THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH
The Sinfulness of Judah
1 * The vision of
Isai'ah the son of A'moz, which he saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jo'tham, A'haz, and Hezeki'ah,
kings of Judah.
2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O
earth;
for the LORD
has spoken:
“Sons have I reared and brought
up,
but they have rebelled against me.
and the donkey its master’s
crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people does not understand.”
4Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
sons who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of
Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
5Why will you still be struck down,
that you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6From the sole of the foot even to the
head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and bleeding wounds;
they are not pressed out, or bound up,
or softened with oil.
7Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
strangers devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by
strangers.
8And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomor'rah.
10Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomor'rah!
11“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 fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of
bulls,
or of lambs, or of he-goats.
12“When you come to appear before
me,
who requires of you
this trampling of my courts?
13Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and the calling of
assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn
assembly.
14Your new moons and your appointed
feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread forth your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves; make yourselves
clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
defend the fatherless,
plead for the widow.
18“Come now, let us reason
together,
says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
21How the faithful city
has become a harlot,
she that was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
22Your silver has become dross,
your wine mixed with water.
23Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Every one loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to
them.
24Therefore the Lord says,
the LORD of
hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will vent my wrath on my
enemies,
and avenge myself on my foes.
25I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with
lye
and remove all your alloy.
26And I will restore your judges as at the
first,
and your counselors as at the
beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of
righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by
righteousness.
28But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed
together,
and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29For you shall be ashamed of the oaks
in which you delighted;
and you shall blush for the gardens
which you have chosen.
30For you shall be like an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31And the strong shall become tow,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with none to quench them.
The Lord’s Universal Reign
2 The word which Isai'ah the son of A'moz saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem.
2It shall
come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the
LORD
shall be established as the highest of the
mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and
many 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 out of Zion shall go forth the
law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4He
shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against
nation,
neither shall they learn war any
more.
*5O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the LORD.
6For
you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of diviners
a from the
eastand of soothsayers like the
Philis'tines,
and they strike hands with foreigners.
7Their land is filled with silver and
gold,
and there is no end to their
treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their
hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9So man is humbled,
and men are brought low—
forgive them not!
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty.
11The haughty looks of man shall be brought
low,
and the pride of men shall be humbled;
and the LORD
alone will be exalted in that day.
12For
the L
ORD of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and
high;
b13against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14against all the high mountains,
and against all the lofty hills;
15against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16against all the ships of Tar'shish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
17And the haughtiness of man shall be
humbled,
and the pride of men shall be brought
low;
and the LORD
alone will be exalted in that day.
18And the idols shall utterly pass
away.
19And men shall enter the caves of the
rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
20In that day men will cast forth
their idols of silver and their idols of
gold,
which they made for themselves to
worship,
to the moles and to the bats,
21to enter the caverns of the rocks and the
clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
22Turn away from man
in whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?
The Lord’s Judgment
3 For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
is taking away from Jerusalem and from
Judah
stay and staff,
the whole stay of bread,
and the whole stay of water;
2the mighty man and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
3the captain of fifty
and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skilful magician
and the expert in charms.
4And I will make boys their princes,
and infants shall rule over them.
5And the people will oppress one
another,
every man his fellow
and every man his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the
elder,
and the base fellow to the honorable.
6When a man takes hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a mantle;
you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall be under your rule”;
7in that day he will speak out, saying:
“I will not be a healer;
in my house there is neither bread nor
mantle;
you shall not make me
leader of the people.”
8For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen;
because their speech and their deeds are
against the LORD,
defying his glorious presence.
9Their partiality witnesses against
them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom,
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil upon
themselves.
10Tell the righteous that it shall be well
with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their
deeds.
11Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with
him,
for what his hands have done shall be done
to him.
12My people—children are their
oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
and confuse the course of your paths.
13The
L
ORD has taken his place to
contend,
he stands to judge his people.
d14The LORD
enters into judgment
with the elders and princes of his
people:
“It is you who have devoured the
vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your
houses.
15What do you mean by crushing my
people,
by grinding the face of the poor?”
says the Lord GOD of hosts.
16The LORD
said:
Because the daughters of Zion are
haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet;
17the Lord will strike with a scab
the heads of the daughters of Zion,
and the LORD
will lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord
will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the
crescents; 19the pendants, the bracelets, and the
scarfs; 20the
headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the
amulets; 21the
signet rings and nose rings; 22the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks,
and the handbags; 23the garments of gauze, the linen garments,
the turbans, and the veils.
24Instead of perfume there will be
rottenness;
and instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair,
baldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a putting on of
sackcloth;
instead of beauty, shame.
e25Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26And her gates shall lament and mourn;
ravaged, she shall sit upon the
ground.
4 And seven women
shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat
our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by
your name; take away our reproach.”
2 In that day the branch of the L
ORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the
fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of
Israel.
3And
he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called
holy, every one who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,
4when the Lord
shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and
cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of
judgment and by a spirit of burning.
5Then the
L
ORD will create over the whole
site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and
smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the
glory there will be a canopy and a pavilion.
6It will be for a shade
by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm
and rain.
The Parable of the Vineyard
5 * Let me sing
for my beloved
a love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of
it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, I beg you, between me
and my vineyard.
4What more was there to do for my
vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7For 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;
for righteousness,
but behold, a cry!
8Woe to those who join 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.
9The LORD of
hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be
desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without
inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but
one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an
ephah.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the
morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who linger late into the evening
till wine inflames them!
12They have lyre and harp,
timbrel and flute and wine at their
feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of the
LORD,
or see the work of his hands.
13Therefore my people go into exile for want
of knowledge;
their honored men are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with
thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its
appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem
f and her
multitude go down,her throng and he who exults in her.
15Man is bowed down, and men are brought
low,
and the eyes of the haughty are
humbled.
16But the LORD
of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in
righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs graze as in their
pasture,
fatlings and kids
g shall
feed among the ruins.18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords
of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19who say: “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel
draw near,
and let it come, that we may know
it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good and good
evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21Woe
to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking
wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong
drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours
the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the
flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the
LORD of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One
of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them
and struck them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned
away
and his hand is stretched out still.
26He will raise a signal for a nation afar
off,
and whistle for it from the ends of the
earth;
and behold, swiftly, speedily it
comes!
