Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” ¹  The sovereign Lord who commands armies ²  has spoken.

So ¹  the sovereign master ²  will afflict the foreheads of Zion’s women ³  with skin diseases, ⁴  the Lord will make the front of their heads bald.” ⁵ 

The Lord who commands armies will be exalted ¹  when he punishes, ²  the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges. ³ 

In the year of King Uzziah’s death, ¹  I saw the sovereign master ²  seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” ¹  I answered, “Here I am, send me!”

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

For this reason ¹  the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. ²  His majestic glory will go up in smoke. ³ 

Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹  is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ² 

I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master; a powerful king will rule over them,” says the sovereign master, ¹  the Lord who commands armies.

Then the guard ¹  cries out: “On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ²  I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night.

For this is what the sovereign master ¹  has told me: “Within exactly one year ²  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth. ¹ 

This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, ¹  and tell him: ² 

The sovereign master ¹  will give you distress to eat and suffering to drink; ²  but your teachers will no longer be hidden; your eyes will see them. ³ 

O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. ¹  Restore my health ²  and preserve my life.’

Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; ¹  his military power establishes his rule. ²  Look, his reward is with him; his prize goes before him. ³ 

But the sovereign Lord helps me, so I am not humiliated. For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ¹  I know I will not be put to shame.

Look, the sovereign Lord helps me. Who dares to condemn me? Look, all of them will wear out like clothes; a moth will eat away at them.

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: “In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt; Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ¹  The sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name.