Bible in 90 Days
Mercy for Israel
14 Yes, the Lord will have compassion on Jacob,
and he will choose Israel once again.
He will settle them in their own land.
Aliens will join them.
They will unite with the house of Jacob.
2 The peoples will take Israel
and bring them back to their own place.
In the Lord’s land the house of Israel will possess the nations
as male and female servants.
They will take their captors captive.
They will rule over their oppressors.
3 On that day, when the Lord will give you rest from your sorrow, rest from your trouble, and rest from the bondage forced upon you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased!
How his fury[a] has ended!”
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 who struck down peoples with fury, blow after blow,
who ruled the nations in anger,
with a persecution that no one restrained.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet.
Everything breaks into song.
8 Yes, the fir trees rejoice with you,
along with the cedars of Lebanon.
They say, “Since the time you were humbled,
no woodcutter has come to cut us down.”
9 The grave below is ready to meet you when you come.
It stirs up the departed spirits to meet you—
all those who once were the rulers of the earth.
It makes all those who were kings over nations
rise from their thrones.
10 They will all respond to you, Babylon.
The spirits all will ask you,
“Have you also become as weak as we are?
Have you become like us?”
11 Your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the sound of your harps.
Maggots are spread out beneath you,
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
you bright morning star,[b] son of the dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven!
I will raise my throne above the stars of God!
I will sit on the mountain of the assembly, in the far north!
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds!
I will make myself like the Most High!”
15 But you will be brought down to the grave,
to the bottom of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you.
They will ask themselves,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms?
17 Is this the man who made the world like a wilderness,
who overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
19 But you will be tossed out of your tomb,
like a rejected branch.
You will be covered with the dead bodies,
with those who have been run through by the sword,
with those who descend into a stone-filled pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20 you will not join them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.
God Will Destroy Babylon
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
so that they may not rise up to inherit the earth
and to cover the world with cities.
22 I will rise up against them,
declares the Lord of Armies.
I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remaining people,
her posterity and progeny,[c] declares the Lord.
23 I will turn it into a marsh, a home for porcupines,[d]
and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,
declares the Lord of Armies.
A Prophecy Against Assyria
24 The Lord of Armies has sworn:
Certainly, this will take place just as I have planned.
It will stand just as I have intended it.
25 I will destroy the Assyrian in my land
and trample him on my mountains.
Then his yoke will be removed from my people,
and his burden will be lifted from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan that has been determined for the whole world.
This is the hand that is stretched out over all nations.
27 For the Lord of Armies has made plans,
and who can stop him?
His hand is stretched out,
and who can turn it back?
A Prophecy Against the Philistines
28 This oracle came during the year that King Ahaz died.
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
From the snake’s root a viper will slither out,
and from its egg a venomous flying serpent[e] will come.
30 The poorest of the poor will eat,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But I will kill your root with famine,
and even those of you who remain will be put to death.
31 Wail, O gate! Howl, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of dust descends from the north,
and no one in its ranks will be left behind.
32 What answer will they give to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has established Zion,
and the afflicted people will take refuge in her.
A Prophecy Against Moab
15 An oracle against Moab.
In one night, Ar[f] of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
In one night, Kir of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
2 They have gone up to the temple at Dibon,
up to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba.
Every head is shaved.
Every beard is cut off.
3 They wear sackcloth in their streets.
On the rooftops and in the public squares, everyone wails.
They all collapse in tears.
4 Heshbon cries out with Elealeh.
Their voice is heard even in Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their spirit is weak.
5 My heart cries out for Moab!
Her refugees[g] flee to Zoar,
to Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the Ascent of Luhith,
weeping all the way.
On the way to Horonaim,
they weep continuously over their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up.
The grass has withered away.
The vegetation has died,
and no green thing remains.
7 So they will carry across the Ravine of Poplars[h]
whatever remains from the wealth they acquired
and from the supplies they stored up.
8 For a cry has echoed around the borders of Moab.
The wailing reaches to Eglaim
and all the way to Be’er Elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,[i]
and I will bring still more on Dimon.
