Isaiah 45
New American Standard Bible
God Uses Cyrus
45 This is what the Lord says to (A)Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right (B)hand,
To (C)subdue nations before him
And [a]to (D)undo the weapons belt on the waist of kings;
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
2 “I will go before you and (E)make the [b]rough places smooth;
I will (F)shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron (G)bars.
3 I will give you the [c](H)treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The Lord, the God of Israel, who (I)calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of (J)Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also (K)called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have (L)not known Me.
5 I am the Lord, and (M)there is no one else;
(N)There is no God except Me.
I will (O)[d]arm you, though you have not known Me,
6 So that (P)people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is (Q)no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no one else,
7 The One (R)forming light and (S)creating darkness,
Causing [e]well-being and (T)creating disaster;
I am the Lord who does all these things.
God’s Supreme Power
8 “(U)Drip down, heavens, from above,
And let the clouds pour down righteousness;
Let the (V)earth open up and salvation bear fruit,
(W)And righteousness sprout with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “Woe to the one who (X)quarrels with [f]his Maker—
A piece of pottery [g]among the other earthenware pottery pieces!
Will the (Y)clay say to the [h]potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you fathering?’
Or to a woman, ‘To what are you [i]giving birth?’”
11 This is what the (Z)Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and [j]his (AA)Maker:
“[k](AB)Ask Me about the things to come [l]concerning My (AC)sons,
And you shall commit to Me (AD)the work of My hands.
12 It is I who (AE)made the earth, and created mankind upon it.
I (AF)stretched out the heavens with My hands,
And I [m]ordained (AG)all their [n]lights.
13 I have stirred him in (AH)righteousness,
And I will (AI)make all his ways smooth.
He will (AJ)build My city and let My exiles go (AK)free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies.
14 This is what the Lord says:
“The [o]products of (AL)Egypt and the merchandise of [p](AM)Cush
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will (AN)come over to you and will be yours;
They will walk behind you, they will come over in (AO)chains
And will (AP)bow down to you;
They will plead with you:
‘[q](AQ)God certainly is [r]with you, and (AR)there is no one else,
No other God.’”
15 Truly, You are a God who (AS)hides Himself,
God of Israel, (AT)Savior!
16 They will be (AU)put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The (AV)manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an (AW)everlasting salvation;
You (AX)will not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.
18 For this is what the Lord says, He who (AY)created the heavens (He is the God who (AZ)formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it [s]as a (BA)waste place, but formed it to be (BB)inhabited):
“I am the Lord, and (BC)there is no one else.
19 (BD)I have not spoken in secret,
In [t]some dark land;
I did not say to the [u](BE)offspring of Jacob,
‘(BF)Seek Me in [v]a wasteland’;
I, the Lord, (BG)speak righteousness,
(BH)Declaring things that are right.
20 “(BI)Gather yourselves and come;
Come together, you survivors of the nations!
(BJ)They have no knowledge,
Who (BK)carry around [w]their wooden idol
And (BL)pray to a god who cannot save.
21 (BM)Declare and present your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
(BN)Who has announced this long ago?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is (BO)no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a (BP)Savior;
There is none except Me.
22 (BQ)Turn to Me and (BR)be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 (BS)I have sworn by Myself;
The (BT)word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me (BU)every knee will bow, every tongue will (BV)swear allegiance.
24 They will say of Me, ‘Only (BW)in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
People will come to Him,
And (BX)all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be (BY)justified and will (BZ)boast.”
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 45:1 Lit I will loose
- Isaiah 45:2 Another reading is mountains
- Isaiah 45:3 Or hoarded treasures
- Isaiah 45:5 Or embrace
- Isaiah 45:7 Or peace
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit He who formed him
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit with
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit he who formed him
- Isaiah 45:10 Lit in labor pains with
- Isaiah 45:11 Lit He who formed him
- Isaiah 45:11 Or Will you ask
- Isaiah 45:11 Or upon
- Isaiah 45:12 Or commanded
- Isaiah 45:12 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
- Isaiah 45:14 Lit labor
- Isaiah 45:14 Or Ethiopia
- Isaiah 45:14 Or God is with you alone
- Isaiah 45:14 Or in
- Isaiah 45:18 LXX in vain
- Isaiah 45:19 Lit a place of a land of darkness
- Isaiah 45:19 Lit seed
- Isaiah 45:19 Or vain
- Isaiah 45:20 Lit the wood of their carved image
Isaiah 45
New Living Translation
Cyrus, the Lord’s Chosen One
45 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one,
whose right hand he will empower.
Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear.
Their fortress gates will be opened,
never to shut again.
2 This is what the Lord says:
“I will go before you, Cyrus,
and level the mountains.[a]
I will smash down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.
4 “And why have I called you for this work?
Why did I call you by name when you did not know me?
It is for the sake of Jacob my servant,
Israel my chosen one.
5 I am the Lord;
there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
though you don’t even know me,
6 so all the world from east to west
will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.
8 “Open up, O heavens,
and pour out your righteousness.
Let the earth open wide
so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
I, the Lord, created them.
9 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,
‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
‘How clumsy can you be?’
10 How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘Why did you make me this way?’”
11 This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I do for my children?
Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command.
13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people—
without seeking a reward!
I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
Future Conversion of Gentiles
14 This is what the Lord says:
“You will rule the Egyptians,
the Ethiopians,[b] and the Sabeans.
They will come to you with all their merchandise,
and it will all be yours.
They will follow you as prisoners in chains.
They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,
‘God is with you, and he is the only God.
There is no other.’”
15 Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,
you work in mysterious ways.
16 All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.
They will all be disgraced together.
17 But the Lord will save the people of Israel
with eternal salvation.
Throughout everlasting ages,
they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.
18 For the Lord is God,
and he created the heavens and earth
and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
“and there is no other.
19 I publicly proclaim bold promises.
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel[c] to seek me
if I could not be found.
I, the Lord, speak only what is true
and declare only what is right.
20 “Gather together and come,
you fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols
and pray to gods that cannot save!
21 Consult together, argue your case.
Get together and decide what to say.
Who made these things known so long ago?
What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the Lord?
For there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is none but me.
22 Let all the world look to me for salvation!
For I am God; there is no other.
23 I have sworn by my own name;
I have spoken the truth,
and I will never go back on my word:
Every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.[d]”
24 The people will declare,
“The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
And all who were angry with him
will come to him and be ashamed.
25 In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified,
and in him they will boast.
Isaiah 11:1-37:7
New American Standard Bible
Righteous Reign of the Branch
11 Then a (A)shoot will spring from the (B)stem of Jesse,
And a (C)Branch from (D)his roots will bear fruit.
2 The (E)Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of (F)wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and (G)strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes (H)see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
4 But with (I)righteousness He will judge the (J)poor,
And decide with fairness for the (K)humble of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the (L)rod of His mouth,
And with the (M)breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
5 Also (N)righteousness will be the belt around His hips,
And (O)faithfulness the belt around His waist.
6 And the (P)wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion [a]and the fattened steer will be together;
And a little boy will lead them.
7 Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the (Q)lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
9 They will (R)not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the (S)earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10 Then on that day
The (T)nations will resort to the (U)root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a (V)signal flag for the peoples;
And His (W)resting place will be [b]glorious.
The Restored Remnant
11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover with His hand the second time
The (X)remnant of His people who will remain,
From (Y)Assyria, (Z)Egypt, Pathros, Cush, (AA)Elam, Shinar, Hamath,
And from the [c](AB)islands of the sea.
12 And He will lift up a (AC)flag for the nations
And (AD)assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13 Then the (AE)jealousy of Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass Judah will be eliminated;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 They will (AF)swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the (AG)west;
Together they will (AH)plunder the [d]people of the east;
[e]They will possess (AI)Edom and (AJ)Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be [f]subject to them.
15 And the Lord will [g](AK)utterly destroy
The tongue of the [h]Sea of Egypt;
And He will (AL)wave His hand over the (AM)Euphrates River
With His scorching wind;
And He will strike it into seven streams
And make people walk over in dry sandals.
16 And there will be a (AN)highway from Assyria
For the (AO)remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
On (AP)the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Thanksgiving Expressed
12 Then you will say on that day,
“(AQ)I will give thanks to You, Lord;
For although (AR)You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
2 Behold, (AS)God is my salvation,
I will (AT)trust and not be afraid;
For (AU)the Lord God is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”
3 Therefore you will joyously (AV)draw water
From the (AW)springs of salvation.
4 And on that day you will (AX)say,
“(AY)Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
(AZ)Make known His deeds among the peoples;
[i]Make them remember that His name is exalted.”
5 (BA)Praise the Lord in song, for He has done [j]glorious things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 (BB)Rejoice and shout for joy, you inhabitant of Zion,
For (BC)great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Prophecies about Babylon
13 The (BD)pronouncement concerning (BE)Babylon which (BF)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
2 (BG)Lift up a flag on the [k](BH)bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
(BI)Wave the hand that they may (BJ)enter the doors of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My (BK)warriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger.
4 A (BL)sound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
5 They are coming from a distant country,
From the [l](BM)farthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His (BN)indignation,
To (BO)destroy the whole land.
Judgment on the Day of the Lord
6 Wail, for the (BP)day of the Lord is near!
It will come as (BQ)destruction from [m]the Almighty.
7 Therefore (BR)all hands will fall limp,
And every human (BS)heart will melt.
8 They will be (BT)terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will (BU)writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
9 Behold, (BV)the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10 For the (BW)stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash their light;
The (BX)sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 So I will (BY)punish the world for its evil
And the (BZ)wicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the (CA)audacity of the proud
And humiliate the (CB)arrogance of the [n](CC)tyrants.
12 I will make mortal man (CD)scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the (CE)gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the (CF)heavens tremble,
And (CG)the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of armies
In (CH)the day of His burning anger.
14 And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle,
Or like (CI)sheep with no one to gather them,
Each of them will turn to his own people,
And each of them will flee to his own land.
15 Anyone who is found will be (CJ)thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their (CK)little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives raped.
Babylon Will Fall to the Medes
17 Behold, I am going to (CL)stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or (CM)take pleasure in gold.
18 And their bows will [o]mow down the (CN)young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their (CO)eye pity [p]children.
19 And (CP)Babylon, the (CQ)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God (CR)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will (CS)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the (CT)Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.
21 But (CU)desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of [q]owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and [r]shaggy goats will frolic there.
22 [s]Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious (CV)palaces.
Her fateful time also [t]will soon come,
And her days will not be prolonged.
Israel’s Taunt against Babylon
14 When the Lord (CW)has compassion on Jacob and again (CX)chooses Israel, and settles them on their own land, then (CY)strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the (CZ)house of Israel will make them their own possession in the land of the Lord (DA)as male and female servants; and [u]they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.
3 And it will be on the day when the Lord gives you (DB)rest from your hardship, your turmoil, and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will (DC)take up this [v]taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How (DD)the oppressor has ceased,
And how the [w]onslaught has ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers,
6 (DE)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which [x]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They (DF)break forth into shouts of joy.
8 Even the (DG)juniper trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you have been laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 (DH)Sheol below is excited about you, to meet you when you come;
It stirs the [y]spirits of the dead for you, all the [z]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 (DI)They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have become weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 Your (DJ)pride and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 How you have (DK)fallen from heaven,
You [aa](DL)star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who defeated the nations!
13 But you said in your heart,
‘I will (DM)ascend to heaven;
I will (DN)raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
(DO)I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 Nevertheless you (DP)will be brought down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you,
They will [ab]closely examine you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world like a (DQ)wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who (DR)did not [ac]allow his prisoners to go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own [ad]tomb.
19 But you have been (DS)hurled out of your tomb
Like [ae]a rejected branch,
[af]Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the (DT)pit
Like a (DU)trampled corpse.
20 You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have killed your people.
May the (DV)descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
Because of the (DW)wrongdoing of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the surface of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of armies, “and eliminate from Babylon (DX)name and survivors, (DY)offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord. 23 “I will also make it the property of the (DZ)hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of (EA)destruction,” declares the Lord of armies.
Judgment on Assyria
24 The Lord of armies has sworn, saying, “Certainly, (EB)just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand, 25 to (EC)break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his (ED)yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. 26 This is the (EE)plan [ag]devised against the entire earth; and this is the (EF)hand that is stretched out against all the nations. 27 For (EG)the Lord of armies has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
Judgment on Philistia
28 In the (EH)year that King Ahaz died, this (EI)pronouncement came:
29 “Do not rejoice, (EJ)Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that (EK)struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a (EL)viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a (EM)winged serpent.
30 [ah]Those who are most (EN)helpless will eat,
And the poor will lie down in security;
I will kill your root with (EO)famine,
And it will kill your survivors.
31 Wail, you (EP)gate; cry, you city;
[ai]Melt away, (EQ)Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes from the (ER)north,
And (ES)there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What answer will one give the (ET)messengers of the nation?
That (EU)the Lord has founded Zion,
And (EV)the poor of His people will take refuge in it.”
Judgment on Moab
15 The pronouncement concerning (EW)Moab:
Certainly in a night (EX)Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined;
Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.
2 [aj]The people have gone up to the [ak]temple and to (EY)Dibon, to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;
Everyone’s head is (EZ)bald and every beard is cut off.
3 In their streets they have put on (FA)sackcloth;
(FB)On their housetops and in their public squares
Everyone is wailing, [al](FC)overcome with weeping.
4 (FD)Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out,
Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz;
Therefore the [am]armed men of Moab cry aloud;
His soul trembles within him.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are as far as (FE)Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah,
For they go up the (FF)ascent of Luhith weeping;
Indeed, on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress (FG)over their collapse.
6 For the (FH)waters of Nimrim are [an]desolate.
Indeed, the grass is withered, the new growth has died,
There is (FI)no greenery.
7 Therefore the (FJ)abundance which they have acquired and stored up,
They carry it off over the brook of [ao]Arabim.
8 For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab,
Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its howling to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of [ap]blood;
I will certainly bring added woes upon Dimon,
A (FK)lion upon the fugitives of Moab and the remnant of the land.
Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation
16 (FL)Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,
From [aq](FM)Sela by way of the wilderness to the (FN)mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 Then, like (FO)fluttering birds or scattered nestlings,
The daughters of (FP)Moab will be at the crossing places of the (FQ)Arnon.
3 “[ar]Give us advice, make a decision;
[as]Cast your (FR)shadow like night [at]at high noon;
(FS)Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
4 Let the [au]outcasts of Moab stay with you;
Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”
For the oppressor has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
(FT)Oppressors have been removed from the land.
5 A (FU)throne will be established in faithfulness,
And a judge will sit on it in trustworthiness in the tent of (FV)David;
Moreover, he will seek justice,
And be prompt in righteousness.
6 (FW)We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
(FX)His idle boasts are [av]false.
7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the (FY)raisin cakes of (FZ)Kir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken.
8 For the fields of (GA)Heshbon have [aw]withered, the vines of (GB)Sibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;
(GC)Its [ax]tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore I will (GD)weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, (GE)Heshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your (GF)summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.
10 (GG)Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the (GH)vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No (GI)treader treads out wine in the presses,
For I have made the shouting to cease.
