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Isaiah 33-36
GOD’S WORD Translation
Isaiah 33-36
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Will Rescue Jerusalem from Assyria
33 How horrible it will be for you, you destroyer,
although you haven’t been destroyed.
How horrible it will be for you, you traitor,
although you haven’t been betrayed.
When you’ve finished destroying, you will be destroyed.
When you’ve finished being a traitor, you will be betrayed.
2 O Lord, have pity on us.
We wait with hope for you.
Be our strength in the morning.
Yes, be our savior in times of trouble.
3 People flee from the noise of ⌞your⌟ army.
Nations scatter when you attack.
4 You nations, your loot is gathered as grasshoppers harvest a crop.
Like swarming locusts, people rush for your loot.
5 The Lord is honored because he lives on high.
He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the foundation of your future.
The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is ⌞your⌟ treasure.
7 Heroes cry in the streets.
Messengers of peace cry bitterly.
8 Highways are deserted.
Travelers stop traveling.
Agreements are broken.
Witnesses [a] are rejected.
People are no longer respected.
9 The country grieves and wastes away.
Lebanon is ashamed and is decaying.
Sharon has become like a wilderness.
Bashan and Carmel are shaken.
10 The Lord says, “Now I will arise.
Now I will get up.
Now I will be lifted up.”
11 You will be pregnant with hay.
You will give birth to straw.
Your breath will be a fire which will burn you up.
12 People will be cremated.
They will be set on fire like dry thornbushes.
13 Hear what I have done, you people who are far away!
Acknowledge my might, you people who are near!
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified.
Trembling seizes the ungodly.
Can any of us live through a fire that destroys?
Can any of us live through a fire that burns forever?
15 The person who does what is right and speaks the truth will live.
He rejects getting rich by extortion and refuses to take bribes.
He refuses to listen to those who are plotting murders.
He doesn’t look for evil things to do.
16 This person will live on high.
His stronghold will be a fortress made of rock.
He will have plenty of food
and a dependable supply of water.
17 Your eyes will see how handsome the king is.
You will see a land that stretches into the distance.
18 Your mind will be thinking of the terrors ⌞in the past⌟.
Where are the scribes?
Where are the tax collectors?
Where are those who counted the towers?
19 You will no longer see those savage people,
those people with an unrecognizable language,
with a foreign language that you can’t understand.
20 Look at Zion, the city of our festivals.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a peaceful place.
It is a tent that can’t be moved.
Its tent pegs will never be pulled out,
and none of its ropes will be broken.
21 The Lord will be our mighty defender
in a place surrounded by wide rivers and streams.
Ships with oars won’t travel on them.
Stately ships won’t sail on them.
22 The Lord is our judge.
The Lord is our lawgiver.
The Lord is our king.
The Lord is our savior.
23 Your ropes hang loose,
your mast isn’t secure,
and your sail isn’t spread out.
A large amount of loot will be distributed.
Lame people will carry off your loot.
24 No one who lives ⌞in Zion⌟ will say, “I’m sick.”
The sins of its inhabitants will be forgiven.
The Fall of Edom Is a Glimpse of the Lord’s Judgment
34 Come close, you nations, and listen.
Pay attention, you people.
The earth, everyone in it,
the world, and everything on it will listen.
2 The Lord is angry with all the nations.
He is furious with all their armies.
He has claimed them for destruction.
He has handed them over to be slaughtered.
3 Their dead bodies will be thrown out.
A stench will rise from their corpses.
Mountains will be red with their blood.
4 All the stars in the sky will rot.
The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll.
The stars will fall
like leaves from a grapevine,
like green figs from a fig tree.
5 When my sword is covered ⌞with blood⌟ in the heavens,
it will fall on Edom
and on the people I’ve claimed for destruction.
6 The Lord’s sword is covered with blood.
It is covered with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
The Lord will receive a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a huge slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will be killed with them,
young bulls along with rams.
Their land will be drenched with blood.
Their dust will be covered with fat.
8 The Lord will have a day of vengeance,
a year of revenge in defense of Zion.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned to tar.
Its soil will be turned to burning sulfur.
Its land will become blazing tar.
10 They will not be extinguished day or night,
and smoke will always go up from them.
Edom will lie in ruins for generations.
No one will ever travel through it.
11 Pelicans and herons will take possession of the land.
Owls and crows will live there.
He will stretch the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb line of destruction over it.
12 There are no nobles to rule a kingdom.
All of its princes have disappeared.
13 Its palaces are covered with thorns.
Its fortresses have nettles and thistles.
It will become a home for jackals
and a place for ostriches.
14 Hyenas will meet with jackals.
Male goats will call to their mates.
Screech owls will rest there
and find a resting place for themselves.
15 Owls will make their nests there, lay eggs, and hatch them.
They will gather their young
in the shadow of ⌞their wings⌟.
