Therefore, the Lord God of Armies says this: ‘My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did.
to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him.
who said to them, ‘Tell your master, “The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.
this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favour to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you.
Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come from the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.
The Egyptians #– #all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army #– #chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, ‘Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before? ’
Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly because of these two smouldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.
Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust him and not be afraid, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.’
And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord brings down on him will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; he will fight against him with brandished weapons.
But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You are in constant dread all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who has set himself to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor?
He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.
who said to them, ‘Tell your master, “The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.