הָיָה

“Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man; a sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks—

…until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

The work of righteousness will be peace; the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.

No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.

On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,

And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.

You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.

But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”

“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.

It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread. He also fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.

You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.

This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.

If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him—for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength—

He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

…so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—