Isaiah 1-27

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁴ Woe, sinful nation,
    people laden with iniquity,
offspring who do evil,
    children who act corruptly,
who have forsaken the Lord,
    who have despised the Holy One of Israel,
    [[who are utterly estranged!]]^[a](D)

⁵ Why do you seek further beatings?
    Why do you continue to rebel?
The whole head is injured,
    and the whole heart faint.^(E)
6 From the sole of the foot to the head,
    there is no soundness in it,
only bruises and sores
    and bleeding wounds;
they have not been drained or bound up
    or softened with oil.^(F)

⁷ Your country lies desolate;
    your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
    aliens devour your land;
    it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.^(G)
8 And daughter Zion is left
    like a booth in a vineyard,
like a shelter in a cucumber field,
    like a besieged city.
⁹ If the Lord of hosts
    had not left us a few survivors,
we would have been like Sodom
    and become like Gomorrah.^(H)

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!^(I)
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
    says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
    and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
    or of lambs or of goats.^(J)

¹² When you come to appear before me,^[b]
    who asked this from your hand?
    Trample my courts no more!^(K)
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation—
    I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.^(L)
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.^(M)
15 When you stretch out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    your hands are full of blood.^(N)
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove your evil deeds
    from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;^(O)
17     learn to do good;
seek justice;
    rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
    plead for the widow.^(P)

¹⁸ Come now, let us argue it out,
    says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
    will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
    will they become like wool?^(Q)
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land,^(R)
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be devoured by the sword,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(S)

²⁴ Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
Surely I will pour out my wrath on my enemies
    and avenge myself on my foes!^(W)
25 I will turn my hand against you;
    I will smelt away your dross as with lye
    and remove all your alloy.^(X)
26 And I will restore your judges as at the first
    and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
    the faithful city.^(Y)

²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
    and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸ But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,
    and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.^(Z)
29 For you shall be ashamed of the oaks
    in which you delighted,
and you shall blush for the gardens
    that you have chosen.^(AA)
30 For you shall be like an oak
    whose leaf withers
    and like a garden without water.
³¹ The strong shall become like tinder
    and their work like a spark;
they and their work shall burn together,
    with no one to quench them.^(AB)

² In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
    and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.^(AD)
3     Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.^(AE)
4 He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.^(AF)
5 O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!^(AG)

3 For now the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and staff—
    all support of bread
    and all support of water—^(AX)
2 warrior and soldier,
    judge and prophet,
    diviner and elder,^(AY)
3 captain of fifty
    and dignitary,
counselor and skillful magician
    and expert enchanter.
⁴ And I will make youths their princes,
    and children shall rule over them.^(AZ)
5 The people will be oppressed,
    everyone by another
    and everyone by a neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder
    and the base to the honorable.^(BA)

⁶ Someone will seize a relative,
    a member of the clan, saying,
“You have a cloak;
    you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
    shall be under your rule.”^(BB)
7 But the other will cry out on that day, saying,
“I will not be a healer;
    in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
    leader of the people.”^(BC)
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
    and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
    defying his glorious presence.^(BD)

⁹ The look on their faces bears witness against them;
    they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them,
    for they have brought evil on themselves.^(BE)
10 Tell the innocent how fortunate they are,
    for they shall eat the fruit of their labors.^(BF)
11 Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,
    for what their hands have done shall be done to them.^(BG)
12 My people—their oppressors extort them,
    and creditors^[g] rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you
    and confuse the course of your paths.^(BH)

¹³ The Lord rises to argue his case;
    he stands to judge the peoples.^(BI)
14 The Lord enters into judgment
    with the elders and princes of his people:
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.^(BJ)
15 What do you mean by crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.^(BK)

¹⁶ The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
    and walk with outstretched necks,
    glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
    tinkling with their feet;^(BL)
17 the Lord will afflict with scabs
    the heads of the daughters of Zion,
    and the Lord will lay bare their scalps and heads.

²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
    and instead of a sash, a rope;
and instead of well-styled hair, baldness;
    and instead of a rich robe, a binding of sackcloth;
    instead of beauty, shame.^[h](BP)
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
    and your warriors in battle.^(BQ)
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn;
    desolate, she shall sit upon the ground.^(BR)

“We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes;
just let us be called by your name;
    take away our disgrace.”^(BS)

³ And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and people of Judah,
judge between me
    and my vineyard.^(CA)
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
    that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield rotten grapes?^(CB)

⁵ And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.^(CC)
6 I will make it a wasteland;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.^(CD)

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
    but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
    but heard a cry!^(CE)

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
    in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
    to be inflamed by wine,^(CI)
12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord
    or see the work of his hands!^(CJ)
13 Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
    and their multitude is parched with thirst.^(CK)

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
    and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem^[j] and her multitude go down,
    her throng and all who exult in her.^(CL)
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
    and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.^(CM)
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
    and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.^(CN)
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture;
    fatted calves and kids^[k] shall feed among the ruins.

