Hezekiah says, “The Lord our God will rescue us from the power ¹  of the king of Assyria.” But he is misleading you and you will die of hunger and thirst! ² 

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. ¹  They defiled the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’

For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ²  their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³  their throats like an open grave, ⁴  their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: Tell me, O you whom my heart ¹  loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest ²  I wander around ³  beside the flocks of your companions!

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

So the Lord told Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub ¹  and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ² 

There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people, ¹  just as there was for Israel, when ²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ¹  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ²  along with a large army. The chief adviser ³  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ⁴ 

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ²  was marching out to fight him. ³  He again sent ⁴  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; ¹  he leads the ewes along.

Yet do not depart quickly or leave in a panic. ¹  For the Lord goes before you; the God of Israel is your rear guard.

Your gates will remain open at all times; they will not be shut during the day or at night, so that the wealth of nations may be delivered, with their kings leading the way. ¹ 

The leading men of the cities send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns, ¹  but they do not find any water there. They return with their containers ²  empty. Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. ³ 

The Lord told Jeremiah, ¹  “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. ²  Take with you ³  some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders ⁴  of the priests.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ²  “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

“I, the Lord who rules over all, say: ¹  ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

“Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²  me?

He took one from the royal family, ¹  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ²  He then took the leaders of the land

“Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, ¹  O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent ²  and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. ³