2 Kings 17-19
GOD’S WORD Translation
King Hoshea of Israel
17 In Ahaz’s twelfth year as king of Judah, Hoshea, son of Elah, began to rule as king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for nine years. 2 He did what the Lord considered evil, but he didn’t do what the kings of Israel before him had done.
The Fall of Samaria
3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria defeated Hoshea, who became his servant and was required to make annual payments to him. 4 The king of Assyria found Hoshea to be a traitor. (Hoshea had sent messengers to King Dais of Egypt and had stopped making annual payments to the king of Assyria.) So the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria attacked the entire country. He attacked Samaria and blockaded it for three years. 6 In Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 The Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt ⌞and rescued them⌟ from the power of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). They worshiped other gods 8 and lived by the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. They also did what their kings wanted them to do. 9 The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that weren’t right:
They built for themselves illegal places of worship in all of their cities, from the ⌞smallest⌟ watchtower to the ⌞largest⌟ fortified city.
10 They set up sacred stones and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah on every high hill and under every large tree.
11 At all the illegal places of worship, they sacrificed in the same way as the nations that the Lord had removed from the land ahead of them.
They did evil things and made the Lord furious.
12 They served idols, although the Lord had said, “Never do this.”
13 The Lord had warned Israel and Judah through every kind of prophet and seer,[a] “Turn from your evil ways, and obey my commands and decrees as I commanded your ancestors in all my teachings, the commands I sent to you through my servants the prophets.” 14 But they refused to listen. They became as impossible to deal with as their ancestors who refused to trust the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees, the promise [b] he made to their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and became as worthless as the idols. They behaved like the nations around them, although the Lord had commanded them not to do that. 16 They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God:
They made two calves out of cast metal.
They made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah.
They prayed to the entire army of heaven.
They worshiped Baal.
17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters by burning them alive.
They practiced black magic and cast evil spells.
They sold themselves by doing what the Lord considered evil, and they made him furious.
18 The Lord became so angry with Israel that he removed them from his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. 19 Even Judah didn’t obey the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to Israel’s customs. 20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants, made them suffer, handed them over to those who looted their property, and finally turned away from Israel.
21 When he tore Israel away from the family of David, the people of Israel made Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) king. Jeroboam forced Israel away from the Lord and led them to commit a serious sin. 22 The Israelites followed all the sins Jeroboam committed and never turned away from them. 23 Finally, the Lord turned away from Israel as he had said he would through all his servants, the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their land to Assyria as captives, and they are still there today.
Assyria Brings Foreign People to Settle in Israel
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its cities.
25 When they first came to live there, they didn’t worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions to kill some of them. 26 Then someone said to the king of Assyria, “The people you took as captives and settled in the cities of Samaria don’t know the customs of the god of that country, so he sent lions. Now the lions are killing them because they don’t know the customs of the god of this country.”
27 The king of Assyria gave this command: “Bring one of the priests you captured from there. Let him go back to teach them the customs of the god of that country.” 28 So one of the priests who had been taken prisoner from Samaria went to live in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.
29 But each group ⌞that settled in Samaria⌟ continued to make its own gods. They put them at the illegal places of worship, which the people of Samaria had made. Each group did this in the cities where they lived:
30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth.
The people from Cuth made Nergal.
The people from Hamath made Ashima.
31 The people from Avva made Nibhaz and Tartak.
The people from Sepharvaim burned their children for Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So while these people were worshiping the Lord, they also appointed all kinds of people to serve as priests for the shrines at their illegal places of worship. 33 They worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had come.
34 Today they are still following their customs, as they’ve done from the beginning. They don’t fear the Lord or live by the decrees, customs, teachings, or commands that the Lord gave to the descendants of Jacob (whom he named Israel). 35 When the Lord made a promise to Israel, he commanded, “Never worship other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. 36 Instead, worship the Lord, who used his great power and a mighty arm to bring you out of Egypt. Bow down to the Lord, and sacrifice to him. 37 Faithfully obey the laws, rules, teachings, and commands that he wrote for you: ‘Never worship other gods. 38 Never forget the promise I made to you. Never worship other gods. 39 Instead, worship the Lord your God, and he will rescue you from your enemies.’ ”
40 The people of Israel had refused to listen and made up their own rules, as they had done from the beginning. 41 These ⌞other⌟ nations worshiped the Lord but also served their own idols. So did their children and their grandchildren. They still do whatever their ancestors did.