27None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistcloth is loose,
not a sandal-thong broken;
28their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like
flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
they carry it off, and none can
rescue.
30They will growl over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its
clouds.
A Vision of the Lord in the
Temple
6 * In the year
that King Uzzi'ah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim; each had
six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered
his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one
called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the
LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his
glory.”
4And the
foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called,
and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe
is me! For I am lost; for 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
King, the LORD of
hosts!”
6 Then flew one of
the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had
taken with tongs from the altar.
7And he touched my mouth, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken
away, and your sin forgiven.”
8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I
said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9And he said, “Go, and say to this
people:
‘Hear and hear, but do not
understand;
see and see, but do not
perceive.’
10Make the heart of this people fat,
and their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11Then I said, “How long, O
Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without men,
and the land is utterly desolate,
12and the LORD
removes men far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the
midst of the land.
13And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz
7 In the days of A'haz
the son of Jo'tham, son of Uzzi'ah, king of Judah, Re'zin the king
of Syria and Pe'kah the son of Remali'ah the king of Israel came up
to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it.
2When the house
of David was told, “Syria is in league with E'phraim,”
his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the
forest shake before the wind.
3 And the L
ORD said
to Isai'ah, “Go forth to meet A'haz, you and
She'arjash''ub
h your son,
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the
Fuller’s Field, 4and say to him, ‘Take heed, be quiet,
do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these
two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Re'zin
and Syria and the son of Remali'ah.
5Because Syria, with E'phraim and the son of
Remali'ah, has devised evil against you, saying,
6“Let us go up
against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves,
and set up the son of Ta'be-el as king in the midst of it,”
7thus says the
Lord GOD:
It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Re'zin.
(Within sixty-five years E'phraim will be
broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)
9And the head of E'phraim is Samar'ia,
and the head of Samaria is the son of
Remali'ah.
If you will not believe,
surely you shall not be
established.’”
The Sign of Immanuel
10 Again the L
ORD spoke to A'haz,
11“Ask a sign of the L
ORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as
heaven.”
12But A'haz said, “I will not ask, and
I will not put the L
ORD to the
test.”
13And he said, “Hear then, O house of
David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God
also?
14Therefore the Lord himself will give you
a sign. Behold, a virgin
i * shall
conceive and bearj a son,
and shall call his name Imman'u-el.k 15He shall eat curds and honey when he knows
how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16For before the child
knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before
whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
17The L
ORD will bring upon you and upon your people and
upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the
day that E'phraim departed from Judah—the king of
Assyria.”
18 In that day the
LORD will whistle for the fly which is
at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in
the land of Assyria. 19And they will all come and settle in the
steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the
thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
20 In that day the
Lord will shave with a razor which is hired beyond the
River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of
the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
21 In that day a man
will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; 22and because of the
abundance of milk which they give, he will eat curds; for every one
that is left in the land will eat curds and honey.
23 In that day every
place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand
shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24With bow and arrows
men will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns;
25and as for
all the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come
there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place
where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
Isaiah’s Son a Sign of Assyrian
Invasion
8 Then the L
ORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and
write upon it in common characters, ‘Belonging to
Ma'her-shal'al-hash''-baz.’
” l 2And I got reliable witnesses, Uri'ah the priest and
Zechari'ah the son of Jeberechi'ah, to attest for me. 3And I went to the
prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the
LORD said to me, “Call his name
Ma'her-shal'al-hash''-baz; 4for before the child knows how to cry
‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of
Damascus and the spoil of Samar'ia will be carried away before the
king of Assyria.”
5 The L
ORD spoke to
me again:
6“Because this people have refused the
waters of Shilo'ah that flow gently, and melt in fear
before
m
Re'zin and the son of Remali'ah;
7therefore,
behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the
River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and
it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks;
8and it will
sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to
the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your
land, O Imman'u-el.”
9Be broken, you peoples, and be
dismayed;
give ear, all you far countries;
gird yourselves and be dismayed;
gird yourselves and be dismayed.
10Take counsel together, but it will come
to nought;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
11 For the
L
ORD spoke thus to me with his strong
hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people,
saying:
12“Do not call conspiracy all
that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear,
nor be in dread.
13But the L
ORD
of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and
let him be your dread.
14And he
will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of
stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15And many shall stumble thereon; they shall
fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Disciples of Isaiah
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching
among my disciples.
17I will
wait for the L
ORD, who is hiding his
face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
18Behold, I and the
children whom the L
ORD has given me
are signs and portents in Israel from the L
ORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19And when they say to
you, “Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and
mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they
consult the dead on behalf of the living?
20To the teaching and
to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no
dawn.
21They will pass through the
land,
n
greatly distressed and hungry; and when
they are hungry, they will be enraged and will
curseo
their king and their God, and turn their
faces upward; 22and they will look to the earth, but
behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will
be thrust into thick darkness.
The Righteous Reign
9 p But there will be no gloom for
her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into
contempt the land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, but in the
latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land
beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 qThe people
who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep
darkness,
on them has light shined.
3You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as men rejoice when they divide the
spoil.
4For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of
Mid'ian.
5For every boot of the tramping warrior in
battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6For
to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his
shoulder,
and his name will be called
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.”
*7Of
the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
upon the throne of David, and over his
kingdom,
to establish it, and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and for evermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
8The Lord has sent a word against
Jacob,
and it will light upon Israel;
9and all the people will know,
E'phraim and the inhabitants of
Samar'ia,
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.”
11So
the L
ORD raises adversaries
r against
them,
and stirs up their enemies.
12The Syrians on the east and the
Philis'tines on the west
devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned
away
and his hand is stretched out still.
13The people did not turn to him who struck
them,
nor seek the LORD of hosts.
14So the LORD
cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—
15the elder and honored man is the
head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the
tail;
16for those who lead this people lead them
astray,
and those who are led by them are swallowed
up.
17Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over
their young men,
and has no compassion on their fatherless
and widows;
for every one is godless and an
evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
For all this his anger is not turned
away
and his hand is stretched out still.
18For wickedness burns like a fire,
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of
smoke.
19Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts
the land is burned,
and the people are like fuel for the
fire;
no man spares his brother.
20They snatch on the right, but are still
hungry,
and they devour on the left, but are not
satisfied;
each devours his neighbor’s
s flesh,21Manas'seh E'phraim, and Ephraim
Manasseh,
and together they are against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned
away
and his hand is stretched out still.
