What will you do on the day you are called to account ⌞for these things⌟, when the disaster comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
They followed them as far as the Jordan River and saw how the whole road was littered with clothes and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their hurry. The messengers returned and told the king about it.
When that day comes, those who live on this coastland will say, ‘Look at what has happened to our hope. We ran ⌞to Egypt⌟ for help to be rescued from the king of Assyria. How can we escape?’ ”
The wicked are dead. They are no longer alive. The spirits of the dead won’t rise. You have punished them, destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.
The Lord is going to come out from his dwelling place to punish those who live on earth for their sins. The earth will uncover the blood shed on it and will no longer cover up its dead bodies.
the people of Judah will be put to shame because that nation can’t help them. That nation can’t give aid or help to them. It can only offer shame and disgrace.”
The sinners in Zion are terrified. Trembling seizes the ungodly. Can any of us live through a fire that destroys? Can any of us live through a fire that burns forever?
Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did these men say? And where did they come from?” Hezekiah answered, “They came to me from the distant country of Babylon.”
That is why the grave’s appetite increases. It opens its mouth very wide so that honored people and common people will go down into it. Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.
You are going to be destroyed! What are you going to do? Why do you dress in red and put on gold jewelry? Why do you wear eye shadow? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to kill you.
“When Ephraim saw that he was sick and when Judah saw his own wounds, Ephraim went to Assyria to ask the great king for help. But the king couldn’t cure them or heal their wounds.
The time for them to be punished will come. The time for them to pay for their sins will come. ⌞When this happens,⌟ Israel will know it. ⌞They think that⌟ prophets are fools and that spiritual people are crazy. They have sinned a lot, and they are very hostile.
It is like a person who flees from a lion only to be attacked by a bear. It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake.
The best of them is like a briar. The most decent person is sharper than thornbushes. The day you thought you would be punished has come. Now is the time you will be confused.
Their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s overflowing fury. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery anger, because he will put an end, a frightening end, to those who live on earth.
They will level you to the ground and kill your people. One stone will not be left on top of another, because you didn’t recognize the time when God came to help you.”
The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth. The nation will swoop down on you like an eagle. It will be a nation whose language you won’t understand.
Live decent lives among unbelievers. Then, although they ridicule you as if you were doing wrong while they are watching you do good things, they will praise God on the day he comes to help you.