Beginning
Only the Lord can Help
31 “How terrible it will be for those who go down to[a] Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the chariot,
because there are so many,
and in charioteers,[b]
because they are so strong—
but do not look to[c] the Holy One of Israel
or seek the Lord!
2 Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster;
he does not take back his words,
but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil
and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are men, not God,
and their horses are physical,[d] not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
anyone who assists will stumble,
and the one who is helped will fall;
and they will all perish together.”
The Lord will Defend Jerusalem
4 For this is what the Lord told me:
“Just as a lion or a young lion growls over his objects of prey,[e]—
even when a whole band of shepherds is called out against it,
it is not alarmed at their shouting
or disturbed by their clamor—
so the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will come down
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 Like birds hovering overhead,
so the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will protect Jerusalem;
he will shield and deliver it;
and[f] he will pass over[g] and bring it to safety.[h]
6 Turn back to him, yes to him whom[i] your people[j] have so greatly betrayed, you people of Israel. 7 For at that time,[k] everyone will throw away their[l] idols of silver and their[m] idols of gold that your hands have sinfully made for yourselves.
8 “Then Assyria will fall by a sword
that is not from human beings only[n]—
a sword not wielded by mortal beings will devour them.
They will flee from the sword,
and their young men will be put to forced labor.
9 Their stronghold will vanish by reason of terror,
and their commanders will be filled with alarm
because of the battle standard,”
declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
The Government of Justice
32 “Look, a king will reign in righteousness,
and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a hiding place from[o] storms,
like streams of water in the desert,
in[p] the shadow of a great rock in an exhausted[q] land.
3 Then the eyes of those who can see won’t turn away,
and the ears of those who can hear will listen.
4 The hearts of reckless people will understand sound judgment,
and the tongues of those who stammer will be ready to speak clearly.
5 People will no longer call a fool[r] noble,
nor will a bad person be declared honorable.
6 For fools utter contempt,
and their minds plot[s] wrong things:
practicing ungodliness,
spreading lies about the Lord,
leaving the pangs of hungry people unsatisfied,
and depriving thirsty people of drink.
7 Furthermore, the crimes of bad people are evil;
and[t] they devise wicked schemes,
destroying the poor[u] with lying words,
even when needy people plead[v] a just cause.
8 But those who are decent plan noble things,
and by noble deeds they stand.”
A Rebuke for Complacent Women
9 “As for you ladies of leisure—
Get up and listen to my voice!
You daughters who feel so complacent—
hear what I have to say!
10 In little more than a year,
you complacent women will shudder;
for the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not[w] come.
11 So tremble, you ladies of leisure!
Shudder, you daughters who feel so complacent!
Strip down and make yourselves naked down to the waist![x]
Then wrap yourself in[y] sackcloth and beat your breasts.[z]
12 For people will be beating their breasts
in mourning[aa] over the pleasant fields,
over the fruitful vines,
13 and over the land of my people
overgrown with thorns and[ab] briers—
yes, over all the houses of merriment
and over this city of revelry.
14 “For the palace will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
the citadel and watchtower
will become barren wastes forever,
the delight of wild donkeys,
and a pasture for[ac] flocks,
15 until the Spirit from on high is poured upon us,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.”
Restoration of God’s Reign
16 “Then justice will live in the wilderness,
and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful dwellings,
in secure homes and in undisturbed resting places.
19 But it will hail when the forest comes down,
and the wood[ad] will be leveled completely.
20 How happy you will be, sowing your seed beside every stream,
and[ae] letting your[af] cattle and donkeys range freely!”
God’s Judgment
33 “How terrible it will be for you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed yourself!
And how terrible it will be for you, traitor,
one whom[ag] people have not betrayed!
When you have sunk so low in[ah] destroying others,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.”
A Prayer for Grace
2 “Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you;
and[ai] be our strength[aj] every morning,
our salvation in times of trouble.
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee;
at your silence,[ak] the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder is gathered as when grasshoppers gather;
just like[al] locusts pounce, people have pounced[am] on it.
5 “The Lord is exalted, for he lives on high;
he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be a sure foundation for your times,
abundance and salvation,[an] wisdom and knowledge —
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.”
Israel’s Unenviable Plight
7 “Listen! Their brave men cry out in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted;
travelers have quit the road.
The enemy[ao] has broken treaties;
he despises their witnesses,[ap]
and respects no one.
9 The land mourns and wastes away;
Lebanon feels ashamed and withers.
Sharon is like a desert;
Bashan[aq] and Carmel shake off their leaves.”
God is Exalted
10 “Now I’ll rise up,” the Lord has said,[ar]
“now I’ll exalt myself;
now I’ll be lifted up.
11 You conceive dried grass, you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be burned as if to ashes;
like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.
13 “Those who are far away have heard[as] what I’ve done;
and those that are near have acknowledged[at] my power.
