirit gathers them.

Then the lame will leap like a deer, the mute tongue will shout for joy; for water will flow in the desert, streams in the wilderness.

A thoroughfare will be there— it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it; it is reserved for those authorized to use it— fools will not stray into it.

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

Certainly you will not refuse one of my master's minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

But the chief adviser said, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!"

This is what the king says: ‘Don't let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!