11 Therefore my [ay](GJ)inner being sounds like a harp for Moab.
And my [az]heart for Kir-hareseth.
12 So it will come about when Moab (GK)presents himself,
When he (GL)tires himself upon his (GM)high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as [ba](GN)a hired worker would count them, the glory of (GO)Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and [bb]impotent.”
Prophecy about Damascus
17 The (GP)pronouncement concerning (GQ)Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is about to be (GR)removed from being a city
And will become a (GS)fallen ruin.
2 The cities [bc]of (GT)Aroer are abandoned;
They will be for (GU)herds [bd]to lie down in,
And there will be (GV)no one to frighten them.
3 The [be](GW)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And [bf]sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the (GX)glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of armies.
4 Now on that day the (GY)glory of Jacob will [bg]fade,
And (GZ)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be (HA)like the [bh]reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the (HB)Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet (HC)gleanings will be left in it like the [bi]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 (HD)look to his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he will not look to the (HE)altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his (HF)fingers have made,
Even the [bj](HG)Asherim and incense altars.
9 On that day [bk]their strong cities will be like [bl]abandoned places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [bm]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (HH)you have forgotten the (HI)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (HJ)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 (HK)morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will (HL)flee
On a day of illness and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the uproar of many peoples
(HM)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the (HN)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (HO)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (HP)rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be chased (HQ)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 (HR)they are gone.
This will be the [bn]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 [bo](HS)Cush,
2 Which sends messengers by the sea,
Even in (HT)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation [bp](HU)tall and smooth,
To a people (HV)feared [bq]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 (HW)All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, (HX)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 [br]from My (HY)dwelling place
Like dazzling heat in the [bs](HZ)sunshine,
Like a cloud of (IA)dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For (IB)before the harvest, as soon as the bud [bt]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 (IC)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
[bu]From a (ID)people [bv]tall and smooth,
From a people feared [bw]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the (IE)place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.
Message to Egypt
19 The (IF)pronouncement concerning (IG)Egypt:
Behold, the Lord is (IH)riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The (II)idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the (IJ)heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will fight, (IK)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 (IL)they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead,
And to [bx]mediums and spiritists.
4 Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a (IM)cruel master,
And a [by]mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord [bz]God of armies.
5 (IN)The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.
6 The [ca](IO)canals will emit a stench,
The [cb](IP)streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
(IQ)The reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 The bulrushes by the (IR)Nile, by the [cc]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 (IS)fishermen will grieve,
And all those who cast a [cd]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 (IT)cloth will be [ce]utterly dejected.
10 And [cf]the (IU)pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.
11 The officials of [cg](IV)Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become [ch]stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the (IW)wise, a son of ancient kings”?
12 Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them [ci]understand what the Lord of armies
Has (IX)planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of [cj]Zoan have turned out to be fools,
The officials of (IY)Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the (IZ)cornerstone of her tribes
Have [ck]led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of (JA)distortion;
(JB)They have led Egypt astray in all [cl]that it does,
As a (JC)drunken person [cm]staggers in his vomit.
15 There will be no work for Egypt
(JD)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 (JE)fear because of the (JF)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 (JG)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 (JH)swearing allegiance to the Lord of armies; one will be called the City of [cn]Destruction.
19 On that day there will be an (JI)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a (JJ)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 (JK)Savior and a (JL)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 (JM)sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but (JN)healing; so they will (JO)return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 On that day there will be a (JP)road from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will (JQ)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 (JR)Egypt My people, and Assyria (JS)the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia
20 In the year that the [co](JT)commander came to (JU)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 (JV)Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the (JW)sackcloth from your hips and take your (JX)sandals off your feet.” And he did so, going (JY)naked and barefoot. 3 Then the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a (JZ)sign and symbol against Egypt and [cp](KA)Cush, 4 so the (KB)king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, (KC)young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the [cq]shame of Egypt. 5 Then they will be (KD)terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their (KE)pride. 6 So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled (KF)for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and (KG)how are we ourselves to escape?’”
God Commands That Babylon Be Taken
21 The (KH)pronouncement concerning the [cr](KI)wilderness of the sea:
As (KJ)windstorms in the [cs]Negev come in turns,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
2 A (KK)harsh vision has been shown to me;
The (KL)treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, (KM)Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have put an end to all [ct]the groaning she has caused.
3 For this reason my (KN)loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a (KO)woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
4 My [cu]mind reels, [cv]horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been (KP)turned into trembling for me.
5 They (KQ)set the table, they [cw]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 (KR)report what he sees.
7 When he sees [cx]a (KS)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 [cy]the lookout called,
“(KT)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, “(KU)Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the (KV)images of her gods [cz]are shattered on the ground.”
10 My (KW)downtrodden people, and my [da]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 [db](KX)Edom:
One keeps calling to me from (KY)Seir,
“Watchman, [dc]how far gone is the night?
Watchman, [dd]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 (KZ)Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you [de]must spend the night,
You caravans of (LA)Dedanites.
14 Bring water [df]for the thirsty,
You inhabitants of the land of (LB)Tema;
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15 For they have (LC)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 (LD)year, as [dg]a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of (LE)Kedar will come to an end; 17 and the (LF)remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel (LG)has spoken.”
The Valley of Vision
22 The pronouncement concerning the (LH)valley of vision:
What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the (LI)housetops?
2 You who were full of noise,
You tumultuous town, you (LJ)jubilant city;
Your dead were (LK)not killed with the sword,
Nor [dh]did they die in battle.
3 (LL)All your rulers have fled together,
And have been captured [di]without the bow;
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
[dj]Though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I say, “Look away from me,
Let me (LM)weep bitterly,
Do not [dk]try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 (LN)For the Lord [dl]God of armies has a (LO)day of panic, (LP)subjugation, and confusion
(LQ)In the valley of vision,
A breaking down of walls
And a crying [dm]to the mountain.
6 (LR)Elam picked up the quiver,
With the chariots, [dn]infantry, and horsemen;
And (LS)Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
And the horsemen took positions at the gate.
8 And He removed the [do]defense of Judah.
On that day you [dp]depended on the weapons of the (LT)house of the forest,
9 And you saw that the breaches
In the wall of the city of David were many;
And you (LU)collected the waters of the lower pool.
10 Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And tore down houses to fortify the wall.
11 And you made a reservoir (LV)between the two walls
For the waters of the (LW)old pool.
But you did not [dq]depend on Him who made it,
Nor did you [dr]take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.
12 Therefore on that day the Lord [ds]God of armies called you to (LX)weeping, to wailing,
To (LY)shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
13 Instead, there is (LZ)joy and jubilation,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“(MA)Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
14 But the Lord of armies revealed Himself [dt]to me:
“Certainly this (MB)wrongdoing (MC)will not be [du]forgiven you
(MD)Until you die,” says the Lord [dv]God of armies.
15 This is what the Lord [dw]God of armies says:
“Come, go to this steward,
To (ME)Shebna who is in charge of the royal household,
16 ‘What right do you have here,
And whom do you have here,
That you have (MF)cut out a tomb for yourself here,
You who cut out a tomb on the height,
You who carve a resting place for [dx]yourself in the rock?
17 Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you violently, you strong man.
And He is about to grasp you firmly
18 And wrap you up tightly like a ball,
To be (MG)driven into a vast country;
There you will die,
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house!’
19 I will (MH)depose you from your office,
And [dy]I will pull you down from your position.
20 Then it will come about on that day,
That I will summon My servant (MI)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 And I will clothe him with your tunic
And tie your sash securely around him.
I will hand your [dz]authority over to him,
And he will become a (MJ)father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22 Then I will put (MK)the key of the (ML)house of David on his shoulder;
When he opens, no one will shut,
When he shuts, no one will (MM)open.
23 I will drive him like a (MN)peg in a firm place,
And he will become a (MO)throne of glory to his father’s house.
24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the [ea]descendants, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. 25 On that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “the (MP)peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will even (MQ)break off and fall, and the load that is hanging on it will be cut off, for the (MR)Lord has spoken.”
The Fall of Tyre
23 The pronouncement concerning (MS)Tyre:
Wail, you (MT)ships of (MU)Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house or [eb](MV)harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of [ec](MW)Cyprus.
2 (MX)Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon;
[ed]Your messengers crossed the sea
3 And were on many waters.
(MY)The grain of the [ee](MZ)Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;
And she was the (NA)market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, (NB)Sidon,
For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth,
I have neither brought up young men nor raised virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in (NC)anguish over the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to (ND)Tarshish;
Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your (NE)jubilant city,
Whose origin is from antiquity,
Whose feet used to bring her to [ef]colonize distant places?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, (NF)the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 (NG)The Lord of armies has planned it, to (NH)defile the pride of all beauty,
To despise all the (NI)honored of the earth.
10 [eg]Overflow your land like the Nile, you daughter of Tarshish,
There is no more [eh]restraint.
11 He has (NJ)stretched His hand out (NK)over the sea,
He has (NL)made the kingdoms tremble;
The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to (NM)demolish its strongholds.
12 He has said, “(NN)You shall not be jubilant anymore, you crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to [ei](NO)Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people that did not exist; (NP)Assyria allocated it for (NQ)desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, (NR)they made it a ruin.
14 Wail, you (NS)ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed.
15 Now on that day Tyre will be forgotten for (NT)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 prostitute:
16 Take your harp, wander around the city,
You forgotten prostitute;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.
17 It will come about at (NU)the end of seventy years that the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her prostitute’s wages and (NV)commit prostitution with all the kingdoms [ej]on the face of the earth. 18 Her (NW)profit and her prostitute’s wages will be (NX)sacred to the Lord; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her profit will become sufficient food and magnificent attire for those who dwell in the presence of the Lord.
Judgment on the Earth
24 Behold, the Lord (NY)lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the (NZ)creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The (OA)earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the (OB)exalted of the people of the earth dwindle. 5 The earth is also (OC)defiled [ek]by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and (OD)broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a (OE)curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the (OF)inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.
7 The (OG)new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the joyful-hearted sigh.
8 The (OH)joy of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
(OI)Intoxicating drink is (OJ)bitter to those who drink it.
10 The (OK)city of chaos is broken down;
(OL)Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.
11 There is an (OM)outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
(ON)All joy [el]turns to gloom.
The joy of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city
And the (OO)gate is battered to ruins.
13 For (OP)so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the [em]shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
14 (OQ)They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the [en]west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore (OR)glorify the Lord in the [eo]east,
The (OS)name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the [ep](OT)coastlands of the sea.
16 From the (OU)ends of the earth we hear songs: “(OV)Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “[eq]I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me!
The (OW)treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
17 (OX)Terror and pit and snare
[er]Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth.
18 Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit,
And the one who [es]climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the (OY)windows [et]above are opened, and the (OZ)foundations of the earth shake.
19 (PA)The earth is broken apart,
The earth is (PB)split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth (PC)trembles like a heavy drinker
And sways like a hut,
For its (PD)wrongdoing is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, (PE)never to rise again.
21 So it will happen on that day,
That the Lord will (PF)punish the rebellious [eu](PG)angels of [ev]heaven on high,
And the (PH)kings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like (PI)prisoners in the [ew]dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will (PJ)be punished.
23 Then the (PK)moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame,
For the (PL)Lord of armies will reign on (PM)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
Song of Praise for God’s Favor
25 Lord, You are (PN)my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have (PO)worked wonders,
(PP)Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For You have turned a city into a (PQ)heap,
A (PR)fortified city into a ruin;
A (PS)palace of strangers is no longer a city,
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore a strong people will (PT)glorify You;
(PU)Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
4 For You have been a (PV)stronghold for the helpless,
A stronghold for the poor in his distress,
A (PW)refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the (PX)ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.
5 Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the (PY)uproar of foreigners;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is [ex]silenced.
6 (PZ)Now the Lord of armies will prepare a [ey]lavish banquet for (QA)all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of [ez]aged wine, [fa]choice pieces with marrow,
And [fb]refined, aged wine.
7 And on this mountain He will destroy the [fc](QB)covering which is over all peoples,
The veil which is [fd]stretched over all nations.
8 He will [fe](QC)swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord [ff]God will (QD)wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the (QE)disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said on that day,
“Behold, (QF)this is our God for whom we have (QG)waited [fg]that (QH)He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
(QI)Let’s rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
And (QJ)Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the water of a manure pile.
11 And he will (QK)spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will (QL)lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
12 The (QM)unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and throw to the ground, to the dust.
Song of Trust in God’s Protection
26 (QN)On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a (QO)strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for [fh](QP)security.
2 Open the (QQ)gates, that the (QR)righteous nation may enter,
The one that [fi]remains faithful.
3 The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect (QS)peace,
Because he trusts in You.
4 (QT)Trust in the Lord forever,
For in [fj]God the Lord, we have an everlasting (QU)Rock.
5 For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the (QV)unassailable city;
(QW)He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
6 (QX)The foot will trample it,
The feet of the (QY)poor, the steps of the helpless.”
7 The (QZ)way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, (RA)make the path of the righteous level.
8 Indeed, while following the way of (RB)Your judgments, Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly;
(RC)Your name, and (RD)remembering You, is the desire of our souls.
9 (RE)At night [fk]my soul longs for You,
Indeed, [fl]my spirit within me (RF)seeks You diligently;
For when the earth [fm]experiences Your judgments,
The inhabitants of the world (RG)learn righteousness.
10 Though the wicked person is shown compassion,
He does not (RH)learn righteousness;
He (RI)deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, Your hand is lifted up, yet they (RJ)do not see it.
[fn]They see (RK)Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, [fo](RL)fire will devour Your enemies.
12 Lord, You will establish (RM)peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
13 Lord, our God, (RN)other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we [fp](RO)confess Your name.
14 (RP)The dead will not live, the [fq]departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have (RQ)punished and destroyed them,
And You have eliminated all remembrance of them.
15 (RR)You have increased the nation, Lord,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have (RS)extended all the borders of the land.
16 Lord, they sought You (RT)in distress;
They [fr]could only whisper a prayer,
Your discipline was upon them.
17 (RU)As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains;
This is how we were before You, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We (RV)gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were (RW)inhabitants of the world [fs]born.
19 Your (RX)dead will live;
[ft]Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, (RY)awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the [fu]dawn,
And the earth will [fv]give birth to the [fw]departed spirits.
20 Come, my people, (RZ)enter your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little [fx](SA)while
Until (SB)indignation [fy]runs its course.
21 For behold, the Lord is about to (SC)come out from His place
To (SD)punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wrongdoing;
And the earth will (SE)reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.
God’s Blessings for Israel
27 On that day (SF)the Lord will punish [fz](SG)Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even [ga]Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And (SH)He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
2 On that day,
“A [gb](SI)vineyard of beauty, sing of it!
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
(SJ)I water it every moment.
So that no one will [gc]damage it,
I (SK)guard it night and day.
4 I have no wrath.
Should [gd]someone give Me (SL)briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, (SM)I would burn them [ge]completely.
5 Or let him [gf](SN)rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him (SO)make peace with Me.”
6 [gg]In the days to come Jacob (SP)will take root,
Israel will (SQ)blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the [gh]whole world with (SR)fruit.
7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has (SS)He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, [gi]have they been slain?