Vultures also will gather there,
each one with its mate.
16 Search the Lord’s book, and read it.
Not one of these animals will be missing.
Not one will lack a mate,
because the Lord has commanded it,
and his Spirit will gather them together.
17 He is the one who throws dice for them,
and his hand divides up ⌞the land⌟ for them with a measuring line.
They will possess it permanently
and live there for generations.
The Lord’s People Will Have Joy
35 The desert and the dry land will be glad,
and the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
2 Like a lily the land will blossom.
It will rejoice and sing with joy.
It will have the glory of Lebanon, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
Everyone will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen limp hands.
Steady weak knees.
4 Tell those who are terrified,
“Be brave; don’t be afraid.
Your God will come with vengeance, with divine revenge.
He will come and rescue you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged.
6 Then those who are lame will leap like deer,
and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
Water will gush out into the desert,
and streams will gush out into the wilderness.
7 Then the hot sand will become a pool,
and dry ground will have springs.
Grass will become cattails and rushes
in the home of jackals.
8 A highway will be there, a roadway.
It will be called the Holy Road.
Sinners won’t travel on it.
It will be for those who walk on it.
Godless fools won’t wander ⌞onto it⌟.
9 Lions won’t be there.
Wild animals won’t go on it.
They won’t be found there.
But the people reclaimed ⌞by the Lord⌟ will walk ⌞on it⌟.
10 The people ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will come to Zion singing with joy.
Everlasting happiness will be on their heads ⌞as a crown⌟.
They will be glad and joyful.
They will have no sorrow or grief.
The Lord Rescues Judah from the Assyrians(A)
36 In Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman’s Field.
3 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 out to the field commander. 4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident? 5 You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom, then, do you trust for support in your rebellion against me? 6 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. 7 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. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “Worship at this altar.” ’
8 “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. 9 How can you defeat my master’s lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?
10 “Have I come to destroy this country without the Lord on my side? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this country, and destroy it.’ ”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, 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.”
12 But the field commander asked, “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?”
13 Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He can’t rescue you. 15 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.’ 16 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. 17 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. 18 Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying to you, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my control? 20 Did the gods of these countries rescue them from my control? Could the Lord then rescue Jerusalem from my control?”
21 They were silent and didn’t say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.
22 Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was 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.
Footnotes
- 33:8 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text “Cities.”
Isaiah 33-36
New International Version
Isaiah 33-36
New International Version
Distress and Help
33 Woe(A) to you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, betrayer,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
you will be destroyed;(B)
when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed.(C)
2 Lord, be gracious(D) to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength(E) every morning,
our salvation(F) in time of distress.(G)
3 At the uproar of your army,(H) the peoples flee;(I)
when you rise up,(J) the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder,(K) O nations, is harvested(L) as by young locusts;(M)
like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
5 The Lord is exalted,(N) for he dwells on high;(O)
he will fill Zion with his justice(P) and righteousness.(Q)
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation(R) and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear(S) of the Lord is the key to this treasure.[a](T)
7 Look, their brave men(U) cry aloud in the streets;
the envoys(V) of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted,
no travelers(W) are on the roads.(X)
The treaty is broken,(Y)
its witnesses[b] are despised,
no one is respected.
9 The land dries up(Z) and wastes away,
Lebanon(AA) is ashamed and withers;(AB)
Sharon(AC) is like the Arabah,
and Bashan(AD) and Carmel(AE) drop their leaves.
10 “Now will I arise,(AF)” says the Lord.
“Now will I be exalted;(AG)
now will I be lifted up.
11 You conceive(AH) chaff,
you give birth(AI) to straw;
your breath is a fire(AJ) that consumes you.
12 The peoples will be burned to ashes;(AK)
like cut thornbushes(AL) they will be set ablaze.(AM)”
13 You who are far away,(AN) hear(AO) what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners(AP) in Zion are terrified;
trembling(AQ) grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?(AR)
Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
15 Those who walk righteously(AS)
and speak what is right,(AT)
who reject gain from extortion(AU)
and keep their hands from accepting bribes,(AV)
who stop their ears against plots of murder
and shut their eyes(AW) against contemplating evil—
16 they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,(AX)
whose refuge(AY) will be the mountain fortress.(AZ)
Their bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail(BA) them.
17 Your eyes will see the king(BB) in his beauty(BC)
and view a land that stretches afar.(BD)
18 In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:(BE)
“Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?(BF)”
19 You will see those arrogant people(BG) no more,
people whose speech is obscure,
whose language is strange and incomprehensible.(BH)
20 Look on Zion,(BI) the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode,(BJ) a tent(BK) that will not be moved;(BL)
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
21 There the Lord will be our Mighty(BM) One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.(BN)
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship(BO) will sail them.
