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chapter 1
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.
"An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master's manger, [But] Israel does not know, My people do not understand."
Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.
Where will you be stricken again, [As] you continue in [your] rebellion? The whole head is sick, And the whole heart is faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, [Only] bruises, welts, and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields-- strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah.
"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, And the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.
"When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?
"Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
"I hate your new moon [festivals] and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing [them.]
"So when you spread out your hands [in prayer,] I will hide My eyes from you, Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
"If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land;
"But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
How the faithful city has become a harlot, She [who] was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.
Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water.
Your rulers are rebels, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe, And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow's plea come before them.
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel declares, "Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries, And avenge Myself on My foes.
"I will also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye, And will remove all your alloy.
"Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city."
Zion will be redeemed with justice, And her repentant ones with righteousness.
But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD shall come to an end.
Surely, you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.
For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away, Or as a garden that has no water.
And the strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together, And there will be none to quench [them].
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chapter 2
The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Now it will come about that In the last days, The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.
Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
For Thou hast abandoned Thy people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled [with influences] from the east, And [they are] soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike [bargains] with the children of foreigners.
Their land has also been filled with silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses, And there is no end to their chariots.
Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.
So the [common] man has been humbled, And the man [of importance] has been abased, But do not forgive them.
Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty.
The proud look of man will be abased, And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
For the LORD of hosts will have a day [of reckoning] Against everyone who is proud and lofty, And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased.
And [it will be] against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan,
Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up,
Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall,
Against all the ships of Tarshish, And against all the beautiful craft.
And the pride of man will be humbled, And the loftiness of men will be abased, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
But the idols will completely vanish.
And [men] will go into caves of the rocks, And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD, And before the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.
In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship,
In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.
Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?
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chapter 3
For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread, And the whole supply of water;
The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder,
The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter.
And I will make mere lads their princes And capricious children will rule over them,
And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder, And the inferior against the honorable.
When a man lays hold of his brother in his father's house, [saying,] " You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge, "
On that day will he protest, saying, "I will not be [your] healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people."
For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence.
The expression! of their faces bears witness against them. And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not [even] conceal [it.] Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.
Say to the righteous that [it will go] well [with them,] For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
Woe to the wicked! [It will go] badly [with him,] For what he deserves will be done to him.
O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead [you] astray, And confuse the direction of your paths.
The LORD arises to contend, And stands to judge the people.
The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, "It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
"What do you mean by crushing My people, And grinding the face of the poor?" Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
Moreover, the LORD said, "Because the daughters of Zion are proud, And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps, And tinkle the bangles on their feet,
Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the LORD will make their foreheads bare. "
In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of [their] anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments,
dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,
headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets,
finger rings, nose rings,
festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses,
hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and veils.
Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction; Instead of a belt, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
Your men will fall by the sword, And your mighty ones in battle.
And her gates will lament and mourn; And deserted she will sit on the ground.
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chapter 4
For seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!"
In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [will] be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.
And it will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy-- everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,
then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.
And there will be a shelter to [give] shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.
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chapter 5
Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
And He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it, And hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected [it] to produce [good] grapes, But it produced [only] worthless ones.
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard.
"What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected [it] to produce [good] grapes did it produce worthless ones?
"So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.
"And I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it."
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
Woe to those who add house to house [and] join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
In my ears the LORD of hosts [has sworn,] "Surely, many houses shall become desolate, [Even] great and fine ones, without occupants.
"For ten acres of vineyard will yield [only] one bath [of wine,] And a homer of seed will yield [but] an ephah of grain."
Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink; Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!
And their banquets are [accompanied] by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; And Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her din [of revelry,] and the jubilant within her, descend [into it.]
So the [common] man will be humbled, and the man of [importance] abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased.
But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.
Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes;
Who say, "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see [it;] And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know [it!]"
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, And valiant men in mixing strong drink;
Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble, And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down, And the mountains quaked; and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out.
He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.