8 You contended with them [gj]by banishing them, by (ST)driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the (SU)east wind.
9 Therefore through this Jacob’s wrongdoing will be (SV)forgiven;
And this will be [gk]the full price of the [gl](SW)pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the (SX)altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When [gm]Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
10 For the fortified city is (SY)isolated,
A [gn]homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert;
(SZ)There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and [go]feed on its branches.
11 When its (TA)limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of (TB)discernment,
Therefore (TC)their Maker (TD)will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day the Lord (TE)will thresh from the flowing stream of the (TF)Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be (TG)gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel. 13 It will come about also on that day that a great (TH)trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of (TI)Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and (TJ)worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted
28 Woe to the proud crown of the (TK)habitually drunk of (TL)Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [gp]fertile valley
Of those who are [gq]overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and (TM)mighty agent;
As a storm of (TN)hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of (TO)mighty overflowing waters,
He has thrown it down to the earth with His hand.
3 The splendid crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim is (TP)trampled underfoot.
4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [gr]fertile valley,
Will be like the (TQ)first-ripe fig prior to the summer,
Which [gs]one sees,
And [gt]as soon as it is in his [gu]hand,
He swallows it.
5 On that day the (TR)Lord of armies will become a beautiful (TS)crown
And a glorious wreath to the remnant of His people;
6 A (TT)spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A (TU)strength to those who repel the [gv]onslaught at the gate.
7 And these also (TV)reel with wine and stagger from intoxicating drink:
(TW)The priest and (TX)the prophet reel with intoxicating drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from (TY)intoxicating drink;
They reel while [gw]having (TZ)visions,
They stagger when rendering a verdict.
8 For all the tables are full of filthy (UA)vomit, without a single clean place.
9 “To (UB)whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just (UC)weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
10 For He says,
‘[gx](UD)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
11 Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through (UE)stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
12 He who said to them, “This is the (UF)place of quiet, give rest to the weary,”
And, “This is the resting place,” but they would not listen.
13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,
“[gy]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and (UG)stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.
Judah Is Warned
14 Therefore, (UH)hear the word of the Lord, you (UI)scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have made a (UJ)covenant with death,
And with [gz]Sheol we have made a [ha]pact.
(UK)The [hb]gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by,
Because we have made (UL)falsehood our refuge and we have (UM)concealed ourselves with deception.”
16 Therefore this is what the Lord [hc]God says:
“(UN)Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested (UO)stone,
A precious cornerstone for the foundation, [hd]firmly placed.
The one who believes in it will not be [he]disturbed.
17 I will make (UP)justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then (UQ)hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
18 Your (UR)covenant with death will be [hf](US)canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the (UT)[hg]gushing flood passes through,
Then you will become its (UU)trampling ground.
19 As (UV)often as it passes through, it will [hh]seize you;
For (UW)morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be [hi]sheer (UX)terror to understand [hj]what it means.”
20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the (UY)blanket is too [hk]small to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount (UZ)Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the Valley of (VA)Gibeon,
To do His (VB)task, His [hl](VC)unusual task,
And to work His work, His [hm]extraordinary work.
22 And now do not carry on as (VD)scoffers,
Or your shackles will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord [hn]God of armies
Of decisive (VE)destruction on all the earth.
23 Listen and hear my voice,
Pay attention and hear my words.
24 Does the [ho]farmer plow [hp]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually [hq]turn and break up his ground?
25 Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter (VF)cumin
And [hr]plant (VG)wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its [hs]area?
26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
27 For dill is not threshed with a (VH)threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel [ht]driven over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club.
28 Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually [hu]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
29 This also comes from the Lord of armies,
Who has made His counsel (VI)wonderful and His wisdom (VJ)great.
Jerusalem Is Warned
29 Woe, [hv]Ariel, [hw]Ariel the city where David once (VK)camped!
Add year to year, [hx](VL)keep your feasts on schedule.
2 I will bring distress to Ariel,
And she will be a city of grieving and (VM)mourning;
And she will be like an [hy]Ariel to me.
3 I will (VN)camp against you [hz]encircling you,
And I will set up siegeworks against you,
And I will raise up battle towers against you.
4 Then you will (VO)be brought low;
From the earth you will speak,
And from the dust where you are prostrate
Your words will come.
Your voice will also be like that of a [ia]spirit from the ground,
And your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 But the multitude of your [ib]enemies will become like fine (VP)dust,
And the multitude of the (VQ)ruthless ones like the chaff which [ic]blows away;
And it will happen (VR)instantly, suddenly.
6 From the Lord of armies you will be (VS)punished with (VT)thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
7 And the (VU)multitude of all the nations who wage war against [id]Ariel,
Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
Will be like a dream, a (VV)vision of the night.
8 It will be as when a hungry person dreams—
And behold, he is eating;
But when he awakens, his [ie]hunger is not satisfied,
Or as when a thirsty person dreams—
And behold, he is drinking,
But when he awakens, behold, he is faint
And his [if]thirst is not quenched.
(VW)So will the multitude of all the nations be
Who wage war against Mount Zion.
9 (VX)Be delayed and horrified,
Blind yourselves and be blind;
They (VY)become drunk, but not with wine,
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
10 For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep (VZ)sleep,
He has (WA)shut your eyes—the prophets;
And He has covered your heads—the seers.
11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed [ig](WB)book, which, when they give it to the one who [ih]is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” 12 Then the [ii]book will be given to the one who [ij]is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I [ik]cannot read.”
13 Then the Lord said,
“Because (WC)this people approaches Me with their [il]words
And honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me,
And their [im]reverence for Me [in]consists of the commandment of men that is taught;
14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal (WD)marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
And (WE)the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
And the understanding of their men who have understanding will be concealed.”
15 Woe to those who deeply (WF)hide their [io]plans from the Lord,
And whose (WG)deeds are done in a dark place,
And they say, “(WH)Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
16 You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered [ip]as equal with the clay,
That (WI)what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Blessing after Discipline
17 Is it not yet just a little while
[iq]Before Lebanon will be turned into a (WJ)fertile field,
And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
18 On that day those who are (WK)deaf will hear (WL)words of a book,
And out of their gloom and darkness the (WM)eyes of those who are blind will see.
19 The (WN)afflicted also will increase their joy in the Lord,
And the (WO)needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the (WP)ruthless will come to an end and the (WQ)scorner will be finished,
Indeed (WR)all who [ir]are intent on doing evil will be eliminated,
21 Who [is]cause a person to be indicted by a word,
And (WS)set a trap for the arbitrator at the gate,
And [it](WT)defraud the one in the right with [iu]meaningless arguments.
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed (WU)Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob (WV)will not be ashamed now, nor will his face turn pale now;
23 But when [iv]he sees his (WW)children, the (WX)work of My hands, in his midst,
They will sanctify My name;
Indeed, they will (WY)sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who (WZ)err in [iw]mind will (XA)know [ix]the truth,
And those who [iy]criticize will [iz](XB)accept instruction.
Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
30 “Woe to the (XC)rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who (XD)execute a plan, but not Mine,
And [ja](XE)make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who (XF)proceed down to Egypt
Without (XG)consulting [jb]Me,
(XH)To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be (XI)your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 For (XJ)their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 Everyone will be (XK)ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,
Who are (XL)not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”
6 The pronouncement concerning the (XM)animals of the (XN)Negev:
Through a land of (XO)distress and anguish,
From [jc]where come lioness and lion, viper and (XP)flying serpent,
They (XQ)carry their riches on the [jd]backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on (XR)camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose (XS)help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called [je]her
“[jf](XT)Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, (XU)write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may [jg]serve in the time to come
[jh]As a witness forever.
9 For this is a (XV)rebellious people, (XW)false sons,
Sons who [ji]refuse to (XX)listen
To the [jj]instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the (XY)seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not (XZ)prophesy the truth to us.
(YA)Speak to us [jk]pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way, (YB)turn aside from the path,
(YC)Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“(YD)Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in (YE)oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this (YF)wrongdoing will be to you
Like a (YG)breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes (YH)suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a (YI)potter’s jar,
[jl]So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To [jm]take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For this is what the Lord [jn]God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“In [jo]repentance and (YJ)rest you will be saved,
In (YK)quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on (YL)horses!”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 (YM)One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top,
And like a flag on a hill.
God Is Gracious and Just
18 Therefore the Lord [jp](YN)longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He [jq]waits on (YO)high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a (YP)God of justice;
How blessed are all those who [jr](YQ)long for Him.
19 [js]For, you people in Zion, (YR)inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will (YS)weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will (YT)answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you (YU)bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer (YV)hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the (YW)way, walk in it,” whenever you (YX)turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will desecrate your carved (YY)images plated with silver, and your cast metal (YZ)images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to [jt]them, “(ZA)Be gone!”
23 Then He will (ZB)give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be [ju]rich and [jv]plentiful; on that day (ZC)your livestock will graze in a wide pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat [jw]seasoned feed, which [jx]has been (ZD)winnowed with shovel and pitchfork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and (ZE)every high hill there will be [jy]streams running with water on the day of the great (ZF)slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 (ZG)And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day (ZH)the Lord binds up the (ZI)fracture of His people and (ZJ)heals the wound [jz]He has inflicted.
27 Behold, (ZK)the name of the Lord comes from a [ka]remote place;
(ZL)His anger is burning and [kb]dense with [kc]smoke;
His lips are filled with (ZM)indignation,
And His tongue is like a (ZN)consuming fire;
28 His (ZO)breath is like an overflowing river,
Which (ZP)reaches to the neck,
To (ZQ)shake the nations back and forth in a [kd]sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples (ZR)the bridle which leads astray.
29 You will have [ke]songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will cause [kf]His voice of authority to be heard,
And the [kg]descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31 For (ZS)at the voice of the Lord (ZT)Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the (ZU)rod.
32 And every [kh]blow of the [ki](ZV)rod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of (ZW)tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, (ZX)brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33 For [kj](ZY)Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
[kk]A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The (ZZ)breath of the Lord, like a torrent of (AAA)brimstone, sets it afire.
Help Not in Egypt but in God
31 Woe to those who go down to (AAB)Egypt for help
And (AAC)rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not (AAD)look to the (AAE)Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!
2 Yet He also is (AAF)wise and will (AAG)bring disaster,
And does (AAH)not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of (AAI)evildoers,
And against the help of the (AAJ)workers of injustice.
3 Now the Egyptians are (AAK)human and not God,
And their (AAL)horses are flesh and not spirit;
So the Lord will (AAM)stretch out His hand,
And any (AAN)helper will stumble,
And one who is helped will fall.
And all of them will come to an end together.
4 For this is what the Lord says to me:
“As the (AAO)lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So will the Lord of armies come down to wage (AAP)war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”
5 Like [kl]flying (AAQ)birds so the Lord of armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will (AAR)protect and save it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
6 (AAS)Return to Him against whom [km]you have been (AAT)profoundly obstinate, you sons of Israel. 7 For on that day every person will (AAU)reject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made for you as (AAV)a sin.
8 And the (AAW)Assyrian will fall by a sword not wielded by a man,
And a (AAX)sword not of man will devour him.
So he will [kn](AAY)not escape the sword,
And his young men will become (AAZ)forced laborers.
9 “His (ABA)rock will pass away because of panic,
And his officers will be terrified by the (ABB)flag,”
Declares the Lord, whose (ABC)fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
The Glorious Future
32 Behold, a (ABD)king will reign righteously,
And officials will rule justly.
2 Each will be like a (ABE)refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like [ko](ABF)streams of water in a dry country,
Like the (ABG)shade of a [kp]huge rock in an exhausted land.
3 Then (ABH)the eyes of those who see will not be [kq]blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The [kr]mind of the (ABI)rash will discern the [ks]truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hurry to speak clearly.
5 No longer will the (ABJ)fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
6 For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart [kt](ABK)inclines toward wickedness:
To practice (ABL)ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord,
To [ku](ABM)keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And [kv]to withhold drink from the thirsty.
7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He (ABN)devises wicked schemes
To (ABO)destroy the poor with [kw]slander,
(ABP)Even though the needy one speaks [kx]what is right.
8 But (ABQ)the noble person devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
9 Rise up, you (ABR)women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
(ABS)Listen to my word,
You complacent daughters.
10 Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, you complacent daughters;
(ABT)For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;
(ABU)Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
(ABV)Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist,
12 (ABW)Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13 (ABX)For the land of my people in which thorns and briars will come up;
Indeed, for all the joyful houses and for the (ABY)jubilant city.
14 For (ABZ)the palace has been neglected, the [ky]populated (ACA)city abandoned.
[kz]Hill and watch-tower have become (ACB)caves forever,
A delight for (ACC)wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
15 Until the (ACD)Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a (ACE)fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
16 Then (ACF)justice will dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness will remain in the fertile field.
17 And the (ACG)work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, (ACH)quietness and [la]confidence forever.
18 Then my people will live in a (ACI)peaceful settlement,
In secure dwellings, and in undisturbed (ACJ)resting places;
19 And it will (ACK)hail when the (ACL)forest comes down,
And (ACM)the city will be utterly laid low.
20 How (ACN)blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who [lb]let the ox and the donkey out freely.
The Judgment of God
33 Woe (ACO)to you, destroyer,
While you were not destroyed;
And he (ACP)who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.
As soon as you finish destroying, (ACQ)you will be destroyed;
As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will (ACR)deal treacherously with you.
2 Lord, (ACS)be gracious to us; we have (ACT)waited for You.
Be [lc]their [ld](ACU)strength every morning,
Our salvation also in the (ACV)time of distress.
3 At the sound of a roar, (ACW)peoples flee;
At the (ACX)lifting up of Yourself, nations disperse.
4 Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it.
5 The Lord is (ACY)exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has (ACZ)filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 And He will be the [le](ADA)stability of your times,
A (ADB)wealth of salvation, wisdom, and (ADC)knowledge;
The (ADD)fear of the Lord is his treasure.
7 Behold, their brave men cry out [lf]in the streets,
The [lg](ADE)ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are desolate, [lh]the (ADF)traveler has ceased,
He has (ADG)broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,
He has no regard for mankind.
9 (ADH)The land mourns and wastes away,
(ADI)Lebanon is shamed and withers;
(ADJ)Sharon is like a desert plain,
And Bashan and Carmel [li]lose their foliage.
10 “Now (ADK)I will arise,” says the Lord,
“Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.
11 You have (ADL)conceived [lj]chaff, you will give birth to stubble;
[lk]My (ADM)breath will consume you like a fire.
12 The peoples will be burned to lime,
(ADN)Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
13 “You who are far away, (ADO)hear what I have done;
And you who are near, [ll]acknowledge My might.”
14 (ADP)Sinners in Zion are terrified;
(ADQ)Trembling has seized the godless.
“Who among us can live with (ADR)the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting (ADS)burning?”
15 One who (ADT)walks righteously and speaks with integrity,
One who rejects [lm]unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
One who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And (ADU)shuts his eyes from looking at evil;
16 He will dwell on the heights,
(ADV)His refuge will be the [ln]impregnable rock;
(ADW)His bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.
17 Your eyes will see (ADX)the King in His beauty;
They will see (ADY)a distant land.
