Isaiah 16:8-21:17

English Standard Version

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and ^(A)the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
    have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
    and passed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore ^(B)I weep with ^(C)the weeping of Jazer
    for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over ^(D)your summer fruit and your harvest
    the shout has ceased.
^10 (E)And joy and gladness are taken away from ^(F)the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no ^(G)songs are sung,
    no cheers are raised;
no ^(H)treader treads out wine ^(I)in the presses;
    I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore ^(J)my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
    and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of ^(R)Aroer are deserted;
    they will be for flocks,
    which will lie down, and ^(S)none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from ^(T)Ephraim,
    and the kingdom from ^(U)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
    like ^(V)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.

⁴ And in that day ^(W)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
    and ^(X)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵ And it shall be ^(Y)as when the reaper gathers standing grain
    and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in ^(Z)the Valley of Rephaim.
^6 (AA)Gleanings will be left in it,
    as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
    in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
    on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁰ For ^(AF)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
    and have not remembered the ^(AG)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
    and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
¹¹ though you make them grow^[a] on the day that you plant them,
    and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away^[b]
    in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹² Ah, ^(AH)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!
^13 (AI)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
    ^(AJ)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^(AK)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and ^(AL)whirling dust before the storm.
^14 (AM)At evening time, behold, terror!
    Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    and the lot of those who plunder us.

³ All you inhabitants of the world,
    you who dwell on the earth,
when ^(AS)a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
    When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴ For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ^(AT)from my dwelling
    like clear heat in sunshine,
    like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
^5 (AU)For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
    and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
^6 (AV)They shall all of them be left
    to the birds of prey of the mountains
    and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
    and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

from a people ^(AX)tall and smooth,
    from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
    whose land the rivers divide,

Behold, the Lord ^(BC)is riding on a swift cloud
    and comes to Egypt;
and ^(BD)the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
    and the heart of the Egyptians will ^(BE)melt within them.
² And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    ^(BF)and they will fight, each against another
    and each against his neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³ and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
    and I will confound^[d] their ^(BG)counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
    and ^(BH)the mediums and the necromancers;
⁴ and I will give over the Egyptians
    into the hand of ^(BI)a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
    declares the Lord God of hosts.

⁵ And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
    and the river will be dry and parched,
⁶ and its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
    reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷ There will be bare places by the Nile,
    on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
    will be driven away, and will be no more.
⁸ The ^(BJ)fishermen will mourn and lament,
    all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
    who spread nets on the water.
⁹ The workers in ^(BK)combed flax will be in despair,
    and the weavers of white cotton.
¹⁰ Those who are the ^(BL)pillars of the land will be crushed,
    and all who ^(BM)work for pay will be grieved.

¹¹ The princes of ^(BN)Zoan are utterly foolish;
    the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am a son of the wise,
    a son of ancient kings”?
¹² Where then are your ^(BO)wise men?
    Let them tell you
    that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of ^(BP)Zoan have become fools,
    and the princes of ^(BQ)Memphis are deluded;
those who are the ^(BR)cornerstones of her tribes
    have made Egypt stagger.
¹⁴ The Lord has mingled within her ^(BS)a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
    ^(BT)as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ And there will be nothing for Egypt
    that ^(BU)head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

^(CX)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the wilderness,
    from a terrible land.
² A stern vision is told to me;
    ^(CY)the traitor betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(CZ)Elam;
    lay siege, O ^(DA)Media;
all the ^(DB)sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.
³ Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    ^(DC)pangs have seized me,
    like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
    I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴ My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
    ^(DD)the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.
^5 (DE)They prepare the table,
    they spread the rugs,^[g]
    they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
    ^(DF)oil the shield!
⁶ For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
    very diligently.”
⁸ Then he who saw cried out:^[h]
(DG)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    whole nights.
⁹ And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(DH)And he answered,
    ^(DI)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(DJ)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰ O ^(DK)my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.

One is calling to me from ^(DN)Seir,
    “Watchman, what time of the night?
    Watchman, what time of the night?”
¹² The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also ^(DO)the night.
    If you will inquire, ^(DP)inquire;
    come back again.”

In the thickets in ^(DS)Arabia you will lodge,
    O ^(DT)caravans of ^(DU)Dedanites.
¹⁴ To the thirsty bring water;
    meet the fugitive with bread,
    O inhabitants of the land of ^(DV)Tema.
¹⁵ For they have fled from the swords,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
    and from the press of battle.