No one in it is weary or stumbles, None slumbers or sleeps; Nor is the belt at its waist undone, Nor its sandal strap broken.
Its arrows are sharp, and all its bows are bent; The hoofs of its horses seem like flint, and its [chariot] wheels like a whirlwind.
Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions; It growls as it seizes the prey, And carries [it] off with no one to deliver [it.]
And it shall growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness [and] distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.
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chapter 6
In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
And he touched my mouth [with it] and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.'
"Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Lest they see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."
Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated [and] without inhabitant, Houses are without people, And the land is utterly desolate,
"The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
"Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be [subject] to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump."
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chapter 7
Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to [wage] war against it, but could not conquer it.
When it was reported to the house of David, saying, "The Arameans have camped in Ephraim," his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller's field,
and say to him, 'Take care, and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.
'Because Aram, [with] Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying,
"Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"
thus says the Lord GOD, "It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.
"For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, [so that it is] no longer a people),
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last. "'"
Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
"Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make [it] deep as Sheol or high as heaven."
But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!"
Then he said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
"He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows [enough] to refuse evil and choose good.
"For before the boy will know [enough] to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
"The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria."
And it will come about in that day, that the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
And they will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places.
In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates ([that is,] with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.
Now it will come about in that day that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep;
and it will happen that because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey.
And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, [valued] at a thousand [shekels] of silver, will become briars and thorns.
[People] will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns.
And as for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.
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chapter 8
Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.
"And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."
So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz;
for before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. "
And again the LORD spoke to me further, saying,
"Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
"Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, Even the king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.
"Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, It will reach even to the neck; And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.
"Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.
"Devise a plan but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us."
For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
"You are not to say, '[It is] a conspiracy!' In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of [it.]
"It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.
"Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, [And] a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
"And many will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will even be snared and caught."
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? [ Should they] [consult] the dead on behalf of the living?
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward.
Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and [they will be] driven away into darkness.
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chapter 9
But there will be no [more] gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make [it] glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.
Thou shalt multiply the nation, Thou shalt increase their gladness; They will be glad in Thy presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For Thou shalt break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
For every boot of the booted warrior in the [battle] tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
The Lord sends a message against Jacob, And it falls on Israel.
And all the people know [it,] [That is,] Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, Asserting in pride and in arrogance of heart:
"The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace [them] with cedars."
Therefore the LORD raises against them adversaries from Rezin, And spurs their enemies on,
The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; And they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In [spite of] all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out.
Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.
So the LORD cuts off head and tail from Israel, [Both] palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
The head is the elder and honorable man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.
For those who guide this people are leading [them] astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.
Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In [spite of] all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out.
For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame, And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
By the fury of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother.
And they slice off [what is] on the right hand but [still] are hungry, And they eat [what is] on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.
Manasseh [devours] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, [And] together they are against Judah. In [spite of] all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out.
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chapter 10
Woe to those who enact evil statutes, And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice, And rob the poor of My people of [their] rights, In order that widows may be their spoil, And that they may plunder the orphans.
Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth?
Nothing [remains] but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In [spite of] all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,
I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
Yet it does not so intend Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy, And to cut off many nations.
For it says, "Are not my princes all kings?
"Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus?
"As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images [were] greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols? "
So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, [He will say,] "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness."
For he has said, "By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did [ this,] For I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples, And plundered their treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down [their] inhabitants,
And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened [its] beak or chirped. "
Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? [That would be] like a club wielding those who lift it, [Or] like a rod lifting [him who] is not wood.
Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.
And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body; And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number That a child could write them down.
Now it will come about in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, [ Only] a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt [did.]
"For in a very little while My indignation [against you] will be spent, and My anger [will be directed] to their destruction."
And the LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way [He did] in Egypt.
So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
He has come against Aiath, He has passed through Migron; At Michmash he deposited his baggage.
They have gone through the pass, [saying,] "Geba will be our lodging place." Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled away.
Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah [and] wretched Anathoth!
Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
Yet today he will halt at Nob; He shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Behold, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash; Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down, And those who are lofty will be abased.
