Isaiah 23-28

Amplified Bible

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house, without harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus (Kittim).
² 
Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You ^[c]merchants of Sidon;
^[d]Your messengers crossed the sea
³ 
And they were on great waters.
The grain of the ^[e]Shihor, the harvest of the Nile River, was Tyre’s revenue;
And she was the market of nations.
⁴ 
Be ashamed, O Sidon [mother-city of Tyre, now like a widow bereaved of her children];
For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have neither labored nor given birth [to children];
I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”
⁵ 
When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in agony at the report about Tyre.
⁶ 
Cross over to Tarshish [to seek safety as exiles];
Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland [of Tyre].
⁷ 
Is this your jubilant city,
Whose origin dates back to antiquity,
Whose feet used to carry her [far away] to colonize distant places?

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 beauty,
To bring into contempt and humiliation all the honored of the earth.
¹⁰ 
Overflow your land like [the overflow of] the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more restraint [on you to make you pay tribute to Tyre].
¹¹ 
He has stretched out His hand over the sea,
He has shaken the kingdoms;
The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to destroy her strongholds and her fortresses [like Tyre and Sidon].

¹² 
He has said, “You shall never again exult [in triumph], O crushed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Arise, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

¹⁴ 
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold [of Tyre] is destroyed.

¹⁶ 
Take a harp, walk around the city,
O forgotten prostitute;
Play the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.

⁷ 
The new wine mourns,
The vine decays;
All the merry-hearted sigh and groan.
⁸ 
The mirth of the timbrels (tambourines) ceases,
The noise of those who rejoice ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
⁹ 
They do not drink wine with a song;
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 may enter.
¹¹ 
There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All jubilation is darkened,
The joy of the earth is banished.
¹² 
Horrible desolation is left in the city,
And the gate is battered into ruins.
¹³ 
For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over [and only a little of the fruit remains].
¹⁴ 
They [who have escaped and remain] raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They rejoice from the [Mediterranean] Sea in the majesty of the Lord.
¹⁵ 
Therefore honor and glorify the Lord in the east [in the region of light],
The name of the Lord, the God of Israel [honor His name],
In the coastlands and islands of the [Mediterranean] Sea.
¹⁶ 
From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory and honor to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe to me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
¹⁷ 
Terror and pit [of destruction] and snare
Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
¹⁸ 
Then it will be that he who flees at the sound of terror will fall into the pit,
And he who comes up out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹ 
The earth is broken completely apart,
The earth is split apart,
The earth is shaken violently.
²⁰ 
The earth reels back and forth like a drunkard
And sways like a shack;
Its transgression lies heavily upon it,
And it will fall and not rise again.
²¹ 
So it will happen in that day
That the Lord will visit and punish the host (fallen angels) of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on the earth.^(C)
22 
They will be gathered together
As prisoners [are gathered] in a dungeon;
They will be shut up in prison,
And after many days they will be visited and punished.^(D)
23 
Then the full moon will be embarrassed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory and brilliance will shine before His elders.

⁶ 
On this mountain [Zion] the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples [to welcome His reign on earth],
A banquet of aged wines—choice pieces [flavored] with marrow,
Of refined, aged wines.
⁷ 
And on this mountain He will destroy the covering that is [cast] over all peoples,
And the veil [of death] that is woven and spread over all the nations.
⁸ 
He will swallow up death [and abolish it] for all time.
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
And He will take away the disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.^(E)
9 
It will be said in that day,
“Indeed, this is our God for whom we have waited that He would save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
Let us shout for joy and rejoice in His salvation.”
¹⁰ 
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain [Zion],
And Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the [filthy] water of a manure pile.
¹¹ 
And Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of the filth
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will humiliate his pride in spite of the [skillful] movements of his hands.
¹² 
The high fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

“We have a strong city;
He sets up salvation as walls and ramparts.
² 
“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that ^[l]remains faithful and trustworthy.
³ 
“You will keep in ^[m]perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both ^[n]inclination and character],
Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].
⁴ 
“Trust [confidently] in the Lord forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner],
For the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].
⁵ 
“For He has thrown down the [arrogant] ones who dwell on high, the lofty and inaccessible city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He hurls it to the dust.
⁶ 
“The foot will trample it,
Even the feet of the suffering, and the steps of the helpless.”