¹⁸ Woe to those who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,
    who drag sin along as with cart ropes,^(CO)
19 who say, “Let him make haste;
    let him speed his work
    that we may see it;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,
    that we may know it!”^(CP)
20 Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!^(CQ)
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and shrewd in their own sight!^(CR)
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
    and valiant at mixing drink,^(CS)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe
    and deprive the innocent of their rights!^(CT)

²⁵ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
    and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;
    the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
    in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.^(CV)

²⁶ He will raise a signal for a nation far away
    and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth.
Here they come, swiftly, speedily!^(CW)
27 None of them is weary; none stumbles;
    none slumbers or sleeps;
not a loincloth is loose;
    not a sandal strap broken;^(CX)
28 their arrows are sharp;
    all their bows strung;
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
    and their wheels like the whirlwind.^(CY)
29 Their roaring is like a lion;
    like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
    they carry it off, and no one can rescue.^(CZ)
30 They will roar over it on that day,
    like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land—
    only darkness and distress;
and the light grows dark with its clouds.^(DA)

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”^(DD)

‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’^(DH)
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
    and stop their ears,
    and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes
    and listen with their ears
and comprehend with their minds
    and turn and be healed.”^(DI)
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said,
“Until cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is utterly desolate;^(DJ)
12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,
    and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.^(DK)
13 Even if a tenth part remain in it,
    it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
    whose stump remains standing
    when it is felled.”^[n]
(The holy seed is its stump.)^(DL)

It shall not stand,
    and it shall not come to pass.^(DQ)
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus,
    and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
    and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in faith,
    you shall not stand at all.”^(DS)

⁹ Take notice,^[x] you peoples, and be dismayed;
    listen, all you far countries;
gird yourselves and be dismayed!^[y]
10 Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught;
    speak a word, but it will not stand,
    for God is with us.”^(EG)

^2 [ad]The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.^(EU)
3 You have multiplied exultation;^[ae]
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.^(EV)
4 For the yoke of their burden
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.^(EW)
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.^(EX)
6 For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.^(EY)
7 Great will be his authority,^[af]
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.^(EZ)

¹³ The people did not turn to him who struck them
    or seek the Lord of hosts.^(FD)
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
    palm branch and reed in one day—^(FE)
15 elders and dignitaries are the head,
    and prophets who teach lies are the tail,^(FF)
16 for those who led this people led them astray,
    and those who were led by them were left in confusion.^(FG)
17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on^[ah] their young people
    or compassion on their orphans and widows,
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
    and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.^(FH)

¹⁸ For wickedness burned like a fire,
    consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
    and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.^(FI)
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
    no one spared another.^(FJ)
20 They gorged on the right but still were hungry,
    and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;^[ai](FK)
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
    and together they were against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.^(FL)

10 Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
    who write oppressive statutes,^(FM)
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
    and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
to make widows their spoil
    and to plunder orphans!^(FN)
3 What will you do on the day of punishment,
    in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth,^(FO)
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain?
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.^(FP)

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples
    and have plundered their treasures;
    like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.^(FX)
14 My hand has found, like a nest,
    the wealth of the peoples,
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
    so I have gathered all the earth,
and there was none that moved a wing
    or opened its mouth or chirped.”^(FY)

¹⁵ Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it
    or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
    or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!^(FZ)
16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled
    like the burning of fire.^(GA)
17 The light of Israel will become a fire
    and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers in one day.^(GB)
18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.^(GC)
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.^(GD)

He has gone up from Samaria;^[al](GK)
28     he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron;
    at Michmash he stores his baggage;^(GL)
29 they have crossed over the pass;
    at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles;
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.^(GM)
30 Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim!
    Listen, O Laishah!
    Answer her, O Anathoth!^(GN)
31 Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.^(GO)
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of daughter Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.^(GP)

³³ Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest trees will be cut down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.^(GQ)
34 He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax,
    and Lebanon with its majestic trees^[am] will fall.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see
    or decide by what his ears hear,^(GT)
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
    and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.^(GU)
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.^(GV)

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb;
    the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed^[ao] together,
    and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
    and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.^(GW)