And He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron [axe,] And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
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chapter 11
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.
Also the cow and the bear will graze; Their young will lie down together; And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
Then it will come about in that day That the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea.
And He will lift up a standard for the nations, And will assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, And those who harass Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
And they will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; Together they will plunder the sons of the east; They will possess Edom and Moab; And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
And the LORD will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And He will wave His hand over the River With His scorching wind; And He will strike it into seven streams, And make [men] walk over dry-shod.
And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.
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chapter 12
Then you will say on that day, "I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD; For although Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, And Thou dost comfort me.
"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation."
Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation.
And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make [them] remember that His name is exalted."
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth.
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
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chapter 13
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.
I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To [execute] My anger.
A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.
They are coming from a far country From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land.
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man's heart will melt.
And they will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of [them]; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame.
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises, And the moon will not shed its light.
Thus I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold, And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I shall make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.
And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather [them,] They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land.
Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.
Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold,
And [their] bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, [Nor] will their eye pity children.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch [his] tent there, Nor will shepherds make [their flocks] lie down there.
But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls, Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.
And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her [fateful] time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.
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chapter 14
When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
And the peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive, and will rule over their oppressors.
And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,
that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased, [And how] fury has ceased!
"The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers
Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
"The whole earth is at rest [and] is quiet; They break forth into shouts of joy.
"Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, [and] the cedars of Lebanon, [saying,] 'Since you were laid low, no [tree] cutter comes up against us.'
"Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
"They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us.
'Your pomp [and] the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out [as your bed] beneath you, And worms are your covering.'
"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
"Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.
"Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, [saying,] 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,
Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to [go] home? '
"All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own tomb.
"But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit, Like a trampled corpse.
"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.
"Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth And fill the face of the world with cities."
"And I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of hosts, " and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity, " declares the LORD.
"I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog, and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.
The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,
to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulder.
"This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.
"For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate [it]? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"
In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:
"Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For from the serpent's root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a flying serpent.
"And those who are most helpless will eat, And the needy will lie down in security; I will destroy your root with famine, And it will kill off your survivors.
"Wail, O gate; cry, O city; Melt away, O Philistia, all of you; For smoke comes from the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks.
"How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it."
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chapter 15
The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated [and] ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated [and] ruined.
They have gone up to the temple and [to] Dibon, [even] to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone's head is bald [and] every beard is cut off.
In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their housetops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.
Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.
My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as Zoar [and] Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over [their] ruin.
For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out, There is no green thing.
Therefore the abundance [which] they have acquired and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim.
For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wail [goes] as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Surely I will bring added [woes] upon Dimon, A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.
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chapter 16
Send the [tribute] lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
Then, like fleeing birds [or] scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
"Give [us] advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
"Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer." For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have completely [disappeared] from the land.
A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.
We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; [Even] of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false.
Therefore Moab shall wail; everyone of Moab shall wail. You shall moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken.
For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah [as well]; The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters Which reached as far as Jazer [and] wandered to the deserts; Its tendrils spread themselves out [and] passed over the sea.
Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.
And gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No treader treads out wine in the presses, [For] I have made the shouting to cease.
Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab, And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.
So it will come about when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself upon [his] high place, And comes to his sanctuary to pray, That he will not prevail.
This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.
But now the LORD speaks, saying, "Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all [his] great population, and [his] remnant will be very small [and] impotent."
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chapter 17
The oracle concerning Damascus. "Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, And it will become a fallen ruin.
"The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten [them.]
"The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel," Declares the LORD of hosts.
Now it will come about in that day that the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim.
Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree, Two [or] three olives on the topmost bough, Four [or] five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
In that day man will have regard for his Maker, And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
And he will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, Even the Asherim and incense stands.
In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange [god.]
In the day that you plant [it] you carefully fence [it] in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; [But] the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.
Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!
The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.
At evening time, behold, [there is] terror! Before morning they are no more. Such [will be] the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who pillage us.
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chapter 18
Alas, oh land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,
Which sends envoys by the sea, Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.