King Hezekiah of Judah(A)
18 King Hoshea, son of Elah, had been king in Israel for three years when King Hezekiah, son of Ahaz of Judah, began to rule as king. 2 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.
3 He did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. 4 He got rid of the illegal places of worship, crushed the sacred stones, and cut down the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. He even crushed the bronze snake that Moses had made because up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan. 5 Hezekiah trusted the Lord God of Israel. No king among all the kings of Judah was like Hezekiah. 6 He was loyal to the Lord and never turned away from him. He obeyed the commands that the Lord had given through Moses, 7 so the Lord was with him. He succeeded in everything he tried: He rebelled against the king of Assyria and wouldn’t serve him anymore. 8 He conquered the Philistines from the ⌞smallest⌟ watchtower to the ⌞largest⌟ fortified city all the way to Gaza and its territory.
The Fall of Samaria
9 In Hezekiah’s fourth year as king (which was the seventh year in the reign of King Hoshea, son of Elah of Israel) King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked Samaria, blockaded it, 10 and captured it at the end of three years. Samaria was taken in Hezekiah’s sixth year as king (which was Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel). 11 The king of Assyria took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He put them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 12 This happened because they refused to obey the Lord their God and disregarded the conditions of the promise [c] he made to them. They refused to obey everything that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.
The Lord Rescues Judah from the Assyrians(B)
13 In Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 Then King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Go away, and leave me alone. I’ll pay whatever penalty you give me.”
So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be found in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace treasury. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped ⌞the gold⌟ off the doors and doorposts of the Lord’s temple. (⌞Earlier⌟ Hezekiah had them covered ⌞with gold⌟.) He gave the gold to the king of Assyria.
17 Then the king of Assyria sent his commander-in-chief, his quartermaster, and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came there and stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman’s Field. 18 When they called for King Hezekiah, Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander.
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident? 20 You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom, then, do you trust for support in your rebellion against me? 21 Now, look! When you trust Egypt, you’re trusting a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) is like for everyone who trusts him. 22 Suppose you tell me, “We’re trusting the Lord our God.” He’s the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. He told Judah and Jerusalem, “Worship at this altar in Jerusalem.” ’
23 “Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them. 24 How can you defeat my master’s lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?
25 “Have I come to destroy this place without the Lord on my side? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this country, and destroy it.’ ”
26 Then Eliakim (son of Hilkiah), Shebnah, and Joah said to the field commander, “Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening.”
27 But the field commander asked them, “Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Didn’t he send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?”
28 Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He can’t rescue you from me. 30 Don’t let Hezekiah get you to trust the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.’ 31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern. 32 Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It’s a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards, a country with olive trees, olive oil, and honey. Live! Don’t die! Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying to you, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ 33 Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my control? 35 Did the gods of those countries rescue them from my control? Could the Lord then rescue Jerusalem from my control?”
36 But the people were silent and didn’t say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.
37 Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.
19 When King Hezekiah heard the message, he tore his clothes in grief, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the Lord’s temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the leaders of the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day filled with misery, punishment, and disgrace. We are like a woman who is about to give birth but doesn’t have the strength to do it. 4 The Lord your God may have heard all the words of the field commander. His master, the king of Assyria, sent him to defy the living God. The Lord your God may punish him because of the message that the Lord your God heard. Pray for the few people who are left.”
5 So King Hezekiah’s men went to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah answered them, “Say this to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Don’t be afraid of the message that you heard when the Assyrian king’s assistants slandered me. 7 I’m going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own country. I’ll have him assassinated in his own country.’ ”
8 The field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. He had heard that the king left Lachish. 9 Now, Sennacherib heard that King Tirhakah of Sudan was coming to fight him.
Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah, ‘Don’t let the god whom you trust deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria. 11 You heard what the kings of Assyria did to all countries, how they totally destroyed them. Will you be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations which my ancestors destroyed rescue Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”
14 Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers, read them, and went to the Lord’s temple. He spread them out in front of the Lord 15 and prayed to the Lord, “Lord of Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned over the angels.[d] You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the world. You made heaven and earth. 16 Turn your ear toward me, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib sent to defy the living God. 17 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have leveled nations.[e] 18 They have thrown the gods from these countries into fires because these gods aren’t real gods. They’re only wooden and stone statues made by human hands. So the Assyrians have destroyed them. 19 Now, Lord our God, rescue us from Assyria’s control so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you alone are the Lord God.”
Isaiah’s Prophecy against King Sennacherib of Assyria(C)
20 Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: You prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. I have heard you. 21 This is the message that the Lord speaks to him,
‘My dear people in Zion despise you and laugh at you.
My people in Jerusalem shake their heads behind your back.
22 Whom are you defying and slandering?
Against whom are you shouting?
Who are you looking at so arrogantly?
It is the Holy One of Israel!
23 Through your servants [f] you defy the Lord and say,
“With my many chariots I’ll ride up the high mountains,
up the slopes of Lebanon.
I’ll cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypresses.
I’ll come to its most distant borders
and its most fertile forests.
24 I’ll dig wells and drink foreign water.
I’ll dry up all the streams of Egypt
with the trampling of my feet.”
25 “ ‘Haven’t you heard? I did this long ago.
I planned it in the distant past.
Now I make it happen so that you will turn fortified cities
into piles of rubble.
26 Those who live in these cities are weak, discouraged, and ashamed.
They will be like plants in the field,
like fresh, green grass on the roofs,
scorched before it sprouted.
27 I know when you ⌞get up⌟ and sit down,
when you go out and come in,
and how you rage against me.
28 Since you rage against me and your boasting has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bridle in your mouth.
I will make you go back the way you came.
29 “ ‘And this will be a sign for you, Hezekiah: You will eat what grows by itself this year and next year. But in the third year you will plant and harvest, plant vineyards, and eat what is produced. 30 Those few people from the nation of Judah who escape will again take root and produce crops. 31 Those few people will go out from Jerusalem, and those who escape will go out of Mount Zion. The Lord is determined to do this.’
32 “This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will never come into this city,
shoot an arrow here,
hold a shield in front of it,
or put up dirt ramps to attack it.
33 He will go back the way he came,
and he won’t come into this city,”
declares the Lord of Armies.
34 “I will shield this city to rescue it for my sake
and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 It happened that night. The Lord’s angel went out and killed 185,000 ⌞soldiers⌟ in the Assyrian camp. When the Judeans got up early in the morning, they saw all the corpses.
36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left. He went home to Nineveh and stayed there. 37 While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him and escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.
Isaiah 3
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord’s Judgment on Sinners in Zion
3 See now, the Lord, the Lord of Armies,
is going to take from Jerusalem and Judah
every kind of support
and their entire supply of food and water.
2 ⌞He will take their⌟ heroes and soldiers,
judges and prophets,
fortunetellers and statesmen,
3 military leaders and civilian leaders,
counselors, skilled workers, and experts in magic.
4 “I will make boys their leaders.
Children will govern them.”
5 People will oppress each other,
and everyone will oppress his neighbor.
The young will make fun of the old,
and common people will make fun of their superiors.
6 A person will grab one of his relatives
from his father’s family and say,
“You have a coat.
You’ll be our leader.
This pile of ruins will be under your control.”
7 When that day comes the relative will cry out,
“I’m not a doctor!
I don’t have any food or a coat in my home.
Don’t make me a leader of our family.”
8 Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen,
because what they say and what they do is against the Lord.
They are defiant in his honored presence.
9 The look on their faces will be held against them.
They boast about their sins,
which are like ⌞those of the people of⌟ Sodom.
They don’t even bother to hide them.
How horrible it will be for these people,
because they have brought disaster on themselves.
10 Tell the righteous that blessings will come to them.
They will taste the fruit of their labor.
11 How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them.
What they have done will be done to them.
12 “Children will oppress my people.
Women will rule them.
My people, your guides mislead you,
and you don’t know which way to go.”
13 The Lord takes his place in the courtroom.
He stands to judge his people.
14 The Lord presents his case to the respected leaders
and the officials of his people:
“You have burned down the vineyard!
Your houses are filled with goods stolen from the poor.”