¹² He will raise a signal for the nations
    and will assemble the outcasts of Israel
and gather the dispersed of Judah
    from the four corners of the earth.^(GZ)
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart;
    the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah shall not be hostile toward Ephraim.^(HA)
14 But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;
    together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
    and the Ammonites shall obey them.^(HB)
15 And the Lord will dry up^[aq]
    the tongue of the sea of Egypt
and will wave his hand over the River
    with his scorching wind
and will split it into seven channels
    and make a way to cross on foot;^(HC)
16 so there shall be a highway from Assyria
    for the remnant that is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
    when they came up from the land of Egypt.^(HD)

² Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and will not be afraid,
for the Lord^[ar] is my strength and my might;
    he has become my salvation.”^(HF)

“Give thanks to the Lord;
    call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
    proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵ Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
    let this be known in all the earth.^(HH)
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal^[as] Zion,
    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”^(HI)

² On a bare hill raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.^(HK)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
    to execute my anger.^[at](HL)

⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
    an army for battle.^(HM)
5 They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole earth.^(HN)

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^[au](HO)
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart will melt,^(HP)
8     and they will be terrified.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
    they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.^(HQ)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
    and to destroy its sinners from it.^(HR)
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.^(HS)
11 I will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
    and lay low the insolence of tyrants.^(HT)
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold
    and humans than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
    and the earth will be shaken out of its place
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    in the day of his fierce anger.^(HU)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
    or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
    and all will flee to their own lands.^(HV)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives raped.^(HW)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.^(HX)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.^(HY)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.^(HZ)
20 It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there;
    shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.^(IA)
21 But wild animals will lie down there,
    and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
    and there goat-demons will dance.^(IB)
22 Hyenas will cry in its towers
    and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
    and its days will not be prolonged.^(IC)

How the oppressor has ceased!
    How his insolence^[aw] has ceased!^(IG)
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
⁶ that struck down the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.^(IH)
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
⁸ The cypresses exult over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”^(II)
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.^(IJ)
10 All of them will speak
    and say to you:
“You, too, have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!”
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covering.^(IK)

¹² How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Morning Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!^(IL)
13 You said to yourself,
    “I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    on the heights of Zaphon;^[ax](IM)
14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”^(IN)
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the depths of the Pit.^(IO)
16 Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,^(IP)
17 who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who would not let his prisoners go home?”^(IQ)
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb,
¹⁹ but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like loathsome carrion,^[ay]
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the Pit
    like a corpse trampled underfoot.^(IR)
20 You will not be joined with them in burial
    because you have destroyed your land;
    you have killed your people.

May the descendants of evildoers
    nevermore be named!^(IS)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
    because of the guilt of their father.^[az]
Let them never rise to possess the earth
    or cover the face of the world with cities.^(IT)

²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.^(JB)
30 In my pastures the poor^[bb] will graze
    and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
    and your remnant I^[bc] will kill.^(JC)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in its ranks.^(JD)

³² What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
    and the needy among his people
    will find refuge in her.”^(JE)

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.^(JF)
2 Daughter Dibon^[bd] has gone up
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
    every beard is shorn;^(JG)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.^(JH)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^[be]
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    his fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;^(JI)
6 the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
    vegetation is no more.^(JJ)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Wadi of the Willows.^(JK)
8 For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon^[bf] are full of blood,
    yet I will bring upon Dibon^[bg] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.^(JL)

16 Send lambs
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
    to the mount of daughter Zion.^(JM)
2 Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.^(JN)
3 “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts;
    do not betray the fugitive;^(JO)
4 let the outcasts of Moab
    settle among you;
be a refuge to them
    from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,^(JP)
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
    in the tent of David,
    and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
    and is swift to do what is right.^(JQ)

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab
    —how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    his boasts are false.^(JR)
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
    let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.^(JS)

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
    the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
    and crossed over the sea.^(JT)
9 Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps
    for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the shout over your fruit harvest
    and your grain harvest has ceased.^(JU)
10 Joy and gladness are taken away
    from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;
    no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
    the vintage shout is hushed.^[bh](JV)
11 Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
    and my very soul for Kir-heres.^(JW)

See, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.^(JZ)
2 Her towns will be deserted forever;^[bi]
    they will be places for flocks,
    which will lie down, and no one will make them afraid.^(KA)
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim
    and the kingdom from Damascus,
and the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory of the people of Israel,
            says the Lord of hosts.^(KB)

⁴ On that day
    the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
    and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.^(KC)
5 And it shall be as when reapers gather standing grain
    and their arms harvest the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in the Valley of Rephaim.^(KD)
6 Gleanings will be left in it,
    as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
    in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
    on the branches of a fruit tree,
            says the Lord God of Israel.^(KE)

