Beginning
Tyre is Rebuked
23 A message[a] concerning Tyre.
“Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is destroyed
and is without house or harbor!
From the land of Cyprus[b]
it was revealed to them.
2 “Be silent,[c] you inhabitants of the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea,[d]
3 and were on mighty waters.
Her revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
and she became the marketplace of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, because the sea[e] has spoken,
the fortress of the sea:
I have neither been in labor nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish
at the report about Tyre.
6 “You who are crossing over[f] to Tarshish—
Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exciting[g] city,
that was founded long ago,
whose feet carried her
to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who has planned this
against Tyre,
that bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,[h]
whose traders were the most renowned on earth?
9 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has planned it—
to neutralize all the hubris of grandeur,[i]
to discredit all the renowned men of earth.
10 “Cultivate[j] your land like the Nile,
you daughter of Tarshish;
for there is no longer a harbor.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has made[k] kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has issued orders concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
‘You will revel no longer,[l]
you virgin daughter of Sidon,
now crushed.
Get up, cross over to Cyprus—
but even there you will find no rest.’”
Tyre’s Desolation and Restoration
13 “Look at the land of the Chaldeans!
This is a people that no longer exist;
Assyria destined her[m] for desert creatures.[n]
They raised up her[o] siege towers,
they stripped her fortresses bare
and turned her into a ruin.
14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
because your[p] stronghold is destroyed!”
15 It will happen at that time that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the span of a king’s life. Then, at the end of those 70 years, it will turn out for Tyre as in the prostitute’s song:[q]
16 “Take a harp;
walk around the city,
you forgotten whore!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
and perhaps you’ll be remembered.”
17 At the end of 70 years, the Lord will deal with Tyre, at which time she’ll return to her courtesan’s trade, and prostitute herself with the kingdoms[r] of the world on the surface of the earth. 18 Nevertheless, her profits and her earnings will be dedicated[s] to the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded—but her profits will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence,[t] for abundant food and choice clothing.
The Earth is Judged
24 “Watch out! The Lord[u] is about to depopulate the land
and devastate it;
he will turn it upside down[v]
and scatter its inhabitants.
2 It will be the same for the lay people as for priests,
the same for servants as for their masters,
for female servants as for their mistresses,
for buyers as for sellers,
for lenders as for borrowers,
and for creditors as for debtors.
3 The earth will be utterly depopulated
and completely laid waste —
for the Lord has spoken this message.[w]
4 “The earth dries up and withers;
the world languishes and fades away;
heaven fades away,
along with the earth.[x]
5 The earth lies defiled
beneath its inhabitants;
because they have transgressed the laws,[y]
violated the statutes,
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse keeps on consuming,[z]
and its inhabitants are declared guilty.
Furthermore, the inhabitants of earth are ablaze,
and few people are left.
7 The new wine evaporates;
the vine and the oil[aa] dry up;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 “The celebrations of the tambourine have ended,
the noise of the jubilant has stopped,
and the mirth that the harp produces has ended.
9 No longer do they drink wine
accompanied by singing;
even beer[ab] tastes bitter to those who drink it.
10 The chaotic city lies broken down;
every house is closed up
so that no one can enter them.[ac]
11 There is an outcry in the streets over wine;
all cheer turns to gloom;
the fun times of the earth are banished.
12 Desolation remains in the city
whose gates lie battered into ruins.
13 So it will be on the earth
and among the nations—
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as gleanings when the grape harvest has ended.”
Glorifying God
14 “They raise their voices;
they shout for joy;[ad]
from the west[ae] they shout aloud[af]
over the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore, you in the east,[ag]
give glory to the Lord!
You in the coastlands of the sea,
give glory to the name of the Lord God of Israel!
16 From the ends of the earth
we hear songs of praise:
‘Glory to the Righteous One!’
“But I say, ‘I am pining away,
I’m pining away.
How terrible things are for me!
For treacherous people betray—
treacherous people are betraying with treachery!’”
The Universal Impact of Judgment
17 “Terror and pit and snare are coming in your direction,
you inhabitants of the earth!
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
For the windows of judgment[ah] from above are opened,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19 The earth is utterly shattered,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth[ai] reels to and fro like a drunkard;
it sways like a hut;[aj]
its transgression lies so heavy upon it,
that it falls, never to rise again.
21 “And it will come about at that time,[ak]
the Lord will punish
the armies of the exalted ones in the heavens,[al]
and the rulers[am] of the earth on earth.
22 They[an] will be herded together[ao]
into the Pit;[ap]
they will be shut up in prison,
and after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be embarrassed
and the sun ashamed,
for the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem;
and in the presence of its elders
there will be glory.”
Praise to the Victorious God
25 Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have done marvelous things,
plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth.
2 For you have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified city into a ruin;
the foreigners’ citadel[aq] is no longer a city—
it will never be rebuilt!