I will bring a lion upon the refugees of Moab
and upon the survivors who remain in the land.
16 Send the tribute ram for the ruler of the land,
from Selah toward the wilderness,
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 At the fords of the Arnon, the daughters of Moab will be
like birds fleeing from a scattered nest.
3 Get advice and make a decision.
At high noon make your shade as dark as night.
Hide the refugees.
Do not betray the fugitive.
4 Let the refugees from Moab stay with you.
Be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer.
For the extortionist is no longer present.
Violence has ceased,
and the oppressors have disappeared from the land.
5 A throne will be established in mercy.
In the tent of David a judge will sit on the throne in truth,
seeking justice, eager to bring righteousness.
6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,
about his egotistical conceit.
His pride, his arrogance, and his boasting are nothing but self-delusion.
7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab.
Everyone will wail.
Completely devastated, you will mourn for the raisin cakes
of Kir Hareseth.
8 Look, the fields of Heshbon wither,
along with the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines,
which reached even to Jazer,
which spread out into the wilderness.
Their shoots were spread out all the way to the sea.
9 Therefore I will weep as Jazer weeps for the vines of Sibmah.
I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
because the noisy celebration over your ripened fruit
and over your harvest has been silenced.
10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the rich fields.
In the vineyards there will be no cries of joy or happy shouting.
No one will tread out wine from the wine presses.
I have put a stop to the cheering.
11 That is why my deepest feelings moan like a lyre for Moab,
and everything inside me is poured out for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab presents himself on the high place,
he only wears himself out.
When he goes to his shrine to pray,
he will accomplish nothing.
13 This is the word that the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab.
14 But now the Lord also says, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab will fade away despite its noisy crowd, and those who remain will be few and feeble.”
A Prophecy Against Damascus and Israel
17 An oracle against Damascus.
Soon Damascus will no longer be a city.
It will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be places for flocks.
The flocks will lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus.
What remains of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,
declares the Lord of Armies.
4 On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and his sturdy body will waste away.
5 It will be like the time when a reaper has gathered the standing grain,
and his arm has reaped the heads of grain,
when someone gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim,
6 and a few gleanings are still left there,
or when the branches of an olive tree have been beaten,
and only two or three ripe olives are left on the top of the highest bough,
or four or five remain on the fruitful branches,
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will trust in their Maker,
and they will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their own hands.
They will not respect what their fingers have made,
neither the Asherah poles nor the altars for incense.
9 On that day Israel’s strong cities will be
like the forsaken hilltops of the Amorites,[j]
like the places that were abandoned when the people of Israel
first came.
They will be desolate.
10 You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock who is your strength.
Therefore, although you set out the best quality plants,
and you plant cuttings from imported vines,
11 and you put a fence around them on the day you plant them,
and you get your seed to sprout in the morning,
nevertheless, the harvest will come to nothing
in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.[k]
12 Oh, the roar of many peoples!
They roar like the raging seas.
Oh, the uproar of nations!
It sounds like huge, crashing waves!
13 The nations will roar like the crashing of great waves,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.
They will be driven off the mountains like wind-blown chaff,
like a tumbleweed blown about in a storm.
14 In the evening, terror rushes in!
Before morning they are gone.
This will be the reward for those who plunder us,
the lot of those who rob us.
A Prophecy About Cush
18 Woe to the land of the whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush.[l]
2 They send ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the water.
Go, you swift messengers,
to a tall people with smooth, dark skin,[m]
to a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering,[n]
from a land divided by rivers!
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
and you who dwell on the earth,
look for a signal flag raised on the mountains!
Listen for the blast of the ram’s horn!
4 For the Lord has said to me,
“I will look on quietly from my dwelling place,
like the shimmering heat of the sun,
like the rising mist at harvest time.”
5 For before the harvest,
after the blossom has fallen
and the flower has turned into ripening grapes,
the Lord will cut off the new shoots with pruning hooks,
and he will cut down and remove the longer vines.
6 They will all be left for the scavenging birds in the mountains
and for the wild animals in the countryside.
