Beginning
Ode of Ethiopia
18 Oy! The land of whirring wings,
which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
2 that sends ambassadors by sea,
in papyrus vessels upon the water.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall
and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide,
a nation powerful and oppressive,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
and dwellers on earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
look!
when a shofar is blown,
listen!
4 For so Adonai has said to me:
“I will remain quiet, and look from My dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in harvest heat.”
5 For before the harvest, as soon as blossoming is over
and flower becomes ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
He will cut back and remove the twigs.
6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey
and the beasts of the land.
The birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the land will winter upon them.
7 At that time tribute will be brought to Adonai-Tzva’ot
from a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
from a people feared far and wide,
a nation powerful and oppressive,
whose land the rivers divide—
to the place of the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot—Mount Zion!
Egypt Will Know Adonai
19 The burden of Egypt:
Behold, Adonai rides upon a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt.
Egypt’s idols tremble before Him
and Egypt’s heart melts within them.
2 I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian.
Everyone will fight against his brother,
and everyone against his neighbor—
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit of Egypt will drain within it,
and I will confuse its counsel.
So they will resort to idols, charmers,
mediums and familiar spirits.
4 I will give the Egyptians
into the hand of a cruel master—
a fierce king will rule over them.
It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
5 The waters from the sea will dry up,
and the river will be drained dry.
6 Then the channels will stink.
The streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will rot.
7 The bulrushes by the Nile,
by the mouth of the Nile,
and everything sown by the Nile
will wither, blow away and be no more.
8 Then the fishermen will lament.
All who cast hooks in the Nile will mourn,
and those who spread nets on the waters
will languish.
9 Moreover the workers of fine flax,
and the weavers of white cloth will be ashamed.
10 Her pillars will be crushed,
All hired workers will be grieved in soul.
11 The princes of Zoan are utter fools.
Pharaoh’s wisest counselors are stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am the son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you now!
Let them know what Adonai-Tzva’ot
has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are fools.
The princes of Noph are deceived.
The cornerstone of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14 Adonai has mixed within her
a spirit of dizziness.
They make Egypt stagger in every work,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15 There will be no work for Egypt to do,
for head or tail, palm branch or rush.
16 In that day Egypt will be like women trembling with fear, because of the shaking hand of Adonai-Tzva’ot, which He is about to wave over it. 17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt. Anyone who mentions it will be afraid, because of what Adonai-Tzva’ot has surely purposed against it.
18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan, swearing allegiance to Adonai-Tzva’ot. One used to be called the City of the Sun.
19 In that day there will be an altar to Adonai in the middle of the land of Egypt, and next to the border a pillar to Adonai. 20 It will be as a sign and a witness to Adonai-Tzva’ot in the land of Egypt. For they will cry to Adonai because of oppressors, and He will send them a savior and defender—and he will deliver them. 21 So Adonai will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Adonai in that day. They will worship with sacrifice and offering. They will vow to Adonai, and fulfill it. 22 So Adonai will strike Egypt—striking yet healing—so they will return to Adonai, and He will respond to them and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the earth. 25 For Adonai-Tzva’ot has blessed, saying:
“Blessed is Egypt My people,
and Assyria My handiwork,
and Israel My inheritance.”
Sign of Nakedness
20 In the year that the Tartan[a] came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2 at that time Adonai spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your loins and your sandals from your feet.” So he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then Adonai said: “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so will the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to Egypt’s shame. 5 So they will be dismayed and ashamed, because they hoped in Ethiopia and boasted in Egypt. 6 Then the inhabitants of the coastland will say in that day, ‘Look, such is our hope—there we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”
Watchman, Pay Attention!
21 The burden of the desert by the sea:
As windstorms sweep over the South,
so it comes from the desert,
a terrifying land.
2 A harsh vision has been shown to me:
“The traitor betrays, and the plunderer plunders.
Go up, Elam! Besiege, Media!
I have put an end to all her groaning.”
3 Therefore my body is filled with pain.
Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I am bewildered by what I hear,
terrified by what I see.
4 My heart is bewildered,
terror overwhelms me.
The twilight I longed for
has been turned into trembling.
5 Set the table, spread out the cloth!
Eat! Drink!
“Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!”
6 For Adonai has said to me.
“Go, post a watchman—
let him declare what he sees!
7 When he sees a chariot
with a pair of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels,
let him pay attention—
very close attention!”
8 Then he cried out like a lion:
“Upon the watch tower, Adonai, I stand continually in the daytime,
and stay at my post every night.
9 Look! Here comes a chariot of men,
with a pair of horsemen.”
Then one answered and said,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods
are broken on the ground.”
10 O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,
what I heard from Adonai Tzva’ot, God of Israel,
I have declared to you.
11 The burden of Dumah[b]:
One calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“Morning comes, yet also it is night.”
If you would inquire, inquire.
Come back again.”
13 The burden of Arabia:
In the desert brush of Arabia you will stay for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 To him who is thirsty bring water,
inhabitants of the land of Tema,
meet the fugitive with food.
15 For they fled from swords,
from drawn sword,
from bent bow
and distress of war.
16 For thus Adonai said to me, “Within a year (as with the years of a hired worker), all the glory of Kedar will cease, 17 and the remainder of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few. For Adonai God of Israel has spoken.”
Vision of Jerusalem’s Catastrophe
22 The burden of the Valley of Vision:
What is the matter with you now?
For you have gone up to the rooftops.
2 You were full of noise,
a boisterous city, an exultant town?
Your dead were not slain with the sword,
nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
then captured without a bow.
All who were caught were taken into exile together,
though they had fled far off.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me!
Let me weep bitterly—
don’t try to comfort me
about the ruin of the daughter of my people.”
5 For my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot has a day
of panic, trampling and confusion—
in the Valley of Vision—
of tearing down a wall,
a catastrophe on the mountain.
6 Elam took up the quiver,
with chariots of men and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 So it will come to pass that your choicest valleys will be full of chariots and horsemen posted at the gate. 8 So He will expose Judah’s defense, and in that day you will look for the armor in the Forest House. 9 Then you will see the breaches in the walls of the city of David—for they will be many—though you collect the water of the lower pool. 10 Though you counted the houses of Jerusalem, you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You even made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool—but you did not look to the Maker, or consider the One who planned it long before.
12 Now in that day, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will call for weeping and wailing,
for baldness and putting on sackcloth.
13 But instead, there is joy and gladness,
slaughtering cattle and killing sheep,
meat and drinking wine!
“Let’s eat and drink,
for tomorrow we will die!”
14 But Adonai-Tzva’ot revealed in my ears:
“Surely this sin will not be atoned for until you die,”
says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot.
15 Thus says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house: 16 ‘What are you doing here, and who are you to be here, that you cut out a grave for yourself, carving out a tomb on the height, chiseling a crypt for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, strong man, Adonai is about to hurl you headlong, and seize you firmly. 18 He will roll you up tightly and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be the shame of your Master’s house. 19 I will remove you from your post, and pull you down from your station.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him in your robe and fasten your sash on him. I will give your authority into his hands, so he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will set the key[c] of the house of David upon his shoulder—what he opens, no one can shut; what he shuts, and no one can open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a firm place, and he will be a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 They will hang all the glory of his father’s house on him—offspring and posterity, all the small vessels, from bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “the peg that was fastened in a firm place will give way, break away and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off.” For Adonai has spoken.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.