25. ‘ “Have you not heard?Long ago I ordained it.In days of old I planned it;now I have brought it to pass,that you have turned fortified citiesinto piles of stone.
26. Their people, drained of power,are dismayed and put to shame.They are like plants in the field,like tender green shoots,like grass sprouting on the roof,scorched before it grows up.
27. ‘ “But I know where you areand when you come and goand how you rage against me.
28. Because you rage against meand because your insolence has reached my ears,I will put my hook in your noseand my bit in your mouth,and I will make you returnby the way you came.”
29. ‘This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:‘This year you will eat what grows by itself,and the second year what springs from that.But in the third year sow and reap,plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30. Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judahwill take root below and bear fruit above.
31. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.‘The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
32. ‘Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:‘ “He will not enter this cityor shoot an arrow here.He will not come before it with shieldor build a siege ramp against it.
33. By the way that he came he will return;he will not enter this city,”declares the Lord.
34. “I will defend this city and save it,for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” ’