Isaiah 17-21
New American Standard Bible
Prophecy about Damascus
17 The (A)pronouncement concerning (B)Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is about to be (C)removed from being a city
And will become a (D)fallen ruin.
2 The cities [a]of (E)Aroer are abandoned;
They will be for (F)herds [b]to lie down in,
And there will be (G)no one to frighten them.
3 The [c](H)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And [d]sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the (I)glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of armies.
4 Now on that day the (J)glory of Jacob will [e]fade,
And (K)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be (L)like the [f]reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the (M)Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet (N)gleanings will be left in it like the [g]shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day man will (O)look to his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he will not look to the (P)altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his (Q)fingers have made,
Even the [h](R)Asherim and incense altars.
9 On that day [i]their strong cities will be like [j]abandoned places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [k]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (S)you have forgotten the (T)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (U)rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.
11 On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the (V)morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will (W)flee
On a day of illness and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the uproar of many peoples
(X)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the (Y)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (Z)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (AA)rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be chased (AB)like chaff on the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning (AC)they are gone.
This will be the [l]fate of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.
Message to Ethiopia
18 Woe, land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of [m](AD)Cush,
2 Which sends messengers by the sea,
Even in (AE)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation [n](AF)tall and smooth,
To a people (AG)feared [o]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 (AH)All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, (AI)you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will quietly look [p]from My (AJ)dwelling place
Like dazzling heat in the [q](AK)sunshine,
Like a cloud of (AL)dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For (AM)before the harvest, as soon as the bud [r]blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds (AN)of prey,
And for the animals of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies
[s]From a (AO)people [t]tall and smooth,
From a people feared [u]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the (AP)place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.
Message to Egypt
19 The (AQ)pronouncement concerning (AR)Egypt:
Behold, the Lord is (AS)riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The (AT)idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the (AU)heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will fight, (AV)each against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
3 Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confuse their strategy,
So that (AW)they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead,
And to [v]mediums and spiritists.
4 Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a (AX)cruel master,
And a [w]mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord [x]God of armies.
5 (AY)The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.
6 The [y](AZ)canals will emit a stench,
The [z](BA)streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
(BB)The reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 The bulrushes by the (BC)Nile, by the [aa]edge of the Nile
And all the sown fields by the Nile
Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
8 And the (BD)fishermen will grieve,
And all those who cast a [ab]line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away.
9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
And the weavers of white (BE)cloth will be [ac]utterly dejected.
10 And [ad]the (BF)pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.
11 The officials of [ae](BG)Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become [af]stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the (BH)wise, a son of ancient kings”?
12 Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them [ag]understand what the Lord of armies
Has (BI)planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of [ah]Zoan have turned out to be fools,
The officials of (BJ)Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the (BK)cornerstone of her tribes
Have [ai]led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of (BL)distortion;
(BM)They have led Egypt astray in all [aj]that it does,
As a (BN)drunken person [ak]staggers in his vomit.
15 There will be no work for Egypt
(BO)Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
16 On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great (BP)fear because of the (BQ)waving of the hand of the Lord of armies, which He is going to wave over them. 17 The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the (BR)plan of the Lord of armies which He is making against them.
18 On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and (BS)swearing allegiance to the Lord of armies; one will be called the City of [al]Destruction.
19 On that day there will be an (BT)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a (BU)memorial stone to the Lord beside its border. 20 And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a (BV)Savior and a (BW)Champion, and He will save them. 21 So the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day. They will even worship with (BX)sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but (BY)healing; so they will (BZ)return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 On that day there will be a (CA)road from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will (CB)worship with the Assyrians.
24 On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is (CC)Egypt My people, and Assyria (CD)the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia
20 In the year that the [am](CE)commander came to (CF)Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2 at that time the Lord spoke through (CG)Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the (CH)sackcloth from your hips and take your (CI)sandals off your feet.” And he did so, going (CJ)naked and barefoot. 3 Then the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a (CK)sign and symbol against Egypt and [an](CL)Cush, 4 so the (CM)king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, (CN)young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the [ao]shame of Egypt. 5 Then they will be (CO)terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their (CP)pride. 6 So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled (CQ)for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and (CR)how are we ourselves to escape?’”