Judgment on the Oppressors
10 Woe to those who
decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing
oppression,
2to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their
right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their
prey!
3What will you do on the day of
punishment,
in the storm which will come from
afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4Nothing remains but to crouch among the
prisoners
or fall among the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned
away
and his hand is stretched out still.
5Ah,
Assyria, the rod of my anger,
6Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command
him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets.
7But he does not so intend,
and his mind does not so think;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8for he says:
“Are not my commanders all
kings?
9Is not Calno like Car'chemish?
Is not Ha'math like Arpad?
Is not Samar'ia like Damascus?
10As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of
the idols
whose graven images were greater than those
of Jerusalem and Samar'ia,
11shall I not do to Jerusalem and her
idols
as I have done to Samar'ia and her
images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on
Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he
u will
punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty
pride. 13For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have
done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have
understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of
peoples,
and have plundered their treasures;
like a bull I have brought down those who
sat on thrones.
14My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as men gather 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.”
15Shall the axe vaunt itself 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!
16Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout
warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be
kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17The light of Israel will become a
fire,
and his Holy One a flame;
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.
18The glory of his forest and of his fruitful
land
the LORD will
destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes
away.
19The remnant of the trees of his forest will
be so few
that a child can write them down.
The Repentant Remnant of Israel
20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the
survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that
struck them, but will lean upon the L
ORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21A remnant will
return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22For though your people Israel be as the
sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is
decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
23For the Lord, the
L
ORD of hosts, will make a full end,
as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus
says the Lord, the L
ORD of hosts:
“O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the
Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff
against you as the Egyptians did.
25For in a very little while my indignation
will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their
destruction.
26And the L
ORD
of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he struck
Mid'ian at the rock of Or'eb; and his rod will be over the sea, and
he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
27And in that day his burden will depart
from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your
neck.”
He has gone up from Rimmon,
v28 he has come to Ai'ath;
he has passed through Migron,
at Mich'mash he stores his baggage;
29they have crossed over the pass,
at Ge'ba they lodge for the night;
Ra'mah trembles,
Gib'eah of Saul has fled.
30Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Listen, O La'ishah!
Answer her, O An'athoth!
31Madme'nah is in flight,
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for
safety.
32This very day he will halt at Nob,
he will shake his fist
at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying
power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34He
will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon with its majestic trees
w will
fall.The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse and
the Peaceful Kingdom
11 * There shall
come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his
roots.
2And the
Spirit of the L
ORD 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.*
3And
his delight shall be in the fear of the L
ORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes
see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but
with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the
earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod
of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall
slay the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt of his
waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his
loins.
6The wolf
shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid,
and the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall feed;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the
ox.
8The sucking child shall play over the hole
of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on
the adder’s den.
9They
shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as
an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his
dwellings shall be glorious.
11 In that day the Lord will extend his
hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his
people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Path'ros, from Ethiopia,
from E'lam, from Shi'nar, from Ha'math, and from the islands of the
sea.
12He will raise an ensign for the
nations,
and will assemble the outcasts of
Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13The jealousy of E'phraim shall
depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut
off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder
of the Philis'tines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people
of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against
E'dom and Moab,
and the Am'monites shall obey them.
15And the L
ORD will utterly destroy
the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
and will wave his hand over the River
with his scorching wind,
and strike it into seven channels
that men may cross dryshod.
16And there will be a highway from
Assyria
for the remnant which is left of his
people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of
Egypt.
Thanksgiving and Praise
12 You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O
LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you did comfort me.
2“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD
GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw
water from the wells of salvation. 4And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the
nations,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5“Sing praises to the L
ORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known
x in all
the earth.6Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of
Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of
Israel.”
An Oracle concerning Babylon
13 The oracle concerning Babylon which
Isai'ah the son of A'moz saw.
2On a bare hill raise a signal,
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3I myself have commanded my consecrated
ones,
have summoned my mighty men to execute my
anger,
my proudly exulting ones.
4Listen, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
The LORD of
hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the LORD and
the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole earth.
6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will
come!
7Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every man’s heart will melt,
8 and
they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman with
labor pains.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
10For the
stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising
and the moon will not shed its light.
11I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the
arrogant,
and lay low the haughtiness of the
ruthless.
12I will make men more rare than fine
gold,
and mankind than the gold of O'phir.
13Therefore I 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.
14And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather
them,
every man will turn to his own people,
and every man will flee to his own
land.
15Whoever is found will be thrust
through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the
sword.
16Their infants will be dashed in
pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against
them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18Their bows will slaughter the young
men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the
womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pride of the
Chalde'ans,
will be like Sodom and Gomor'rah
when God overthrew them.
20It will never be inhabited
or dwelt in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherds will make their flocks lie down
there.
21But
wild beasts will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling
creatures;
there ostriches will dwell,
and there satyrs will dance.
22Hyenas will cry in its towers,
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
Restoration of Israel
14 The LORD will have
compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them
in their own land, and strangers will join them and will cling to
the house of Jacob. 2And the peoples will take them and bring
them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in
the LORD’s land as male and female slaves; they will take
captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who
oppressed them.
3 When the
L
ORD has given you rest from your pain
and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,
4you will take up this taunt against
the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury
y ceased!5The LORD has
broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8The cypresses rejoice at you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no hewer comes up against us.’
9Sheol 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.
10All of them will speak
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as
we!
You have become like us!’
11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.
12“How you are fallen from
heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far north;
14I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds,
I will make myself like the Most
High.’
15But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.
16Those who see you will stare at you,
and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth
tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go
home?’
18All the kings of the nations lie in
glory,
each in his own tomb;
19but you are cast out, away from your
sepulchre,
like a loathed untimely birth,
zclothed with the slain, those pierced by the
sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit,
like a dead body trodden under foot.
20You will not be joined with them in
burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May the descendants of
evildoers
nevermore be named!
21Prepare slaughter for his sons
because 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,” says the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon
name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the LORD. 23And I will make it a possession of the
hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of
destruction, says the LORD of
hosts.”
24The LORD
of hosts has sworn:
“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
25that I will break the Assyrian in my
land,
and upon my mountains trample him under
foot;
and his yoke shall depart from them,
and his burden from their
shoulder.”
26This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched
out
over all the nations.
