1 The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem bin the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O hearth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children1 ihave I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox jknows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does jnot know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
koffspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have ldespised mthe Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly nestranged.
5 Why will you still be ostruck down?
Why will you pcontinue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 qFrom the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are rnot pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
7 sYour country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And tthe daughter of Zion is left
like a ubooth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 vIf the Lord of hosts
had not left us wa few survivors,
we should have been like xSodom,
and become like xGomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
Give ear to the teaching2 of our God,
you people of zGomorrah!
11 a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to bappear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—
I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.
14 Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you gspread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
heven though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
iyour hands are full of blood.
16 jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
kcease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
lseek justice,
correct oppression;
mbring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come now, nlet us reason3 together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as owhite as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 pIf you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
21 How the faithful city
sshe who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
22 tYour silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone uloves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
vThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
24 Therefore the wLord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the xMighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
yand avenge myself on my foes.
25 zI will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your adross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges bas at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27 dZion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 fFor they5 shall be ashamed of gthe oaks
that you desired;
and you shall blush for hthe gardens
that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be ilike an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31 And the strong shall become jtinder,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with knone to quench them.
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 lIt shall come to pass in the latter days
that mthe mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and nall the nations shall flow to it,
3 and omany peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For pout of Zion shall go forth the law,6
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
qand they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in sthe light of the Lord.
6 For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things tfrom the east
and uof fortune-tellers vlike the Philistines,
and they wstrike hands with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is xfilled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is yfilled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is zfilled with idols;
they bow down to athe work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9 So man bis humbled,
and each one bis brought low—
do not forgive them!
10 cEnter into the rock
and hide in the dust
dfrom before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 eThe haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 fFor the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
13 against all the gcedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the hoaks of Bashan;
14 against all ithe lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;
15 against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16 against all jthe ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
17 kAnd the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 lAnd the idols shall utterly pass away.
19 mAnd people shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,7
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.
20 In that day omankind will cast away
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the pbats,
21 mto enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.
22 qStop regarding man
rin whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?
1 For behold, the sLord God of hosts
is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,8
all tsupport of bread,
and all support of water;
2 uthe mighty man and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
3 the captain of fifty
and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
and the expert in charms.
4 vAnd I will make boys their princes,
and infants9 shall rule over them.
5 wAnd the people will oppress one another,
every one his fellow
and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
and the despised to the honorable.
6 For xa man will take hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall be under your rule”;
7 in that day he will speak out, saying:
in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
leader of the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,
9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin blike Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
cFor they have brought evil on themselves.
10 dTell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
11 fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
12 My people—ginfants are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, hyour guides mislead you
and they have swallowed up12 the course of your paths.
13 The Lord ihas taken his place to contend;
he stands to judge peoples.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment
with the jelders and princes of his people:
“It is you who khave devoured13 the vineyard,
lthe spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by mcrushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.
16 The Lord said:
nBecause othe daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
ptinkling with their feet,
17 therefore the Lord qwill strike with a scab
the heads of othe daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away rthe finery of the anklets, the sheadbands, and the tcrescents; 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the uheaddresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 the signet rings and vnose rings; 22 the wfestal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24 Instead of xperfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a ybelt, a rope;
and instead of zwell-set hair, abaldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a bskirt of sackcloth;
and cbranding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26 And dher gates shall lament and mourn;
empty, she shall esit on the ground.
1 fAnd seven women gshall take hold of fone man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; htake away our reproach.”
2 In that day ithe branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and jthe fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 kAnd he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called lholy, everyone who has mbeen recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when nthe Lord shall have washed away the filth of othe daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by pa spirit of burning.14 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies qa cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ra canopy. 6 sThere will be a tbooth for shade by day from the heat, and ufor a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had va vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with wchoice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and xhe looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove zits hedge,
and it shall be devoured;15
aI will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and bbriers and thorns shall grow up;
cI will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;16
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!17
8 Woe to those who ejoin house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
11 Woe to those who irise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 jThey have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
their mhonored men go hungry,21
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has nenlarged its appetite
and opened oits mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem22 and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who pexults in her.