⁷ 
The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God—living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level;
O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.
⁸ 
Indeed, in the path of Your judgments, O Lord,
We have waited expectantly for You;
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire and deep longing of our souls.
⁹ 
In the night my soul longs for You [O Lord],
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earth
Will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰ 
Though the wicked is shown compassion and favor,
He does not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he deals unjustly,
And refuses to see the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹ 
Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O Lord, the wicked do not see it.
Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;
Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.
¹² 
Lord, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all that we have done.
¹³ 
O Lord our God, other masters besides You have ruled over us;
But through You alone we confess Your name.
¹⁴ 
The [wicked] dead will not live [again], the spirits of the dead will not rise and return;
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].
¹⁵ 
You have increased the nation, O Lord;
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have extended all the borders of the land.
¹⁶ 
O Lord, they sought You in distress;
They managed only a prayerful whisper
When Your discipline was upon them.
¹⁷ 
As a woman with child approaches the time to give birth,
She is in pain and struggles and cries out in her labor,
So we were before You, O Lord.
¹⁸ 
We have been with child, we have twisted and struggled in labor;
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world ^[o]born.
¹⁹ 
Your dead will live;
^[p]Their dead bodies will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy!
For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural],
And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.^(F)

²⁰ 
Come, my people, enter your chambers
And shut your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until the [Lord’s] ^[q]wrath is past.
²¹ 
Listen carefully, the Lord is about to come out of His [heavenly] place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her
And will no longer cover her slain.

² 
In that day [it will be said of the redeemed nation of Israel],
“A vineyard of ^[r]wine, sing in praise of it!
³ 
“I, the Lord, am its Keeper;
I water it every moment.
So that no one will harm it,
I guard it night and day.
⁴ 
“I have no wrath.
Should anyone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
I would step on them, I would set them all on fire.
⁵ 
“Or let him (Israel) cling to My strength and rely on My protection [My stronghold],
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”
^6 
[s]In the generations to come Jacob will take root;
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the surface of the world with fruit.^(G)

⁷ 
Like the striking ^[t]by Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?
⁸ 
You contended with them by exile, by driving them away [from Canaan];
He has expelled them with His fierce wind on the day of the east wind.
⁹ 
Therefore through this the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of Jacob (Israel) will be atoned for and forgiven;
And this will be ^[u]the full price [that God requires] for taking away his sin:
When Israel makes all the stones of the [pagan] altars like crushed chalk stones;
When the Asherim and the incense altars will not stand.
¹⁰ 
For the fortified city is isolated,
A settlement deserted and abandoned like the desert;
There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and ^[v]feed on its branches.
¹¹ 
When its branches are dry, they are broken off;
The women come and ^[w]make a fire with them.
For they are not a people of understanding,
Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them,
And He who created them will not be gracious to them.

⁹ 
They say “To whom would He teach knowledge?
And to whom would He explain the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ 
“For He says,
‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.’”
¹¹ 
Indeed, the Lord will teach this people [in a more humiliating way]
By [men with] stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
¹² 
He who said to them, “This is the place of quiet, give rest to the weary,”
And, “This is the resting place,” yet they would not listen.
¹³ 
Therefore the word of the Lord to them will be [merely monotonous repetitions]:
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.”
That they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, ensnared, and taken captive.

“Listen carefully, I am laying in Zion a Stone, a tested Stone,
A precious Cornerstone for the [secure] foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes [who trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that Stone] will not ^[y]be disturbed or give way [in sudden panic].^(I)
17 
“I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the mason’s level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And waters will flood over the secret [hiding] place.
¹⁸ 
“Your covenant with death will be annulled,
And your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you will become its trampling ground.
¹⁹ 
“As often as it passes through, it will seize you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night,
And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
²⁰ 
For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself [and likewise all their preparations are inadequate].
²¹ 
For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the Valley of Gibeon,
To do His work, His unusual and incredible work,
And to accomplish His work, His extraordinary work.^(J)
22 
Now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or the bands which bind you will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts [a decree]
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

²³ 
Listen and hear my voice;
Listen carefully and hear my words.
²⁴ 
Does the farmer plow all day to plant seed?
Does he continually dig furrows and harrow his ground [after it is prepared]?
²⁵ 
When he has leveled its surface,
Does he not sow [the seed of] dill and scatter cumin,
And plant wheat in rows,
And barley in its [intended] place and ^[z]rye within its border?
²⁶ 
For his God instructs [him correctly] and teaches him properly.
²⁷ 
For dill is not threshed with a sharp threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.
²⁸ 
Bread grain is crushed fine,
Indeed, the farmer does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹ 
This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.