The scavenging birds will feed on them all summer,
and wild animals will feed on them all winter.
7 At that time people will give gifts to the Lord of Armies.
These gifts will come from a tall people with smooth, dark skin,
a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering,
from a land divided by rivers.
They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion,
the place where the Lord of Armies has put his name.
A Prophecy About Egypt
19 An oracle against Egypt.
Look, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, coming to Egypt!
The worthless idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt inside them.
2 I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian,
and they will fight,
brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit in the Egyptians will fail completely.
I will frustrate their plans.
They will turn to their worthless gods,[o]
to the spirits of the dead,
to mediums and spiritists.
4 But I will hand the Egyptians over to a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord, the Lord of Armies.
5 The water will dry up from the sea,[p]
and the riverbed will dry up completely and be empty.
6 The rivers and canals will stink.
The streams in the Nile delta[q] will run low and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will wither away.
7 The plants that grow beside the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile,
and all the crops planted along the Nile will dry up.
They will blow away and vanish.
8 The fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the waters will grieve.
9 Those who work with flax,
the women who comb the flax,
and the men who weave the linen will despair.
10 Those who make cloth will be crushed.
All the hired workers will lose heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are complete fools.
Pharaoh’s wisest counselors give unreasonable advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of wise men,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you now!
Let them make known what the Lord of Armies
has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan act like fools.
The officials of Memphis[r] are deceived.
They have caused Egypt to go astray—
these cornerstones of her tribes!
14 The Lord has poured a confused spirit into them.
They made Egypt go astray in everything it does,
like a drunken man staggering around in his own vomit.
15 No head or tail, no palm branch or reed,
will accomplish anything for Egypt.
16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Armies, which he raises against them. 17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be filled with dread, because of what the Lord of Armies is planning against Egypt.
18 On that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear an oath to the Lord of Armies. One will be called the City of the Sun.[s]
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt, and a memorial pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 There will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Armies in the land of Egypt. They will cry to the Lord because of their oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a champion, and he will rescue them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and on that day the Egyptians will know the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings. They will swear a vow to the Lord, and they will fulfill it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking them and then healing them. They will return to the Lord, and he will hear their prayer, and he will heal them.
23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians will come to Assyria, and Egyptians will serve together with Assyrians.
24 On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing to the earth, 25 because the Lord of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush
20 In the year that the field commander[t] sent by Sargon king of Assyria came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord delivered a message through Isaiah son of Amoz. The Lord said, “Take off the sackcloth around your waist and remove the sandals from your feet.” Isaiah did this and went naked and barefoot. 3 The Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and an omen concerning Egypt and Cush,[u] 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bare buttocks, to Egypt’s shame. 5 They will be overwhelmed and ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their source of confidence. 6 On that day those who live on this coast will say, “Look what happened to our hope, to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How can we escape?”
The Fall of Babylon
21 An oracle about the Wilderness by the Sea.
Like windstorms that sweep through the Negev,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrifying place.
2 An ominous vision has been shown to me.
The betrayer betrays; the destroyer destroys.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege![v]
I will bring all her groaning to an end.
3 That is why I am full of anguish.
Pain has taken hold of me,
like the pain of a woman in labor.
I am stunned by what I hear,
terrified by what I see.
4 My heart pounds!
I am shaking with fear.
The twilight that I longed for is making me quake with terror.
5 They prepare the table.
They spread out the luxurious carpets.
They eat. They drink.
“Officers! Get up and oil your shields!”
6 Yes, this is what the Lord said to me:
Go, post a watchman.
Have him declare what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots pulled by teams of horses,
riders on donkeys, and riders on camels,
have him listen carefully—very carefully.
8 The lookout[w] cried out:
Lord,[x] I stand on the watchtower day after day,
and every night I stay at my post.
9 Now, look! Here come men in chariots pulled by teams of horses.
Then he announced:
Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods lie broken on the ground.
