Beginning
31 O how bad it will be for you who look to the south
to Egypt for help and depend on her horses,
Who trust in its many chariots and fix your hopes on its strong drivers.
Yet you do not look to the Holy One of Israel for relief
or even bother to consult Him.
2 God is both wise and willing to wreak disaster;
He does not second guess Himself or backtrack on what He says.
God will amass all divine power against those who do evil
and against whoever aids and abets them.
3 As for Egypt, why do you rely on them?
They are great, yes,
but merely human, not God—their steeds just creatures, not spirits.
But when the Eternal reaches out and makes His power felt,
those who lent their help will stumble; those who looked for help will fall.
Together they will be routed and killed.
4 Eternal One (to Isaiah): Just as a lion or a young lion fiercely growls over his prey,
even while shepherds band together to fight him off,
A lion won’t be scared off by their shouts
or deterred by their noise and threatening gestures.
So, too, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will descend
to defend Mount Zion and its hill without fail.
In Scripture God is often described as having the strength of a lion. The power and skill of the lion are legendary. Here the picture Isaiah paints is of a hungry lion fixated on his prey, refusing to be distracted by the threats of its victim’s would-be protectors. The prophet uses this picture to inspire and encourage the faithful. Zion and the people of His holy mountain are God’s great prize; they are His possession, and He is not about to give them up. He will defend His prize and not share it with the predator-nations that surround Judah. Isaiah is clear in declaring that God will use these predators for His purposes, but He will not be frustrated by their schemes.
5 As birds hover protectively over their nests
so the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will guard Jerusalem from all harm.
Not only that, but God will protect and save it,
rescue and keep it.
6 So give up, children of Israel. Return, people of promise, to God against whom you so blatantly rebelled. 7 For in that day you’ll see the worthlessness of the idols you so wickedly made, and everyone will throw away their gods of silver and gold.
8 Eternal One: And then, the one you fear, Assyria, will fall and be defeated,
not by the sword of man but by the sword of God.
It will try to escape the edge of the blade,
but its young men will be captured and put to forced labor.
9 The very thing the Assyrians thought was permanent
will disappear into thin air, fleeing in fear;
And the discipline of their military will come to nothing.
They’ll panic and run.
This is what the Eternal, whose fire burns in Zion, whose furnace blazes in Jerusalem, has said.
32 Look, a good king, right with God,
along with princes, too, will rule with justice.
2 For the people they’ll be like cover from the storm, a wall against the wind.
They’ll be like streams of water in a dry place
and the cool shade of a giant boulder in the burning sun.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will see indeed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Careless and impulsive minds will take time to really understand,
and clear speech will return to the shy stutterer.
5 Fools will no longer be called noble-minded,
nor will criminals be respected.
6 For fools utter nonsense, and their minds are preoccupied with evil;
they regularly misrepresent the Eternal in what they say and do,
Leaving true seekers frustrated and confused,
the hungry with empty stomachs and the thirsty with parched mouths.
7 As for the criminals—their schemes are vile and evil;
they are constantly looking for ways to hurt the innocent,
To ruin the poor with their lies, and to twist a justified complaint.
8 By contrast, those who are noble have noble intentions,
and they stand confidently by their honorable words and actions.
Isaiah looks down the corridors of history to see the arrival of a good king who will do what is right, repair what is broken, and restore justice to the oppressed. More than any other prophet, Isaiah speaks of this coming king, God’s anointed ruler. When the Messiah comes, He will shelter His people from harm and deal finally, decisively with evil. No longer will wrong be called right, folly be celebrated, evil triumph, and complacency and apathy rule the day. When this good king arrives, the world—with all of its problems—will be set right.
9 Get up, you women who lie around in your life of ease;
hear my voice, you careless daughters, and listen to what I have to say.
10 Soon—in a year and a few days—you will shudder and shake;
your mindless lounging will come to an end, careless daughters.
For the wine you so enjoyed will be gone, with none to replace it.
There will be no fruit, no grapes to mash and juice.
11 Be worried, women of ease;
be bothered and anxious, careless daughters.
Strip off your fine clothes and replace them
with sackcloth; dress for mourning.
12 Beat your breasts over the loss of those lush vineyards,
over the vines, heavy with fruit.
13 Mourn over my people’s land, verdant and lush,
now the habitat of thorns and briars—
Yes, for all the happy homes and vibrant cities.
14 Palaces and bustling cities will be abandoned;
hilltop posts and watchtowers will serve as caves for animals;
wild donkeys and flocks will enjoy the wide open spaces.
15 So it will be until God pours out the Spirit from up above,
and the land comes alive again—desert to fertile field, fertile field to forest.