27For the LORD
of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
28In the year that King A'haz died came this
oracle:
29“Rejoice not, O Philis'tia, all of
you,
that the rod which struck you is
broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come
forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying
serpent.
30And the first-born of the poor will
feed,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant I
a will
slay.31Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philis'tia, all of
you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his
ranks.”
32What will one answer the messengers of the
nation?
“The LORD
has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find
refuge.”
An Oracle concerning Moab
15 An oracle
concerning Moab.
Because Ar is laid waste in a night
Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night
Moab is undone.
2The
daughter of Di'bon
b has gone
up
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Med'eba
Moab wails.
On every head is baldness,
every beard is shorn;
3in the streets they put on sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
every one wails and melts in tears.
4Heshbon and E''lea'leh cry out,
their voice is heard as far as Ja'haz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry
aloud;
his soul trembles.
5My
heart cries out for Moab;
his fugitives flee to Zoar,
to Eg'lath-shelish'iyah.
For at the ascent of Lu'hith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horona'im
they raise a cry of destruction;
6the waters of Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the new growth
fails,
the verdure is no more.
7Therefore the abundance they have
gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
8For a cry has gone
round the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Egla'im,
the wailing reaches to Be'er-e'lim.
9For
the waters of Di'bon
c are full
of blood;
yet I will bring upon Dibon
c even
more,a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
to the ruler of the land,
from Se'la, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
3“Give counsel,
grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
betray not the fugitive;
4let the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples under foot
has vanished from the land,
5then 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.”
6We have heard of the pride of Moab,
how proud he was;
of his arrogance, his pride, and his
insolence—
his boasts are false.
7Therefore let Moab wail,
let every one wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the raisin-cakes of
Kir'-har'eseth.
8For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Ja'zer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
9Therefore I weep with the weeping of
Ja'zer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and E''lea'leh;
for upon your fruit and your harvest
the battle shout has fallen.
10And joy and gladness are taken
away
from the fruitful field;
and in the vineyards no songs are
sung,
no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the
presses;
the vintage shout is hushed.
d11Therefore my soul moans like a lyre for
Moab,
and my heart for Kirhe'res.
12 And when Moab
presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when
he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13 This is the word
which the LORD spoke concerning Moab
in the past. 14But now the LORD says, “In three years, like the years of
a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in
spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be
very few and feeble.”
An Oracle concerning Damascus
17 An oracle
concerning Damascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a
city,
and will become a heap of ruins.
2Her
cities will be deserted for ever;
e
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and none will make them
afraid.
3The fortress will disappear from
E'phraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like the glory of the children of Israel,
says the LORD of hosts.
4And in that day
the glory of Jacob will be brought
low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow
lean.
5And it shall be as when the reaper gathers
standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of
grain
in the Valley of Reph'aim.
6Gleanings 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,
says the LORD God of
Israel.
7 In that day men will
regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of
Israel;
8they will not have
regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not
look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe'rim or
the altars of incense.
9 In that day their strong cities will be
like the deserted places of the Hi'vites and the
Am'orites,
f
which they deserted because of the children
of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your
salvation,
and have not remembered the Rock of your
refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant
plants
and set out slips of an alien god,
11though you make them grow on the day that
you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that
you sow;
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12Ah, the 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!
13The nations roar like the roaring of many
waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee
far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before
the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
14At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who despoil
us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
18 Ah, land of
whirring wings
which is beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia;
2which sends ambassadors by the Nile,
in vessels of papyrus upon the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation, tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains,
look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4For thus the LORD said to me:
“I will quietly look from my
dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of
harvest.”
5For before the harvest, when the blossom is
over,
and the flower becomes a ripening
grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning
hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew
away.
6They 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 upon
them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter
upon them.
7 At that time gifts will
be brought to the LORD of
hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion, the
place of the name of the LORD of
hosts.
An Oracle concerning Egypt
19 An oracle
concerning Egypt.
Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his
presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt
within them.
2And
I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, every man against his
brother
and every man against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against
kingdom;
3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them
will be emptied out,
and I will confound their plans;
and they will consult the idols and the
sorcerers,
and the mediums and the wizards;
4and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master;
and a fierce king will rule over them,
says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5And the waters of the Nile will be dried
up,
and the river will be parched and dry;
6and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will
diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry
up,
be driven away, and be no more.
8The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets upon the water.
9The workers in combed flax will be in
despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10Those who are the pillars of the land will
be crushed,
and all who work for hire will be
grieved.
11The princes of Zoan are utterly
foolish;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid
counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and make known
what the LORD
of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13The princes of Zoan have become
fools,
and the princes of Memphis are
deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her
tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14The LORD has
mingled within her a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all her
doings
as a drunken man staggers in his
vomit.
15And there will be nothing for Egypt
which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may
do.
16 In that day the
Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand
which the LORD of hosts shakes
over them. 17And the land of Judah will become a terror
to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear
because of the purpose which the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.
18 In that day there
will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language
of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City
of the Sun.
19 In that day there
will be an altar to the LORD in the
midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. 20It 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 he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver
them. 21And
the LORD will make himself known to
the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and
burnt offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. 22And the
LORD will strike Egypt, striking and
healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will heed their supplications and heal
them.
23 In that day there
will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come
into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will
worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day
Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the
midst of the earth, 25whom the LORD
of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people,
and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my
heritage.”
The Conquest of Egypt and
Ethiopia
20 In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent
by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ash'dod and fought against
it and took it,—2at that time the L
ORD had spoken by Isai'ah the son of A'moz, saying,
“Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off
your shoes from your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked
and barefoot—
3the L
ORD said,
“As my servant Isai'ah has walked naked and barefoot for
three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,
4so shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians
exiles, both the young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks
uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5Then they shall be dismayed and confounded
because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast.
6And the inhabitants of
this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what
has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help
to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we
escape?’ ”
Oracles concerning Babylon, Edom, and
Arabia
21 The oracle concerning the wilderness
of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Neg'eb sweep on,
it comes from the desert,
from a terrible land.
2A stern vision is told to me;
the plunderer plunders,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O E'lam,
lay siege, O Med'ia;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3Therefore my loins are filled with
anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman with labor
pains;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear,
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes,
oil the shield!
6For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman,
let him announce what he sees.
7When he sees riders, horsemen in
pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8Then
he who saw
g
cried:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O
LORD,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed whole
nights.