All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see [it,] And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear [it.]
For thus the LORD has told me, "I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove [and] cut away the spreading branches.
They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer [feeding] on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts From a people tall and smooth, Even from a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide-- To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, [even] Mount Zion.
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chapter 19
The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud, and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will each fight against his brother, and each against his neighbor, City against city, [ and] kingdom against kingdom.
"Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to mediums and spiritists.
"Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
And the waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.
And the canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away.
The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
And the fishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.
Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected.
And the pillars [of Egypt] will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.
The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you [men] say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"?
Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the LORD of hosts Has purposed against Egypt.
The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of Memphis are deluded; [Those who are] the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray.
The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
And there will be no work for Egypt Which [its] head or tail, [its] palm branch or bulrush, may do.
In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.
And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing [allegiance] to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border.
And it will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.
And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
In that day Israel will be the third [party] with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."
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chapter 20
In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it,
at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips, and take your shoes off your feet." And he did so, going naked and barefoot.
And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush,
so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
"Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.
"So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, 'Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?'"
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chapter 21
The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, [and] the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.
For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; "Rise up, captains, oil the shields,"
For thus the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
"When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention."
Then the lookout called, "O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
"Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs." And one answered and said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground."
O my threshed [people,] and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you.
The oracle concerning Edom. One keeps calling to me from Seir, " Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night? "
The watchman says, "Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again."
The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet the fugitive with bread.
For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, And from the press of battle.
For thus the Lord said to me, "In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate;
and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken. "
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chapter 22
The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.
All your rulers have fled together, [And] have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away.
Therefore I say, "Turn your eyes away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people."
For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain.
And Elam took up the quiver With the chariots, infantry, [and] horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield.
Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.
And He removed the defense of Judah. In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,
And you saw that the breaches In the [wall] of the city of David were many; And you collected the waters of the lower pool.
Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem, And you tore down houses to fortify the wall.
And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.
Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts, called [you] to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die."
But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, "Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, To Shebna, who is in charge of the [royal] household,
'What right do you have here, And whom do you have here, That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here, You who hew a tomb on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
'Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly,
[And] roll you tightly like a ball, [To be cast] into a vast country; There you will die, And there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master's house. '
"And I will depose you from your office, And I will pull you down from your station.
"Then it will come about in that day, That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah
And I will clothe him with your tunic, And tie your sash securely about him, I will entrust him with your authority, And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
"Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open.
"And I will drive him [like] a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father's house.
"So they will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.
"In that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."
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chapter 23
The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For [Tyre] is destroyed, without house [or] harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.
Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea
And [were] on many waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; And she was the market of nations.
Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men [nor] reared virgins."
When the report [reaches] Egypt, They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
Is this your jubilant [city,] Whose origin is from antiquity, Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?
Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The LORD of hosts has planned it to defile the pride of all beauty, To despise all the honored of the earth.
Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, There is no more restraint.
He has stretched His hand out over the sea, He has made the kingdoms tremble; The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.
And He has said, "You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest."
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans-- this is the people [which] was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures-- they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.
Now it will come about in that day that Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as [in] the song of the harlot:
Take [your] harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered.
And it will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot's wages, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
And her gain and her harlot's wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.
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chapter 24
Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.
And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.
The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth mourns [and] withers, the world fades [and] withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.
The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
The new wine mourns, The vine decays, All the merry-hearted sigh.
The gaiety of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The gaiety of the harp ceases.
They do not drink wine with song; Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
The city of chaos is broken down; Every house is shut up so that none may enter.
There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city, And the gate is battered to ruins.
For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy. They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the east, The name of the LORD, the God of Israel In the coastlands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear songs, "Glory to the Righteous One," But I say, "Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously."
Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently.
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.
So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven, on high, And the kings of the earth, on earth.
And they will be gathered together [Like] prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished.
Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And [His] glory will be before His elders.