18 Your heart will meditate on (ADZ)terror:
“Where is (AEA)one who counts?
Where is one who weighs?
Where is one who counts the towers?”
19 You will no longer see a fierce people,
A people of [lo](AEB)unintelligible speech [lp]which no one comprehends,
Of a stammering tongue [lq]which no one understands.
20 (AEC)Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an (AED)undisturbed settlement,
(AEE)A tent which will not be folded;
Its stakes will never be pulled up,
Nor any of its ropes be torn apart.
21 But there the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us
A place of (AEF)rivers and wide canals
On which no boat with oars will go,
And on which no mighty ship will pass—
22 For the Lord is our (AEG)judge,
The Lord is (AEH)our lawgiver,
The Lord is (AEI)our king;
(AEJ)He will save us—
23 Your ship’s tackle hangs slack;
It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly,
Nor spread out the sail.
Then the (AEK)prey of an abundant spoil will be divided;
(AEL)Those who limp will take the plunder.
24 And no resident will say, “I am (AEM)sick”;
The people who live [lr]there will be (AEN)forgiven their wrongdoing.
God’s Wrath against Nations
34 Come near, (AEO)you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
(AEP)Let the earth and [ls]all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2 For the Lord’s (AEQ)anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has [lt](AER)utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to (AES)slaughter.
3 So their slain will be (AET)thrown out,
And their corpses [lu]will give off their (AEU)stench,
And the mountains will [lv]be drenched with their (AEV)blood.
4 And (AEW)all the heavenly [lw]lights will [lx]wear away,
And the (AEX)sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its [ly]lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5 For (AEY)My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon (AEZ)Edom,
And upon the people whom I have (AFA)designated for destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in (AFB)Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of (AFC)Edom.
7 (AFD)Wild oxen will also [lz]fall with them
And (AFE)young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be (AFF)soaked with blood,
And their dust [ma]become greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of (AFG)vengeance,
A year of retribution for the [mb]cause of Zion.
9 [mc]Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into (AFH)brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will (AFI)not be extinguished night or day;
Its (AFJ)smoke will go up forever.
From (AFK)generation to generation it will be desolate;
(AFL)None will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But [md](AFM)pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And [me]owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the (AFN)line of [mf]desolation
And the [mg]plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is (AFO)no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be (AFP)nothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its (AFQ)fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of (AFR)jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
14 The desert (AFS)creatures will meet with the [mh]wolves,
The [mi](AFT)goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the [mj]night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its [mk]protection.
Yes, (AFU)the [ml]hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the (AFV)book of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For [mm](AFW)His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the (AFX)lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the (AFY)measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From (AFZ)generation to generation they will dwell in it.
Zion’s Happy Future
35 The (AGA)wilderness and the desert will rejoice,
And the [mn](AGB)desert will shout for joy and blossom;
Like the crocus
2 It will (AGC)blossom profusely
And (AGD)rejoice with joy and jubilation.
The (AGE)glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of (AGF)Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the (AGG)glory of the Lord,
The majesty of our God.
3 (AGH)Strengthen the [mo]exhausted, and make the [mp]feeble strong.
4 Say to those with (AGI)anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with (AGJ)vengeance;
The (AGK)retribution of God will come,
But He will (AGL)save you.”
5 Then the (AGM)eyes of those who are blind will be opened,
And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then those who (AGN)limp will leap like a deer,
And the (AGO)tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
For waters will burst forth in the (AGP)wilderness,
And streams in the [mq]desert.
7 The [mr]scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground (AGQ)springs of water;
In the (AGR)haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
8 (AGS)A highway will be there, (AGT)a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of (AGU)Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for the one who walks that way,
And (AGV)fools will not wander on it.
9 No (AGW)lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious animal go up on it;
[ms]They will not be found there.
But (AGX)the redeemed will walk there,
10 And (AGY)the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And (AGZ)sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Sennacherib Invades Judah
36 (AHA)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, (AHB)Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the (AHC)king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the (AHD)conduit of the upper pool on the road to the [mt]fuller’s field. 3 Then (AHE)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and (AHF)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him.
4 And (AHG)Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only [mu]empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that (AHH)you have revolted against me? 6 Behold, you have relied on the (AHI)staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his [mv]hand and pierce it. (AHJ)So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He (AHK)whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9 How then can you [mw]drive back even one [mx]official of the least of my master’s servants and [my](AHL)rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 And have I now come up [mz]without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? (AHM)The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in (AHN)Aramaic, for we [na]understand it; and do not speak to us in [nb](AHO)Judean [nc]so that the people who are on the wall hear you.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
13 Then Rabshakeh stood and (AHP)called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah (AHQ)deceive you, for he will not be able to save you; 15 and do not let Hezekiah lead you to (AHR)rely on the Lord, saying, “The Lord will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘[nd]Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his (AHS)vine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the (AHT)waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “(AHU)The Lord will save us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of (AHV)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of (AHW)Sepharvaim? And when have they (AHX)saved Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the (AHY)gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the (AHZ)Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’”
21 But they were silent and did not (AIA)answer him so much as a word; for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then (AIB)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and (AIC)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help
37 Now (AID)when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent (AIE)Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with (AIF)Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to (AIG)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a (AIH)day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for (AII)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to [ne]deliver them. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to (AIJ)taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for (AIK)the remnant that is left.’”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: “(AIL)Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will (AIM)hear news and (AIN)return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 11:6 Some ancient versions will feed together
- Isaiah 11:10 Lit glory
- Isaiah 11:11 Or coastlands
- Isaiah 11:14 Lit sons
- Isaiah 11:14 Lit Edom and Moab will be the outstretching of their hand
- Isaiah 11:14 Lit their obedience
- Isaiah 11:15 Another reading is dry up the tongue
- Isaiah 11:15 Perhaps the Red Sea
- Isaiah 12:4 Or Proclaim to them that
- Isaiah 12:5 Or gloriously
- Isaiah 13:2 Or wind-swept mountain
- Isaiah 13:5 Lit end of heaven
- Isaiah 13:6 Heb Shaddai
- Isaiah 13:11 Or violent
- Isaiah 13:18 Lit dash in pieces
- Isaiah 13:18 Lit sons
- Isaiah 13:21 Or howling creatures
- Isaiah 13:21 Or goat demons
- Isaiah 13:22 Or howling creatures
- Isaiah 13:22 Lit is near to come
- Isaiah 14:2 Lit the captors will become their captives
- Isaiah 14:4 Or proverb
- Isaiah 14:4 As in DSS and ancient versions; MT uncertain
- Isaiah 14:6 Or ruled
- Isaiah 14:9 Or shades (Heb Repha’im)
- Isaiah 14:9 Lit male goats
- Isaiah 14:12 Heb Helel; i.e., shining one
- Isaiah 14:16 Lit show themselves attentive to
- Isaiah 14:17 Lit open
- Isaiah 14:18 Lit house
- Isaiah 14:19 Lit an abhorred branch
- Isaiah 14:19 Or As the clothing of those who are slain
- Isaiah 14:26 Lit planned
- Isaiah 14:30 Lit The firstborn of the helpless
- Isaiah 14:31 Or Become demoralized
- Isaiah 15:2 Lit He has gone; i.e., Moab, meaning the people of Moab
- Isaiah 15:2 Lit house
- Isaiah 15:3 Lit going down in weeping
- Isaiah 15:4 Another reading is the loins of
- Isaiah 15:6 Lit desolations
- Isaiah 15:7 Or the poplars
- Isaiah 15:9 Heb dam (a wordplay)
- Isaiah 16:1 I.e., Petra in Edom
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit Bring
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit Set
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit in the midst of the noon
- Isaiah 16:4 As in most ancient versions; MT My outcasts, as for Moab
- Isaiah 16:6 Lit not so
- Isaiah 16:8 Or dried out
- Isaiah 16:8 I.e., parts of a climbing plant that attach to its support
- Isaiah 16:11 Lit entrails murmur
- Isaiah 16:11 Lit inward parts
- Isaiah 16:14 Lit the years of a hired
- Isaiah 16:14 Lit not mighty
- 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
- Isaiah 22:2 Lit dead in battle
- Isaiah 22:3 Lit from a bow
- Isaiah 22:3 As in ancient versions; MT They fled far away
- Isaiah 22:4 Lit insist
- Isaiah 22:5 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 22:5 Or against
- Isaiah 22:6 Lit man
- Isaiah 22:8 Lit covering
- Isaiah 22:8 Lit looked to
- Isaiah 22:11 Or look to, consider
- Isaiah 22:11 Lit see Him
- Isaiah 22:12 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 22:14 Lit in my ears
- Isaiah 22:14 Lit atoned for
- Isaiah 22:14 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 22:15 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 22:16 Lit himself
- Isaiah 22:19 As in many ancient versions; MT He
- Isaiah 22:21 Lit dominion
- Isaiah 22:24 Or perhaps, leaf
- Isaiah 23:1 Lit entering
- Isaiah 23:1 Heb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:2 As in DSS; MT Who passed over the sea, they replenished you
- Isaiah 23:3 Heb Shihor
- Isaiah 23:7 Lit sojourn afar off
- Isaiah 23:10 Lit Pass over
- Isaiah 23:10 Perhaps girdle or shipyard
- Isaiah 23:12 Heb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:17 Lit of the earth on the face of the land
- Isaiah 24:5 Lit under
- Isaiah 24:11 Lit is darkened
- Isaiah 24:13 Lit striking
- Isaiah 24:14 Lit sea
- Isaiah 24:15 Lit region of light
- Isaiah 24:15 Or islands
- Isaiah 24:16 Meaning uncertain
- Isaiah 24:17 Lit Are upon you
- Isaiah 24:18 Lit goes up from the midst of
- Isaiah 24:18 Lit from the height; i.e., heaven
- Isaiah 24:21 Lit host
- Isaiah 24:21 Lit the height in the height
- Isaiah 24:22 Lit pit
- Isaiah 25:5 Lit humbled
- Isaiah 25:6 Lit feast of fat things; i.e., abundance
- Isaiah 25:6 Lit wine on the lees
- Isaiah 25:6 Lit fat pieces
- Isaiah 25:6 Lit wine refined on the lees
- Isaiah 25:7 Lit face of the covering
- Isaiah 25:7 Lit woven
- Isaiah 25:8 I.e., destroy
- Isaiah 25:8 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 25:9 Or and He saved us
- Isaiah 26:1 Or salvation
- Isaiah 26:2 Lit keeps faithfulness
- Isaiah 26:4 Heb Yah, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 26:9 Lit with my soul I long
- Isaiah 26:9 Lit with my spirit...I seek
- Isaiah 26:9 Lit has
- Isaiah 26:11 Or Let them see...and be
- Isaiah 26:11 Or let the fire for Your adversaries devour them
- Isaiah 26:13 Or make Your name known
- Isaiah 26:14 Or shades
- Isaiah 26:16 Lit sound forth a whisper
- Isaiah 26:18 Lit fallen
- Isaiah 26:19 As in some ancient versions; MT My
- Isaiah 26:19 Lit lights
- Isaiah 26:19 Lit cause to fall
- Isaiah 26:19 Or shades
- Isaiah 26:20 Lit moment
- Isaiah 26:20 Lit passes over
- Isaiah 27:1 Or sea monster
- Isaiah 27:1 Or sea monster
- Isaiah 27:2 Some mss a vineyard of wine
- Isaiah 27:3 Lit punish
- Isaiah 27:4 Lit who
- Isaiah 27:4 Lit altogether
- Isaiah 27:5 Lit take hold of
- Isaiah 27:6 Lit Those coming
- Isaiah 27:6 Lit face of the world
- Isaiah 27:7 Lit he was slain
- Isaiah 27:8 Some ancient versions by exact measure
- Isaiah 27:9 Lit all the fruit
- Isaiah 27:9 Lit removing
- Isaiah 27:9 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- Isaiah 27:10 Lit pasture
- Isaiah 27:10 Lit consume
- Isaiah 28:1 Lit valley of fatness
- Isaiah 28:1 Lit stricken
- Isaiah 28:4 Lit valley of fatness
- Isaiah 28:4 Lit the one seeing sees
- Isaiah 28:4 Lit while it is yet
- Isaiah 28:4 Lit palm
- Isaiah 28:6 Lit battle
- Isaiah 28:7 Lit seeing
- Isaiah 28:10 Heb Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Zeer sham, zeer sham. These Hebrew fragments, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet’s preaching.
- Isaiah 28:13 See note v 10. The Lord responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror.