15 The Almighty Lord of Armies asks,
“How can you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor ⌞into the ground⌟?”
16 The Lord adds,
“The women of Zion are arrogant.
They walk with their noses in the air,
making seductive glances,
taking short little steps,
jingling the ankle bracelets on their feet.”
17 The Lord will cause sores ⌞to appear⌟
on the heads of the women of Zion,
and the Lord will make their foreheads bare.
18 On that day the Lord will take away their fine things: jingling anklets, headbands, crescent-shaped necklaces, 19 pendants, bracelets, scarfs, 20 hats, ankle bracelets, blouses, perfume boxes, charms, 21 signet rings, nose rings, 22 fine robes, coats, shawls, purses, 23 mirrors, underwear, headdresses, and veils.
24 Instead of the smell of perfume, there will be the smell of decay.
They will wear ropes instead of belts.
They will have bald heads instead of beautiful hair.
They will wear sackcloth instead of expensive clothes.
Their beauty will be scarred.[a]
25 ⌞Women,⌟ your warriors will die in combat.
Your mighty men will die in battle.
26 The gates of Zion will cry and grieve,
and Zion will sit on the ground, exhausted.
Footnotes
- 3:24 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text “expensive clothes, instead of beauty.”
Isaiah 6
GOD’S WORD Translation
Isaiah Is Sent with a Message for the Lord’s People
6 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne. The bottom of his robe filled the temple. 2 Angels [a] were standing above him. Each had six wings: With two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They called to each other and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory.”
4 Their voices shook the foundations of the doorposts, and the temple filled with smoke.
5 So I said, “Oh, no!
I’m doomed.
Every word that passes through my lips is sinful.
I live among people with sinful lips.
I have seen the king, the Lord of Armies!”
6 Then one of the angels flew to me. In his hand was a burning coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “This has touched your lips. Your guilt has been taken away, and your sin has been forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom will I send? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 And he said, “Go and tell these people,
‘No matter how closely you listen, you’ll never understand.
No matter how closely you look, you’ll never see.’
10 Make these people close-minded.
Plug their ears.
Shut their eyes.
Otherwise, they may see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
and return and be healed.”
11 I asked, “How long, O Lord?”
And he replied,
“Until the cities lie in ruins with no one living in them,
the houses have no people,
and the land is completely desolate.
12 The Lord will send his people far away,
and a large area in the middle of the land will be abandoned.
13 Even if one out of ten people is left in it,
the land will be burned again.
When a sacred oak or an oak is cut down, a stump is left
The holy seed will be the land’s stump.”
Footnotes
- 6:2 Or “Seraphim.”
Isaiah 13-14
GOD’S WORD Translation
Babylon Will Be Punished
13 This is the divine revelation which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Babylon.
2 Raise a banner on the bare mountaintop.
Call loudly to them.
Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles’ gates.
3 I’ve commanded my holy ones.
I’ve called my mighty men to carry out my anger.
They find joy in my triumphs.
4 Listen to the noise on the mountains.
It is like the sound of a large army.
It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together.
The Lord of Armies is assembling his army for battle.
5 His army is coming from a distant land,
from the ends of heaven.
The Lord is coming with the weapons of his fury
to destroy the whole world.
6 Cry loudly, for the day of the Lord is near.
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.
7 That is why every hand will hang limp,
and everyone’s courage will fail.
8 They’ll be terrified.
Pain and anguish will seize them.
They’ll writhe like a woman giving birth to a child.
They’ll look at one another in astonishment.
Their faces will be burning red.
9 The day of the Lord is going to come.
It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger.
He will make the earth desolate.
He will destroy its sinners.
10 The stars in the sky and their constellations
won’t show their light anymore.
The sun will be dark when it rises.
The moon won’t shine.
11 I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their wrongdoing.
I will put an end to arrogant people
and humble the pride of tyrants.
12 I will make people harder to find than pure gold
and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.
13 I will make heaven tremble,
and the earth will be shaken from its place
when the Lord of Armies is angry.
At that time he will be very angry.
14 They’ll be like hunted gazelle
and like sheep with no one to gather them.
Everyone will return to his own people
and flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be stabbed to death.
Whoever is captured will be executed.
16 Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes.
Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.