15 qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty23 are brought low.
16 rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted24 in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze sas in their pasture,
and tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with ucords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: v“Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to wthose who call evil good
and good evil,
xwho put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are ywise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are zheroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who aacquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so ctheir root will be das rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and hthe mountains quaked;
and their corpses were ias refuse
in the midst of the streets.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will kraise a signal for nations far away,
and lwhistle for them mfrom the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 nNone is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 otheir arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels plike the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and qseize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, rdarkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
1 In the year that sKing Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train25 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had usix wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
4 And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! yFor I am lost; zfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the aKing, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he btouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
d“‘Keep on hearing,27 but do not understand;
keep on seeing,28 but do not perceive.’
10 eMake the heart of this people fdull,29
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
glest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, h“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until icities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 jAnd though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned30 again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump kremains
when it is felled.”
1 In the days of mAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, nRezin the king of Syria and nPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, o“Syria is in league with32 pEphraim,” the heart of Ahaz33 and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and qShear-jashub34 your son, at the end of rthe conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, s‘Be careful, tbe quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two usmoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and vthe son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and vthe son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it35 for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:
w“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is xDamascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is ythe son of Remaliah.
zIf you36 are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask aa sign of the Lord your37 God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he38 said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you bweary my God also? 14 Therefore the cLord himself will give you a sign. dBehold, the evirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name fImmanuel.39 15 He shall eat gcurds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 hFor before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ideserted. 17 jThe Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that kEphraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
18 In that day the Lord will lwhistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and min the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.40
20 In that day nthe Lord will oshave with a razor that is phired beyond qthe River41—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
21 rIn that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat scurds and honey.
23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels42 of silver, will become tbriers and thorns. 24 uWith bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 vAnd as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear tof briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet wand write on it in common characters,43 ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’44 2 And xI will get reliable witnesses, yUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the awealth of bDamascus and the spoil of bSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over dRezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ethe waters of fthe River,45 mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it gwill rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, hreaching even to the neck, and its ioutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, jO Immanuel.”
9 Be broken,46 you peoples, and kbe shattered;47
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, lbut it will not stand,
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and nwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a rsanctuary and sa stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
16 Bind up uthe testimony; vseal the teaching49 among my disciples. 17 I will wwait for the Lord, who is xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 yBehold, I and zthe children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of bthe dead on behalf of the living? 20 cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ddawn. 21 They will pass through the land,50 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against51 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into fthick darkness.
1 52 But there will be no ggloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he hbrought into contempt the land of iZebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he jhas made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.53
2 54 iThe people kwho walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ldeep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 mYou have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with njoy at the harvest,
as they oare glad pwhen they divide the spoil.
4 qFor the yoke of his burden,
rand the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as son the day of Midian.
5 tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 uFor to us a child is born,
to us va son is given;
wand the government shall be xupon55 his shoulder,
and his name shall be called56
Wonderful yCounselor, zMighty God,
aEverlasting bFather, Prince of cPeace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
dthere will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
ewith justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know,
gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and stirs up his enemies.
12 hThe Syrians on the east and ithe Philistines on the west
devour Israel with open mouth.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
13 The people kdid not turn to him who struck them,
nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel lhead and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—
15 mthe elder and honored man is the head,
and nthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16 for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
17 Therefore the Lord does not orejoice over their young men,
and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is pgodless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks qfolly.57
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burns like ra fire;
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land is scorched,
and sthe people are like fuel for the fire;
tno one spares another.
