34 Come near, ye nations, to hear, And ye peoples, give attention, Hear doth the earth and its fulness, The world, and all its productions.

² For wrath [is] to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their host, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter.

³ And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood.

⁴ And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree.

⁵ For soaked in the heavens was My sword, Lo, on Edom it cometh down, On the people of My curse for judgment.

⁶ A sword [is] to Jehovah -- it hath been full of blood, It hath been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and he-goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For a sacrifice [is] to Jehovah in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷ And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat.

⁸ (For a day of vengeance [is] to Jehovah, A year of recompences for Zion's strife,)

⁹ And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch.

¹⁰ By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her.

¹¹ And possess her do pelican and hedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of emptiness.

¹² [To] the kingdom her freemen they call, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end.

¹³ And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble [are] in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich.

¹⁴ And met have Ziim with Aiim, And the goat for its companion calleth, Only there rested hath the night-owl, And hath found for herself a place of rest.

¹⁵ There made her nest hath the bittern, Yea, she layeth, and hath hatched, And hath gathered under her shadow, Only there gathered have been vultures, Each with its companion.

¹⁶ Seek out of the book of Jehovah, and read, One of these hath not been lacking, None hath missed its companion, For My mouth -- it hath commanded, And His spirit -- He hath gathered them.

¹⁷ And He hath cast for them a lot, And His hand hath apportioned [it] to them by line, Unto the age they possess it, To all generations they dwell in it!

35 They joy from the wilderness and dry place, And rejoice doth the desert, and flourish as the rose,

² Flourishing it doth flourish, and rejoice, Yea, [with] joy and singing, The honour of Lebanon hath been given to it, The beauty of Carmel and Sharon, They -- they see the honour of Jehovah, The majesty of our God.

³ Strengthen ye the feeble hands, Yea, the stumbling knees strengthen.

⁴ Say to the hastened of heart, `Be strong, Fear not, lo, your God; vengeance cometh, The recompence of God, He Himself doth come and save you.'

⁵ Then opened are eyes of the blind, And ears of the deaf are unstopped,

⁶ Then leap as a hart doth the lame, And sing doth the tongue of the dumb, For broken up in a wilderness have been waters, And streams in a desert.

⁷ And the mirage hath become a pond, And the thirsty land fountains of waters, In the habitation of dragons, Its place of couching down, a court for reed and rush.

⁸ And a highway hath been there, and a way, And the `way of holiness' is called to it, Not pass over it doth the unclean, And He Himself [is] by them, Whoso is going in the way -- even fools err not.

⁹ No lion is there, yea, a destructive beast Ascendeth it not, it is not found there, And walked have the redeemed,

¹⁰ And the ransomed of Jehovah return, And have entered Zion with singing. And joy age-during on their head, Joy and gladness they attain, And fled away have sorrow and sighing!

36 And it cometh to pass, in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, come up hath Sennacherib king of Asshur against all the fenced cities of Judah, and seizeth them.

² And the king of Asshur sendeth Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, unto the king Hezekiah, with a heavy force, and he standeth by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field,

³ and go forth unto him doth Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer.

⁴ And Rabshakeh saith unto them, `Say ye, I pray you, unto Hezekiah, `Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur, What [is] this confidence in which thou hast confided?

⁵ I have said: Only, a word of the lips! counsel and might [are] for battle: now, on whom hast thou trusted, that thou hast rebelled against me?

⁶ `Lo, thou hast trusted on the staff of this broken reed -- on Egypt -- which a man leaneth on, and it hath gone into his hand, and pierced it -- so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

⁷ `And dost thou say unto me, Unto Jehovah our God we have trusted? is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath turned aside, and saith to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar ye do bow yourselves?

⁸ `And now, negotiate, I pray thee, with my lord the king of Asshur, and I give to thee two thousand horses, if thou art able to put for thee riders on them.

⁹ And how dost thou turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, and dost trust for thee on Egypt, for chariot and for horsemen?

¹⁰ And now, without Jehovah have I come up against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up unto this land, and thou hast destroyed it.'

¹¹ And Eliakim saith -- and Shebna and Joah -- unto Rabshakeh, `Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants [in] Aramaean, for we are understanding; and do not speak unto us [in] Jewish, in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall.'

¹² And Rabshakeh saith, `Unto thy lord, and unto thee, hath my lord sent me to speak these words? is it not for the men -- those sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water with you?'

¹³ And Rabshakeh standeth and calleth with a great voice [in] Jewish, and saith, `Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Asshur:

¹⁴ Thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you;

¹⁵ and let not Hezekiah make you trust unto Jehovah, saying, Jehovah doth certainly deliver us, this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

¹⁶ `Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make ye with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,

¹⁷ till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;

¹⁸ lest Hezekiah doth persuade you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. `Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?

¹⁹ Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where the gods of Sepharvaim, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?

²⁰ Who among all the gods of these lands [are] they who have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'

²¹ And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, `Do not answer him.'

²² And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of Rabshakeh.