- Isaiah 28:15 I.e., the netherworld
- Isaiah 28:15 As in some ancient versions; MT seer
- Isaiah 28:15 Or overwhelming scourge
- Isaiah 28:16 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 28:16 Lit well-laid
- Isaiah 28:16 Lit in a hurry
- Isaiah 28:18 Lit covered over
- Isaiah 28:18 Or overwhelming scourge
- Isaiah 28:19 Lit take
- Isaiah 28:19 Lit only
- Isaiah 28:19 Lit the report; or the message
- Isaiah 28:20 Lit narrow
- Isaiah 28:21 Lit task is strange
- Isaiah 28:21 Lit work is foreign
- Isaiah 28:22 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 28:24 Lit plowman
- Isaiah 28:24 Lit all day
- Isaiah 28:24 Lit open
- Isaiah 28:25 Lit put
- Isaiah 28:25 Lit region
- Isaiah 28:27 Lit rolled
- Isaiah 28:28 Lit discomfit
- Isaiah 29:1 I.e., Lion of God, or Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:1 I.e., Lion of God, or Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:1 Lit let your feasts run their round
- Isaiah 29:2 Ariel (i.e., Jerusalem) is a Heb word for “altar hearth” where offerings were burned
- Isaiah 29:3 Lit like a circle
- Isaiah 29:4 Or ghost
- Isaiah 29:5 Lit strangers
- Isaiah 29:5 Lit passes away
- Isaiah 29:7 See note 1 v 1
- Isaiah 29:8 Lit soul
- Isaiah 29:8 Lit soul
- Isaiah 29:11 Or scroll
- Isaiah 29:11 Lit knows books
- Isaiah 29:12 Or scroll
- Isaiah 29:12 Lit does not know books
- Isaiah 29:12 Lit do not know books
- Isaiah 29:13 Lit mouth
- Isaiah 29:13 Lit fear of Me
- Isaiah 29:13 Lit is
- Isaiah 29:15 Lit counsel
- Isaiah 29:16 Lit like
- Isaiah 29:17 Lit And
- Isaiah 29:20 Lit watch evil
- Isaiah 29:21 Lit bring a person under condemnation
- Isaiah 29:21 Lit turn aside
- Isaiah 29:21 Lit confusion
- Isaiah 29:23 Or his children see
- Isaiah 29:24 Lit spirit
- Isaiah 29:24 Lit understanding
- Isaiah 29:24 Lit murmur
- Isaiah 29:24 Lit learn
- Isaiah 30:1 Lit pour out a drink offering
- Isaiah 30:2 Lit My mouth
- Isaiah 30:6 Lit them
- Isaiah 30:6 Lit shoulders
- Isaiah 30:7 Lit this one
- Isaiah 30:7 MT They are Rahab or arrogance, to remain; i.e., Egypt, as a sea monster; see note Job 26:12
- Isaiah 30:8 Lit be
- Isaiah 30:8 As in most ancient versions; MT Forever and ever
- Isaiah 30:9 Lit are not willing
- Isaiah 30:9 Or Law
- Isaiah 30:10 Lit smooth things
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit Crushed, it will not be spared
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit snatch up
- Isaiah 30:15 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 30:15 Lit returning
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit waits
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit is on high
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit wait
- Isaiah 30:19 MT For a people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
- Isaiah 30:22 Lit it “Go out”
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit fatness
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit fat
- Isaiah 30:24 Lit sorrel-seasoned
- Isaiah 30:24 Lit one winnows
- Isaiah 30:25 Lit canals, streams of water
- Isaiah 30:26 Lit of His blow
- Isaiah 30:27 Lit distance
- Isaiah 30:27 Lit heaviness
- Isaiah 30:27 Lit uplifting
- Isaiah 30:28 Lit sifting of the worthless
- Isaiah 30:29 Lit the song
- Isaiah 30:30 Lit the majesty of His voice
- Isaiah 30:30 Lit descent
- Isaiah 30:32 Lit passing
- Isaiah 30:32 Lit staff of foundation
- Isaiah 30:33 I.e., the place of human sacrifice to Molech
- Isaiah 30:33 Lit Its pile
- Isaiah 31:5 Or hovering
- Isaiah 31:6 Lit they
- Isaiah 31:8 Lit flee
- Isaiah 32:2 Lit canals
- Isaiah 32:2 Lit heavy
- Isaiah 32:3 Or turned away
- Isaiah 32:4 Lit heart
- Isaiah 32:4 Lit knowledge
- Isaiah 32:6 Or does
- Isaiah 32:6 Lit make empty the hungry soul
- Isaiah 32:6 Lit he deprives the thirsty
- Isaiah 32:7 Lit words of falsehood
- Isaiah 32:7 Lit justly
- Isaiah 32:14 Lit multitude of the
- Isaiah 32:14 Or Ophel
- Isaiah 32:17 Or security
- Isaiah 32:20 Lit send out the foot of the ox
- Isaiah 33:2 Some ancient versions our
- Isaiah 33:2 Lit arm
- Isaiah 33:6 Or faithfulness
- Isaiah 33:7 Lit outside
- Isaiah 33:7 Lit messengers
- Isaiah 33:8 Lit one who passes along the way
- Isaiah 33:9 Lit shake off
- Isaiah 33:11 Lit dry grass
- Isaiah 33:11 One ancient version; MT Your breath will
- Isaiah 33:13 Lit know
- Isaiah 33:15 Lit gain of extortioners
- Isaiah 33:16 Lit stronghold of rock
- Isaiah 33:19 Lit deepness of lip
- Isaiah 33:19 Lit from hearing
- Isaiah 33:19 Lit there is no understanding
- Isaiah 33:24 Lit in it
- Isaiah 34:1 Lit its fullness
- Isaiah 34:2 Lit put under the ban
- Isaiah 34:3 Lit their stench will go up
- Isaiah 34:3 Lit dissolve
- Isaiah 34:4 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
- Isaiah 34:4 Lit rot
- Isaiah 34:4 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
- Isaiah 34:7 Lit go down
- Isaiah 34:7 Lit made fat
- Isaiah 34:8 Or controversy
- Isaiah 34:9 I.e., Edom’s
- Isaiah 34:11 Or owl; or jackdaw
- Isaiah 34:11 Or great horned owl
- Isaiah 34:11 Or formlessness
- Isaiah 34:11 Lit stones of void
- Isaiah 34:14 Or howling creatures
- Isaiah 34:14 Or goat demon
- Isaiah 34:14 Or a demon; Heb Lilith
- Isaiah 34:15 Lit shade
- Isaiah 34:15 Or kites
- Isaiah 34:16 As in DSS; MT My
- Isaiah 35:1 Or Arabah
- Isaiah 35:3 Lit slack hands
- Isaiah 35:3 Lit tottering knees
- Isaiah 35:6 Or Arabah
- Isaiah 35:7 Or mirage
- Isaiah 35:9 Lit It
- Isaiah 36:2 I.e., launderer’s
- Isaiah 36:5 Lit a word of lips
- Isaiah 36:6 Lit palm
- Isaiah 36:9 Lit turn away the face of
- Isaiah 36:9 Or governor
- Isaiah 36:9 Lit rely on for yourself
- Isaiah 36:10 Lit without the Lord
- Isaiah 36:11 Lit hear
- Isaiah 36:11 I.e., Hebrew
- Isaiah 36:11 Lit in the ears of...wall
- Isaiah 36:16 Lit Make with me a blessing
- Isaiah 37:3 Lit give birth
Isaiah 11:1-48:11
New Living Translation
A Branch from David’s Line
11 Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.
10 In that day the heir to David’s throne[b]
will be a banner of salvation to all the world.
The nations will rally to him,
and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.[c]
11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to bring back the remnant of his people—
those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt;
in southern Egypt, Ethiopia,[d] and Elam;
in Babylonia,[e] Hamath, and all the distant coastlands.
12 He will raise a flag among the nations
and assemble the exiles of Israel.
He will gather the scattered people of Judah
from the ends of the earth.
13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel[f] and Judah will end.
They will not be rivals anymore.
14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west.
Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east.
They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab,
and Ammon will obey them.
15 The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea.[g]
He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River,[h]
sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams
so it can easily be crossed on foot.
16 He will make a highway for the remnant of his people,
the remnant coming from Assyria,
just as he did for Israel long ago
when they returned from Egypt.
Songs of Praise for Salvation
12 In that day you will sing:
“I will praise you, O Lord!
You were angry with me, but not any more.
Now you comfort me.
2 See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.”
3 With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!
4 In that wonderful day you will sing:
“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!
Tell the nations what he has done.
Let them know how mighty he is!
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.
Make known his praise around the world.
6 Let all the people of Jerusalem[i] shout his praise with joy!
For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”
A Message about Babylon
13 Isaiah son of Amoz received this message concerning the destruction of Babylon:
2 “Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop.
Call up an army against Babylon.
Wave your hand to encourage them
as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.
3 I, the Lord, have dedicated these soldiers for this task.
Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger,
and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”
4 Hear the noise on the mountains!
Listen, as the vast armies march!
It is the noise and shouting of many nations.
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together.
5 They come from distant countries,
from beyond the farthest horizons.
They are the Lord’s weapons to carry out his anger.
With them he will destroy the whole land.
6 Scream in terror, for the day of the Lord has arrived—
the time for the Almighty to destroy.
7 Every arm is paralyzed with fear.
Every heart melts,
8 and people are terrified.
Pangs of anguish grip them,
like those of a woman in labor.
They look helplessly at one another,
their faces aflame with fear.
9 For see, the day of the Lord is coming—
the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger.
The land will be made desolate,
and all the sinners destroyed with it.
10 The heavens will be black above them;
the stars will give no light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will provide no light.
11 “I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their sin.
I will crush the arrogance of the proud
and humble the pride of the mighty.
12 I will make people scarcer than gold—
more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
13 For I will shake the heavens.
The earth will move from its place
when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath
in the day of his fierce anger.”
14 Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd.
They will try to find their own people
and flee to their own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be cut down—
run through with a sword.
16 Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes.
Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.
17 “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon.
They cannot be tempted by silver
or bribed with gold.
18 The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows.
They will have no mercy on helpless babies
and will show no compassion for children.”
19 Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
the flower of Chaldean pride,
will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God destroyed them.
20 Babylon will never be inhabited again.
It will remain empty for generation after generation.
Nomads will refuse to camp there,
and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.
21 Desert animals will move into the ruined city,
and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
and wild goats will go there to dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
its time of destruction will soon arrive.
A Taunt for Babylon’s King
14 But the Lord will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land. And people from many different nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel.[j] 2 The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to return, and those who come to live in the Lord’s land will serve them. Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its enemies.
3 In that wonderful day when the Lord gives his people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery and chains, 4 you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say,
“The mighty man has been destroyed.
Yes, your insolence[k] is ended.
5 For the Lord has crushed your wicked power
and broken your evil rule.
6 You struck the people with endless blows of rage
and held the nations in your angry grip
with unrelenting tyranny.
7 But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.
Now it can sing again!
8 Even the trees of the forest—
the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon—
sing out this joyous song:
‘Since you have been cut down,
no one will come now to cut us down!’
9 “In the place of the dead[l] there is excitement
over your arrival.
The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead
stand up to see you.
10 With one voice they all cry out,
‘Now you are as weak as we are!
11 Your might and power were buried with you.[m]
The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased.
Now maggots are your sheet,
and worms your blanket.’
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
13 For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
far away in the north.[n]
14 I will climb to the highest heavens
and be like the Most High.’
15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,
down to its lowest depths.
16 Everyone there will stare at you and ask,
‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
17 Is this the one who destroyed the world
and made it into a wasteland?
Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities
and had no mercy on his prisoners?’
18 “The kings of the nations lie in stately glory,
each in his own tomb,
19 but you will be thrown out of your grave
like a worthless branch.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
you will be dumped into a mass grave
with those killed in battle.
You will descend to the pit.
20 You will not be given a proper burial,
for you have destroyed your nation
and slaughtered your people.
The descendants of such an evil person
will never again receive honor.
21 Kill this man’s children!
Let them die because of their father’s sins!
They must not rise and conquer the earth,
filling the world with their cities.”
22 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“I, myself, have risen against Babylon!
I will destroy its children and its children’s children,”
says the Lord.
23 “I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls,
filled with swamps and marshes.
I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.
I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
A Message about Assyria
24 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath:
“It will all happen as I have planned.
It will be as I have decided.
25 I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel;
I will trample them on my mountains.
My people will no longer be their slaves
nor bow down under their heavy loads.
26 I have a plan for the whole earth,
a hand of judgment upon all the nations.
27 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken—
who can change his plans?
When his hand is raised,
who can stop him?”
A Message about Philistia
28 This message came to me the year King Ahaz died:[o]
29 Do not rejoice, you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken—
that the king who attacked you is dead.
For from that snake a more poisonous snake will be born,
a fiery serpent to destroy you!
30 I will feed the poor in my pasture;
the needy will lie down in peace.
But as for you, I will wipe you out with famine
and destroy the few who remain.
31 Wail at the gates! Weep in the cities!
Melt with fear, you Philistines!
A powerful army comes like smoke from the north.
Each soldier rushes forward eager to fight.
32 What should we tell the Philistine messengers? Tell them,
“The Lord has built Jerusalem[p];
its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.”
A Message about Moab
15 This message came to me concerning Moab:
In one night the town of Ar will be leveled,
and the city of Kir will be destroyed.
2 Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn.
They will go to their sacred shrines to weep.
They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba,
shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.
3 They will wear burlap as they wander the streets.
From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.
4 The people of Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out;
their voices will be heard as far away as Jahaz!
The bravest warriors of Moab will cry out in utter terror.
They will be helpless with fear.
5 My heart weeps for Moab.
Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith.
Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.
6 Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up!
The grassy banks are scorched.
The tender plants are gone;
nothing green remains.
7 The people grab their possessions
and carry them across the Ravine of Willows.
8 A cry of distress echoes through the land of Moab
from one end to the other—
from Eglaim to Beer-elim.
9 The stream near Dibon[q] runs red with blood,
but I am still not finished with Dibon!
Lions will hunt down the survivors—
both those who try to escape
and those who remain behind.
16 Send lambs from Sela as tribute
to the ruler of the land.
Send them through the desert
to the mountain of beautiful Zion.
2 The women of Moab are left like homeless birds
at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.
3 “Help us,” they cry.
“Defend us against our enemies.
Protect us from their relentless attack.
Do not betray us now that we have escaped.
4 Let our refugees stay among you.
Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.”
When oppression and destruction have ended
and enemy raiders have disappeared,
5 then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king.
He will rule with mercy and truth.
He will always do what is just
and be eager to do what is right.
6 We have heard about proud Moab—
about its pride and arrogance and rage.
But all that boasting has disappeared.
7 The entire land of Moab weeps.
Yes, everyone in Moab mourns
for the cakes of raisins from Kir-hareseth.
They are all gone now.
8 The farms of Heshbon are abandoned;
the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted.
The rulers of the nations have broken down Moab—
that beautiful grapevine.
Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer
and trailed eastward into the wilderness.
Its shoots reached so far west
that they crossed over the Dead Sea.[r]
9 So now I weep for Jazer and the vineyards of Sibmah;
my tears will flow for Heshbon and Elealeh.
There are no more shouts of joy
over your summer fruits and harvest.
10 Gone now is the gladness,
gone the joy of harvest.
There will be no singing in the vineyards,
no more happy shouts,
no treading of grapes in the winepresses.
I have ended all their harvest joys.
11 My heart’s cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp.
I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.[s]
12 The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines,
but it will do them no good.
They will cry to the gods in their temples,
but no one will be able to save them.
13 The Lord has already said these things about Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord says, “Within three years, counting each day,[t] the glory of Moab will be ended. From its great population, only a feeble few will be left alive.”
A Message about Damascus and Israel
17 This message came to me concerning Damascus:
“Look, the city of Damascus will disappear!
It will become a heap of ruins.
2 The towns of Aroer will be deserted.
Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed,
with no one to chase them away.
3 The fortified towns of Israel[u] will also be destroyed,
and the royal power of Damascus will end.
All that remains of Syria[v]
will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,”
declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “In that day Israel’s[w] glory will grow dim;
its robust body will waste away.
5 The whole land will look like a grainfield
after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
6 Only a few of its people will be left,
like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 Then at last the people will look to their Creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will no longer look to their idols for help
or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
9 Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,
like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned[x]
when the Israelites came here so long ago.
It will be utterly desolate.
10 Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.
So you may plant the finest grapevines
and import the most expensive seedlings.
11 They may sprout on the day you set them out;
yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,
but you will never pick any grapes from them.
Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.
12 Listen! The armies of many nations
roar like the roaring of the sea.
Hear the thunder of the mighty forces
as they rush forward like thundering waves.
13 But though they thunder like breakers on a beach,
God will silence them, and they will run away.
They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
14 In the evening Israel waits in terror,
but by dawn its enemies are dead.
This is the just reward of those who plunder us,
a fitting end for those who destroy us.
A Message about Ethiopia
18 Listen, Ethiopia[y]—land of fluttering sails[z]
that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,
2 that sends ambassadors
in swift boats down the river.
Go, swift messengers!
Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,
who are feared far and wide
for their conquests and destruction,
and whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,
everyone who lives on the earth—
when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look!
When I blow the ram’s horn, listen!
4 For the Lord has told me this:
“I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—
as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day,
or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.”
5 Even before you begin your attack,
while your plans are ripening like grapes,
the Lord will cut off your new growth with pruning shears.
He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.
6 Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields
for the mountain vultures and wild animals.
The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer.
The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.
7 At that time the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will receive gifts
from this land divided by rivers,
from this tall, smooth-skinned people,
who are feared far and wide for their conquests and destruction.
They will bring the gifts to Jerusalem,[aa]
where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies dwells.
A Message about Egypt
19 This message came to me concerning Egypt:
Look! The Lord is advancing against Egypt,
riding on a swift cloud.