3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat—
for the blistering attack[ar] from the ruthless
is like a rainstorm beating against a wall,
5 and the noise of foreigners is like the heat of the desert.
Just as you subdue heat by the shade of clouds,
so the victory songs of violent men will be stilled.
Celebration of the Righteous
6 “On this mountain,[as] the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food,
a banquet of well-aged wines—
rich food full of marrow,
and refined wines of the finest[at] vintage
7 And on this mountain,[au] he will swallow up
the burial[av] shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations—
8 he has swallowed up[aw] death forever!
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and he will take away the disgrace of his people
from the entire earth.”
for the Lord has spoken.
9 “And you[ax] will say at that time,[ay]
‘Look! It’s the Lord![az] This is our God!
We waited for him,
and he saved us.
This is the Lord!
We waited for him,
so let us rejoice,
and we will[ba] be glad that he has saved us.”
The Misery of Moab
10 For the Lord’s power[bb] will rest on this mountain,[bc]
but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him,
just as straw is trodden down
in the slime of[bd] a manure pit.
11 They will spread out their hands in the thick of it,
just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
but the Lord will bring down their pride,
together with the cleverness of their hands.
12 He brings down the high fortifications of your walls
and lays them low;
he will raze them[be] to the ground,
right down to the dust.
The Song of Redeemed Judah
“We have a strong city;
God crafts victory,
its walls and ramparts.[bh]
2 Open your[bi] gates,
so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.
3 You will keep perfectly peaceful[bj]
the one whose mind remains focused on you,
because he remains[bk] in you.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord God[bl] you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has made drunk[bm]
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low[bn] to the ground
casting it down to the dust,
6 by the feet of the oppressed who trample it,[bo]
by the footsteps of the needy.[bp]
7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O Upright One,[bq]
you make safe[br] the way of justice.[bs]
8 Yes, Lord, in the path of your judgments we wait;[bt]
your name and your Law[bu] are the[bv] soul’s desire.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me searches for you.
For when your judgments come upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
they don’t learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they act perversely
and do not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 “Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
And[bw] let them see your zeal for your[bx] people
and be put to shame—
yes, let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them!
12 Lord, you will decide[by] peace for us,
for you have indeed accomplished
all our achievements for us.
13 O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but through you alone
we acknowledge your name.
14 The dead won’t live,
and[bz] the departed spirits won’t rise—
to that end, you punished and destroyed them,
then locked away[ca] all memory of them.
15 “But you have enlarged the nation,[cb] Lord;
you have enlarged the nation.[cc]
You have gained honor;
you have extended all the borders of the land.
16 Lord, they[cd] came to you in distress;
they poured out their secret[ce] prayer
when your chastenings were[cf] afflicting[cg] them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman writhes
and cries out during her labor
when she is about to give birth,
so were we because of you, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, writhing in pain,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not won your[ch] victory on earth,
nor have the inhabitants of the world been born.”
The Resurrection of the Dead
19 “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy![ci]
For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms
and shut your doors[cj] behind you.
Hide yourselves[ck] for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 For see, the Lord is coming from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins;
the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it,
and will no longer conceal its slain.”
Israel’s Deliverance
27 At that time,[cl] with his fierce, mighty, and powerful sword, the Lord will punish the gliding serpent Leviathan—the coiling serpent Leviathan—and he will kill the dragon that’s in the sea.
2 At that time,[cm]
“A fermenting[cn] vineyard—
sing about it!
3 I, the Lord, watch over it
And I water it continuously.
I guard it night and day
so no one can harm it.
4 I am not angry.
If only the vineyard[co] could give me briers and thorns[cp] to battle,
I would march against it,
and[cq] I would burn it all up.
5 Or else let it lay claim to my protection;
let it make peace with me,
yes, let it make peace with me.”
6 In times to come, Jacob will take root,
and[cr] Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has the Lord[cs] struck them down,
just as he struck down those who struck them?
Or have they been killed,
just as their killers were killed?
8 Measure by measure,[ct]
in their exile you contended with them;
with his fierce blast he removed them,
as on a day when the east wind blows.
9 By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
and this will be the full harvest
that comes from the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
like pulverized chalkstones,
no Asherah[cu] poles or incense altars will be left standing.
10 For the fortified city stands desolate,
a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert;
calves graze there,
and there they lie down
and strip bare its branches.
11 When its branches are dry,
they are broken off,
and women come and kindle fires with them,
since this is a people who show no consideration.
That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion;
the One who created them shows them no mercy.
Assyria and Egypt Exiles Redeemed
12 At that time,[cv] the Lord will winnow grain from the Euphrates River[cw] channel to the Wadi[cx] of Egypt,[cy] and you will be gathered in one by one, O people of Israel. 13 Furthermore, at that time,[cz] a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled[da] to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.
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