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chapter 25
O LORD, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will give thanks to Thy name; For Thou hast worked wonders, Plans [formed] long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
For Thou hast made a city into a heap, A fortified city into a ruin; A palace of strangers is a city no more, It will never be rebuilt.
Therefore a strong people will glorify Thee; Cities of ruthless nations will revere Thee.
For Thou hast been a defense for the helpless, A defense for the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the ruthless Is like a [rain] storm [against] a wall.
Like heat in drought, Thou dost subdue the uproar of aliens; [Like] heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
And the LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, [ And] refined, aged wine.
And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.
And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, And Moab will be trodden down in his place As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.
And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it As a swimmer spreads out [his hands] to swim, But [the Lord] will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
And the unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down, Lay low, [and] cast to the ground, even to the dust.
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chapter 26
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for security.
"Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, The one that remains faithful.
"The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in Thee.
"Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, [we have] an everlasting Rock.
"For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
"The foot will trample it, The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless."
The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.
Indeed, [while following] the way of Thy judgments, O LORD, We have waited for Thee eagerly; Thy name, even Thy memory, is the desire of [our] souls.
At night my soul longs for Thee, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks Thee diligently; For when the earth experiences Thy judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
[Though] the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.
O LORD, Thy hand is lifted up [yet] they do not see it. They see [Thy] zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Thine enemies.
LORD, Thou wilt establish peace for us, Since Thou hast also performed for us all our works.
O LORD our God, other masters besides Thee have ruled us; [But] through Thee alone we confess Thy name.
The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore Thou hast punished and destroyed them, And Thou hast wiped out all remembrance of them.
Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, Thou hast increased the nation, Thou art glorified; Thou hast extended all the borders of the land.
O LORD, they sought Thee in distress; They could only whisper a prayer, Thy chastening was upon them.
As the pregnant woman approaches [the time] to give birth, She writhes [and] cries out in her labor pains, Thus were we before Thee, O LORD.
We were pregnant, we writhed [in labor], We gave birth, as it were, [only] to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth Nor were inhabitants of the world born.
Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
Come, my people, enter into your rooms, And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while, Until indignation runs [its] course.
For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed, And will no longer cover her slain.
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chapter 27
In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who [lives] in the sea.
In that day, "A vineyard of wine, sing of it!
"I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I guard it night and day.
"I have no wrath. Should someone give Me briars [and] thorns in battle, [Then] I would step on them, I would burn them completely.
"Or let him rely on My protection, Let him make peace with Me, Let him make peace with Me."
In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout; And they will fill the whole world with fruit.
Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them? Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?
Thou didst contend with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled [them] on the day of the east wind.
Therefore through this Jacob's iniquity will be forgiven; And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones; [When] Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
For the fortified city is isolated, A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.
When its limbs are dry, they are broken off; Women come [and] make a fire with them. For they are not a people of discernment, Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them. And their Creator will not be gracious to them.
And it will come about in that day, that the LORD will start [His] threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.
It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
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chapter 28
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley Of those who are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty [agent;] As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has cast [it] down to the earth with [His] hand.
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.
And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley, Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer; Which one sees, [And] as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it.
In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; They reel while having visions, They totter [ when rendering] judgment.
For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a [single clean] place.
"To whom would He teach knowledge? And to whom would He interpret the message? Those [just] weaned from milk? Those [just] taken from the breast?
"For [He says,] 'Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'"
Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
He who said to them, "Here is rest, give rest to the weary," And, " Here is repose, "but they would not listen.
So the word of the LORD to them will be, "Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there," That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.
Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception."
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone [for] the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes [in it] will not be disturbed.
"And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the level; Then hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters shall overflow the secret place.
"And your covenant with death shall be canceled, And your pact with Sheol shall not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling [place.]
"As often as it passes through, it will seize you. For morning after morning it will pass through, [anytime] during the day or night. And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means."
The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.
For the LORD will rise up as [at] Mount Perazim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon; To do His task, His unusual task, And to work His work, His extraordinary work.
And now do not carry on as scoffers, Lest your fetters be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my words.
Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he [continually] turn and harrow the ground?
