Study Desk

Woe ^(C1)to you, destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he ^(C2)who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you finish destroying, ^(C3)you will be destroyed; As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will ^(C4)deal treacherously with you.

LORD, ^(C1)be gracious to us; we have ^(C2)waited for You. Be ^(F1)their ^(F2)(C3)strength every morning, Our salvation also in the ^(C4)time of distress.

At the sound of a roar, ^(C1)peoples flee; At the ^(C2)lifting up of Yourself, nations disperse.

Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it.

The LORD is ^(C1)exalted, for He dwells on high; He has ^(C2)filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

And He will be the ^(F1)(C1)stability of your times, A ^(C2)wealth of salvation, wisdom, and ^(C3)knowledge; The ^(C4)fear of the LORD is his treasure.

Behold, their brave men cry out ^(F1)in the streets, The ^(F2)(C1)ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

The highways are desolate, ^(F1)the ^(C1)traveler has ceased, He has ^(C2)broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, He has no regard for mankind.

^(C1)The land mourns and wastes away, ^(C2)Lebanon is shamed and withers; ^(C3)Sharon is like a desert plain, And Bashan and Carmel ^(F1)lose their foliage.

"Now ^(C1)I will arise," says the LORD, "Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.

-"You have ^(C1)conceived ^(F1)chaff, you will give birth to stubble; ^(F2)My ^(C2)breath will consume you like a fire.

-"The peoples will be burned to lime, ^(C1)Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.

"You who are far away, ^(C1)hear what I have done; And you who are near, ^(F1)acknowledge My might."

^(C1)Sinners in Zion are terrified; ^(C2)Trembling has seized the godless. "Who among us can live with ^(C3)the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting ^(C4)burning?"

One who ^(C1)walks righteously and speaks with integrity, One who rejects ^(F1)unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; One who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And ^(C2)shuts his eyes from looking at evil;

He will dwell on the heights, ^(C1)His refuge will be the ^(F1)impregnable rock; ^(C2)His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.

Your eyes will see ^(C1)the King in His beauty; They will see ^(C2)a distant land.

Your heart will meditate on ^(C1)terror: "Where is ^(C2)one who counts? Where is one who weighs? Where is one who counts the towers?"

You will no longer see a fierce people, A people of ^(F1)(C1)unintelligible speech ^(F2)which no one comprehends, Of a stammering tongue ^(F3)which no one understands.

^(C1)Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an ^(C2)undisturbed settlement, ^(C3)A tent which will not be folded; Its stakes will never be pulled up, Nor any of its ropes be torn apart.

But there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us A place of ^(C1)rivers and wide canals On which no boat with oars will go, And on which no mighty ship will pass—

For the LORD is our ^(C1)judge, The LORD is ^(C2)our lawgiver, The LORD is ^(C3)our king; ^(C4)He will save us—

Your ship's tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the ^(C1)prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; ^(C2)Those who limp will take the plunder.

And no resident will say, "I am ^(C1)sick"; The people who live ^(F1)there will be ^(C2)forgiven their wrongdoing.

Come near, ^(C1)you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples! ^(C2)Let the earth and ^(F1)all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

For the LORD'S ^(C1)anger is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies. He has ^(F1)(C2)utterly destroyed them, He has turned them over to ^(C3)slaughter.

So their slain will be ^(C1)thrown out, And their corpses ^(F1)will give off their ^(C2)stench, And the mountains will ^(F2)be drenched with their ^(C3)blood.

And ^(C1)all the heavenly ^(F1)lights will ^(F2)wear away, And the ^(C2)sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All its ^(F1)lights will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.

For ^(C1)My sword has drunk its fill in heaven; Behold it shall descend for judgment upon ^(C2)Edom, And upon the people whom I have ^(C3)designated for destruction.

The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in ^(C1)Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of ^(C2)Edom.

^(C1)Wild oxen will also ^(F1)fall with them And ^(C2)young bulls with strong ones; So their land will be ^(C3)soaked with blood, And their dust ^(F2)become greasy with fat.

For the LORD has a day of ^(C1)vengeance, A year of retribution for the ^(F1)cause of Zion.

^(F1)Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into ^(C1)brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

It will ^(C1)not be extinguished night or day; Its ^(C2)smoke will go up forever. From ^(C3)generation to generation it will be desolate; ^(C4)None will pass through it forever and ever.

But ^(F1)(C1)pelican and hedgehog will possess it, And ^(F2)owl and raven will dwell in it; And He will stretch over it the ^(C2)line of ^(F3)desolation And the ^(F4)plumb line of emptiness.

Its nobles—there is ^(C1)no one there Whom they may proclaim king— And all its officials will be ^(C2)nothing.

Thorns will come up in its ^(C1)fortified towers, Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of ^(C2)jackals And a habitat of ostriches.

The desert ^(C1)creatures will meet with the ^(F1)wolves, The ^(F2)(C1)goat also will cry to its kind. Yes, the ^(F3)night-bird will settle there And will find herself a resting place.

The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its ^(F1)protection. Yes, ^(C1)the ^(F2)hawks will be gathered there, Every one with its kind.

Seek from the ^(C1)book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For ^(F1)(C2)His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.

He has cast the ^(C1)lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by the ^(C2)measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From ^(C3)generation to generation they will dwell in it.