10 O my people, you who have been threshed like grain on my threshing floor, everything I have heard from the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, I have proclaimed to you.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11 The oracle against Dumah.[y]
Someone calls out to me from Seir,
Watchman, how much of the night remains?
Watchman, how much of the night remains?
12 The watchman said:
Morning is coming, but night is coming again.
If you want to ask, go ahead and ask.
Then return! Come back again.
A Prophecy Against Arabia
13 An oracle against Arabia.
You spend the night among the thickets of Arabia,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water for the thirsty,
you who live in Tema.
Bring bread for the refugees.
15 They fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the heat of battle.
16 This is what the Lord said to me: “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end, 17 and the archers who survive, the strong warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 An oracle about the Valley of Vision.
What is troubling you now?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?
2 Why is the town full of shouting?
Why is the joyful city full of turmoil?
Your fallen were not run through with the sword.
Your dead did not fall in battle.
3 All your rulers fled together,
captured by archers without bows.
All your refugees were caught together.
They had fled far away.
4 That is why I said,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter
of my people.”[z]
5 For it is a day of turmoil, trampling, and terror.
This has come from the Lord, the God of Armies,
in the Valley of Vision.
It is a day for breaking down walls
and crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam picks up the quiver, with chariots and charioteers,
and Kir removes the covering from their shields.
7 Your fertile[aa] valleys are full of chariots,
and charioteers[ab] are posted by the gate.
8 He removed the cover that was protecting Judah.
On that day you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest.
9 You saw all the breaches through the walls of the City of David—
and there were many.
You collected water from the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem.
You planned to tear them down to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water from the Old Pool.
But you did not look to the one who had made it.
You did not consider the one who shaped this long ago.
12 On that day the Lord, the God of Armies,
called for weeping and loud mourning.
He called for shaved heads and for dressing in sackcloth.
13 But take a look and see:
joy and gladness,
butchering cattle, killing sheep,
eating meat, and drinking wine.
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of Armies has revealed this in my hearing: “I swear, your guilt will not be atoned for until your dying day, says the Lord, the God of Armies.”
An Oracle Against Shebna
15 This is what the Lord, the God of Armies, says.
Go to this administrator Shebna, who is in charge of the palace, and ask him, 16 “What are you doing here? Who gave you permission to carve a tomb here?”
(Shebna was carving out a tomb for himself on a height, chiseling a resting place for himself in the cliff!)
17 Watch out! The Lord is going to hurl you away violently, you ordinary man.[ac] He is going to grab you tightly, 18 whirl you around and around,[ad] and throw you like a ball into the open countryside. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be there, to the shame of your master’s house. 19 I will expel you from your office. You will be thrown out from your position.
20 On that day I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be a father for those who live in Jerusalem and for the house of Judah. 22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder. Whatever he opens, no one will shut. Whatever he shuts, no one will open. 23 I will drive him like a nail into a solid place. He will be an honored throne for the house of his father. 24 They will hang all the splendor of his father’s house on him: the branches and leaves,[ae] and all the small containers, from the large bowls all the way down to the smallest juglets.[af]
25 In that day, says the Lord of Armies, the nail that was driven into a solid place will give way. It will be sheared off and fall down. The load hanging on it will be cut off, because the Lord has spoken.
A Prophecy About Tyre
23 An oracle about Tyre.
Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
Because Tyre has been destroyed—
no more house or harbor![ag]
This is the news they heard from Cyprus.[ah]
2 Be silent, you who live along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose agents have crossed the sea[ai] 3 on the great waters.
The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, provided her income.
She was the marketplace of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress by the sea,
because the sea has spoken, saying,
“No longer do I feel the pain of childbirth.
No longer do I have children.
I have no young men to raise,
no virgin girls to bring up.”[aj]
5 When the news comes to Egypt,
they will agonize over the report from Tyre.
6 Sail across to Tarshish!
Wail, you island people!
7 Is this your joyful city, older than old,
whose feet carried her to settle so far away?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the city that crowned kings,
whose merchants were like royal officials,
whose traders were honored around the world?
9 The Lord of Armies has planned this,
to strip their pride of all its glory,
to humiliate those who were honored around the world.