9And,
behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
And he answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11The oracle concerning Du'mah.
One is calling to me from Se'ir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the
night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”
13The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will
lodge,
O caravans of De'danites.
14To the thirsty bring water,
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Te'ma.
15For 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, according to the years of a
hireling, all the glory of Ke'dar will come to an end; 17and the remainder of
the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Ke'dar will be few;
for the LORD, the God of Israel, has
spoken.”
An Oracle concerning the Valley of
Vision
22 The oracle
concerning the valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone
up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain with the
sword
or dead in battle.
3All
your rulers have fled together,
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were
captured,
though they had fled far away.
h4Therefore I said:
“Look away from me,
let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
for the destruction of the daughter of my
people.”
5For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6And
E'lam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
iand Kir uncovered the shield.
7Your choicest valleys were full of
chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the
gates.
8He has taken away the covering of
Judah.
In that day you looked to the weapons of the House
of the Forest, 9and you saw that the breaches of the city of
David were many, and you collected the waters of the lower pool,
10and you
counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to
fortify the wall. 11You made a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did
it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.
12In that day the Lord GOD of hosts
called to weeping and mourning,
to baldness and putting on of
sackcloth;
13and behold, joy and gladness,
slaying oxen and killing sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14The LORD of
hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be
forgiven you
till you die,”
says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Denunciation of Self-Seeking
Officials
15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts,
“Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the
household, and say to him:
16What have you to do here and whom have you
here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a
tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the
rock?
17Behold, the L
ORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong
man. He will seize firm hold on you,
18and whirl you round
and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you
shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of
your master’s house.
19I will thrust you from your office, and you
will be cast down from your station.
20In that day I will
call my servant Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah,
21and I will clothe him
with your robe, and will bind your belt on him, and will commit
your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22And I will place on his shoulder the key
of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he
shall shut, and none shall open.
23And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure
place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s
house.
24And
they will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s house,
the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all
the flagons.
25In that day, says the L
ORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a
sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the
burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the L
ORD has spoken.”
An Oracle concerning Tyre
23 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tar'shish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or
haven!
From the land of Cyprus
it is revealed to them.
2Be
still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Si'don;
your messengers passed over the sea
j3 and were on many waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4Be ashamed, O Si'don, for the sea has
spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither endured labor pains
nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men nor brought
up virgins.”
5When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report
about Tyre.
6Pass over to Tar'shish,
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle afar?
8Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the
earth?
9The LORD of
hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the
earth.
10Overflow your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tar'shish;
there is no restraint any more.
11He has stretched out his hand over the
sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the LORD has
given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Si'don;
arise, pass over to Cyprus,
even there you will have no
rest.”
13 Behold the land of the Chalde'ans! This is
the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild beasts.
They erected their siege towers, they razed her palaces, they made
her a ruin.
k
14Wail, O ships of Tar'shish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years,
like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will
happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
16“Take a harp,
go about the city,
O forgotten harlot!
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17At the end
of seventy years, the LORD will visit
Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot
with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
18Her
merchandise and her hire will be dedicated 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.
Impending Judgment on the Earth
24 Behold, the LORD will lay
waste the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter
its inhabitants.
2And 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;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the
borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the
debtor.
3The earth shall be utterly laid waste and
utterly despoiled;
for the LORD
has spoken this word.
4The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the
earth.
5The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their
guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are
scorched,
and few men are left.
7The wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8The mirth
of the timbrels is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9No more do they drink wine with
singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink
it.
10The city of chaos is broken down,
every house is shut up so that none can
enter.
11There is an outcry in the streets for lack
of wine;
all joy has reached its eventide;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
12Desolation is left in the city,
the gates are battered into ruins.
13For thus it shall be in the midst of the
earth
among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the vintage is
done.
14They lift up their voices, they sing for
joy;
over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.
15Therefore in the east give glory to the
LORD;
in the islands of the sea, to the name of
the LORD, the God of Israel.
16From the ends of the earth we hear songs of
praise,
of glory to the Righteous One.
But I say, “I pine away,
I pine away. Woe is me!
For the treacherous deal
treacherously,
the treacherous deal very
treacherously.”
17Terror, and the pit, and the snare are upon
you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18He 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 the windows of heaven are opened,
and the foundations of the earth
tremble.
19The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is torn apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20The earth staggers like a drunken
man,
it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
21On that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the
earth.
22They will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days they will be
punished.
23Then the moon will be confounded,
and the sun ashamed;
for the LORD of
hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
and before his elders he will manifest his
glory.
Praise for Deliverance from
Oppression
25 O LORD, you are my
God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your
name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and
sure.
2For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of strangers is a city no
more,
it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will glorify
you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear
you.
4For you have been a stronghold to the
poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his
distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from
the heat;
for the blast of the ruthless is like a
storm against a wall,
5 like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the strangers;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is
stilled.
6 On this mountain the
L
ORD of hosts will make for all
peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines—of fat
things full of marrow, of choice wines well refined.
7And he will destroy on
this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil
that is spread over all nations.
8He will
swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears
from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away
from all the earth, for the L
ORD
has spoken.
9 It will be said on
that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him,
that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and
rejoice in his salvation.”
10 For the hand of the L
ORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be
trodden down in his place, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
11And he will spread out his hands
in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim; but
the L
ORD will lay low his pride
together with the skill
l of his
hands. 12And the high fortifications of his walls he
will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, even to the
dust.
Judah’s Song of Praise to
God
26 In that day this
song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
2Open the gates,
that the righteous nation which keeps
faith
may enter in.
3You keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4Trust in the LORD for ever,
for the LORD
GOD
is an everlasting rock.
5For he has brought low
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the
ground,
casts it to the dust.
6The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.”
7The
way of the righteous is level;
you
m make
smooth the path of the righteous.8In the path of your judgments,
O LORD, we wait
for you;
your memorial name
is the desire of our soul.
9My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks
you.
For when your judgments are in the
earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn
righteousness.
10If favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals
perversely
and does not see the majesty of the
LORD.
11O
L
ORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they see it not.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and
be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume
them.
12O LORD, you
will ordain peace for us,
you have wrought for us all our works.
other lords besides you have ruled over
us,
but your name alone we acknowledge.
14They 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.
15But you have increased the nation, O
LORD,
you have increased the nation; you are
glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the
land.