The ^(C1)wilderness and the desert will rejoice, And the ^(F1)(C2)desert will shout for joy and blossom; Like the crocus

It will ^(C1)blossom profusely And ^(C2)rejoice with joy and jubilation. The ^(C3)glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of ^(C4)Carmel and Sharon. They will see the ^(C5)glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God.

^(C1)Strengthen the ^(F1)exhausted, and make the ^(F2)feeble strong.

Say to those with ^(C1)anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with ^(C2)vengeance; The ^(C3)retribution of God will come, But He will ^(C4)save you."

Then the ^(C1)eyes of those who are blind will be opened, And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped.

Then those who ^(C1)limp will leap like a deer, And the ^(C2)tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the ^(C3)wilderness, And streams in the ^(F1)desert.

The ^(F1)scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground ^(C1)springs of water; In the ^(C2)haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

^(C1)A highway will be there, ^(C2)a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of ^(C3)Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And ^(C4)fools will not wander on it.

No ^(C1)lion will be there, Nor will any vicious animal go up on it; ^(F1)They will not be found there. But ^(C2)the redeemed will walk there,

And ^(C1)the redeemed of the LORD will return And come to Zion with joyful shouting, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And ^(C2)sorrow and sighing will flee away.

^(C1)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(C2)Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

And the ^(C1)king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the ^(C2)conduit of the upper pool on the road to the ^(F1)fuller's field.

Then ^(C1)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(C2)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him.

And ^(C1)Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: "What is this confidence that you have?

"I say, 'Your plan and strength for the war are only ^(F1)empty words.' Now on whom have you relied, that ^(C1)you have revolted against me?

"Behold, you have relied on the ^(C1)staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^(F1)hand and pierce it. ^(C2)So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

"But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is it not He ^(C1)whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?

"Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

"How then can you ^(F1)drive back even one ^(F2)official of the least of my master's servants and ^(F3)(C1)rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

"And have I now come up ^(F1)without the LORD'S approval against this land to destroy it? ^(C1)The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"'"

Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in ^(C1)Aramaic, for we ^(F1)understand it; and do not speak to us in ^(F2)(C2)Judean ^(F3)so that the people who are on the wall hear you."

But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"

Then Rabshakeh stood and ^(C1)called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

"This is what the king says: 'Do not let Hezekiah ^(C1)deceive you, for he will not be able to save you;

and do not let Hezekiah lead you to ^(C1)rely on the LORD, saying, "The LORD will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!"

'Do not listen to Hezekiah,' for this is what the king of Assyria says: '^(F1)Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his ^(C1)vine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the ^(C2)waters of his own cistern,

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

'Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, "^(C1)The LORD will save us." Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

'Where are the gods of ^(C1)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^(C1)Sepharvaim? And when have they ^(C2)saved Samaria from my hand?

'Who among all the ^(C1)gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the ^(C2)LORD would save Jerusalem from my hand?'"

But they were silent and did not ^(C1)answer him so much as a word; for the king's command was, "Do not answer him."

Then ^(C1)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(C2)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.

Now ^(C1)when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

Then he sent ^(C1)Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with ^(C2)Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^(C3)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

And they said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This day is a ^(C1)day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for ^(C2)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to ^(F1)deliver them.

'Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(C1)taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^(C2)the remnant that is left.'"

So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

And Isaiah said to them, "This is what you shall say to your master: 'This is what the LORD says: "^(C1)Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

"Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will ^(C1)hear news and ^(C2)return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(C1)Libnah, for he had heard that ^(F1)the king had left ^(C2)Lachish.

Now he ^(C1)heard them say regarding Tirhakah king of ^(F1)(C2)Cush, "He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

"This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^(F1)Judah: '^(C1)Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

'^(C1)Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?

'Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: ^(C1)Gozan, ^(C2)Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?

'Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'"

Then Hezekiah took the ^(F1)letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and ^(F2)spread it out before the LORD.

Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

"LORD of armies, God of Israel, ^(C1)who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^(C2)God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^(C3)You made heaven and earth.

"^(C1)Incline Your ear, LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, LORD, and see; and ^(C2)listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^(C3)taunt the living God.

"Truly, LORD, the ^(C1)kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands,

and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the ^(C1)work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have ^(C2)destroyed them.

"But now LORD, our God, ^(C1)save us from his hand, so that ^(C2)all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, ^(F1)LORD, are God."

Then ^(C1)Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: "She has shown contempt for you and derided you, The ^(C1)virgin ^(C2)daughter of Zion; The daughter of Jerusalem has ^(C3)shaken her head behind you!

-"Whom have you ^(C1)taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And ^(F1)haughtily ^(C2)raised your eyes? Against the ^(C3)Holy One of Israel!

-"Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, And you have said, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of ^(C1)Lebanon; And I cut down its tall ^(C2)cedars and its choice junipers. And I will come to its ^(F1)highest peak, its thickest ^(C3)forest.

-'I dug wells and drank waters, And ^(C1)with the sole of my feet I dried up All the canals of ^(F1)Egypt.'

-"^(C1)Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I ^(C2)planned it. Now ^(C3)I have brought it about That ^(C4)you would turn fortified cities into ^(C5)ruined heaps.

-"Therefore their inhabitants were ^(F1)powerless, They were shattered and put to shame; They were like the ^(C1)vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like ^(C2)grass on the housetops ^(F2)that is scorched before it has grown.

-"But I ^(C1)know your sitting down, Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me.

-"Because of your raging against Me And because your ^(C1)complacency has come up to My ears, I will put My ^(C2)hook in your nose And My ^(C3)bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back ^(C4)by the way that you came.