Old/New Testament
A Sign regarding Egypt and Cush
20 In the year the commander-in-chief came[a] to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and he took it, 2 at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying,
“Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins,
and take off your sandals[b] from your feet,”
and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then[c] Yahweh said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead the captives[d] of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks,[e] the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall be dismayed,
and they shall be ashamed
because of Cush, their hope,
and because of Egypt, their pride.
6 And the inhabitant[f] of the coastland will say this on that day:
‘Look! This is our hope to whom we fled for help, to be delivered from[g] the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?’”
The Fall of Babylon
21 The oracle of the wilderness of the sea:
As storm winds passing over in the Negev,
it comes[h] from the desert,
from a frightful land.
2 A hard revelation is told to me;
the treacherous deals treacherously,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, Elam;
lay siege, Media!
I put an end to all of her sighing.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman giving birth.
I am too bent to hear,[i]
I am too dismayed to see.[j]
4 My mind[k] staggers; fear terrifies me;
the twilight I desired[l] brought[m] me fear.
5 Set out the table in order!
Spread out the rugs![n]
Eat! drink!
Rise up, commanders;
smear[o] the shield!
6 For the Lord said this to me:
“Go, set a watchman in position.
He must announce what he sees.
7 When[p] he sees riders,[q]
a pair of horsemen,
riders[r] of donkeys,[s]
riders[t] of camels,[u]
then[v] he must listen attentively,
paying attention, paying special[w] attention.”
8 Then[x] the watchman[y] called,
“Lord, I am standing on the watchtower continually by day,
and I am standing at my post throughout[z] the night.
9 And look at this! A man’s a chariot is coming,
a pair of horsemen!”
Then[aa] he responded and said,
“It has fallen! Babylon has fallen!
And all the images of her gods are[ab] smashed on the ground!”
10 My downtrodden people
and the son of my threshing floor,
I will announce to you what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel.
Oracle regarding Dumah
11 The oracle of Dumah:
One is calling to me from Seir,
12 The watchman says,
“Morning comes,
and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”[ae]
Oracle against Arabia
13 An oracle concerning[af] Arabia:
You will spend the night in the thicket in a desert-plateau,[ag]
caravans of Dedanites.
14 When you happen to meet[ah] the thirsty, bring water.
Inhabitants of the land of Tema came to meet the fugitive with his bread.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword and the bent bow,
and from the heaviness of the battle.
16 For the Lord said this to me:
“In one more year,[ai] like the years of a hired worker,
all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
17 And the remainder of the number of the bows[aj] of the warriors of the sons of Kedar will be few.”
For Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Oracle against Jerusalem
22 The oracle of the valley of vision:
What business do you have going[ak] up, all of you, to the roofs,
2 noisy,[al] tumultuous city,
exultant town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
nor are they dead from battle.
3 All of your rulers have fled together without a bow;
all of you who were found[am] were captured.
They were captured together;
they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said,
“Look away from me,
let me weep bitterly;[an]
you must not insist on comforting me
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion[ao] in the valley of vision,
a tearing down of walls[ap] and a cry for help to the mountains.[aq]
6 And Elam lifted up the quiver,
with chariots[ar] of men[as] and cavalry.
And Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And this happened:
the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots,[at]
and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.
8 And he uncovered the covering of Judah.
And you looked, on that day, to the weapons[au] of the House of the Forest,
9 and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many,
and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.
10 And you counted the houses of Jerusalem,
and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11 And you made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the old pool,
but you did not look to its maker,
and you did not see the one who created it long ago.[av]
12 And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day
for weeping and mourning,
and for baldness and girding with[aw] sackcloth.
13 But look! Joy and gladness,
the killing of oxen[ax] and the slaughtering of sheep,
the eating of meat and the drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14 And it was revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts:
“Surely this sin will not be atoned for you until you die!”
says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
Oracle regarding Shebna
15 The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, says this:
“Go! Go to this steward, to Shebna,
who is over the house:
16 ‘What business do you have[ay] here,
and who do you have[az] here,
that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself,
carving his grave on the height,
a dwelling place for him in the rock?
17 Look! Yahweh is about to really hurl[ba] you, man!
And he is about to grasp you firmly;
18 he will wind a winding tightly around you like a ball, to a wide land.[bb]
There you shall die,
and there the chariots of your splendor will be,
disgrace to your master’s house!
19 And I will push you from your office,
and he will throw you down from your position.
20 And this shall happen:
On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah,
21 and I will clothe him with your tunic,
and I will bind your sash firmly about him,
and I will put your authority into his hand,
and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants[bc] of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder,
and he shall open and no one will be able to shut;
and he shall shut and no one will be able to open.
23 And I will drive him in like a peg into a secure place,
and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father.
24 And they will hang all of the heaviness of his father’s house on him,
the offspring and the offshoot,
all of the small vessels,
from the bowls to the jars.[bd]
25 On that day, declares[be] Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.’”
Children and Parents
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first[a] commandment with a promise), 3 “in order that it may be well with you, and you may live a long time[b] on the earth.”[c] 4 And fathers, do not make your children angry, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, 6 not while being watched[d], as people pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, 7 serving with goodwill as to the Lord and not to people, 8 because you[e] know that each one of you, whatever good he should do,[f] this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, do the same things to them, giving up threats, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
Spiritual Warfare
10 Finally, become strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, 12 because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Because of this, take up the full armor of God, in order that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, girding your waist with truth, and putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and binding shoes under your feet with the preparation of the good news of peace, 16 in everything taking up the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one, 17 and receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and to this end being alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, 19 and for me, that a word may be given to me at the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for the sake of which I am an ambassador in chains, that in them[g] I may speak freely, as it is necessary for me to speak.
Conclusion and Benediction
21 Now, so that you also may know my circumstances[h], what I am doing, Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things, 22 whom I have sent[i] to you for this very reason, that you may know our circumstances[j], and he may encourage your hearts.
23 Peace to the brothers and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility.[k]
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