¹⁰ For you have forgotten God your Savior
    and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant gardens
    and set out branches of a foreign god,^(KI)
11 though you make them grow on the day that you plant them
    and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away
    in a day of sickness and incurable pain.^(KJ)

¹² Woe, the thunder of many peoples,
    they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
The roar of nations,
    they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!^(KK)
13 [[When the nations roar like the roaring of many waters,]]^[bl]
    he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and like whirling dust before the storm.^(KL)
14 At evening time, sudden terror!
    Before morning, they are no more.
This is the fate of those who despoil us
    and the lot of those who plunder us.^(KM)

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

See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
    and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
    and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.^(KU)
2 I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and they will fight, one against the other,
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom;^(KV)
3 the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
    and I will confound their plans;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead
    and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;^(KW)
4 I will deliver the Egyptians
    into the hand of a hard master;
a fierce king will rule over them,
    says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts.^(KX)

⁵ The waters of the Nile will be dried up,
    and the river will be parched and dry;^(KY)
6 its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will rot away,^(KZ)
7     the reeds beside the Nile;^[bp]
all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
    be driven away, and be no more.
⁸ Those who fish will mourn;
    all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament,
    and those who spread nets on the water will languish.
⁹ The workers in flax will be in despair,
    and the carders and those at the loom will grow pale.
¹⁰ Its weavers will be dismayed,
    and all who work for wages will be grieved.^(LA)

¹¹ Clearly the princes of Zoan are foolish;
    the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am one of the sages,
    a descendant of ancient kings”?^(LB)
12 Where now are your sages?
    Let them tell you and make known
    what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.^(LC)
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
    and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of its tribes
    have led Egypt astray.^(LD)
14 The Lord has poured into them^[bq]
    a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings
    as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.^(LE)
15 Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed,
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the desert,
    from a terrible land.^(LU)
2 A stern vision is told to me;
    the betrayer betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam;
    lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.^(LV)
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    pangs have seized me
    like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
    I am dismayed so that I cannot see.^(LW)
4 My mind reels; horror has appalled me;
    the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.^(LX)
5 They prepare the table;
    they spread the rugs;
    they eat; they drink.
Rise up, commanders;
    oil the shield!^(LY)
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, post a lookout;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him watch closely,
    very closely.”^(LZ)
8 Then the watcher^[bt] called out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    throughout the night.^(MA)
9 Look, there they come, riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
Then he responded,
    “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
    lie shattered on the ground.”^(MB)
10 O my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.^(MC)

One is calling to me from Seir,
    “Sentinel, what of the night?
    Sentinel, what of the night?”^(MD)
12 The sentinel says:
“Morning comes and also the night.
    If you will inquire, inquire;
    come back again.”

In the scrub of the desert plain you will lodge,
    O caravans of Dedanites.^(ME)
14 Bring water to the thirsty,
    O inhabitants of the land of Tema;
    meet the fugitive with bread.^(MF)
15 For they have fled from the swords,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
    and from the stress of battle.^(MG)

What has happened that you have gone up,
    all of you, to the housetops,^(MJ)
2 city full of shouting,
    tumultuous city, panic-stricken town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
    nor are they dead in battle.^(MK)
3 Your rulers have all fled together;
    they were captured without the use of a bow.^[bu]
All of your people who were found were captured,
    though they had fled far away.^[bv](ML)
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
    let me weep bitter tears;
do not try to comfort me
    for the destruction of my beloved people.”^(MM)

⁵ For the Lord God of hosts has a day
    of tumult and trampling and confusion
    in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
    and a cry for help to the mountains.^(MN)
6 Elam bore the quiver
    with chariots and cavalry,^[bw]
    and Kir uncovered the shield.^(MO)
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
    and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.^(MP)
8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.

¹² On that day the Lord God of hosts
    called for weeping and mourning,
    for baldness and putting on sackcloth,^(MT)
13 but instead there was joy and festivity,
    killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
    eating meat and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”^(MU)
14 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,”
    says the Lord God of hosts.^(MV)

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress is destroyed.^[bz]
When they came in from Cyprus
    they learned of it.^(ND)
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
    O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers crossed over the sea^[ca](NE)
3     and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue^[cb] was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were the merchant of the nations.^(NF)
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
    the fortress of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth;
    I have neither reared young men
    nor brought up young women.”^(NG)
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
⁶ Cross over to Tarshish—
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
⁷ Is this your exultant city
    whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?^(NH)
8 Who has planned this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has planned it—
    to defile the pride of all glory,
    to shame all the honored of the earth.^(NI)
10 Cross over to your own land,
    O ships of^[cc] Tarshish;
    this is a harbor^[cd] no more.
¹¹ He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
    he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan,
    to destroy its fortresses.^(NJ)
12 He said:
“You will exult no longer,
    O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
    even there you will have no rest.”^(NK)

¹⁴ Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress is destroyed.^(NM)

¹⁶ Take a harp;
    go about the city,
    you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
    sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.

