I will go back to my place, until the people admit they are guilty, until they come looking for me. Yes, in their trouble they will try very hard to find me.”
They never call to me from their hearts. Yes, they cry on their beds. And they cut themselves when they ask for grain and new wine. But in their hearts, they have turned away from me.
Get up throughout the night and cry for help. Let your sorrow pour out before the Lord like water. Lift up your hands in prayer to him. Ask him to let your children live. They are starving to death on every street corner.
“King, you seem so safe in your palace of cedar. It’s as if you live in Lebanon! But when your punishment comes, you will groan. You will be in pain like a woman giving birth!”
They said to Isaiah, “King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day—as sad as when a baby should be born, but there is not enough strength for the birth.
My heart breaks as I remember the pleasant times in the past, when I walked with the crowds as I led them up to God’s Temple. I remember the happy songs of praise as they celebrated the festival.
The people came to Moses and said, “We know that we sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord. Ask him to take away these snakes.” So Moses prayed for them.
They say to pieces of wood, ‘You are my father.’ They say to a rock, ‘You gave birth to me.’ All these people will be ashamed. They don’t look to me for help. They have turned their backs to me. But when the people of Judah get into trouble, they say to me, ‘Come and save us!’