22 For the Lord is our judge,(BP)
the Lord is our lawgiver,(BQ)
the Lord is our king;(BR)
it is he who will save(BS) us.
23 Your rigging hangs loose:
The mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame(BT) will carry off plunder.(BU)
24 No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;(BV)
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.(BW)
Judgment Against the Nations
34 Come near, you nations, and listen;(BX)
pay attention, you peoples!(BY)
Let the earth(BZ) hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!(CA)
2 The Lord is angry with all nations;
his wrath(CB) is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy[c](CC) them,
he will give them over to slaughter.(CD)
3 Their slain(CE) will be thrown out,
their dead bodies(CF) will stink;(CG)
the mountains will be soaked with their blood.(CH)
4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved(CI)
and the heavens rolled up(CJ) like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall(CK)
like withered(CL) leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5 My sword(CM) has drunk its fill in the heavens;
see, it descends in judgment on Edom,(CN)
the people I have totally destroyed.(CO)
6 The sword(CP) of the Lord is bathed in blood,
it is covered with fat—
the blood of lambs and goats,
fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice(CQ) in Bozrah(CR)
and a great slaughter(CS) in the land of Edom.
7 And the wild oxen(CT) will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.(CU)
Their land will be drenched with blood,(CV)
and the dust will be soaked with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day(CW) of vengeance,(CX)
a year of retribution,(CY) to uphold Zion’s cause.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her dust into burning sulfur;(CZ)
her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched(DA) night or day;
its smoke will rise forever.(DB)
From generation to generation(DC) it will lie desolate;(DD)
no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[d](DE) and screech owl[e] will possess it;
the great owl[f] and the raven(DF) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(DG)
the measuring line of chaos(DH)
and the plumb line(DI) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
all her princes(DJ) will vanish(DK) away.
13 Thorns(DL) will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.(DM)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(DN)
a home for owls.(DO)
14 Desert creatures(DP) will meet with hyenas,(DQ)
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures(DR) will also lie down
and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
she will hatch them, and care for her young
under the shadow of her wings;(DS)
there also the falcons(DT) will gather,
each with its mate.
16 Look in the scroll(DU) of the Lord and read:
None of these will be missing,(DV)
not one will lack her mate.
For it is his mouth(DW) that has given the order,(DX)
and his Spirit will gather them together.
17 He allots their portions;(DY)
his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to generation.(DZ)
Joy of the Redeemed
35 The desert(EA) and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.(EB)
Like the crocus,(EC) 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.(ED)
The glory of Lebanon(EE) will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel(EF) and Sharon;(EG)
they will see the glory(EH) of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.(EI)
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees(EJ) that give way;
4 say(EK) to those with fearful hearts,(EL)
“Be strong, do not fear;(EM)
your God will come,(EN)
he will come with vengeance;(EO)
with divine retribution
he will come to save(EP) you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened(EQ)
and the ears of the deaf(ER) unstopped.
6 Then will the lame(ES) leap like a deer,(ET)
and the mute tongue(EU) shout for joy.(EV)
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams(EW) in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground(EX) bubbling springs.(EY)
In the haunts where jackals(EZ) once lay,
grass and reeds(FA) and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway(FB) will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;(FC)
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean(FD) will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion(FE) will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;(FF)
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed(FG) will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued(FH) will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;(FI)
everlasting joy(FJ) will crown their heads.
Gladness(FK) and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.(FL)
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem(FM)
36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s(FN) reign, Sennacherib(FO) king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.(FP) 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish(FQ) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,(FR) 3 Eliakim(FS) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,(FT) Shebna(FU) the secretary,(FV) and Joah(FW) son of Asaph the recorder(FX) went out to him.
4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 5 You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel(FY) against me? 6 Look, I know you are depending(FZ) on Egypt,(GA) that splintered reed(GB) of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 7 But if you say to me, “We are depending(GC) on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,(GD) saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?(GE)
8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses(GF)—if you can put riders on them! 9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt(GG) for chariots(GH) and horsemen[g]?(GI) 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told(GJ) me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah(GK) said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,(GL) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?(GM)”
13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,(GN) “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!(GO) 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive(GP) you. He cannot deliver you! 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver(GQ) us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’(GR)
16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree(GS) and drink water from your own cistern,(GT) 17 until I come and take you to a land like your own(GU)—a land of grain and new wine,(GV) a land of bread and vineyards.
18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?(GW) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?(GX) Have they rescued Samaria(GY) from my hand? 20 Who of all the gods(GZ) of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”(HA)
21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”(HB)
22 Then Eliakim(HC) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder(HD) went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,(HE) and told him what the field commander had said.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 33:6 Or is a treasure from him
- Isaiah 33:8 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text / the cities
- Isaiah 34:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 5.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 36:9 Or charioteers
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
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