His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ¹  that reaches one’s neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ²  he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ³ 

For a fool speaks disgraceful things; ¹  his mind plans out sinful deeds. ²  He commits godless deeds ³  and says misleading things about the Lord; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite ⁴  and gives the thirsty nothing to drink. ⁵ 

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

“Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ¹  Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate! ² 

This is what the true God, ¹  the Lord, says – the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ²  the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it: ³ 

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹  Then all humankind ²  will recognize that I am the Lord, your deliverer, your protector, ³  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁴ 

For just as the ground produces its crops and a garden yields its produce, so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance ¹  to grow, and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations. ² 

This is what the Lord says: “When ¹  juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes, someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ ²  So I will do for the sake of my servants – I will not destroy everyone. ³ 

When you see this, you will be happy, ¹  and you will be revived. ²  The Lord will reveal his power to his servants and his anger to his enemies. ³ 

“They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ³ 

For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord. “They will come and their kings will set up their thrones ¹  near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem. ²  They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah. ³ 

“Run for safety, people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! ¹  Sound the trumpet ²  in Tekoa! Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster lurks ³  out of the north; it will bring great destruction. ⁴ 

Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle to attack you, Daughter Zion.’” ¹ 

The snorting of the enemy’s horses is already being heard in the city of Dan. The sound of the neighing of their stallions ¹  causes the whole land to tremble with fear. They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it! They are coming to destroy ²  the cities and everyone who lives in them!”

For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.

Then ¹  tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. ²  I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, ³  the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. ⁴ 

You, Pashhur, and all your household ¹  will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’” ² 

O Lord who rules over all, ¹  you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. ²  Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives. ¹ 

Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in ¹  building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. ²  He did what was just and right. ³  So things went well with him.