17 I’m going to stir up the Medes against them.
They don’t care for silver and aren’t happy with gold.
18 But their bows will smash the youth.
They’ll have no compassion for babies,
nor will they look with pity on children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the proud beauty of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
20 It will never be inhabited again,
and no one will live in it for generations.
Arabs won’t pitch their tents there.
Shepherds won’t let their flocks rest there.
21 Desert animals will lie down there.
Their homes will be full of owls.
Ostriches will live there,
and wild goats will skip about.
22 Hyenas will howl in Babylon’s strongholds,
and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces.
Its time has almost come.
Its days will not be extended.
Israel Will Be Rescued from Babylon
14 The Lord will have compassion for Jacob and again choose Israel.
He will resettle them in their own country.
Foreigners will join them
and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
2 People will take them
and bring them to their own place.
The nation of Israel will possess nations
as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.
They will take their captors captive
and rule their oppressors.
3 When that day comes, the Lord will give you relief
from your pain and suffering,
from the hard slavery you were forced to do.
4 Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying,
“How the tyrant has come to an end!
How his attacks have come to an end!”
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers.
6 They struck the people with fury,
with blows that didn’t stop.
They ruled nations in anger,
persecuting them without restraint.
7 The whole earth rests and is peaceful.
It breaks out into shouts of joy.
8 Even the cypresses rejoice over you.
The cedars of Lebanon say,
“Since you have fallen,
no lumberjack has come to attack us.”
9 Sheol below wakes up to meet you when you come.
It wakes up the ghosts of the dead,
all who were leaders on earth.
It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 All of them will greet you,
“You also have become weak like us!
You have become like one of us!”
11 Your pride has been brought down to Sheol
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out ⌞like a bed⌟ under you,
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
13 You thought,
“I’ll go up to heaven and set up my throne above God’s stars.
I’ll sit on the mountain far away in the north
where the gods assemble.
14 I’ll go above the top of the clouds.
I’ll be like the Most High.”
15 But you’ve been brought down to Sheol,
to the deepest part of the pit.
16 Those who see you stare at you; they look at you closely and say,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities,
who didn’t let his prisoners go home?”
18 All the kings of the nations, all of them,
have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb.
19 But you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch.
You are covered with those who were killed in battle.
You go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse.
20 You won’t be joined by the kings in the tomb,
because you have destroyed your land and killed your people.
The descendants of the wicked will never be mentioned again.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter their sons
because of their ancestors’ guilt.
They won’t be able to rise, possess the earth,
and rebuild cities all over it.
22 “I’ll rise up against them,” declares the Lord of Armies.
“I’ll cut off the name of the survivors from Babylon,
its offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.
23 “It will become the possession of herons.
It will become pools of water.
I’ll sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of Armies.
Assyria Will Be Punished
24 The Lord of Armies has taken an oath:
“It will happen exactly as I’ve intended.
It will turn out exactly as I’ve planned.
25 I’ll crush Assyria on my land.
I’ll trample it underfoot on my mountains.
Then its yoke [a] will be removed from my people,
and its burden will be removed from their shoulders.”
26 This is the plan determined for the whole earth.
This is how he will use his power against all the nations.
27 The Lord of Armies has planned it. Who can stop it?
He is ready to use his power. Who can turn it back?
The Philistines Will Be Punished
28 This was the divine revelation in the year King Ahaz died.
29 All you Philistines, don’t rejoice
that the rod of the one who struck you is broken,
because a viper will come from that snake’s root,
and his descendant will be a flying, fiery serpent.
30 The poorest of the poor will eat,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But I will put your root to death with famine
and kill off your survivors.
31 Cry loudly in the gate!
Cry out in the city!
Be frightened, all you Philistines!
Smoke comes from the north,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
32 How should we answer the messengers from the nations?
⌞Tell them that⌟ the Lord has laid Zion’s foundation,
and his humble people will find refuge in it.
Footnotes
- 14:25 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.
Isaiah 49
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Salvation to the Nations
49 Listen to me, you islands.
Pay attention, you people far away.
Before I was born, the Lord chose me.
While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name.
2 He made my tongue like a sharp sword
and hid me in the palm of his hand.
He made me like a sharpened arrow
and hid me in his quiver.
3 He said to me,
“You are my servant Israel.