The idols of Egypt tremble.
The hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2 “I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian—
brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
province against province.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will confuse their plans.
They will plead with their idols for wisdom
and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
4 I will hand Egypt over
to a hard, cruel master.
A fierce king will rule them,”
says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
5 The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields.
The riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals of the Nile will dry up,
and the streams of Egypt will stink
with rotting reeds and rushes.
7 All the greenery along the riverbank
and all the crops along the river
will dry up and blow away.
8 The fishermen will lament for lack of work.
Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan,
and those who use nets will lose heart.
9 There will be no flax for the harvesters,
no thread for the weavers.
10 They will be in despair,
and all the workers will be sick at heart.
11 What fools are the officials of Zoan!
Their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong.
Will they still boast to Pharaoh of their wisdom?
Will they dare brag about all their wise ancestors?
12 Where are your wise counselors, Pharaoh?
Let them tell you what God plans,
what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is going to do to Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan are fools,
and the officials of Memphis[ab] are deluded.
The leaders of the people
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has sent a spirit of foolishness on them,
so all their suggestions are wrong.
They cause Egypt to stagger
like a drunk in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do.
All are helpless—
the head and the tail,
the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be as weak as women. They will cower in fear beneath the upraised fist of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 17 Just to speak the name of Israel will terrorize them, for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has laid out his plans against them.
18 In that day five of Egypt’s cities will follow the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. They will even begin to speak Hebrew, the language of Canaan. One of these cities will be Heliopolis, the City of the Sun.[ac]
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and there will be a monument to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and a witness that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is worshiped in the land of Egypt. When the people cry to the Lord for help against those who oppress them, he will send them a savior who will rescue them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians. Yes, they will know the Lord and will give their sacrifices and offerings to him. They will make a vow to the Lord and will keep it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, and then he will bring healing. For the Egyptians will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas and heal them.
23 In that day Egypt and Assyria will be connected by a highway. The Egyptians and Assyrians will move freely between their lands, and they will both worship God. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. 25 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!”
A Message about Egypt and Ethiopia
20 In the year when King Sargon of Assyria sent his commander in chief to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod,[ad] 2 the Lord told Isaiah son of Amoz, “Take off the burlap you have been wearing, and remove your sandals.” Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign—a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.[ae] 4 For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians[af] as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt! 6 They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’”
A Message about Babylon
21 This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea[ag]:
Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
2 I see a terrifying vision:
I see the betrayer betraying,
the destroyer destroying.
Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,
attack and lay siege.
I will make an end
to all the groaning Babylon caused.
3 My stomach aches and burns with pain.
Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
I am too afraid to look.
4 My mind reels and my heart races.
I longed for evening to come,
but now I am terrified of the dark.
5 Look! They are preparing a great feast.
They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
You are being attacked!
6 Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,
“Put a watchman on the city wall.
Let him shout out what he sees.
7 He should look for chariots
drawn by pairs of horses,
and for riders on donkeys and camels.
Let the watchman be fully alert.”
8 Then the watchman[ah] called out,
“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.
Night after night I have remained at my post.
9 Now at last—look!
Here comes a man in a chariot
with a pair of horses!”
Then the watchman said,
“Babylon is fallen, fallen!
All the idols of Babylon
lie broken on the ground!”
10 O my people, threshed and winnowed,
I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,
everything the God of Israel has told me.
A Message about Edom
11 This message came to me concerning Edom[ai]:
Someone from Edom[aj] keeps calling to me,
“Watchman, how much longer until morning?
When will the night be over?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but night will soon return.
If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”
A Message about Arabia
13 This message came to me concerning Arabia:
O caravans from Dedan,
hide in the deserts of Arabia.
14 O people of Tema,
bring water to these thirsty people,
food to these weary refugees.
15 They have fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
and the terrors of battle.
16 The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day,[ak] all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17 Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken!”
A Message about Jerusalem
22 This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision[al]:
What is happening?
Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
2 The whole city is in a terrible uproar.
What do I see in this reveling city?
Bodies are lying everywhere,
killed not in battle but by famine and disease.
3 All your leaders have fled.
They surrendered without resistance.
The people tried to slip away,
but they were captured, too.
4 That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;
do not try to comfort me.
Let me cry for my people
as I watch them being destroyed.”
5 Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!
What a day of confusion and terror
brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
upon the Valley of Vision!
The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,
and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.
6 Elamites are the archers,
with their chariots and charioteers.
The men of Kir hold up the shields.
7 Chariots fill your beautiful valleys,
and charioteers storm your gates.
8 Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.
You run to the armory[am] for your weapons.
9 You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.[an]
You store up water in the lower pool.
10 You survey the houses and tear some down
for stone to strengthen the walls.
11 Between the city walls, you build a reservoir
for water from the old pool.
But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.
You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
12 At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
13 But instead, you dance and play;
you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
for tomorrow we die!”
14 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
A Message for Shebna
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:
16 “Who do you think you are,
and what are you doing here,
building a beautiful tomb for yourself—
a monument high up in the rock?
17 For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.
He is going to grab you,
18 crumple you into a ball,
and toss you away into a distant, barren land.
There you will die,
and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.
You are a disgrace to your master!
19 “Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the Lord. “I will pull you down from your high position. 20 And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. 21 I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22 I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. 23 He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. 24 They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.[ao]”
25 But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
A Message about Tyre
23 This message came to me concerning Tyre:
Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish,
for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone!
The rumors you heard in Cyprus[ap]
are all true.
2 Mourn in silence, you people of the coast
and you merchants of Sidon.
Your traders crossed the sea,[aq]
3 sailing over deep waters.
They brought you grain from Egypt[ar]
and harvests from along the Nile.
You were the marketplace of the world.
4 But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon,
for Tyre, the fortress of the sea, says,[as]
“Now I am childless;
I have no sons or daughters.”
5 When Egypt hears the news about Tyre,
there will be great sorrow.
6 Send word now to Tarshish!
Wail, you people who live in distant lands!
7 Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city?
What a long history was yours!
Think of all the colonists you sent to distant places.
8 Who has brought this disaster on Tyre,
that great creator of kingdoms?
Her traders were all princes,
her merchants were nobles.
9 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has done it
to destroy your pride
and bring low all earth’s nobility.
10 Come, people of Tarshish,
sweep over the land like the flooding Nile,
for Tyre is defenseless.[at]
11 The Lord held out his hand over the sea
and shook the kingdoms of the earth.
He has spoken out against Phoenicia,[au]
ordering that her fortresses be destroyed.
12 He says, “Never again will you rejoice,
O daughter of Sidon, for you have been crushed.
Even if you flee to Cyprus,
you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of Babylonia[av]—
the people of that land are gone!
The Assyrians have handed Babylon over
to the wild animals of the desert.
They have built siege ramps against its walls,
torn down its palaces,
and turned it to a heap of rubble.
14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor is destroyed!
15 For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:
16 Take a harp and walk the streets,
you forgotten harlot.
Make sweet melody and sing your songs
so you will be remembered again.
17 Yes, after seventy years the Lord will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world. 18 But in the end her profits will be given to the Lord. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord’s priests.
Destruction of the Earth
24 Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth
and make it a vast wasteland.
He devastates the surface of the earth
and scatters the people.
2 Priests and laypeople,
servants and masters,
maids and mistresses,
buyers and sellers,
lenders and borrowers,
bankers and debtors—none will be spared.
3 The earth will be completely emptied and looted.
The Lord has spoken!
4 The earth mourns and dries up,
and the land wastes away and withers.
Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by fire,
and only a few are left alive.
7 The grapevines waste away,
and there is no new wine.
All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.
8 The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the happy cries of celebration are heard no more.
The melodious chords of the harp are silent.
9 Gone are the joys of wine and song;
alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.
10 The city writhes in chaos;
every home is locked to keep out intruders.
11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine.
Joy has turned to gloom.
Gladness has been banished from the land.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its gates battered down.
13 Throughout the earth the story is the same—
only a remnant is left,
like the stray olives left on the tree
or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.
14 But all who are left shout and sing for joy.
Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.
15 In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord.
In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth,
songs that give glory to the Righteous One!
But my heart is heavy with grief.
Weep for me, for I wither away.
Deceit still prevails,
and treachery is everywhere.
17 Terror and traps and snares will be your lot,
you people of the earth.
18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
and those who escape the trap will be caught in a snare.
Destruction falls like rain from the heavens;
the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth has broken up.
It has utterly collapsed;
it is violently shaken.
20 The earth staggers like a drunk.
It trembles like a tent in a storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.
21 In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens
and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.
22 They will be rounded up and put in prison.
They will be shut up in prison
and will finally be punished.
23 Then the glory of the moon will wane,
and the brightness of the sun will fade,
for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion.
He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem,
in the sight of all the leaders of his people.
Praise for Judgment and Salvation
25 O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.
2 You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins.
Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble.
Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear
and will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory;
ruthless nations will fear you.
4 But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord,
a tower of refuge to the needy in distress.
You are a refuge from the storm
and a shelter from the heat.
For the oppressive acts of ruthless people
are like a storm beating against a wall,
5 or like the relentless heat of the desert.
But you silence the roar of foreign nations.
As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat,
so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.
6 In Jerusalem,[aw] the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will spread a wonderful feast
for all the people of the world.
It will be a delicious banquet
with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.
7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom,
the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.
8 He will swallow up death forever!
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and mockery
against his land and people.
The Lord has spoken!
9 In that day the people will proclaim,
“This is our God!
We trusted in him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord, in whom we trusted.
Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”
10 For the Lord’s hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem.
But Moab will be crushed.
It will be like straw trampled down and left to rot.
11 God will push down Moab’s people
as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands.
He will end their pride
and all their evil works.
12 The high walls of Moab will be demolished.
They will be brought down to the ground,
down into the dust.
A Song of Praise to the Lord
26 In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song:
Our city is strong!
We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation.
2 Open the gates to all who are righteous;
allow the faithful to enter.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles the proud
and brings down the arrogant city.
He brings it down to the dust.
6 The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot,
and the needy walk all over it.
7 But for those who are righteous,
the way is not steep and rough.
You are a God who does what is right,
and you smooth out the path ahead of them.
8 Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
9 In the night I search for you;
in the morning[ax] I earnestly seek you.
For only when you come to judge the earth
will people learn what is right.
10 Your kindness to the wicked
does not make them do good.
Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong
and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty.
11 O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist.
Show them your eagerness to defend your people.
Then they will be ashamed.
Let your fire consume your enemies.
12 Lord, you will grant us peace;
all we have accomplished is really from you.
13 O Lord our God, others have ruled us,
but you alone are the one we worship.
14 Those we served before are dead and gone.
Their departed spirits will never return!
You attacked them and destroyed them,
and they are long forgotten.
15 O Lord, you have made our nation great;
yes, you have made us great.
You have extended our borders,
and we give you the glory!
16 Lord, in distress we searched for you.
We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
17 Just as a pregnant woman
writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,
so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We, too, writhe in agony,
but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the earth,
nor brought life into the world.
19 But those who die in the Lord will live;
their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth
will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew
on your people in the place of the dead!
Restoration for Israel
20 Go home, my people,
and lock your doors!
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the Lord’s anger has passed.
21 Look! The Lord is coming from heaven
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed.
They will be brought out for all to see.
27 In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan,[ay] the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.
2 “In that day,
sing about the fruitful vineyard.
3 I, the Lord, will watch over it,
watering it carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.
4 My anger will be gone.
If I find briers and thorns growing,
I will attack them;
I will burn them up—
5 unless they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
yes, let them make peace with me.”
6 The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root.
Israel will bud and blossom
and fill the whole earth with fruit!
7 Has the Lord struck Israel
as he struck her enemies?
Has he punished her
as he punished them?
8 No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account.
She was exiled from her land
as though blown away in a storm from the east.
9 The Lord did this to purge Israel’s[az] wickedness,
to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
10 The fortified towns will be silent and empty,
the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze there,
chewing on twigs and branches.
11 The people are like the dead branches of a tree,
broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,
for its people have turned away from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
will show them no pity or mercy.
12 Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River[ba] in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. 13 In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.
A Message about Samaria
28 What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel.[bb]
It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
It is the pride of a people
brought down by wine.
2 For the Lord will send a mighty army against it.
Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain,
they will burst upon it like a surging flood
and smash it to the ground.
3 The proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel[bc]—
will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.
4 It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
Whoever sees it will snatch it up,
as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
5 Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
of the remnant of his people.
6 He will give a longing for justice
to their judges.
He will give great courage
to their warriors who stand at the gates.
7 Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
and stagger as they render decisions.
8 Their tables are covered with vomit;
filth is everywhere.
9 “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
“Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
just recently weaned?
10 He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there!”
11 So now God will have to speak to his people
through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12 God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
But they would not listen.
13 So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
14 Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death
and have made a deal to dodge the grave.[bd]
The coming destruction can never touch us,
for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”
16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,[be]
a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.[bf]
17 I will test you with the measuring line of justice
and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
a flood will sweep it away.
18 I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,
and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
you will be trampled into the ground.
19 Again and again that flood will come,
morning after morning,
day and night,
until you are carried away.”
This message will bring terror to your people.
20 The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
21 The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
and against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange thing;
he will come to do an unusual deed:
22 For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no more,
or your punishment will be even greater.
23 Listen to me;
listen, and pay close attention.
24 Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
25 Does he not finally plant his seeds—
black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
and each in its proper place?
26 The farmer knows just what to do,
for God has given him understanding.
27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;
rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;
instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
28 Grain for bread is easily crushed,
so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,
but he doesn’t pulverize it.
29 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
A Message about Jerusalem
29 “What sorrow awaits Ariel,[bg] the City of David.
Year after year you celebrate your feasts.
2 Yet I will bring disaster upon you,
and there will be much weeping and sorrow.
For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means—
an altar covered with blood.
3 I will be your enemy,
surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls.
I will build siege towers
and destroy it.
4 Then deep from the earth you will speak;
from low in the dust your words will come.
Your voice will whisper from the ground
like a ghost conjured up from the grave.
5 “But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed
like the finest of dust.
Your many attackers will be driven away
like chaff before the wind.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6 I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.
7 All the nations fighting against Jerusalem[bh]
will vanish like a dream!
Those who are attacking her walls
will vanish like a vision in the night.
8 A hungry person dreams of eating
but wakes up still hungry.
A thirsty person dreams of drinking
but is still faint from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with your enemies,
with those who attack Mount Zion.”
9 Are you amazed and incredulous?
Don’t you believe it?
Then go ahead and be blind.
You are stupid, but not from wine!
You stagger, but not from liquor!
10 For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
11 All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” 12 When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.”
13 And so the Lord says,
“These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.[bi]
14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”
15 What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The Lord can’t see us,” they say.
“He doesn’t know what’s going on!”
16 How foolish can you be?
He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
“He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
“The potter who made me is stupid”?
17 Soon—and it will not be very long—
the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18 In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19 The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The scoffer will be gone,
the arrogant will disappear,
and those who plot evil will be killed.
21 Those who convict the innocent
by their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice
and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
22 That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel,[bj]
“My people will no longer be ashamed
or turn pale with fear.