16 Then justice and truth will settle in the desert places,
and righteousness will infuse the fertile land.
17 Then righteousness will yield peace, and the quiet and confidence
that attend righteousness will be present forever.
18 My people’s homes and hometowns will be filled with peace;
they’ll relax, safe and secure.
19 Before such reconciliation, there will be cold, hard hail,
raining down when the forests fall and the cities are razed to the ground.
20 And you, you who plant on streams’ edges
and let your oxen and donkeys range free,
You will be happy.
33 Oh, how bad it will be for the one who ruins and is not yet ruined,
who lies, cheats, and steals without experiencing the same in return.
It will come back to you. When you’ve exhausted your destroying,
you will find yourself destroyed,
And your treachery will come back to haunt you at the treacherous hands of others.
If Assyria thinks it has a license to do whatever it wishes, to destroy whatever is in its path, to betray with impunity, then it is sure to be surprised when God shows up to rescue His people.
2 We’ve been waiting for you, Eternal One, to come and shower us with grace.
In the morning, be our strength; in times of trouble, be what saves us.
3 People flee when they hear the crashing thunder of Your voice;
nations scatter when You arise.
4 The spoil of the nations is gathered—swiftly and decisively—
as a hungry locust gathers, as a swarm of locusts rushes to strip the land.
5 The Eternal One is high above it all; for that is where He lives;
He will fill Zion (that heaven on earth) with justice and all manner of doing right.
6 God will be what holds things together,
fast and firm during these times.
He will be boundless salvation,
the roots and fruits of wisdom and knowledge.
Zion’s most precious possession
is the people’s awe-filled respect of the Eternal.
Reverence for God is crucial to the welfare of God’s people, regardless of where they live.
7 Look, their stoutest men run screaming in the streets;
their messengers of peace have broken down in bitter tears.
8 The roads are empty; no one ventures out.
The Assyrians have broken their treaty,
Disavowing the promises they made before witnesses.
They show no respect for anyone.
9 The land itself, like a new widow, grieves and wastes away.
Lush Lebanon decays, once-rose-covered Sharon looks like a desert,
And the tree-topped mountains of Bashan and Carmel
are completely denuded.
10 Eternal One: Now’s the time for action. I will arise.
People will esteem Me and recognize My greatness.
11 For you have produced nothing but chaff and worthless stubble.
Your breath is a fire that will sweep back and consume you.
12 Your people will be burned to ashes
like thornbushes cut down and burned up in the fire.
13 Listen well, wherever you are; make sure you know
that I have accomplished this.
Near and far, you’d better take note of My incomparable strength.
14 Those who do wrong, the guilty and criminal in Zion, are terrified;
in the presence and power of God, the godless tremble.
They ask themselves,
“Who could possibly survive this all-consuming conflagration?
Who can live through the unrelenting heat, the flames, the smoke?”
15 I will tell you who: the one who goes through life with integrity and
speaks truth with conviction, refusing to take part in fraud and abuse,
Whose hands are free of bribes, whose ears are covered to violent schemes,
and whose eyes are shut to the temptations of evil.
16 That one will survive and prosper on the heights of Zion
and take comfort in the shelter of rock fortresses,
And never be hungry, never thirsty.
17 Ah, you will see for yourself the beauty of the One who rules over all.
Your eyes will take in a land that stretches far beyond the horizon.
18 You will think back on the terror you experienced:
“Where is the officer who counted the plunder, weighed out our taxes, and calculated our defenses?”
19 You will no longer see rude and arrogant people in charge of the city,
and you will no longer have to listen to their strange babbling and incomprehensible muttering.
20 Ah, just look at Zion! The city where we celebrate,
where we make our God-appointed feasts.
You’ll see a Jerusalem at peace, untroubled, undisturbed,
like a permanent tent with stakes driven deep and ropes that never break.
21 There, the Eternal, so splendid and regal,
will be for us a place of broad rivers and wide canals.
No large boats will pass through them—
no mighty ships will sail their waters.
22 For the Eternal One is our Judge; He has prescribed our laws;
He rules over us, and He is the One who will save us.
23 You who try to sail in will be unable,
as if your lines are limp, your mast is wobbly, and your sails are furled.
The spoils in your hold will be divided among the deserving.
Even those who can hardly walk will take what you had taken.
24 And nobody who lives in God’s city will say he doesn’t feel well.
For everyone will be washed clean and forgiven for their wrongdoing.
34 Gather around, everyone. All peoples take note!
The earth and everything in it,
The world and all that comes from it should hear this, too,
2 For the Eternal One is furious with all the nations. He has had it with their armies.
He has marked them for destruction, and has given them over to slaughter.
3 Their blood will run like rivers down the mountains,
their corpses tossed out, heaped up, and randomly piled in a great stinking mound.
