Isaiah 37:21-29

New International Version

“Virgin Daughter^(C) Zion^(D)
    despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(E) as you flee.
²³ Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(F)
    Against whom have you raised your voice^(G)
and lifted your eyes in pride?^(H)
    Against the Holy One^(I) of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
    ‘With my many chariots^(J)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights^(K) of Lebanon.^(L)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.^(M)
I have reached its remotest heights,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign lands^[a]
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up^(N) all the streams of Egypt.^(O)’

²⁶ “Have you not heard?
    Long ago I ordained^(P) it.
In days of old I planned^(Q) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(R)
27 Their people, drained of power,
    are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,
like grass^(S) sprouting on the roof,^(T)
    scorched^[b] before it grows up.

²⁸ “But I know where you are
    and when you come and go^(U)
    and how you rage^(V) against me.
²⁹ Because you rage against me
    and because your insolence^(W) has reached my ears,
I will put my hook^(X) in your nose^(Y)
    and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
    by the way you came.^(Z)