23 For when they see their many children
and all the blessings I have given them,
they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Then the wayward will gain understanding,
and complainers will accept instruction.
Judah’s Worthless Treaty with Egypt
30 “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”
says the Lord.
“You make plans that are contrary to mine.
You make alliances not directed by my Spirit,
thus piling up your sins.
2 For without consulting me,
you have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection.
You have tried to hide in his shade.
3 But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,
and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
4 For though his power extends to Zoan
and his officials have arrived in Hanes,
5 all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.”
6 This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:
The caravan moves slowly
across the terrible desert to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
and camels loaded with treasure—
all to pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the wilderness,
a place of lionesses and lions,
a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
7 Egypt’s promises are worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
the Harmless Dragon.[bk]
A Warning for Rebellious Judah
8 Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time
as a witness
9 that these people are stubborn rebels
who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.
10 They tell the seers,
“Stop seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
11 Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy One of Israel.’”
12 This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13 calamity will come upon you suddenly—
like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and come crashing down.
14 You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—
shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.”
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
17 One of them will chase a thousand of you.
Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”
Blessings for the Lord’s People
18 So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
20 Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21 Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
22 Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”
23 Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. 24 The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. 25 In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. 26 The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
27 Look! The Lord is coming from far away,
burning with anger,
surrounded by thick, rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
his words consume like fire.
28 His hot breath pours out like a flood
up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
29 But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
like the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with joy,
as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard.
He will display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames,
with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
31 At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered.
He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
32 And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment,[bl]
his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps.
Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
33 Topheth—the place of burning—
has long been ready for the Assyrian king;
the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano,
will set it ablaze.
The Futility of Relying on Egypt
31 What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help,
trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers
and depending on the strength of human armies
instead of looking to the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
2 In his wisdom, the Lord will send great disaster;
he will not change his mind.
He will rise against the wicked
and against their helpers.
3 For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God!
Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits!
When the Lord raises his fist against them,
those who help will stumble,
and those being helped will fall.
They will all fall down and die together.
4 But this is what the Lord has told me:
“When a strong young lion
stands growling over a sheep it has killed,
it is not frightened by the shouts and noise
of a whole crowd of shepherds.
In the same way, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will come down and fight on Mount Zion.
5 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hover over Jerusalem
and protect it like a bird protecting its nest.
He will defend and save the city;
he will pass over it and rescue it.”
6 Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord. 7 I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.
8 “The Assyrians will be destroyed,
but not by the swords of men.
The sword of God will strike them,
and they will panic and flee.
The strong young Assyrians
will be taken away as captives.
9 Even the strongest will quake with terror,
and princes will flee when they see your battle flags,”
says the Lord, whose fire burns in Zion,
whose flame blazes from Jerusalem.
Israel’s Ultimate Deliverance
32 Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness
and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food
and give no water to the thirsty.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor,
even when the cause of the poor is just.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous,
and they stand firm in their generosity.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
Listen to me, you who are so smug.
10 In a short time—just a little more than a year—
you careless ones will suddenly begin to care.
For your fruit crops will fail,
and the harvest will never take place.
11 Tremble, you women of ease;
throw off your complacency.
Strip off your pretty clothes,
and put on burlap to show your grief.
12 Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms
and your fruitful grapevines.
13 For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
14 The palace and the city will be deserted,
and busy towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze
in the empty forts[bm] and watchtowers
15 until at last the Spirit is poured out
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.
17 And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
19 Even if the forest should be destroyed
and the city torn down,
20 the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
A Message about Assyria
33 What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others[bn]
but have never been destroyed yourselves.
You betray others,
but you have never been betrayed.
When you are done destroying,
you will be destroyed.
When you are done betraying,
you will be betrayed.
2 But Lord, be merciful to us,
for we have waited for you.
Be our strong arm each day
and our salvation in times of trouble.
3 The enemy runs at the sound of your voice.
When you stand up, the nations flee!
4 Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines,
so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
5 Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven,
he will make Jerusalem[bo] his home of justice and righteousness.
6 In that day he will be your sure foundation,
providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.
7 But now your brave warriors weep in public.
Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
8 Your roads are deserted;
no one travels them anymore.
The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty
and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses.[bp]
They have no respect for anyone.
9 The land of Israel wilts in mourning.
Lebanon withers with shame.
The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness.
Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.
10 But the Lord says: “Now I will stand up.
Now I will show my power and might.
11 You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble.
Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
12 Your people will be burned up completely,
like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.
13 Listen to what I have done, you nations far away!
And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”
14 The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear.
Terror seizes the godless.
“Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry.
“Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
15 Those who are honest and fair,
who refuse to profit by fraud,
who stay far away from bribes,
who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—
16 these are the ones who will dwell on high.
The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress.
Food will be supplied to them,
and they will have water in abundance.
17 Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor,
and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.
18 You will think back to this time of terror, asking,
“Where are the Assyrian officers
who counted our towers?
Where are the bookkeepers
who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”
19 You will no longer see these fierce, violent people
with their strange, unknown language.
20 Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals.
You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure.
It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut
and whose stakes are firmly fixed.
21 The Lord will be our Mighty One.
He will be like a wide river of protection
that no enemy can cross,
that no enemy ship can sail upon.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
our lawgiver, and our king.
He will care for us and save us.
23 The enemies’ sails hang loose
on broken masts with useless tackle.
Their treasure will be divided by the people of God.
Even the lame will take their share!
24 The people of Israel will no longer say,
“We are sick and helpless,”
for the Lord will forgive their sins.
A Message for the Nations
34 Come here and listen, O nations of the earth.
Let the world and everything in it hear my words.
2 For the Lord is enraged against the nations.
His fury is against all their armies.
He will completely destroy[bq] them,
dooming them to slaughter.
3 Their dead will be left unburied,
and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land.
The mountains will flow with their blood.
4 The heavens above will melt away
and disappear like a rolled-up scroll.
The stars will fall from the sky
like withered leaves from a grapevine,
or shriveled figs from a fig tree.
5 And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens,
it will fall upon Edom,
the nation I have marked for destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is drenched with blood
and covered with fat—
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice.
Yes, the Lord will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah.
He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.
7 Even men as strong as wild oxen will die—
the young men alongside the veterans.
The land will be soaked with blood
and the soil enriched with fat.
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge,
the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.[br]
9 The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch,
and the ground will be covered with fire.
10 This judgment on Edom will never end;
the smoke of its burning will rise forever.
The land will lie deserted from generation to generation.
No one will live there anymore.
11 It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl,
the great owl and the raven.[bs]
For God will measure that land carefully;
he will measure it for chaos and destruction.
12 It will be called the Land of Nothing,
and all its nobles will soon be gone.[bt]
13 Thorns will overrun its palaces;
nettles and thistles will grow in its forts.
The ruins will become a haunt for jackals
and a home for owls.
14 Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas,
their howls filling the night.
Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins,
and night creatures[bu] will come there to rest.
15 There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs.
She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings.
And the buzzards will come,
each one with its mate.
16 Search the book of the Lord,
and see what he will do.
Not one of these birds and animals will be missing,
and none will lack a mate,
for the Lord has promised this.
His Spirit will make it all come true.
17 He has surveyed and divided the land
and deeded it over to those creatures.
They will possess it forever,
from generation to generation.
Hope for Restoration
35 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem[bv] singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
Assyria Invades Judah
36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,[bw] King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff[bx] from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.[by]
3 These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
4 Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? 5 Do you think[bz] that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? 6 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
7 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
8 “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! 9 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? 10 What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,[ca] for the people on the wall will hear.”
12 But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
13 Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. 15 Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
16 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 17 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.
18 “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 19 What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? 20 What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
21 But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help
37 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4 But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff,[cb] sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”
5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, 6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. 7 Listen! I myself will move against him,[cc] and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia[cd] was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 19 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.[ce]”
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 the Lord has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee.
23 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
and explored its deepest forests.
25 I have dug wells in many foreign lands[cf]
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot,
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
26 “But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
27 That is why their people have so little power
and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
scorched[cg] before it can grow lush and tall.
28 “But I know you well—
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me.
29 And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.”
30 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
and next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
and grow up and flourish.
32 For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
33 “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with their shields
nor build banks of earth against its walls.
34 The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
35 ‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.’”
36 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians[ch] woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
38 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
38 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life, 6 and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7 “‘And this is the sign from the Lord to prove that he will do as he promised: 8 I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial[ci] of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.
Hezekiah’s Poem of Praise
9 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:
10 I said, “In the prime of my life,
must I now enter the place of the dead?[cj]
Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11 I said, “Never again will I see the Lord God
while still in the land of the living.
Never again will I see my friends
or be with those who live in this world.
12 My life has been blown away
like a shepherd’s tent in a storm.
It has been cut short,
as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
Suddenly, my life was over.
13 I waited patiently all night,
but I was torn apart as though by lions.
Suddenly, my life was over.
14 Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane,
and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help.
I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”
15 But what could I say?
For he himself sent this sickness.
Now I will walk humbly throughout my years
because of this anguish I have felt.
16 Lord, your discipline is good,
for it leads to life and health.
You restore my health
and allow me to live!
17 Yes, this anguish was good for me,
for you have rescued me from death
and forgiven all my sins.
18 For the dead[ck] cannot praise you;
they cannot raise their voices in praise.
Those who go down to the grave
can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
19 Only the living can praise you as I do today.
Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.
20 Think of it—the Lord is ready to heal me!
I will sing his praises with instruments
every day of my life
in the Temple of the Lord.
21 Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”
22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the Lord?”
Envoys from Babylon
39 Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick and that he had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”
4 “What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah.
“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: 6 ‘The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”
Comfort for God’s People
40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
for all her sins.”
3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!”[cl]
6 A voice said, “Shout!”
I asked, “What should I shout?”
“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.[cm]
Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your God is coming!”
10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
The Lord Has No Equal
12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?[cn]
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
14 Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right
or show him the path of justice?
15 No, for all the nations of the world
are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more
than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth
as though it were a grain of sand.
16 All the wood in Lebanon’s forests
and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough
to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
17 The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.
In his eyes they count for less than nothing—
mere emptiness and froth.
18 To whom can you compare God?
What image can you find to resemble him?
19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,
overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20 Or if people are too poor for that,
they might at least choose wood that won’t decay
and a skilled craftsman
to carve an image that won’t fall down!
21 Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
Are you deaf to the words of God—
the words he gave before the world began?
Are you so ignorant?
22 God sits above the circle of the earth.
The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
and makes his tent from them.
23 He judges the great people of the world
and brings them all to nothing.
24 They hardly get started, barely taking root,
when he blows on them and they wither.
The wind carries them off like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
God’s Help for Israel
41 “Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea.
Bring your strongest arguments.
Come now and speak.
The court is ready for your case.
2 “Who has stirred up this king from the east,
rightly calling him to God’s service?
Who gives this man victory over many nations
and permits him to trample their kings underfoot?
With his sword, he reduces armies to dust.
With his bow, he scatters them like chaff before the wind.
3 He chases them away and goes on safely,
though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.
4 Who has done such mighty deeds,
summoning each new generation from the beginning of time?
It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last.
I alone am he.”
5 The lands beyond the sea watch in fear.
Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
6 The idol makers encourage one another,
saying to each other, “Be strong!”
7 The carver encourages the goldsmith,
and the molder helps at the anvil.
“Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine.”
Carefully they join the parts together,
then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.
8 “But as for you, Israel my servant,
Jacob my chosen one,
descended from Abraham my friend,
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
11 “See, all your angry enemies lie there,
confused and humiliated.
Anyone who opposes you will die
and come to nothing.
12 You will look in vain
for those who tried to conquer you.
Those who attack you
will come to nothing.
13 For I hold you by your right hand—
I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
14 Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob,
don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.
I am the Lord, your Redeemer.
I am the Holy One of Israel.’
15 You will be a new threshing instrument
with many sharp teeth.
You will tear your enemies apart,
making chaff of mountains.
16 You will toss them into the air,
and the wind will blow them all away;
a whirlwind will scatter them.
Then you will rejoice in the Lord.
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,
and their tongues are parched from thirst,
then I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.
18 I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.
I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with pools of water.
Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
19 I will plant trees in the barren desert—
cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
20 I am doing this so all who see this miracle
will understand what it means—
that it is the Lord who has done this,
the Holy One of Israel who created it.
21 “Present the case for your idols,”
says the Lord.
“Let them show what they can do,”
says the King of Israel.[co]
22 “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago
so that we may consider the evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds,
so we can know what’s going to happen.
23 Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.
Then we will know you are gods.
In fact, do anything—good or bad!
Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
24 But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.
Those who choose you pollute themselves.
25 “But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
From the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over kings and princes.
He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.
26 “Who told you from the beginning
that this would happen?
Who predicted this,
making you admit that he was right?
No one said a word!
27 I was the first to tell Zion,
‘Look! Help is on the way!’[cp]
I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
28 Not one of your idols told you this.
Not one gave any answer when I asked.
29 See, they are all foolish, worthless things.
All your idols are as empty as the wind.
The Lord’s Chosen Servant
42 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.
He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon him.
He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout
or raise his voice in public.
3 He will not crush the weakest reed
or put out a flickering candle.
He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
4 He will not falter or lose heart
until justice prevails throughout the earth.
Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.[cq]”
5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out.
He created the earth and everything in it.
He gives breath to everyone,
life to everyone who walks the earth.
And it is he who says,
6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.
I will take you by the hand and guard you,
and I will give you to my people, Israel,
as a symbol of my covenant with them.
And you will be a light to guide the nations.
7 You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison,
releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to anyone else,
nor share my praise with carved idols.
9 Everything I prophesied has come true,
and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”
A Song of Praise to the Lord
10 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing his praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail the seas,
all you who live in distant coastlands.
11 Join in the chorus, you desert towns;
let the villages of Kedar rejoice!
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
shout praises from the mountaintops!
12 Let the whole world glorify the Lord;
let it sing his praise.
13 The Lord will march forth like a mighty hero;
he will come out like a warrior, full of fury.
He will shout his battle cry
and crush all his enemies.
14 He will say, “I have long been silent;
yes, I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman in labor,
I will cry and groan and pant.
15 I will level the mountains and hills
and blight all their greenery.
I will turn the rivers into dry land
and will dry up all the pools.
16 I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned away in shame.
Israel’s Failure to Listen and See
18 “Listen, you who are deaf!
Look and see, you blind!
19 Who is as blind as my own people, my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger?
Who is as blind as my chosen people,
the servant of the Lord?
20 You see and recognize what is right
but refuse to act on it.
You hear with your ears,
but you don’t really listen.”
21 Because he is righteous,
the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
22 But his own people have been robbed and plundered,
enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
and have no one to protect them,
no one to take them back home.
23 Who will hear these lessons from the past
and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
24 Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt?
It was the Lord, against whom we sinned,
for the people would not walk in his path,
nor would they obey his law.
25 Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
and destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
but they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by fire,
but they did not learn their lesson.
The Savior of Israel
43 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
I gave Ethiopia[cr] and Seba in your place.
4 Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you.
5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I will gather you and your children from east and west.
