Isaiah 19-21

English Standard Version

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 An ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)Egypt.

Behold, the Lord ^(C)is riding on a swift cloud
    and comes to Egypt;
and ^(D)the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
    and the heart of the Egyptians will ^(E)melt within them.
²And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    ^(F)and they will fight, each against another
    and each against his neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
    and I will confound^[a] their ^(G)counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
    and ^(H)the mediums and the necromancers;
⁴and I will give over the Egyptians
    into the hand of ^(I)a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
    declares the Lord God of hosts.

⁵And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
    and the river will be dry and parched,
⁶and its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
    reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷There will be bare places by the Nile,
    on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
    will be driven away, and will be no more.
⁸The ^(J)fishermen will mourn and lament,
    all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
    who spread nets on the water.
⁹The workers in ^(K)combed flax will be in despair,
    and the weavers of white cotton.
¹⁰Those who are the ^(L)pillars of the land will be crushed,
    and all who ^(M)work for pay will be grieved.

¹¹The princes of ^(N)Zoan are utterly foolish;
    the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am a son of the wise,
    a son of ancient kings”?
¹²Where then are your ^(O)wise men?
    Let them tell you
    that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
¹³The princes of ^(P)Zoan have become fools,
    and the princes of ^(Q)Memphis are deluded;
those who are the ^(R)cornerstones of her tribes
    have made Egypt stagger.
¹⁴The Lord has mingled within her ^(S)a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
    ^(T)as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵And there will be nothing for Egypt
    that ^(U)head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be ^(V)like women, and ^(W)tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

¹⁸^(X)In that day there will be ^(Y)five cities in the land of Egypt that ^(Z)speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.^[b]

¹⁹In that day there will be an ^(AA)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ^(AB)pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰^(AC)It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, ^(AD)he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. ²¹^(AE)And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day ^(AF)and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²²^(AG)And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

²³^(AH)In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, ^(AI)and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ^(AJ)a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt ^(AK)my people, and Assyria ^(AL)the work of my hands, and ^(AM)Israel my inheritance.”

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that ^(AN)the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to ^(AO)Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— ²at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking ^(AP)naked and barefoot.

³Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years ^(AQ)as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,^[c] ⁴so shall the ^(AR)king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ⁵^(AS)Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶And the inhabitants of ^(AT)this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and ^(AU)to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21 The ^(AV)oracle concerning the wilderness of ^(AW)the sea.

^(AX)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the wilderness,
    from a terrible land.
²A stern vision is told to me;
    ^(AY)the traitor betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(AZ)Elam;
    lay siege, O ^(BA)Media;
all the ^(BB)sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.
³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    ^(BC)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.
⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
    ^(BD)the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵^(BE)They prepare the table,
    they spread the rugs,^[d]
    they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
    ^(BF)oil the shield!
⁶For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
    very diligently.”
⁸Then he who saw cried out:^[e]
^(BG)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    whole nights.
⁹And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(BH)And he answered,
    ^(BI)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(BJ)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰O ^(BK)my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The ^(BL)oracle concerning ^(BM)Dumah.

One is calling to me from ^(BN)Seir,
    “Watchman, what time of the night?
    Watchman, what time of the night?”
¹²The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also ^(BO)the night.
    If you will inquire, ^(BP)inquire;
    come back again.”

¹³The ^(BQ)oracle concerning ^(BR)Arabia.

In the thickets in ^(BS)Arabia you will lodge,
    O ^(BT)caravans of ^(BU)Dedanites.
¹⁴To the thirsty bring water;
    meet the fugitive with bread,
    O inhabitants of the land of ^(BV)Tema.
¹⁵For they have fled from the swords,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
    and from the press of battle.

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, ^(BW)according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of ^(BX)Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of ^(BY)Kedar will be few, ^(BZ)for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 19:3 Or I will swallow up
Isaiah 19:18 Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun
Isaiah 20:3 Probably Nubia
Isaiah 21:5 Or they set the watchman
Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion

Ephesians 2

English Standard Version

By Grace Through Faith

2 ^(A)And you were ^(B)dead in the trespasses and sins ²^(C)in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ^(E)the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in ^(F)the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and ^(G)were by nature ^(H)children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b] ⁴But^[c] God, being ^(I)rich in mercy, ^(J)because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even ^(K)when we were dead in our trespasses, ^(L)made us alive together with Christ—^(M)by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and ^(N)seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable ^(O)riches of his grace in ^(P)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For ^(Q)by grace you have been saved ^(R)through faith. And this is ^(S)not your own doing; ^(T)it is the gift of God, ⁹^(U)not a result of works, ^(V)so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For ^(W)we are his workmanship, ^(X)created in Christ Jesus ^(Y)for good works, ^(Z)which God prepared beforehand, ^(AA)that we should walk in them.

One in Christ

¹¹Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called ^(AB)the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹²remember ^(AC)that you were at that time separated from Christ, ^(AD)alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to ^(AE)the covenants of promise, ^(AF)having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were ^(AG)far off have been brought near ^(AH)by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For ^(AI)he himself is our peace, ^(AJ)who has made us both one and has broken down ^(AK)in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ^(AL)ordinances, that he might create in himself one ^(AM)new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶and might ^(AN)reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷And he came and ^(AO)preached peace to you who were ^(AP)far off and peace to those who were ^(AQ)near. ¹⁸For ^(AR)through him we both have ^(AS)access in ^(AT)one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer ^(AU)strangers and aliens,^[d] but you are ^(AV)fellow citizens with the saints and ^(AW)members of the household of God, ²⁰^(AX)built on the foundation of the ^(AY)apostles and prophets, ^(AZ)Christ Jesus himself being ^(BA)the cornerstone, ²¹^(BB)in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into ^(BC)a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him ^(BD)you also are being built together ^(BE)into a dwelling place for God by^[e] the Spirit.