20 uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
veach devours the flesh of his own arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
together they are wagainst Judah.
xFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
1 Woe to those who ydecree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who zkeep writing oppression,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and ato rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do on bthe day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come cfrom afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
dFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
5 Woe to Assyria, ethe rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a fgodless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take gspoil and seize plunder,
and to htread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he idoes not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8 for he says:
j“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 kIs not lCalno like mCarchemish?
pIs not qSamaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to rthe kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and sher idols
tas I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 uWhen the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, vhe58 will punish the speech59 of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 wFor he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14 My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
15 Shall xthe axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his ystout warriors,
and under his glory za burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17 aThe light of Israel will become a fire,
and bhis Holy One a flame,
and cit will burn and devour
his thorns and briers din one day.
18 The glory of ehis forest and of his ffruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.
20 gIn that day hthe remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ilean on him who struck them, but jwill lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, kto the mighty God. 22 lFor though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, monly a remnant of them will return. nDestruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, owho dwell in Zion, pbe not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as qthe Egyptians did. 25 For rin a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And sthe Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck tMidian uat the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it vas he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day whis burden will depart from your shoulder, and xhis yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”60
28 He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through yMigron;
at Michmash he stores zhis baggage;
29 they have crossed over athe pass;
at bGeba they lodge for the night;
cRamah trembles;
dGibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, O daughter of eGallim!
Give attention, O Laishah!
O poor fAnathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at gNob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of hthe daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
iwill lop jthe boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down jthe thickets of the forest with an axe,
and kLebanon will fall by the Majestic One.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of lJesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And mthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
nHe shall not judge by owhat his eyes see,
or decide disputes by owhat his ears hear,
4 but pwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall qstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and rwith the breath of his lips she shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and tfaithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 uThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 uThey shall not hurt or destroy
in all vmy holy mountain;
wfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day xthe root of yJesse, who shall stand as za signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 aIn that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, bfrom Assyria, bfrom Egypt, from cPathros, from dCush,61 from eElam, from fShinar, from gHamath, and from hthe coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise za signal for the nations
and will assemble ithe banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 jThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 kBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder lthe people of the east.
They shall put out their hand magainst nEdom and oMoab,
and pthe Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy62
qthe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over rthe River63
with his scorching breath,64
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be sa highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
tas there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
1 You65 will say uin that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
vyour anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for wthe Lord God66 is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 xWith joy you67 will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 yAnd you will say in that day:
z“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
amake known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim bthat his name is exalted.
5 c“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known68 in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
1 The oracle concerning fBabylon which gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 On a bare hill hraise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ithem to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.70
4 The sound jof a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
kThe Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 lThey come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.71
6 mWail, for nthe day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty72 it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart owill melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
ppangs and agony will seize them;
qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, nthe day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and rto destroy its sinners from it.
10 sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
tthe sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish uthe world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make xpeople more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ygold of Ophir.
13 Therefore zI will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
aeach will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, cI am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 dTheir bows will slaughter73 the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, ethe glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be flike Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20 gIt will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no hArab will pitch his tent there;
no ishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But jwild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there kostriches74 will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas75 will cry in its towers,
and ljackals in mthe pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
1 nFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and owill set them in their own land, and psojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And qthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ras male and female slaves.76 sThey will take captive those who were their captors, tand rule over those who oppressed them.
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this utaunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
5 The Lord has broken the wstaff of the wicked,
the wscepter of rulers,
6 xthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
ythey break forth into singing.
8 zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,
bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 cAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
12 “How dyou are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, eson of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
f‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
gI will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;78
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 hBut you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ithe man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;79
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May lthe offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
mbecause of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and nremnant, odescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the phedgehog,80 and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
q“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
25 that rI will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and shis yoke shall depart from them,
and shis burden from their shoulder.”
26 This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is tthe hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27 uFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
tHis hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
28 In the year that vKing Ahaz died came this woracle:
29 Rejoice not, xO Philistia, all of you,
that ythe rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a zflying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of athe poor will graze,
and athe needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
31 bWail, O cgate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, xO Philistia, all of you!
dFor smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
e“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
1 An woracle concerning fMoab.
Because gAr of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because hKir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
2 He has gone up to the temple,81 and to iDibon,
to the high places82 to weep;
Moab kwails.