Does he not level its surface, And sow dill and scatter cummin, And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place, and rye within its area?
For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
[Grain for] bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of [his] cart and his horses [eventually] damage [it,] He does not thresh it longer.
This also comes from the LORD of hosts, [Who] has made [His] counsel wonderful and [His] wisdom great.
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chapter 29
Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the city [where] David [once] camped! Add year to year, observe [your] feasts on schedule.
And I will bring distress to Ariel, And she shall be [a city of] lamenting and mourning; And she shall be like an Ariel to me.
And I will camp against you encircling [you,] And I will set siegeworks against you, And I will raise up battle towers against you.
Then you shall be brought low; From the earth you shall speak, And from the dust [where] you are prostrate, Your words [shall come.] Your voice shall also be like that of a spirit from the ground, And your speech shall whisper from the dust.
But the multitude of your enemies shall become like fine dust, And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away; And it shall happen instantly, suddenly.
From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, [With] whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, Shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
And it will be as when a hungry man dreams-- And behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, Or as when a thirsty man dreams-- And behold, he is drinking, But when he awakens, behold, he is faint, And his thirst is not quenched. Thus the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who wage war against Mount Zion.
Be delayed and wait. Blind yourselves and be blind. They become drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with strong drink.
For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers.
And the entire vision shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, "Please read this," he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, " Please read this. "And he will say," I cannot read. "
Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned [by rote,]
Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed. "
Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are [done] in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?"
You turn [things] around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made should say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
And on that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, And out of [their] gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
The afflicted also shall increase their gladness in the LORD, And the needy of mankind shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
For the ruthless will come to an end, and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;
Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, "Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
"And those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.
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chapter 30
"Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin;
Who proceed down to Egypt, Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
"Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
"For their princes are at Zoan, And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
"Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, [Who are] not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach."
The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev. Through a land of distress and anguish, From where [come] lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent, They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys And their treasures on camels' humps, To a people who cannot profit [them;]
Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her "Rahab who has been exterminated."
Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come As a witness forever.
For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;
Who say to the seers, "You must not see [visions";] And to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions.
"Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Since you have rejected this word, And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
Therefore this iniquity will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant.
"And whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter's jar; So ruthlessly shattered That a sherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth, Or to scoop water from a cistern."
For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing,
And you said, "No, for we will flee on horses," Therefore you shall flee! "And we will ride on swift [horses,]" Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
One thousand [shall flee] at the threat of one [man,] You shall flee at the threat of five; Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top, And as a signal on a hill.
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.
O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, [He,] your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher.
And your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
And you will defile your graven images, overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing; [and] say to them, "Be gone!"
Then He will give [you] rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread [from] the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.
Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times [brighter,] like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.
Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger, and dense is [His] smoke; His lips are filled with indignation, And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
And His breath is like an overflowing torrent, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to [put] in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.
You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival; And gladness of heart as when one marches to [the sound of] the flute, To go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
And the LORD will cause His voice of authority to be heard. And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And [in] the flame of a consuming fire, In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified, [When] He strikes with the rod.
And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the LORD will lay on him, Will be with [the music of] tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
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chapter 31
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, [And] rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of the workers of iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the LORD will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together.
For thus says the LORD to me, "As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against which a band of shepherds is called out, Will not be terrified at their voice, nor disturbed at their noise, So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill."
Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver [it;] He will pass over and rescue [it.]
Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made as a sin.
And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers.
"And his rock will pass away because of panic, And his princes will be terrified at the standard," Declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
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chapter 32
Behold, a king will reign righteously, And princes will rule justly.
And each will be like a refuge from the wind, And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen.
And the mind of the hasty will discern the truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
No longer will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of [ as] generous.
For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness, To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises wicked schemes To destroy [the] afflicted with slander, Even though [the] needy one speaks what is right.
But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.
Rise up you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Give ear to my word, You complacent daughters.
Within a year and [a few] days, You will be troubled, O complacent [daughters;] For the vintage is ended, And the [fruit] gathering will not come.