I will display my glory through you.”
4 But I said,
“I have worked hard for nothing.
I have used my strength, but I didn’t accomplish anything.
Yet, certainly my case is in the Lord’s hands,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 The Lord formed me in the womb to be his servant
in order to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to him.
(The Lord honors me,
and my God has become my strength.)
6 Now, the Lord says,
“You are not just my servant
who restores the tribes of Jacob
and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved.
I have also made you a light for the nations
so that you would save people all over the world.”
7 The Lord is the defender of Israel, its Holy One.
This is what the Lord says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers:
Kings will see ⌞you⌟ and stand.
Princes will see ⌞you⌟ and bow.
The Lord is faithful.
The Holy One of Israel has chosen you.
8 This is what the Lord says:
In the time of favor I will answer you.
In the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you.
I will appoint you as my promise [a] to the people.
You will restore the land.
You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.
9 You will say to the prisoners, “Come out,”
and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They will graze along every path,
and they will find pastures on every bare hill.
10 They will never be hungry or thirsty,
nor will the sun or the burning, hot wind strike them.
The one who has compassion on them will lead them
and guide them to springs.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be restored.
12 They will come from far away.
They will come from the north and from the west,
and they will come from the land of Sinim.
13 Sing with joy, you heavens!
Rejoice, you earth!
Break into shouts of joy, you mountains!
The Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his humble people.
The Lord Has Not Forgotten Israel
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.
My Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget her nursing child?
Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb?
Although mothers may forget,
I will not forget you.
16 I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
Your walls are always in my presence.
17 Your children will hurry back.
Those who destroyed you and laid waste to you will leave you.
18 Look up, look around, and watch!
All of your children are gathering together and returning to you.
“I solemnly swear as I live,” declares the Lord,
“you will wear all of them like jewels
and display them on yourself as a bride would.”
19 Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins,
you will be too crowded for ⌞your⌟ people now.
Those who devoured you will be long gone.
20 The children taken from you will say to you,
“This place is too crowded for me.
Make room for me to live here.”
21 Then you will ask yourself,
“Who has fathered these ⌞children⌟ for me?
I was childless and unable to have children.
I was exiled and rejected.
Who raised these ⌞children for me⌟?
I was left alone.
Where have they come from?”
22 This is what the Almighty Lord says:
I will lift my hand ⌞to signal⌟ the nations.
I will raise my flag for the people.
They will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Then kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will nurse you.
They will bow in front of you
with their faces touching the ground.
They will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Those who wait with hope for me will not be put to shame.
24 Can loot be taken away from mighty men
or prisoners be freed from conquerors?
25 This is what the Lord says:
Prisoners will be freed from mighty men.
Loot will be taken away from tyrants.
I will fight your enemies,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they will become drunk on their own blood
as though it were new wine.
Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you,
the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.
Footnotes
- 49:8 Or “covenant.”
Isaiah 53
GOD’S WORD Translation
53 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed?
2 He grew up in his presence like a young tree,
like a root out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him.
He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by people.
He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces,
and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything.
4 He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering
and carried our sorrows,
but we thought that God had wounded him,
beat him, and punished him.
5 He was wounded for our rebellious acts.
He was crushed for our sins.
He was punished so that we could have peace,
and we received healing from his wounds.
6 We have all strayed like sheep.
Each one of us has turned to go his own way,
and the Lord has laid all our sins on him.
7 He was abused and punished,
but he didn’t open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
He was like a sheep that is silent
when its wool is cut off.
He didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was arrested, taken away, and judged.
Who would have thought that he would be removed
from the world?
He was killed because of my people’s rebellion.
9 He was placed in a tomb with the wicked.
He was put there with the rich when he died,
although he had done nothing violent
and had never spoken a lie.
10 Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering.
When the Lord has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings,
he will see his descendants for many days.
The will of the Lord will succeed through him.
11 He will see and be satisfied
because of his suffering.
My righteous servant will acquit many people
because of what he has learned ⌞through suffering⌟.
He will carry their sins as a burden.
12 So I will give him a share among the mighty,
and he will divide the prize with the strong,
because he poured out his life in death
and he was counted with sinners.
He carried the sins of many.
He intercedes for those who are rebellious.
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