Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” ¹  Then he thought, ²  “For ³  there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”

The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages ¹  the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, ²  and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ¹  the feet of a messenger who announces peace, a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ² 

Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ¹  Why spend ²  your hard-earned money ³  on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully ⁴  to me and eat what is nourishing! ⁵  Enjoy fine food! ⁶ 

I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument ¹  that will be better than sons and daughters. I will set up a permanent monument ²  for them that will remain.

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired. ¹ 

I take no delight ¹  when they offer up to me ²  frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ³ 

The Lord said, “Jerusalem, ¹  I will surely send you away for your own good. I will surely ²  bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress.

They will be like a shrub ¹  in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.

But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

For I, the Lord, say that ¹  I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it. ²  It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.’” ³ 

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.

One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. ¹  The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten.

I will look after their welfare ¹  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land ²  and will not uproot them. ³ 

I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ¹  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

“I, the Lord, affirm: ¹  ‘The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah. ² 

I will indeed ¹  see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them. ²  All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left.

In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.