10 Overflow your land,[ak] daughter of Tarshish,
like the Nile overflowing its banks.
You no longer have a harbor as a marketplace.[al]
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea.
He has shaken the kingdoms.
It is the Lord who has ordered the destruction
of Canaan’s[am] fortresses.
12 He said, “Rejoice no more, virgin daughter of Sidon,
you who have been violated.
Get up, sail across to Cyprus.[an]
But even there you will have no rest.”
13 (Compare it to the land of the Chaldeans—this people who have become nothing. It was the Assyrians who made it into a dwelling for wild animals from the desert. They raised up siege towers, tore down citadels, and made it a ruin.)
14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
because your stronghold is destroyed!
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the days of a king’s life. After the end of the seventy years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song.
16 Pick up a lyre.
Go through the city,
you forgotten prostitute.
Play skillfully.
Sing many songs,
so that you might be remembered once again.
17 At the end of the seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will go back to collecting wages, to selling herself to all the kingdoms of the world, to everyone on the surface of the earth. 18 But this time her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord. It will not be stored away. Her goods will be for those who live in the presence of the Lord, so that they have enough to eat and clothing that will last.
The Lord Will Judge the Earth
24 Watch, the Lord is going to strip the earth bare and make it desolate.
He will wring it out and scatter its inhabitants.
2 It will be the same for people and priest,
for servant and master,
for servant girl and lady,
for buyer and seller,
for lender and borrower,
for creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be stripped bare, totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and withers.
The world fades and withers away.
The proud people of the earth fade away.
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,
because they have bypassed the laws.
They have changed the statutes
and set aside the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and those who live there will be found guilty.
That is why the inhabitants of the earth will be burned up,
and so few will remain.
7 The new wine mourns.
The vine dries up.
Those who were feeling merry now sigh.
8 The happy sound of drums has ceased.
The noise of partying has ended.
The joyful lyre is silent.
9 They will drink no wine with their songs anymore.
Beer[ao] is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city is in chaos and ruins.
Every house is closed up,
and no one can get in.
11 They cry for wine in the streets,
but all festive joy is gone.
Joyful celebration is banished from the land.
12 The city is left desolate,
and the gate is smashed into pieces.
13 This is the way it will be among the peoples on earth:
It will be like an olive tree after it has been picked over,
like the gleanings left after the grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices and sing for joy.
From the west[ap] they shout for the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore, in the east[aq] glorify the Lord.
In the coastlands of the sea, glorify the name of the Lord,
the God of Israel!
16 We hear songs from the ends of the earth:
Glory to the Righteous One!
But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me!”
The treacherous deal treacherously.
Yes, the treacherous deal very treacherously.
17 Panic, pit, and peril[ar] await all who live on the earth.
18 Whoever flees from the noise of terror will fall into the pit.
Whoever crawls out of the pit will be caught in the trap.
The windows[as] in the sky have opened,
and the foundations of the earth quake.
19 The earth is broken to pieces.
The earth is tearing itself apart.
The earth is shaking violently.
20 The earth staggers like a drunken man.
It shakes like a shack in a windstorm.
The burden of its rebellion is so heavy
that it will fall, unable to rise again.
21 On that day the Lord will deal with the army on high
and with the kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit.
They will be locked up in prison,
and after many days they will be dealt with.
23 Then the bright moon will be ashamed,
and the hot sun will be embarrassed,
for the Lord of Armies will reign on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and his glory will shine in the presence of his elders.
A Song of Praise
25
O Lord, you are my God.
I will exalt you! I will praise your name,
because you have done astounding things,
plans laid long ago that are firm and faithful.[at]
2 For you have reduced the city to a heap,
the fortified city to ruins.
The citadel of foreigners is no longer a city at all.
It will never be rebuilt.
3 That is why powerful peoples will honor you.
The cities of cruel nations will fear you,
4 for you have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in their distress.
You have been a shelter from the rainstorm
and shade from the heat.