16O
L
ORD, in distress they sought
you,
they poured out a prayer
nwhen your chastening was upon them.
17Like a woman with child,
who writhes and cries out in her
pangs,
when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O LORD;
18 we were with child, we writhed,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have wrought no deliverance in the
earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not
fallen.
19Your dead shall live, their
bodies
o
shall rise.
O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for
joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and on the land of the shades you will let
it fall.
20Come, my people, enter your
chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
21For behold, the LORD is coming forth out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed
upon her,
and will no more cover her slain.
Israel’s Expiation
27 In that day the
L
ORD with his hard and great and
strong sword will punish Levi'athan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan
the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the
sea.
2In that day:
“A pleasant vineyard, sing of
it!
3 I, the LORD,
am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest any one harm it,
I guard it night and day;
4 I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to
battle!
I would set out against them,
I would burn them up together.
5Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me.”
6In
days to come
q
Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth
shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7Has he struck them down as he struck those
who struck them?
Or have they been slain as their slayers
were slain?
8Measure by measure,
r by exile
you contended with them;
he removed them with his fierce blast in the
day of the east wind.
9Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will
be expiated,
and this will be the full fruit of the
removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the
altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
no Ashe'rim or incense altars will remain
standing.
10For the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the
wilderness;
there the calf grazes,
there he lies down, and strips its
branches.
11When its boughs are dry, they are
broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without
discernment;
therefore he who made them will not have
compassion on them,
he that formed them will show them no
favor.
12In that day from the river Euphra'tes to
the Brook of Egypt the L
ORD will
thresh out the grain, and you will be gathered one by one, O people
of Israel.
13And in
that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in
the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of
Egypt will come and worship the L
ORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
28 Woe to the proud
crown of the drunkards of E'phraim,
and to the fading flower of its glorious
beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of
those overcome with wine!
2Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and
strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying
tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing
waters,
he will cast down to the earth with
violence.
3The proud crown of the drunkards of
E'phraim
will be trodden under foot;
4and the fading flower of its glorious
beauty,
which is on the head of the rich
valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig before the
summer:
when a man sees it, he eats it up
as soon as it is in his hand.
5In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of
his people;
6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in
judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the
battle at the gate.
7These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong
drink,
they are confused with wine,
they stagger with strong drink;
they err in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
8For all tables are full of vomit,
no place is without filthiness.
9“Whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the
message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
10For it is precept upon precept, precept
upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
11No, but
by men of strange lips
and with an alien tongue
the LORD will
speak to this people,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
13Therefore the word of the LORD will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon
precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little;
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14Therefore hear the word of the
LORD, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15Because you have said, “We have made
a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes
through
it will not come to us;
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken
shelter”;
16therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion for a
foundation
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure
foundation:
‘He who believes will not be in
haste.’
17And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plummet;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of
lies,
and waters will overwhelm the
shelter.”
18Then your covenant with death will be
annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not
stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes
through
you will be beaten down by it.
19As often as it passes through it will take
you;
for morning by morning it will pass
through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand
the message.
20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself
on it,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself
in it.
21For the LORD
will rise up as on Mount Pera'zim,
he will rage as in the valley of
Gib'eon;
to do his deed—strange is his
deed!
and to work his work—alien is his
work!
22Now therefore do not scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard a decree of
destruction
from the Lord GOD of hosts upon the whole
land.
23Give ear, and hear my voice;
listen, and hear my speech.
24Does he who plows for sowing plow
continually?
does he continually open and harrow his
ground?
25When he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cummin,
and put in wheat in rows
and barley in its proper place,
and spelt as the border?
26For he is instructed rightly;
his God teaches him.
27Dill is not threshed with a threshing
sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over
cummin;
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cummin with a rod.
28Does one crush bread grain?
No, he does not thresh it for ever;
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
29This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in wisdom.
The Siege of Jerusalem
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2Yet I will distress Ar'iel,
and there shall be moaning and
lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
3And
I will encamp against you round about,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against
you.
4Then deep from the earth you shall
speak,
from low in the dust your words shall
come;
your voice shall come from the ground like
the voice of a ghost,
and your speech shall whisper out of the
dust.
5But
the multitude of your foes
s shall be
like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like
passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6 you will be visited by the LORD of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great
noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of
a devouring fire.
7And the multitude of all the nations that
fight against Ar'iel,
all that fight against her and her
stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the
night.
8As when a hungry man dreams he is
eating
and awakes with his hunger not
satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams he is
drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not
quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations
be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10For the L
ORD has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes, the
prophets,
and covered your heads, the seers.
11 And the vision of all this has become
to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to
one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says,
“I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12And when they give
the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,”
he says, “I cannot read.”
“Because this people draw near with
their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men
learned by rote;
14therefore, behold, I will again
do marvelous things with this people,
wonderful and marvelous;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall
perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men
shall be hidden.”
15Woe to those who hide deep from the
LORD their counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows
us?”
16You
turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the
clay;
that the thing made should say of its
maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed
it,
“He has no understanding”?
17Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a
fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as
a forest?
18In that
day the deaf shall hear the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the
LORD,
and the poor among men shall exult in the
Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless shall come to nothing and
the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut
off,
21who by a word make a man out to be an
offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the
gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is
in the right.
Hope for the Future
22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of
Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of
Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of
Israel.
24And those who err in spirit will come to
understanding,
and those who murmur will accept
instruction.”
A Rebellious People
30 “Woe to the
rebellious children,” says the L
ORD,
“who carry out a plan, but not
mine;
and who make a league, but not of my
spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of
Pharaoh,
and to seek shelter in the shadow of
Egypt!
3Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall
turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to
your humiliation.
4For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Han'es,
5every one comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit
them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6An oracle on the beasts of the Neg'eb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the
lion,
the viper and the flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of
donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of
camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7For Egypt’s help is worthless and
empty,
therefore I have called her
“Ra'hab who sits still.”
8And now, go, write it before them on a
tablet,
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come as a
witness for ever.
9For they are a rebellious people,
lying sons,
sons who will not hear
the instruction of the LORD;
10who say to the seers, “See
not”;
and to the prophets, “Prophesy not to
us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11leave the way, turn aside from the
path,
let us hear no more of the Holy One of
Israel.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of
Israel,
“Because you despise this word,
and trust in oppression and
perverseness,
and rely on them;
13therefore this iniquity shall be to
you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out,
and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an
instant;
14and its breaking is like that of a
potter’s vessel
which is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is
found
with which to take fire from the
hearth,
or to dip up water out of the
cistern.”