4 All the stars in the once-vibrant heavens will vanish:
and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll.
All the starry hosts will wither and fall,
like grape leaves crisped by fall or fig leaves shriveled by winter.[a]
5 Eternal One: For once my sword has had its fill in the heavens;
I’ll set it against Edom, those people who despise My own.
I have marked Edom for judgment and destruction.
6 The Eternal One indeed has a blood-gulping sword.
It drinks up fat and blood from the innards
And flesh of lambs, goats, and rams—the sacrifice.
And now the Eternal is coming to sacrifice the Edomites—
A great slaughter in their capital Bozrah,
7 And great wild cattle will be slaughtered
along with them—bulls, oxen, and steers—
Until their land is soggy with blood and oozes with their fat.
8 For the Eternal has determined a time for retaliation,
a time to vindicate Zion, ravaged by Babylon and Edom.
The Edomites take advantage of Judah during the Babylonian conquest. Like parasites they eat away at the land, the strength, and the resources of Judah. Edom is a place of incorrigible violence, filled with devastating evils. In a word, Edom has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. God cannot let that stand, so He comes to vindicate His covenant people. The image Isaiah paints here of Edom and its grim future is hellish. The great, bustling civilization of Edom is reduced to nothing and eventually annihilated; its land becomes a wasteland, the haunt of fearsome desert creatures.
9 Edom’s waters will be made thick and black as oily pitch.
Its dust will turn to brimstone, and the land will ignite with burning pitch.
10 Edom’s fiery judgment will burn day and night for all time;
the smoke from it will ascend forever.
For generations to come it will be a wasteland,
and no person will make it their home ever again.
11 Desert owls and screech owls, great owls and ravens
will take up residence in that bleak place.
When God measures the land,
desolation will be its width and chaos will mark its length.
12 The land will be known as No Kingdom.
No nobles are there to name a king. Its line of princes will cease.
13 Its great towers will be covered in thorns.
Nasty nettles and thistles will overrun its strong cities.
Wild jackals will slink around the premises,
and ostriches will make themselves at home.
14 Among the howling and hissing wild creatures and demons,
Lilith herself, demoness of the night, will call Edom her haunt,
A place to recoup and rest between her devastating forays.
15 Owls of all sorts will take up habitation there,
nesting and laying their eggs.
They will hatch their young and cover them beneath their wings.
Vultures and their mates will gather there.
16 You can look for it and read all about it in the book of the Eternal One.
None of these creatures will be missing and none will lack a mate
Because His voice has given the order
and His Spirit has gathered them in that place.
17 He has determined where they should live;
He has handed it over to them and it will be theirs for all time.
They will live there, one generation after the next, forever.
35 Imagine the wilderness whooping for joy,
the desert’s unbridled happiness with its spring flowers.
2 It will happen! The deserts will come alive with new growth budding and blooming,
singing and celebrating with sheer delight.
The glory of Lebanon’s cedars and the majesty of Carmel and Sharon
will spill over to the deserts.
The glory of the Eternal One will be on full display there,
and they will revel in the majestic splendor of our God.
3 So, with confidence and hope in this message,
strengthen those with feeble hands, shore up the weak-kneed and weary.
4 Tell those who worry, the anxious and fearful,
“Take strength; have courage! There’s nothing to fear.
Look, here—your God! Right here is your God!
The balance is shifting; God will right all wrongs.
None other than God will give you success.
He is coming to make you safe.”
5 Then, such healing, such repair: the eyes of the blind will be opened;
the ears of the deaf will be clear.
6-7 The lame will leap like deer excited;
they will run and jump tirelessly and gracefully.
The stutterer, the stammerer, and the tongue of the mute
will sing out loud and clear in joyful song.
Waters will pour through the deserts;
streams will flow in godforsaken lands.
Burning sands and hardened wastelands will become pools, shimmering with life;
the thirsty ground will drink deep from refreshing springs.
Abandoned villages where predators once lurked will become grassy playgrounds.
Dry, arid land will turn lush and green.
8 And the road to this happy renovation will be clearly signed.
People will declare the way itself to be holy—the route, “sacred.”
Only those who are right with God
will be able to walk its pleasant path,
And nobody—no visitor, no dimwit—will get lost along it.
9 There’ll be no lions lying in wait, no predators or dangers in sight.
Only those made right with God will journey there.
10 Those whom the Eternal One has recalled from a punishing exile,
they will go along so easily. They will walk this path,
Come waltzing to Zion, singing their way
to that place of right relation to God.
An aura of joy never-ending will attend them;
they will clasp gladness and joy to their hearts,
While sadness and despair evaporate into thin air.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.