God Commands That Babylon Be Taken
21 The (CS)pronouncement concerning the [ap](CT)wilderness of the sea:
As (CU)windstorms in the [aq]Negev come in turns,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
2 A (CV)harsh vision has been shown to me;
The (CW)treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, (CX)Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have put an end to all [ar]the groaning she has caused.
3 For this reason my (CY)loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a (CZ)woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
4 My [as]mind reels, [at]horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been (DA)turned into trembling for me.
5 They (DB)set the table, they [au]spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields!”
6 For this is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, station the lookout, have him (DC)report what he sees.
7 When he sees [av]a (DD)column of chariots, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys, a train of camels,
He is to pay close attention, very close attention.”
8 Then [aw]the lookout called,
“(DE)Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “(DF)Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the (DG)images of her gods [ax]are shattered on the ground.”
10 My (DH)downtrodden people, and my [ay]afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the Lord of armies,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.
Pronouncements about Edom and Arabia
11 The pronouncement concerning [az](DI)Edom:
One keeps calling to me from (DJ)Seir,
“Watchman, [ba]how far gone is the night?
Watchman, [bb]how far gone is the night?”
12 The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”
13 The pronouncement about (DK)Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you [bc]must spend the night,
You caravans of (DL)Dedanites.
14 Bring water [bd]for the thirsty,
You inhabitants of the land of (DM)Tema;
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15 For they have (DN)fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the press of battle.
16 For this is what the Lord said to me: “In a (DO)year, as [be]a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of (DP)Kedar will come to an end; 17 and the (DQ)remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel (DR)has spoken.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:2 LXX forever and ever
- Isaiah 17:2 Lit and they will lie down
- Isaiah 17:3 Or fortification
- Isaiah 17:3 Or royal power
- Isaiah 17:4 Lit become little
- Isaiah 17:5 Lit gathering of the harvest, the standing grain
- Isaiah 17:6 Lit striking
- Isaiah 17:8 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit his; i.e., mankind’s
- Isaiah 17:9 LXX the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
- Isaiah 17:14 Lit portion
- Isaiah 18:1 Or Ethiopia
- Isaiah 18:2 Lit drawn out
- Isaiah 18:2 Lit from it and beyond
- Isaiah 18:4 Lit in
- Isaiah 18:4 Lit light
- Isaiah 18:5 Lit is finished
- Isaiah 18:7 Some ancient versions and DSS; MT implies Consisting of a people
- Isaiah 18:7 Lit drawn out
- Isaiah 18:7 Lit from it and beyond
- Isaiah 19:3 Or ghosts and spirits
- Isaiah 19:4 Or fierce
- Isaiah 19:4 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 19:6 Lit rivers
- Isaiah 19:6 Or Nile branches; i.e., the delta
- Isaiah 19:7 Or mouth
- Isaiah 19:8 Lit hook
- Isaiah 19:9 Lit ashamed
- Isaiah 19:10 Lit her pillars; or her weavers
- Isaiah 19:11 Or Tanis
- Isaiah 19:11 Or brutish
- Isaiah 19:12 Or know
- Isaiah 19:13 Or Tanis
- Isaiah 19:13 Or have caused Egypt to stagger
- Isaiah 19:14 Lit its work
- Isaiah 19:14 Or goes astray
- Isaiah 19:18 Some mss and ancient versions the Sun
- Isaiah 20:1 Heb Tartan
- Isaiah 20:3 Or Ethiopia, as in vv 4, 5
- Isaiah 20:4 Lit nakedness
- Isaiah 21:1 Or sandy wastes, sea country
- Isaiah 21:1 I.e., South country
- Isaiah 21:2 Lit her groaning
- Isaiah 21:4 Lit heart has wandered
- Isaiah 21:4 Lit shuddering
- Isaiah 21:5 Or spread out the rugs or possibly they arranged the seating
- Isaiah 21:7 Or riders
- Isaiah 21:8 As in DSS; MT he called like a lion
- Isaiah 21:9 Lit he has shattered to the earth
- Isaiah 21:10 Lit son
- Isaiah 21:11 As in LXX; MT Dumah, silence
- Isaiah 21:11 Lit what is the time of the night?
- Isaiah 21:11 Lit what is the time of the night?
- Isaiah 21:13 Or will spend
- Isaiah 21:14 Lit to meet
- Isaiah 21:16 Lit the years of a hired
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