6 I will say to the north and south,
‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel
from the distant corners of the earth.
7 Bring all who claim me as their God,
for I have made them for my glory.
It was I who created them.’”
8 Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 Gather the nations together!
Assemble the peoples of the world!
Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?
Which can predict what will happen tomorrow?
Where are the witnesses of such predictions?
Who can verify that they spoke the truth?
10 “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.
“You are my servant.
You have been chosen to know me, believe in me,
and understand that I alone am God.
There is no other God—
there never has been, and there never will be.
11 I, yes I, am the Lord,
and there is no other Savior.
12 First I predicted your rescue,
then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world.
No foreign god has ever done this.
You are witnesses that I am the only God,”
says the Lord.
13 “From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”
The Lord’s Promise of Victory
14 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon,
forcing the Babylonians[cs] to flee in those ships they are so proud of.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator and King.
16 I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.
17 I called forth the mighty army of Egypt
with all its chariots and horses.
I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned,
their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.
18 “But forget all that—
it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
19 For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
20 The wild animals in the fields will thank me,
the jackals and owls, too,
for giving them water in the desert.
Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland
so my chosen people can be refreshed.
21 I have made Israel for myself,
and they will someday honor me before the whole world.
22 “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help.
You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
23 You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings.
You have not honored me with sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and wearied you
with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
24 You have not brought me fragrant calamus
or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your faults.
25 “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake
and will never think of them again.
26 Let us review the situation together,
and you can present your case to prove your innocence.
27 From the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me;
all your leaders broke my laws.
28 That is why I have disgraced your priests;
I have decreed complete destruction[ct] for Jacob
and shame for Israel.
44 “But now, listen to me, Jacob my servant,
Israel my chosen one.
2 The Lord who made you and helps you says:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
O dear Israel,[cu] my chosen one.
3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst
and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
and my blessing on your children.
4 They will thrive like watered grass,
like willows on a riverbank.
5 Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’
Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’
Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands
and will take the name of Israel as their own.”
The Foolishness of Idols
6 This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
“I am the First and the Last;
there is no other God.
7 Who is like me?
Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I have done since ancient times
when I established a people and explained its future.
8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
No! There is no other Rock—not one!”
9 How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
These prized objects are really worthless.
The people who worship idols don’t know this,
so they are all put to shame.
10 Who but a fool would make his own god—
an idol that cannot help him one bit?
11 All who worship idols will be disgraced
along with all these craftsmen—mere humans—
who claim they can make a god.
They may all stand together,
but they will stand in terror and shame.
12 The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp tool,
pounding and shaping it with all his might.
His work makes him hungry and weak.
It makes him thirsty and faint.
13 Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood
and draws a pattern on it.
He works with chisel and plane
and carves it into a human figure.
He gives it human beauty
and puts it in a little shrine.
14 He cuts down cedars;
he selects the cypress and the oak;
he plants the pine in the forest
to be nourished by the rain.
15 Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire.
With it he warms himself and bakes his bread.
Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it
and makes himself a god to worship!
He makes an idol
and bows down in front of it!
16 He burns part of the tree to roast his meat
and to keep himself warm.
He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
17 Then he takes what’s left
and makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it,
worshiping and praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
“You are my god!”
18 Such stupidity and ignorance!
Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
19 The person who made the idol never stops to reflect,
“Why, it’s just a block of wood!
I burned half of it for heat
and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat.
How can the rest of it be a god?
Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
20 The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,
“Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”
Restoration for Jerusalem
21 “Pay attention, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I, the Lord, made you,
and I will not forget you.
22 I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me,
for I have paid the price to set you free.”
23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing.
Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
O mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and is glorified in Israel.
24 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer and Creator:
“I am the Lord, who made all things.
I alone stretched out the heavens.
Who was with me
when I made the earth?
25 I expose the false prophets as liars
and make fools of fortune-tellers.
I cause the wise to give bad advice,
thus proving them to be fools.
26 But I carry out the predictions of my prophets!
By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’
and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt;
I will restore all your ruins!’
27 When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’
they will be dry.
28 When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’
he will certainly do as I say.
He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’;
he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”
Cyrus, the Lord’s Chosen One
45 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one,
whose right hand he will empower.
Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear.
Their fortress gates will be opened,
never to shut again.
2 This is what the Lord says:
“I will go before you, Cyrus,
and level the mountains.[cv]
I will smash down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.
4 “And why have I called you for this work?
Why did I call you by name when you did not know me?
It is for the sake of Jacob my servant,
Israel my chosen one.
5 I am the Lord;
there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
though you don’t even know me,
6 so all the world from east to west
will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.
8 “Open up, O heavens,
and pour out your righteousness.
Let the earth open wide
so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
I, the Lord, created them.
9 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,
‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
‘How clumsy can you be?’
10 How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘Why did you make me this way?’”
11 This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I do for my children?
Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command.
13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people—
without seeking a reward!
I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
Future Conversion of Gentiles
14 This is what the Lord says:
“You will rule the Egyptians,
the Ethiopians,[cw] and the Sabeans.
They will come to you with all their merchandise,
and it will all be yours.
They will follow you as prisoners in chains.
They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,
‘God is with you, and he is the only God.
There is no other.’”
15 Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,
you work in mysterious ways.
16 All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.
They will all be disgraced together.
17 But the Lord will save the people of Israel
with eternal salvation.
Throughout everlasting ages,
they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.
18 For the Lord is God,
and he created the heavens and earth
and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
“and there is no other.
19 I publicly proclaim bold promises.
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel[cx] to seek me
if I could not be found.
I, the Lord, speak only what is true
and declare only what is right.
20 “Gather together and come,
you fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols
and pray to gods that cannot save!
21 Consult together, argue your case.
Get together and decide what to say.
Who made these things known so long ago?
What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the Lord?
For there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is none but me.
22 Let all the world look to me for salvation!
For I am God; there is no other.
23 I have sworn by my own name;
I have spoken the truth,
and I will never go back on my word:
Every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.[cy]”
24 The people will declare,
“The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
And all who were angry with him
will come to him and be ashamed.
25 In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified,
and in him they will boast.
Babylon’s False Gods
46 Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon,
bow as they are lowered to the ground.
They are being hauled away on ox carts.
The poor beasts stagger under the weight.
2 Both the idols and their owners are bowed down.
The gods cannot protect the people,
and the people cannot protect the gods.
They go off into captivity together.
3 “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob,
all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.
5 “To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?
6 Some people pour out their silver and gold
and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
Then they bow down and worship it!
7 They carry it around on their shoulders,
and when they set it down, it stays there.
It can’t even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.
8 “Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
Remember this, you guilty ones.
9 Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 Only I can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for I do whatever I wish.
11 I will call a swift bird of prey from the east—
a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding.
I have said what I would do,
and I will do it.
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn people
who are so far from doing right.
13 For I am ready to set things right,
not in the distant future, but right now!
I am ready to save Jerusalem[cz]
and show my glory to Israel.
Prediction of Babylon’s Fall
47 “Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust.
For your days of sitting on a throne have ended.
O daughter of Babylonia,[da] never again will you be
the lovely princess, tender and delicate.
2 Take heavy millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil, and strip off your robe.
Expose yourself to public view.[db]
3 You will be naked and burdened with shame.
I will take vengeance against you without pity.”
4 Our Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 “O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
6 For I was angry with my chosen people
and punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
You oppressed even the elderly.
7 You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’
You did not reflect on your actions
or think about their consequences.
8 “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
living at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.
I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
9 Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
widowhood and the loss of your children.
Yes, these calamities will come upon you,
despite all your witchcraft and magic.
10 “You felt secure in your wickedness.
‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
11 So disaster will overtake you,
and you won’t be able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
and you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
one for which you are not prepared.
12 “Now use your magical charms!
Use the spells you have worked at all these years!
Maybe they will do you some good.
Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
13 All the advice you receive has made you tired.
Where are all your astrologers,
those stargazers who make predictions each month?
Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
14 But they are like straw burning in a fire;
they cannot save themselves from the flame.
You will get no help from them at all;
their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.
15 And all your friends,
those with whom you’ve done business since childhood,
will go their own ways,
turning a deaf ear to your cries.
God’s Stubborn People
48 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
and call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your promises,
2 even though you call yourself the holy city
and talk about depending on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
3 Long ago I told you what was going to happen.
Then suddenly I took action,
and all my predictions came true.
4 For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.
Your necks are as unbending as iron.
Your heads are as hard as bronze.
5 That is why I told you what would happen;
I told you beforehand what I was going to do.
Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.
My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’
6 You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,
but you refuse to admit it.
Now I will tell you new things,
secrets you have not yet heard.
7 They are brand new, not things from the past.
So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’
8 “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,
things you never heard of before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
You have been rebels from birth.
9 Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,
I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.
10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
11 I will rescue you for my sake—
yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and I will not share my glory with idols!
Notas al pie
- 11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.
- 11:10a Hebrew the root of Jesse.
- 11:10b Greek version reads In that day the heir to David’s throne [literally the root of Jesse] will come, / and he will rule over the Gentiles. / They will place their hopes on him. Compare Rom 15:12.
- 11:11a Hebrew in Pathros, Cush.
- 11:11b Hebrew in Shinar.
- 11:13 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 11:15a Hebrew will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt.
- 11:15b Hebrew the river.
- 12:6 Hebrew Zion.
- 14:1 Hebrew the house of Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
- 14:4 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; the meaning of the Masoretic Text is uncertain.
- 14:9 Hebrew Sheol; also in 14:15.
- 14:11 Hebrew were brought down to Sheol.
- 14:13 Or on the heights of Zaphon.
- 14:28 King Ahaz died in 715 B.c.
- 14:32 Hebrew Zion.
- 15:9 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, some Greek manuscripts, and Latin Vulgate; Masoretic Text reads Dimon; also in 15:9b.
- 16:8 Hebrew the sea.
- 16:11 Hebrew Kir-heres, a variant spelling of Kir-hareseth.
- 16:14 Hebrew Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them.
- 17:3a Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 17:3b Hebrew Aram.
- 17:4 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1.
- 17:9 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads like places of the wood and the highest bough.
- 18:1a Hebrew Cush.
- 18:1b Or land of many locusts; Hebrew reads land of whirring wings.
- 18:7 Hebrew to Mount Zion.
- 19:13 Hebrew Noph.
- 19:18 Or will be the City of Destruction.
- 20:1 Ashdod was captured by Assyria in 711 B.c.
- 20:3 Hebrew Cush; also in 20:5.
- 20:4 Hebrew Cushites.
- 21:1 Hebrew concerning the desert by the sea.
- 21:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads a lion.
- 21:11a Hebrew Dumah, which means “silence” or “stillness.” It is a wordplay on the word Edom.
- 21:11b Hebrew Seir, another name for Edom.
- 21:16 Hebrew Within a year, as a servant bound by contract would count it. Some ancient manuscripts read Within three years, as in 16:14.
- 22:1 Hebrew concerning the Valley of Vision.
- 22:8 Hebrew to the House of the Forest; see 1 Kgs 7:2-5.
- 22:9 Hebrew the city of David.
- 22:24 Hebrew They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: its offspring and offshoots, all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
- 23:1 Hebrew Kittim; also in 23:12.
- 23:2 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads Those who have gone over the sea have filled you.
- 23:3 Hebrew from Shihor, a branch of the Nile River.
- 23:4 Or for the god of the sea says; Hebrew reads for the sea, the fortress of the sea, says.
- 23:10 The meaning of the Hebrew in this verse is uncertain.
- 23:11 Hebrew Canaan.
- 23:13 Or Chaldea.
- 25:6 Hebrew On this mountain; also in 25:10.
- 26:9 Hebrew within me.
- 27:1 The identification of Leviathan is disputed, ranging from an earthly creature to a mythical sea monster in ancient literature.
- 27:9 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1.
- 27:12 Hebrew the river.
- 28:1 Hebrew What sorrow awaits the crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim, referring to Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 28:3 Hebrew The crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim; see note on 28:1.
- 28:15 Hebrew Sheol; also in 28:18.
- 28:16a Hebrew in Zion.
- 28:16b Greek version reads Look! I am placing a stone in the foundation of Jerusalem [literally Zion], / a precious cornerstone for its foundation, chosen for great honor. / Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Compare Rom 9:33; 1 Pet 2:6.
- 29:1 Ariel sounds like a Hebrew term that means “hearth” or “altar.”
- 29:7 Hebrew Ariel.
- 29:13 Greek version reads Their worship is a farce, / for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. Compare Mark 7:7.
- 29:22 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
- 30:7 Hebrew Rahab who sits still. Rahab is the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature. The name is used here as a poetic name for Egypt.
- 30:32 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads with the founded rod.
- 32:14 Hebrew the Ophel.
- 33:1 Hebrew What sorrow awaits you, O destroyer. The Hebrew text does not specifically name Assyria as the object of the prophecy in this chapter.
- 33:5 Hebrew Zion; also in 33:14.
- 33:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads care nothing for the cities.
- 34:2 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering; similarly in 34:5.
- 34:8 Hebrew to Zion.
- 34:11 The identification of some of these birds is uncertain.
- 34:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 34:14 Hebrew Lilith, possibly a reference to a mythical demon of the night.
- 35:10 Hebrew Zion.
- 36:1 The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was 701 B.c.
- 36:2a Or the rabshakeh; also in 36:4, 11, 12, 22.
- 36:2b Or bleached.
- 36:5 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 18:20); Masoretic Text reads Do I think.
- 36:11 Hebrew in the dialect of Judah; also in 36:13.
- 37:4 Or the rabshakeh; also in 37:8.
- 37:7 Hebrew I will put a spirit in him.
- 37:9 Hebrew of Cush.
- 37:20 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 19:19); Masoretic Text reads you alone are the Lord.
- 37:25 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 19:24); Masoretic Text lacks in many foreign lands.
- 37:27 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and some Greek manuscripts (see also 2 Kgs 19:26); most Hebrew manuscripts read like a terraced field.
- 37:36 Hebrew When they.
- 38:8 Hebrew the steps.
- 38:10 Hebrew enter the gates of Sheol?
- 38:18 Hebrew Sheol.
- 40:3-5 Greek version reads He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, / “Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! / Clear a road for our God! / Fill in the valleys, / and level the mountains and hills. / And then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, / and all people will see the salvation sent from God. / The Lord has spoken!” Compare Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6.
- 40:9 Or O messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops! Shout it louder to Jerusalem.
- 40:13 Greek version reads Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Compare Rom 11:34; 1 Cor 2:16.
- 41:21 Hebrew the King of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
- 41:27 Or ‘Look! They are coming home.’
- 42:4 Greek version reads And his name will be the hope of all the world. Compare Matt 12:21.
- 43:3 Hebrew Cush.
- 43:14 Or Chaldeans.
- 43:28 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
- 44:2 Hebrew Jeshurun, a term of endearment for Israel.
- 45:2 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads the swellings.
- 45:14 Hebrew Cushites.
- 45:19 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
- 45:23 Hebrew will confess; Greek version reads will declare allegiance to God. Compare Rom 14:11.
- 46:13 Hebrew Zion.
- 47:1 Or Chaldea; also in 47:5.
- 47:2 Hebrew Bare your legs; pass through the rivers.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
