(A)“I have cut off nations;
    their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
    (B)so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
    without a man, without an inhabitant.

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Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as (A)they did.

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11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but (A)they were written down for our instruction, (B)on whom the end of the ages has come.

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Woe to (A)you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of (B)the Cherethites!
(C)The word of the Lord is against you,
    (D)O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you (E)until no inhabitant is left.

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(A)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (B)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, (C)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, (D)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (E)the grinding of the millstones and (F)the light of the lamp. 11 (G)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and (H)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon (I)seventy years.

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24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
    and you have said, (A)With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
    to the far recesses of Lebanon,
(B)to cut down its tallest cedars,
    its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
    its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
    and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
    all (C)the streams (D)of Egypt.

26 (E)“‘Have you not heard
    that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
    what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
    crash into heaps of ruins,

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14 (A)“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all (B)the nations that they had not known. (C)Thus the land they left was desolate, (D)so that no one went to and fro, (E)and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

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The Destruction of Nineveh

(A)The scatterer has come up against you.
    (B)Man the ramparts;
    watch the road;
dress for battle;[a]
    collect all your strength.

For (C)the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
    as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
    and (D)ruined their branches.

The shield of his mighty men is red;
    (E)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
    on the day he musters them;
    the cypress spears are brandished.

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Footnotes

  1. Nahum 2:1 Hebrew gird your loins

18 (A)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, (B)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 (C)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and (D)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of (E)the land of Uz and all the kings of (F)the land of the Philistines ((G)Ashkelon, (H)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of (I)Ashdod); 21 (J)Edom, (K)Moab, and the sons of (L)Ammon; 22 all the kings of (M)Tyre, all the kings of (N)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across (O)the sea; 23 (P)Dedan, (Q)Tema, (R)Buz, and all who cut (S)the corners of their hair; 24 all the (T)kings of Arabia and all the kings of (U)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of (V)Elam, and all the kings of (W)Media; 26 all the kings of (X)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of (Y)Babylon[a] shall drink.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 25:26 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon

36 (A)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

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11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 (A)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, (B)Gozan, (C)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 (D)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

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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.
And 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;
and 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;
and 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.

And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
    and the river will be dry and parched,
and its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
    reeds and rushes will rot away.
There 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.
The (J)fishermen will mourn and lament,
    all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
    who spread nets on the water.
The workers in (K)combed flax will be in despair,
    and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the (L)pillars of the land will be crushed,
    and all who (M)work for pay will be grieved.

11 The 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”?
12 Where then are your (O)wise men?
    Let them tell you
    that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The 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.
14 The 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.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
    that (U)head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

16 In 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. 17 And 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]

19 In 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.

24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, (AJ)a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom 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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 19:3 Or I will swallow up
  2. Isaiah 19:18 Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun

An Oracle Concerning Moab

15 An (A)oracle concerning (B)Moab.

Because (C)Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because (D)Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.
He has gone up to the temple,[a] and to (E)Dibon,
    to the high places[b] to weep;
over (F)Nebo and over (G)Medeba
    Moab (H)wails.
On every head is (I)baldness;
    every beard is shorn;
in the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.
(J)Heshbon and (K)Elealeh cry out;
    their voice is heard as far as (L)Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
    his soul trembles.
My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to (M)Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the (N)ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to (O)Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;
the waters of (P)Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
    the greenery is no more.
(Q)Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Brook of the Willows.
For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
For the waters of (R)Dibon[c] are full of blood;
    for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
(S)a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Hebrew the house
  2. Isaiah 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
  3. Isaiah 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse

10 Woe to those who (A)decree iniquitous decrees,
    and the writers who (B)keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
    and (C)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
What will you do on (D)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come (E)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
    or fall among the slain.
(F)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

Woe to Assyria, (G)the rod of my anger;
    the staff in their hands is my fury!
Against a (H)godless nation I send him,
    and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take (I)spoil and seize plunder,
    and to (J)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
But he (K)does not so intend,
    and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
    and to cut off nations not a few;
for he says:
(L)“Are not my commanders all kings?
(M)Is not (N)Calno like (O)Carchemish?
    Is not (P)Hamath like (Q)Arpad?
    (R)Is not (S)Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to (T)the kingdoms of the idols,
    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and (U)her idols
    (V)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

12 (W)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, (X)he[a] will punish the speech[b] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 (Y)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
    and plunder their treasures;
    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
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 the mouth or chirped.”

15 Shall (Z)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts
    will send wasting sickness among his (AA)stout warriors,
and under his glory (AB)a burning will be kindled,
    like the burning of fire.
17 (AC)The light of Israel will become a fire,
    and (AD)his Holy One a flame,
and (AE)it will burn and devour
    his thorns and briers (AF)in one day.
18 The glory of (AG)his forest and of his (AH)fruitful land
    the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
    that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

20 (AI)In that day (AJ)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more (AK)lean on him who struck them, but (AL)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, (AM)to the mighty God. 22 (AN)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, (AO)only a remnant of them will return. (AP)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, (AQ)who dwell in Zion, (AR)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as (AS)the Egyptians did. 25 For (AT)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And (AU)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck (AV)Midian (AW)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it (AX)as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day (AY)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and (AZ)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”[c]

28 He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through (BA)Migron;
    at Michmash he stores (BB)his baggage;
29 they have crossed over (BC)the pass;
    at (BD)Geba they lodge for the night;
(BE)Ramah trembles;
    (BF)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, O daughter of (BG)Gallim!
    Give attention, O Laishah!
    O poor (BH)Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at (BI)Nob;
    he will shake his fist
    at the mount of (BJ)the daughter of Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    (BK)will lop (BL)the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down (BM)the thickets of the forest with an axe,
    and (BN)Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew I
  2. Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew fruit
  3. Isaiah 10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

31 And I will (A)lay your cities waste and will (B)make your sanctuaries desolate, and (C)I will not smell your pleasing aromas.

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