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”
15 The one who walks righteously and has spoken[au] sincere words,
who rejects gain from extortion
and waves his hand,
rejecting bribes,
who blocks his ears from hearing plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against seeing evil—
16 this is the one who will live on the heights;
his refuge will be a mountain fortress.
His food will be supplied,
and his water will be guaranteed.
17 “Your eyes will see the king in his elegance,
and will view a land that stretches afar.
18 Your mind will ponder at that time of terror:
‘Where is the king’s accountant?
Where is the one who weighed the revenue?
Where is the officer who supervises[av] the towers?’
19 No longer will you[aw] see those arrogant people,
those people with their obscure speech you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language you cannot understand.
20 “Look at Zion, city of our festivals![ax]
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed abode, an immovable tent;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor will any of its ropes be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
our source[ay] of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
where no stately ship can sail.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
and the Lord is our lawgiver;
and the Lord is our king,
and it is he who will save us.
23 “Your rigging hangs loose;
it cannot reliably[az] hold the mast in its place,
and the sail cannot spread out.[ba]
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided —
even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 And no one living there will say, ‘I am ill.’
The people living there will have their sins forgiven.”
Judgment of the Nations
34 “Come near, you nations, to listen,
and pay attention, you peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes out of it.
2 For the Lord is angry against all the nations,
and furious against all their armies.
He has doomed them to destruction,
and[bb] given them up to be slaughtered.[bc]
3 Their slain[bd] will be thrown out;
and as for their dead bodies—
their stench will ascend;
the[be] mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4 The valleys will be split,
all the stars[bf] in the heavens will fall down,[bg]
and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll.
All their starry host will fade away
like leaves withering on a vine,
or fruit withering on a fig tree.
5 For my sword will be seen[bh] in the heavens.
Look! It descends in judgment on Edom,
on the people I have doomed to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword bathed in blood;
it’s covered[bi] with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
and with fat from the kidneys of rams.”
Judgment on Bozrah and Edom
“For the Lord holds a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will fall together with them—
young steers and mighty bulls.
Their land will be drenched[bj] with blood,
and their soil will be swollen with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for Zion’s cause.
9 Edom’s[bk] streams will be turned into burning sulfur,
and its dust into sulfur;
its land will become pitch.
10 It will burn night and day,
and will never be extinguished.
Its smoke will rise from generation to generation,
and it will lie desolate forever and ever.
And no one will pass through it.[bl]
11 “But hawks and hedgehogs will possess it;
owls and ravens will nest in it.
God[bm] will stretch out over it a measuring line, and chaos,[bn]
and plumb lines of emptiness, and its nobles.[bo]
12 They will name it “No Kingdom There,”
and all its princes will come to nothing.
13 Thorns will grow over its palaces,
nettles and brambles its fortresses.
It will become a haunt for jackals,
a home for ostriches.
14 And desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and goat-demons will call out to each other.
There also Liliths[bp] will settle,
and find for themselves[bq] a resting place.
15 Owls[br] will nest there, lay eggs,
hatch them, and care for their young
under the shadow of their wings;[bs]
yes[bt] indeed, vultures will gather there,
each one with its mate.”
The Certainty of God’s Deliverance
16 “Study and read from the book of the Lord:
And not one[bu] will be missing,
each will not long for its mate.[bv]
For it is the mouth of the Lord that has issued the order,
and it is his Spirit that has gathered them.
17 It is he who has allotted their portions,[bw]
and his hand has divided it for them with a measuring line forever.[bx]
They will possess it forever;[by]
from generation to generation they will live in it.”[bz]
The Future of Israel’s Land
35 “The desert and the dry land will rejoice;
the desert will celebrate and blossom. Like crocuses,
2 it will burst into bloom,
and rejoice with gladness and shouts of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.[ca]
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
and support the stumbling knees.
4 Say to those with anxious hearts,
‘Be strong, do not be afraid!
Here is your God—
he will bring[cb] vengeance,
he will bring[cc] divine retribution,
and he will save you.’
5 “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unblocked;
6 then the lame will leap like deer,
and the tongues of speechless people will sing for joy.
Yes, waters will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will run[cd] through the desert;
7 the burning sands will become a pool,
and the thirsty ground fountains of water.
In the haunts of jackals there will be
a verdant resting place with[ce] reeds and rushes.”
God’s Holy Highway
8 “A highway will be there—yes, there—[cf]
and people will call it[cg] ‘The Holy Way’.[ch]
As for unclean people,
they will not journey on it,
but it will be for whomever[ci] is traveling on that Way—
not even fools will get lost.
9 No lions will be there—
no—[cj] nor will any ferocious beasts get up on it,
and[ck] they will not be found there.
“But the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the Lord’s ransomed ones will return
and enter Zion with singing.
Everlasting joy will rest upon their heads,
gladness and joy will overtake them,[cl]
and sorrow and mourning will flee away.”
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.