15For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of
Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be
saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your
strength.”
And you would not, 16but you said,
“No! We will speed upon
horses,”
therefore you shall speed away;
and, “We will ride upon swift
steeds,”
therefore your pursuers shall be
swift.
17A thousand shall flee at the threat of
one,
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a
mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
18Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to
you.
For the LORD is
a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for
him.
God’s Promise to Zion
19 Yes, O people in Zion who dwell at
Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to
you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.
20And though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of
affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but
your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21And your ears shall hear a word behind you,
saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to
the right or when you turn to the left. 22Then you will defile
your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten
images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to
them, “Begone!”
23 And he will
give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain,
the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In
that day your flock will be given pasture, and the lamb will graze
in open fields; 24and the oxen and the donkeys that till the
ground will eat salted food, which has been winnowed with shovel
and fork. 25And upon every lofty mountain and every
high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of
the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26Moreover the light of
the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun
will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the
LORD binds up the hurt of his
people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising
smoke;
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring
fire;
28his breath is like an overflowing
stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of
destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a
bridle that leads astray.
Judgment on Assyria
29 You shall have a song as in the night
when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets
out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the
L
ORD, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the
L
ORD will cause his majestic voice to
be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious
anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest
and hailstones.
31The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at
the voice of the L
ORD, when he strikes
with his rod.
32And every stroke of the staff of punishment
which the L
ORD lays upon them will be
to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he
will fight with them.
33For a burning place
t has long
been prepared; yes, for the kingu it is
made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in
abundance; the breath of the LORD,
like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.
Help from Egypt Is Futile
31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are
many
and in horsemen because they are very
strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of
Israel
or consult the LORD!
2And yet he is wise and brings
disaster,
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the
evildoers,
and against the helpers of those who work
iniquity.
3The Egyptians are men, and not God;
and their horses are flesh, and not
spirit.
When the LORD
stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is
helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4For thus the LORD said to me,
As a lion or a young lion growls over his
prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called forth
against him
is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so the LORD of
hosts will come down
to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its
hill.
5Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it,
he will spare and rescue it.
6 Turn to him from whom you
v have
deeply revolted, O people of Israel. 7For in that day every
one shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold,
which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8“And the Assyrian shall fall by a
sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour
him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced
labor.
9His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in
panic,”
says the LORD,
whose fire is in Zion,
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
A Reign of Righteousness and
Justice
32 Behold, a king will
reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2Each will be like a hiding place from the
wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary
land.
3Then the eyes of those who see will not be
closed,
and the ears of those who hear will
listen.
4The mind of the rash will have good
judgment,
and the tongue of the stammerers will speak
readily and distinctly.
5The fool will no more be called noble,
nor the knave said to be honorable.
6For the fool speaks folly,
and his mind plots iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the LORD,
to leave the craving of the hungry
unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7The knaveries of the knave are evil;
he devises wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is
right.
8But he who is noble devises noble
things,
and by noble things he stands.
9Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my
voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my
speech.
10In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent
women;
for the vintage will fail,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and put sackcloth upon your loins.
12Beat upon your breasts for the pleasant
fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers;
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the joyful city.
14For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens for ever,
a joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15until the Spirit is poured upon us from on
high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful
field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a
forest.
16Then justice will dwell in the
wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful
field.
17And the effect of righteousness will be
peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness
and trust for ever.
18My people will abide in a peaceful
habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting
places.
19And the forest will utterly go
down,
w
and the city will be utterly laid low.
20Happy are you who sow beside all
waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey
range free.
A Prophecy of Deliverance: The Lord,
the Majestic King
33 Woe to you,
destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed;
you treacherous one,
with whom none has dealt
treacherously!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have made an end of dealing
treacherously,
you will be dealt with treacherously.
2O LORD, be
gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3At the thunderous noise peoples flee,
at the lifting up of yourself nations are
scattered;
4and spoil is gathered as the caterpillar
gathers;
as locusts leap, men leap upon it.
5The LORD is
exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and
righteousness;
6and he will be the stability of your
times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and
knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
7Behold, the valiant ones
y cry
without;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
the wayfaring man ceases.
Covenants are broken,
there is no regard for man.
9The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers
away;
Sharon is like a desert;
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their
leaves.
10“Now I will arise,” says the
LORD,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11You conceive chaff, you bring forth
stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume
you.
12And the peoples will be as if burned to
lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the
fire.”
13Hear, you who are far off, what I have
done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my
might.
14The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the
devouring fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting
burnings?”
15He who walks righteously and speaks
uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a
bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of
bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking upon
evil,
16he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses
of rocks;
his bread will be given him, his water will
be sure.
17Your eyes will see the king in his
beauty;
they will behold a land that stretches
afar.
18Your mind will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is he
who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the
towers?”
19You will see no more the insolent
people,
the people of an obscure speech which you
cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue which you cannot
understand.
20Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed
feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21But there the LORD in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor stately ship can pass.
22For the LORD
is our judge, the LORD is our
ruler,
the LORD is our
king; he will save us.
23Your tackle hangs loose;
it cannot hold the mast firm in its
place,
or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be
divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
24And no inhabitant will say, “I am
sick”;
the people who dwell there will be forgiven
their iniquity.
The Wrath of the Lord
34 Draw near, O nations, to hear,
and listen, O peoples!
Let the earth listen, and all that fills
it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
2For the LORD is
enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host,
he has doomed them, has given them over for
slaughter.
3Their slain shall be cast out,
and the stench of their corpses shall
rise;
the mountains shall flow with their
blood.
4All 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.
5For my sword has drunk its fill in the
heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon
E'dom,
upon the people I have doomed.
6The 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
E'dom.
7Wild oxen shall fall with them,
and young steers with the mighty
bulls.
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their soil made rich with fat.
8For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of
Zion.
9And the
streams of E'dom
a shall be
turned into pitch,
and her soil into brimstone;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10Night and day it shall not be
quenched;
its smoke shall go up for ever.
From generation to generation it shall lie
waste;
none shall pass through it for ever and
ever.
