Draw near, O nations, to hear,
        and give attention, O peoples!
    Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
        the world, and all that comes from it.
    For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
        and furious against all their host;
        he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.
    Their slain shall be cast out,
        and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
        the mountains shall flow with their blood.
    All the host of heaven shall rot away,
        and the skies roll up like a scroll.
    All their host shall fall,
        as leaves fall from the vine,
        like leaves falling from the fig tree.
    
    
    For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
        behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
        upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
    The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;
        it is gorged with fat,
        with the blood of lambs and goats,
        with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
    For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
        a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
    Wild oxen shall fall with them,
        and young steers with the mighty bulls.
    Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
        and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
    
    
    For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
        a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
    And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,
        and her soil into sulfur;
        her land shall become burning pitch.
    Night and day it shall not be quenched;
        its smoke shall go up forever.
    From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
        none shall pass through it forever and ever.
    But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it,
        the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
    He shall stretch the line of confusion over it,
        and the plumb line of emptiness.
    Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
        and all its princes shall be nothing.
    
    
    Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
        nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
    It shall be the haunt of jackals,
        an abode for ostriches.
    And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
        the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
    indeed, there the night bird settles
        and finds for herself a resting place.
    
    
    There the owl nests and lays
        and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
    indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
        each one with her mate.
    Seek and read from the book of the LORD:
        Not one of these shall be missing;
        none shall be without her mate.
    For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,
        and his Spirit has gathered them.
    He has cast the lot for them;
        his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
    they shall possess it forever;
        from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
    
    
        The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
        the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
    it shall blossom abundantly
        and rejoice with joy and singing.
    The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
        the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
    They shall see the glory of the LORD,
        the majesty of our God.
    
    
    Strengthen the weak hands,
        and make firm the feeble knees.
    Say to those who have an anxious heart,
        “Be strong; fear not!
    Behold, your God
        will come with vengeance,
    with the recompense of God.
        He will come and save you.”
    
    
    Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
        and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
    then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
        and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
    For waters break forth in the wilderness,
        and streams in the desert;
    the burning sand shall become a pool,
        and the thirsty ground springs of water;
    in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
        the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
    
    
    And a highway shall be there,
        and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
    the unclean shall not pass over it.
        It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
        even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
    No lion shall be there,
        nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
    they shall not be found there,
        but the redeemed shall walk there.
    And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
        and come to Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
        they shall obtain gladness and joy,
        and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
    
    
      In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

  And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

  Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

  Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

  But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. (ESV)

So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

  “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

  “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

  “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

  “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

  “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

  And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

  Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” (ESV)