⁴ The earth dries up and withers;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the heavens languish together with the earth.
⁵ The earth lies polluted
    under its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated the statutes,
    broken the everlasting covenant.^(NT)
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
    and few people are left.^(NU)
7 The wine dries up;
    the vine languishes;
    all the merry-hearted sigh.^(NV)
8 The mirth of the timbrels is stilled;
    the noise of the jubilant has ceased;
    the mirth of the lyre is stilled.^(NW)
9 No longer do they drink wine with singing;
    strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The city of chaos is broken down;
    every house is shut up so that no one can enter.^(NX)
11 There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
    all joy has reached its eventide;
    the gladness of the earth is banished.^(NY)
12 Desolation is left in the city;
    the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³ For thus it shall be on the earth
    and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
    as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.^(NZ)

¹⁴ They lift up their voices; they sing for joy;
    they shout from the west over the majesty of the Lord.^(OA)
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
    in the coastlands of the sea glorify the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.^(OB)
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
    of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, “I pine away;
    I pine away. Woe is me!
For the treacherous deal treacherously;
    the treacherous deal very treacherously.”^(OC)
17 Terror, the pit, and the snare
    are upon you, O inhabitants of the earth!^(OD)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
    and the foundations of the earth tremble.^(OE)
19 The earth is utterly broken;
    the earth is torn apart;
    the earth is violently shaken.^(OF)
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard;
    it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
    and it falls and will not rise again.^(OG)

²¹ On that day the Lord will punish
    the host of heaven in heaven
    and on earth the kings of the earth.^(OH)
22 They will be gathered together
    like prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
    and after many days they will be punished.^(OI)
23 Then the moon will be abashed
    and the sun ashamed,
for the Lord of hosts will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before his elders he will be glorified.^(OJ)

⁶ On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
    of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.^(OO)
7 And he will destroy on this mountain
    the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
    the covering that is spread over all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
    and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.^(OP)
9 It will be said on that day,
    “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
    This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”^(OQ)
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
    as straw is trodden down in the manure.^(OR)
11 Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it,
    as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
    their pride will be laid low despite the struggle^[cg] of their hands.
¹² The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down,
    laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.

We have a strong city;
    he sets up walls and bulwarks as a safeguard.^(OS)
2 Open the gates,
    so that the righteous nation that maintains faithfulness
    may enter in.^(OT)
3 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace,
    in peace because they trust in you.
⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,
    for in the Lord God^[ch]
    you have an everlasting rock.^(OU)
5 For he has brought low
    the inhabitants of the height;
    the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
    casts it to the dust.^(OV)
6 The foot tramples it,
    the feet of the poor,
    the steps of the needy.^(OW)

⁷ The way of the righteous is level;
    straight is the path of the righteous that you clear.^(OX)
8 In the path of your judgments,
    O Lord, we have placed hope;
your name and your renown
    are the soul’s desire.^(OY)
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.^(OZ)
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
    they do not learn righteousness;
they corrupt what is upright on the earth
    and do not see the majesty of the Lord.^(PA)
11 O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
    but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people and be ashamed.
    Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.^(PB)
12 O Lord, may you ordain peace for us,
    for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.^(PC)
13 O Lord our God,
    other lords besides you have ruled over us,
    but we acknowledge your name alone.^(PD)
14 The dead do not live;
    shades do not rise
because you have punished and destroyed them
    and wiped out all memory of them.^(PE)
15 But you have increased the nation, O Lord;
    you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
    you have enlarged all the borders of the land.^(PF)

¹⁶ O Lord, in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a prayer^[ci]
    when your chastening was on them.^(PG)
17 Like a woman with child
    about to give birth
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we because of you, O Lord;^(PH)
18     we were with child; we writhed,
    but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
    and no one is born to inhabit the world.^(PI)
19 Your dead shall live; their corpses^[cj] shall rise.
    Those who dwell in the dust will awake and shout for joy!^[ck]
For your dew is a radiant dew,
    and the earth will give birth to those long dead.^[cl](PJ)

²⁰ Come, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
    until the wrath is past.^(PK)
21 For the Lord comes out from his place
    to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will disclose the blood shed on it
    and will no longer cover its slain.^(PL)

² On that day:
A pleasant vineyard—sing about it!^(PN)
3     I, the Lord, am its keeper;
    every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
    so that no one can harm it;^(PO)