When the breath of the ruthless is like a rainstorm battering a wall,
5 like a hot wind drying up the desert,
you put down the uproar of foreigners.
It is like heat cooled by the shade of a cloud.
The song of the ruthless is silenced.
A Banquet for All Peoples
6 On this mountain
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food,
a banquet of aged wines,
with the best cuts of meat,
and with the finest wines.[au]
7 On this mountain
he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples,
the burial cloth stretched over all nations.
8 He has swallowed up death forever!
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.
He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.
For the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, here is our God!
We waited for him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord!
We waited for him.
Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
God Will Punish Moab
10 On this mountain
the Lord’s hand will rest.
Moab will be trampled underfoot,
like straw trampled into manure.
11 Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of it,
like someone trying to swim,
but the Lord will bring down Moab’s pride,
along with everything[av] Moab’s hands have done.
12 The Lord will topple your high-walled fortress
and bring it to the ground,
all the way down to the dust.
A Victory Song
26 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah.
We have a strong city.
God sets up salvation as its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that guards the truth.[aw]
3 You preserve perfect peace for the person
whose resolve is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for Yah the Lord[ax] is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles those who live in a high place,
in a high, secure city.
He brings it down!
He brings it down to the ground!
He throws it down into the dust!
6 It is trampled down
by the feet of the poor,
by the soles of the feet of the helpless.
A Prayer for Blessing
7 The way of the righteous is level and smooth.
You are righteous.[ay] You smooth the path for the righteous.
8 Truly, Lord, we have waited for you on the path of your judgments.
Your name and your renown are what our soul desires.
9 My soul longs for you during the night.
My spirit within me looks for you early in the morning,
because when your judgments are known on earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn what righteousness is.
10 Although grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness.
They will continue to act unjustly even in a righteous land.
They will not recognize the Lord’s majesty.
11 Lord, your hand is raised, ready to strike,
but they do not see it.
But they will see your zeal for the people,
and they will be put to shame.
May fire consume your enemies.
12 O Lord, you establish peace for us.
Everything we have done, you have accomplished for us.
13 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we honor only your name.
14 They are dead. They will not live again.
Their departed spirits will not return.
You have dealt with them and destroyed them.
You have wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O Lord.
You have enlarged the nation!
You are glorified!
You have extended all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, they appealed to you in distress.
They whispered a prayer as you disciplined them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman nearing the time of her delivery
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so we have done before you, O Lord.
18 We have been in pain
as if we were about to give birth to a child,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not brought salvation for the earth.
We have not given birth to people who can inhabit the world.[az]
19 But your dead ones will live.
Their[ba] dead bodies will rise.
Wake up and sing for joy,
you who dwell in the dust,
because your dew will glisten like morning light,
and the earth will give up the spirits of the dead.[bb]
20 Go, my people, go into your rooms,
and shut the doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while,
until his wrath has passed over.
21 Look! The Lord is coming out of his place
to deal with the guilt of those who live on the earth.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it.
It will no longer cover those who have been killed.
The Lord Will Deliver Israel
27 On that day, the Lord will draw his sharp, great, and powerful sword, and he will kill Leviathan,[bc] the slithering serpent—Leviathan, the coiling serpent. The Lord will kill the monster[bd] in the sea.
2 On that day, sing about a delightful vineyard![be]
3 I, the Lord, am serving as its caretaker.
I water it constantly.
So that nothing will damage it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I am not angry,
but if I do find briers and thorns there,
I will fight them!
I will charge against them and set them all on fire.
5 To prevent this, let them turn to me for protection
and make peace with me.
Let them make peace with me![bf]
6 In days to come,
Jacob will take root.
Israel will blossom and bud.
It will fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has he struck Israel the way he struck those who struck them?
Have they been killed the same way those who killed them were killed?
8 When you drive them away[bg] and send them into exile,
you make your case against them.
He drives them out with his violent storm,
as on a day when the hot east wind blows.
9 In this way the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,
and this will be all the fruit that results from taking away his sin.
He will make all the altar stones like chalk that has been crushed,
and no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 Then the fortified city will be all alone,
a dwelling place, deserted and forsaken, like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there.
