30 [a] “This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth:[b] This year you will eat what grows wild,[c] and next year[d] what grows on its own. But the year after that[e] you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[f] 31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

14 Hezekiah took the letter[a] from the messengers and read it.[b] Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: 16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim![c] You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky[d] and the earth. 17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God![e] 18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations[f] and their lands.

37 When King Hezekiah heard this,[a] he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests,[b] clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz: 3 “This is what Hezekiah says:[c] ‘This is a day of distress, insults,[d] and humiliation,[e] as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.[f] 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.[g] When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.[h] So pray for this remnant that remains.’”[i]

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,[a] King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser[b] from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser[c] stood at the conduit of the upper pool that is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.[d] 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.

35 Let the wilderness and desert be happy;[a] let the arid rift valley[b] rejoice and bloom like a lily! 2 Let it richly bloom;[c] let it rejoice and shout with delight![d] It is given the grandeur[e] of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the grandeur of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

34 Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it.[a] 2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations and furious with all their armies.

33 The destroyer is as good as dead,[a] you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead,[b] the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish[c] deceiving, others will deceive you!

32 Look, a king will promote fairness;[a] officials will promote justice.[b] 2 Each of them[c] will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.