11But 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 plummet of chaos over
b its
nobles.12They shall name it No Kingdom There,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13Thorns shall grow over its
strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its
fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
an abode for ostriches.
14And wild beasts shall meet with
hyenas,
the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
yes, there shall the night creature
alight,
and find for herself a resting place.
15There shall the owl nest and lay
and hatch and gather her young in her
shadow;
yes, there shall the kites be
gathered,
each one with her mate.
16Seek 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.
17He has cast the lot for them,
his hand has portioned it out to them with
the line;
they shall possess it for ever,
from generation to generation they shall
dwell in it.
The Lord Will Come to Save
35 The wilderness and
the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the lily 2it shall blossom
abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to
it,
the majesty of Car'mel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the
LORD,
the majesty of our God.
3Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4Say
to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6then shall the lame man leap like a
deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for
joy.
For waters shall break forth in the
wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7the
burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of
water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a
swamp,
cthe grass shall become reeds and
rushes.
8And
a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not pass over it,
dand fools shall not err therein.
9No 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.
10And the ransomed of the L
ORD shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
36 In the fourteenth year of King
Hezeki'ah, Sennach'erib king of Assyria came up against all the
fortified cities of Judah and took them.
2And the king of
Assyria sent the Rab'shakeh from La'chish to King Hezeki'ah at
Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the
upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3And there came out to
him Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and
Shebna the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of A'saph, the
recorder.
4 And the Rab'shakeh
said to them, “Say to Hezeki'ah, ‘Thus says the great
king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of
yours? 5Do you
think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do
you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6Behold, you are
relying on 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 rely on him. 7But if you say to me, “We rely on the
LORD our God,” is it not he
whose high places and altars Hezeki'ah has removed, saying to Judah
and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this
altar”? 8Come 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 upon them. 9How then can you
repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s
servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10Moreover, 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.’ ”
11 Then Eli'akim,
Shebna, and Jo'ah said to the Rab'shakeh, “Please, speak to
your servants in Arama'ic, 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.” 12But the Rab'shakeh 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?”
13 Then the
Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of
Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of
Assyria! 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let
Hezeki'ah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
15Do not let
Hezeki'ah make you rely on the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not
be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16Do not listen to
Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with
me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own
vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will
drink the water of his own cistern; 17until 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. 18Beware lest Hezeki'ah 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? 19Where are the gods of
Ha'math and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva'im? Have they
delivered Samar'ia out of my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these countries
have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the
LORD should deliver Jerusalem out
of my hand?’ ”
21 But they were
silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command
was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eli'akim the son
of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Sheb'na the secretary,
and Jo'ah the son of A'saph, the recorder, came to Hezeki'ah with
their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rab'shakeh.
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
37 When King Hezeki'ah
heard it, he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth,
and went into the house of the L
ORD.
2And he sent
Eli'akim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and
the senior priests, clothed with sackcloth, to the prophet Isai'ah
the son of A'moz. 3They said to him, “Thus says
Hezeki'ah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of
disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength
to bring them forth. 4It may be that the LORD your God heard the words of the Rab'shakeh,
whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living
God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your
prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5 When the
servants of King Hezeki'ah came to Isai'ah, 6Isai'ah said to them,
“Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that
you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
reviled me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that
he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will make
him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”
8 The Rab'shakeh
returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah;
for he had heard that the king had left La'chish. 9Now the king heard
concerning Tirha'kah king of Ethiopia, “He has set out to
fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers
to Hezeki'ah, saying, 10“Thus shall you speak to Hezeki'ah
king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive
you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of
the king of Assyria. 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall
you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered
them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph,
and the people of Eden who were in Telas'sar? 13Where is the king of
Ha'math, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharva'im,
the king of He'na, or the king of Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezeki'ah received the letter from the
hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the
house of the LORD, and spread it
before the LORD. 15And Hezeki'ah prayed
to the LORD: 16 “O
LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who
are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of
all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
17Incline your
ear, O LORD, and hear; open your
eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear
all the words of Sennach'erib, which he has sent to mock the living
God. 18Of a
truth, O LORD, the kings of
Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19and have cast their
gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of
men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed.
20So now, O
LORD our God, save us from his
hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone
are the LORD.”
21 Then Isai'ah the
son of A'moz sent to Hezeki'ah, saying, “Thus says the
LORD, the God of Israel: Because you
have prayed to me concerning Sennach'erib king of Assyria,
22this is the
word that the LORD has spoken
concerning him:
‘She despises you, she scorns
you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23‘Whom have you mocked and
reviled?
Against whom have you raised your
voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your servants you have mocked the
Lord,
and you have said, With my many
chariots
I have gone up the heights of the
mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
its densest forest.
25I dug wells
and drank waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my
foot
all the streams of Egypt.
26‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27while their inhabitants, shorn of
strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the
field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted
e before it
is grown.28‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my
ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
30 “And this shall
be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the
second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow
and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31And the surviving
remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and
bear fruit upward; 32for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a
remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the
LORD of hosts will accomplish
this.
33 “Therefore
thus says the LORD concerning the king
of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow
there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound
against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same he
shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the
LORD. 35For I will defend this city to save it, for
my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and
Death
36 And the angel of the LORD went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five
thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in
the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37Then Sennach'erib
king of Assyria departed, and went home and dwelt at Nin'eveh.
38And as he
was worshiping in the house of Nis'roch his god, Adram'melech and
Share'zer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the
land of Ar'arat. And E'sar-had'don his son reigned in his
stead.
Hezekiah’s Sickness
38 In those days Hezeki'ah became sick
and was at the point of death. And Isai'ah the prophet the son of
A'moz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the
L
ORD: Set your house in order; for you
shall die, you shall not recover.”
2Then Hezeki'ah
turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, 3and said, “Remember now, O
LORD, I beseech you, how I have walked
before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done
what is good in your sight.” And Hezeki'ah wept bitterly.
4Then the word
of the LORD came to Isai'ah: 5“Go and say to
Hezeki'ah, Thus says the LORD, the God
of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your
tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6I will deliver you and
this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this
city.
7 “This is the
sign to you from the L
ORD, that the
L
ORD will do this thing that he has
promised:
8Behold, I will make
the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of A'haz turn back
ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps
by which it had declined.
f
9 A writing of Hezeki'ah
king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his
sickness:
10I said, In the noontide of my days