They will lie down there and eat all the leaves off the branches.
11 When its twigs are dried up, they are broken off.
Women will come and build a fire with them.
Because they are a people who have no understanding,
therefore their Maker will have no compassion on them.
He who formed them will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing river, the Euphrates, to the Stream of Egypt,[bh] and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. 13 On that day there will be a very loud blast on a ram’s horn, and those who were about to perish in the land of Assyria, together with those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, will come. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
A Warning to the Northern Kingdom
28
Woe to drunken Ephraim’s proud crown,
to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
on the peak that overlooks a fertile valley.
Woe to those who are overcome with wine!
2 Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and mighty.
Like a hailstorm,
like a destructive windstorm,
like a hurricane that drives surging waters,
he will throw them down to the earth with his own hand.
3 Drunken Ephraim’s proud crown will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of its glorious beauty, on the peak overlooking
a fertile valley,
will be like the early figs before summer,
which someone picks and swallows as soon as he sees them.
5 On that day the Lord of Armies will become a glorious crown
and a beautifully braided headband for the remnant of his people.
6 He will provide a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment,
and strength for those who turn back the battle at the gate.
The Drunken Prophets and Priests
7 They stagger into error because of wine,
and they stumble off the way because of beer.
The priests and prophets stagger with beer,
and they are dizzy from wine.
They stumble from beer.
They stagger when they see visions.
They reel when they render judgment.
8 All their tables are covered with vomit.
There is not a spot without filth.
9 They[bi] say:
Who is he trying to teach?
Who needs his instruction?
A baby who has just been weaned from milk?
An infant just taken from the breast?
10 They say:
Law by law, law by law,
rule by rule, rule by rule,[bj]
a little here, a little there.
11 So the Lord will speak to this people
with barbarous lips and in a foreign tongue.
12 He said to them,
“This is the resting place.
Let the weary rest.
This is the place to be refreshed,”
but they would not listen.
13 That is why to them the word of the Lord will be:
Law by law, law by law,
rule by rule, rule by rule,[bk]
a little here, a little there.
As a result they will try to walk,
but they will fall backwards.
They will be hurt, trapped, and taken.
A Covenant With Death
14 So now, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You said:
We have made a covenant with death,
an agreement with the grave.[bl]
When the punishing whip[bm] comes, it will not touch us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
and we have hidden ourselves behind falsehood.
A Cornerstone for Zion
16 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
Look, I am laying a stone in Zion as a foundation,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone to provide a sure foundation.
Whoever believes will not be put to shame.[bn]
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line.
A hailstorm will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and floodwaters will wash away your shelter.
18 Your covenant with death will be canceled,
and your agreement with the grave will not stand.
When the punishing whip comes,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 Every time it comes, it will carry you away.
It could come any morning, any day, any night.
If you understand this message, you will be utterly terrified:
20 The bed is too short to lie on,
and the blanket is too narrow to cover you.
21 For the Lord will rise up as he did on Mount Perazim.
He will be enraged, as he was in the valley of Gibeon,
to do his work, his strange work,
and to accomplish his task, his foreign task.
22 Now stop your scornful attitude, or your chains
will be made stronger,
because I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord,
the Lord of Armies,
against the whole earth.
A Parable
23 Listen! Hear my voice.
Pay attention to what I say.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day in order to plant?
Does he keep tilling the soil and turning over the dirt?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
doesn’t he plant the dill
and scatter cumin seed?
He plants the wheat in one place,
barley in another field,
and spelt along the edge.
26 His God instructs him
and teaches him good judgment.
27 Of course he does not thresh the dill with a threshing sledge,
nor does he roll the wheel of a cart over the cumin.
No, he beats the dill with a stick
and strikes the cumin with a staff.
28 Flour for bread needs to be ground,
so he does not thresh endlessly.
He drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it
and even his team of horses,
but he does not pulverize it.
29 This also springs forth from the Lord of Armies.
He gives amazing advice.
He provides great guidance.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.