Babylon to Be Destroyed

21 The special word about the place by the sea where no people live: As wind-storms in the Negev go rushing through, it comes from the desert, from a bad land. ² A hard special dream has been shown to me. The one who hurts still goes on hurting others, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam. Gather your armies around, Media. I will bring an end to all the crying she has caused. ³ For this reason my body is full of suffering. Pains have taken hold of me like the pains of a woman giving birth. I am so troubled that I cannot hear. I am so afraid that I cannot see. ⁴ My mind turns. Fear has come over me. The evening I have waited so long for has been turned into a time of shaking with fear. ⁵ They set the tables. They spread out the cloth. They eat and drink. Rise up, captains, oil the battle-coverings! ⁶ For the Lord says to me, “Go, set a man to keep watch. Let him tell what he sees. ⁷ When he sees men riding on horses, two by two, and men on donkeys, and men on camels, let him be very careful to watch.” ⁸ Then the watchman called out like a lion, “O Lord, I stand watching from the watch-tower at all times during the day. And I stand there every night. ⁹ Now see, here comes an army of men riding on horses, two by two.” One answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon. All the objects of her gods are broken to pieces on the ground.” ¹⁰ O my people of Israel, you were beaten and crushed like grain! What I have heard from the Lord of All, the God of Israel, I make known to you.

Word about Edom

¹¹ The special word about Edom: One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is the time of night? Watchman, what is the time of night?” ¹² The watchman says, “The morning comes, but also the night. If you have questions to ask, ask them, and come back again.”

Word about Arabia

¹³ The special word about Arabia: You must stay the night among the trees of Arabia, O traveling people of Dedanim. ¹⁴ Bring water for the thirsty. O people of the land of Tema, give bread to the one who is running from trouble. ¹⁵ They are running from swords, from lifted swords, from bows that are ready to shoot, and from the trouble of battle. ¹⁶ For the Lord said to me, “In a year, as the servant would count it, all the greatness of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷ And the rest of the men who use the bow, the strong men of the sons of Kedar, will be few. For the Lord God of Israel has spoken.”

Word about Jerusalem

22 The special word about the Valley of Visions: What is wrong, that you have all gone up to the house tops, ² you who were full of noise, you loud town, you joy-filled city? Your dead were not killed with the sword. They did not die in battle. ³ All your rulers have run away together, and were taken without using the bow. All of you who were found were taken away together, even though you had run far away. ⁴ So I said, “Turn your eyes away from me. Let me cry with much sorrow. Do not try to comfort me about my people being destroyed.” ⁵ For the Lord God of All has a day of fear, crushing down, and trouble in the Valley of Vision. There is a breaking down of walls and a crying out to the mountain. ⁶ Elam took up the arrows with the war-wagons, soldiers and horsemen. And Kir let the battle-covering be seen. ⁷ Your best valleys were full of war-wagons, and the horsemen took their places at the gate. ⁸ Then God took away the safe-covering of Judah. In that day you trusted in the objects you had to fight with that were stored in the house among the trees. ⁹ You saw that there were many broken places in the wall of the city of David. You stored water in the lower pool. ¹⁰ Then you numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and tore down houses to make the wall stronger. ¹¹ You made a place to store water between the two walls for the waters of the old pool. But you did not trust in God Who made it. You did not think about Him Who planned it long ago.

¹² So in that day the Lord God of All called you to cry in sorrow, to cut off the hair from your head, and to wear cloth made from hair. ¹³ But instead, there is joy and happiness, killing of cattle and sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine. You say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ¹⁴ But the Lord of All has made Himself known to me. The Lord God of All says, “For sure you will not be forgiven for this sin until you die.”

Word about Shebna

¹⁵ The Lord God of All says, “Come, go to this person in Shebna who is taking care of the king’s house. Say to him, ¹⁶ ‘What right do you have here? Who told you that you could cut out a grave for yourself here? You cut out a grave on a high place! You cut a resting place for yourself in the rock! ¹⁷ See, the Lord will throw you away without pity, O you strong man. He will take a strong hold of you ¹⁸ and roll you up like a ball to be thrown into a wide land. There you will die, and there your great war-wagons will be. You are a shame to your king’s house.’ ¹⁹ I will throw you out of your place of power. I will take you down from your place. ²⁰ In that day I will call My servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. ²¹ I will clothe him with your coat, and tie your belt around him. I will give him the power you had. He will become a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the family of Judah. ²² Then I will put on his shoulder the rule of the family of David. What he opens, no one will shut. What he shuts, no one will open. ²³ I will drive him like a nail in a hard place. He will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. ²⁴ So they will put on him all the honor of his father’s house, and of his children, and every little dish, from the cups to all the jars. ²⁵ “In that day,” says the Lord of All, “the nail driven in a hard place will give way. It will break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off. For the Lord has spoken.”