On every head is lbaldness;
every beard is shorn;
3 in the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
4 mHeshbon and mElealeh cry out;
their voice is heard as far as nJahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives flee to Zoar,
to nEglath-shelishiyah.
For at the oascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to oHoronaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
6 the waters of pNimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
the greenery is no more.
7 qTherefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
8 For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of rDibon83 are full of blood;
for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
sa lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
1 tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from uSela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at vthe fords of the Arnon.
3 “Give counsel;
grant justice;
wmake your shade like night
at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
do not reveal the fugitive;
4 let xthe outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them84
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
5 ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”
6 zWe have heard of the pride of Moab—
how proud he is!—
aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
in his idle boasting he is not right.
7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
blet everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and ethe vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore fI weep with ethe weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over gyour summer fruit and your harvest
the shout has ceased.
10 hAnd joy and gladness are taken away from ithe fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no jsongs are sung,
no cheers are raised;
no ktreader treads out wine lin the presses;
I have put an end to the shouting.
11 Therefore mmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.
12 And when Moab presents himself, when nhe wearies himself on othe high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab pin the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, qlike the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be rvery few and feeble.”
1 An soracle concerning tDamascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of uAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and vnone will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from wEphraim,
and the kingdom from wDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like xthe glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be zas when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in athe Valley of Rephaim.
6 bGleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.
7 cIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 dHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the eAsherim or the altars of incense.
9 fIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the hRock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow85 on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away86
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, ithe thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased llike chaff on the mountains before the wind
and mwhirling dust before the storm.
14 nAt evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
1 Ah, land of owhirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of pCush,87
2 which qsends ambassadors by the sea,
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation rtall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation smighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when ta signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4 For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ufrom my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 vFor before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
6 vThey shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 wAt that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts
from a people xtall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to yMount Zion, the place of the zname of the Lord of hosts.
1 An aoracle concerning bEgypt.
Behold, the Lord cis riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will emelt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
fand they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound88 their gcounsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and hthe mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of ia hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The jfishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in kcombed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the lpillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who mwork for pay will be grieved.
11 The princes of nZoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your owise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of nZoan have become fools,
and the princes of pMemphis are deluded;
those who are the qcornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her ra spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that thead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be ulike women, and vtremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
18 wIn that day there will be xfive cities in the land of Egypt that yspeak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.89
19 In that day there will be an zaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a apillar to the Lord at its border. 20 aIt will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, bhe will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21 cAnd the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day dand worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 eAnd the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23 fIn that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, gand the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ha blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt imy people, and Assyria jthe work of my hands, and kIsrael my inheritance.”
1 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,90 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?’”
1 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,91
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:92
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.”
1 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.”
1 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 anguish94 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,95
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;96 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 days97 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.
1 Behold, cthe Lord will empty the earth98 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.99
15 vTherefore in the east100 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 snare101
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.
1 O Lord, jyou are my God;
kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2 For you have made the city ma heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 nTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4 oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
5 rlike heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.
6 sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up son this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
uthe veil that is spread over all nations.
8 vHe will swallow up death forever;
and wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
yfor the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest son this mountain,
and bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.102
11 cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the Lord dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill103 of his hands.
12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.
1 In that day ethis song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
he sets up fsalvation
as walls and bulwarks.
2 gOpen the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
3 hYou keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
5 iFor he has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
6 The foot tramples it,
the feet of jthe poor,
the steps of jthe needy.”
7 The path of the righteous is level;
kyou make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
mFor when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 nIf favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, oyour hand is lifted up,
but pthey do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, you will ordain rpeace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God,
sother lords besides you have ruled over us,
tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, win distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
17 xLike a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
18 xwe were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For zyour dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves afor a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of cthe earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.
1 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong dsword will punish eLeviathan the fleeing serpent, eLeviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay fthe dragon that is in the sea.
2 In that day,
g“A pleasant vineyard,104 hsing of it!
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest anyone punish it,
I keep it night and day;
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