Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 128
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
35:6–36:6
The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.
And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools will never walk there.
Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of As
syria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.
Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge
army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a
position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near
the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.
These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of
Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah
son of Asaph, the royal historian.
Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to
Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting
in that makes you so confident? Do you think that mere words can
substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on,
that you have rebelled against me? On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it