Word about Tyre

23 The special word about Tyre: Cry out in sorrow, O ships of Tarshish. For Tyre is destroyed, so that there is no house or safe place for ships. It is made known to them from the land of Cyprus. ² Be quiet, you people who live on the islands, you traders of Sidon. You sent men to cross the sea ³ and go on many waters. The grain of the Nile, that was gathered beside that River, made money for Tyre who was the trader of the nations. ⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon, the strong-place of the sea. The sea speaks and says, “I have not suffered or given birth. I have not brought up young men or young women.” ⁵ When the news comes to Egypt, they will be in pain when they hear about Tyre. ⁶ Pass over to Tarshish. Cry out in sorrow, O people of the islands. ⁷ Is this your joy-filled city, whose beginning was long ago, whose feet have taken her to live in places far away?

⁸ Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose traders were princes and the honored of the earth? ⁹ The Lord of All has planned it, to put to shame the pride of all beauty, and to take honor away from all the honored of the earth. ¹⁰ Flow over your land like the Nile, O people of Tarshish. There is nothing holding you back any more. ¹¹ He has put out His hand over the sea. He has made the nations shake with fear. The Lord has said that the strong-places of Canaan must be destroyed. ¹² He has said, “You will not be filled with joy anymore, O pure crushed daughters of Sidon. Get up and go over to Cyprus. Even there you will not find any rest.”

¹³ It was the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who let the wild animals come upon Tyre. They built towers for their armies. They tore down her beautiful houses. They destroyed her. ¹⁴ Cry out in sorrow, O ships of Tarshish, for your strong-place is destroyed. ¹⁵ In 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 woman who sells the use of her body: ¹⁶ “Take your harp and walk through the city, O forgotten woman who sells the use of her body. Play the strings well. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.” ¹⁷ At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will return to her sinful woman’s pay. She will be as a woman who sells the use of her body to all the nations on the earth. ¹⁸ Her riches and her pay for selling the use of her body will be set apart to the Lord. It will not be stored up or saved. But what she receives will give much food and good clothes to those who live for the Lord.

The Earth Will Be Punished

24 See, the Lord will lay the earth waste. He will destroy it, turn its ground up-side-down, and send its people everywhere. ² What happens to the people will happen to the religious leader. What happens to the man servant will happen to his owner. The woman servant will be like her owner. The buyer will be like the seller. The giver will be like the receiver. The one who lets another use his money will be like the one who uses it. ³ All the earth will be laid waste and destroyed, for the Lord has said this.

⁴ The earth cries in sorrow and wastes away. The world becomes weak with sorrow and wastes away, together with the honored people of the earth. ⁵ The earth has been made unclean by its people. They have sinned and not obeyed the laws, and have broken the agreement that was to be forever. ⁶ So the earth is cursed and those who live in it suffer for their guilt. So the people of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

⁷ The new wine dries up and the vine wastes away. All the glad in heart are in sorrow. ⁸ The happiness of the music-makers stops. The noise of those filled with joy stops. The happiness of the harp stops. ⁹ They do not drink wine with singing. Strong drink tastes bad to those who drink it. ¹⁰ The city of trouble is broken down. Every house is shut up so no one may go in. ¹¹ There is a crying out in the streets about the wine. All joy turns to darkness. The happiness of the earth is gone. ¹² The city is laid waste. The gate is broken to pieces. ¹³ For this is how it will be on the earth among the nations. It will be like the shaking of an olive tree, and like what is left after the grapes have been gathered. ¹⁴ They raise their voices. They call out for joy. They cry out from the west about the wonderful power of the Lord. ¹⁵ So honor the Lord in the east. Honor the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea. ¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Praise the One Who is right and good.” But I say, “I waste away! I waste away! It is bad for me! The false ones are not faithful. Yes, their way is very false.” ¹⁷ Fear and the deep hole and the trap are before you, O people of the earth. ¹⁸ He who runs from the news of trouble will fall into a deep hole. And he who comes out of the hole will be caught in a trap. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the earth shakes. ¹⁹ The earth is broken in pieces. The earth is torn apart. The earth is very shaken. ²⁰ The earth turns from one side to the other side like a drunk man. It shakes like a tent because its sin is heavy upon it. It will fall, never to rise again. ²¹ In that day the Lord will punish the powers of heaven above, and the kings of the earth below. ²² They will be gathered together like those in a prison. They will be kept in a deep, dark prison, and after many days they will be punished. ²³ Then the moon will be dark and the sun will not shine, for the Lord of All will rule on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. And in front of His leaders, He will let His shining-greatness be seen.