A Sign Against Egypt and Cush
20 In the year that lthe commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to mAshdod and fought against it and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking nnaked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years oas a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,1 4 so shall the pking of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 qThen they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of rthis coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and sto whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon
21 The toracle concerning the wilderness of uthe sea.
vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
wthe traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O xElam;
lay siege, O yMedia;
all the zsighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
apangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
bthe twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5 cThey prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,1
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
doil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8 Then he who saw cried out:2
e“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
fAnd he answered,
g“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
hand all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10 O imy threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The joracle concerning kDumah.
One is calling to me from lSeir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12 The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also mthe night.
If you will inquire, ninquire;
come back again.”
13 The ooracle concerning pArabia.
In the thickets in pArabia you will lodge,
14 To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of rTema.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, saccording to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of tKedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of tKedar will be few, ufor the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
22 The voracle concerning wthe valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, xexultant town?
Your slain are ynot slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 zAll your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
alet me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 bFor the Lord God of hosts has ca day
of tumult and dtrampling and econfusion
in wthe valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And fElam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and gKir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away hthe covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to ithe weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that jthe breaches of the city of David were many. kYou collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 kYou made a reservoir between lthe two walls for the water of mthe old pool. But nyou did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12 In that day othe Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for pbaldness and qwearing sackcloth;
13 and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
r“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of hosts shas revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely tthis iniquity will not be atoned for you uuntil you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to vShebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, wthat you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you xwho cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. yHe will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be zyour glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19 aI will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and bI will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ca father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place don his shoulder ethe key of the house of David. fHe shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him glike a peg in a secure place, and he will become ha throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, gthe peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon
23 The ioracle concerning jTyre.
Wail, O kships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, lwithout house or harbor!
it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of nSidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were othe merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O nSidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.
6 pCross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
qwhose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
rto defile the pompous pride of all glory,3
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
11 sHe has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of tSidon;
arise, ucross over to vCyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
13 Behold the land of wthe Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected xtheir siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14 yWail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for zseventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of zseventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 At the end of aseventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and bwill prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.
Judgment on the Whole Earth
24 Behold, cthe Lord will empty the earth1 and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2 dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
eas with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
hfor the Lord has spoken this word.
4 iThe earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
5 The earth lies jdefiled
under its inhabitants;
for kthey have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore la curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants msuffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
7 nThe wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9 No more do they drink wine pwith singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 qThe wasted city is broken down;
revery house is shut up so that none can enter.
11 sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
tall joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city;
the gates are battered into ruins.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
uas when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
14 They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.2
15 vTherefore in the east3 give glory to the Lord;
in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
of glory to xthe Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away,
I waste away. Woe is me!
For ythe traitors have betrayed,
with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
17 zTerror and the pit and the snare4
are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18 zHe who flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For athe windows of heaven are opened,
and bthe foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth cstaggers like a drunken man;
it sways like a hut;
dits transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
21 On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.
22 fThey will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days gthey will be punished.
23 hThen the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
for ithe Lord of hosts reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.