Tremble, you [women] who are at ease; Be troubled, you complacent [ daughters;] Strip, undress, and put [sackcloth] on [your] waist,
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
For the land of my people [in which] thorns [and] briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses, [and for] the jubilant city.
Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.
And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;
And it will hail when the forest comes down, And the city will be utterly laid low.
How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.
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chapter 33
Woe to you, O destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous, while [others] did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you shall finish destroying, you shall be destroyed; As soon as you shall cease to deal treacherously, [others] shall deal treacherously with you.
O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for Thee. Be Thou their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress.
At the sound of the tumult peoples flee; At the lifting up of Thyself nations disperse.
And your spoil is gathered [as] the caterpillar gathers; As locusts rushing about, men rush about on it.
The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He shall be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Behold, their brave men cry in the streets, The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased, He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, He has no regard for man.
The land mourns and pines away, Lebanon is shamed and withers; Sharon is like a desert plain, And Bashan and Carmel lose [their foliage.]
"Now I will arise," says the LORD, "Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.
"You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; My breath will consume you like a fire.
"And the peoples will be burned to lime, Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
"You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might."
Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. " Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning? "
He who walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain, And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
He will dwell on the heights; His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given [him;] His water will be sure.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.
Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?"
You will no longer see a fierce people, A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, Of a stammering tongue which no one understands.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes shall see Jerusalem an undisturbed habitation, A tent which shall not be folded, Its stakes shall never be pulled up Nor any of its cords be torn apart.
But there the majestic [One,] the LORD, shall be for us A place of rivers [and] wide canals, On which no boat with oars shall go, And on which no mighty ship shall pass--
For the LORD is our judge, The LORD is our lawgiver, The LORD is our king; He will save us--
Your tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; The lame will take the plunder.
And no resident will say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell there will be forgiven [their] iniquity.
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chapter 34
Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
For the Lord's indignation is against all the nations, And [His] wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.
So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as [one] withers from the fig tree.
For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Wild oxen shall also fall with them, And young bulls with strong ones; Thus their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat.
For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
And its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land shall become burning pitch.
It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall go up forever; From generation to generation it shall be desolate; None shall pass through it forever and ever.
But pelican and hedgehog shall possess it, And owl and raven shall dwell in it; And He shall stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.
Its nobles-- there is no one there [Whom] they may proclaim king-- And all its princes shall be nothing.
And thorns shall come up in its fortified towers, Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities; It shall also be a haunt of jackals [And] an abode of ostriches.
And the desert creatures shall meet with the wolves, The hairy goat also shall cry to its kind; Yes, the night monster shall settle there And shall find herself a resting place.
The tree snake shall make its nest and lay [eggs] there, And it will hatch and gather [them] under its protection. Yes, the hawks shall be gathered there, Every one with its kind.
Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.
And He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
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chapter 35
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God.
Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come [with] vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you."
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
And the scorched land will become a pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass [becomes] reeds and rushes.
And a highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it [will] be for him who walks [that] way, And fools will not wander [on it].
No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk [there],
And the ransomed of the LORD will return, And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
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chapter 36
Now it came about in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller's field.
Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
Then Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria," What is this confidence that you have?
"I say, 'Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.' Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?
"Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, [even] on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
"But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?
"Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
"How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master's servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
"And have I now come up without the Lord's approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'" '"
Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand [it]; and do not speak with us in Judean, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, [and] not to the men who sit on the wall, [ doomed] to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
"Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
'Do not listen to Hezekiah,' for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
'[Beware] lest Hezekiah misleads you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
'Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
'Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?' "
But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."
Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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chapter 37
And when King Hezekiah heard [it], he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD.
Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver.
'Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.' "
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD," Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
"Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land." '"
Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
When he heard [them] say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard [it] he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
"Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying," Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. "
'Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared?
'Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, [even] Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who [were] in Telassar?
'Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, [and of] Hena and Ivvah?' "
Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying,
"O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who art enthroned [above] the cherubim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth.
"Incline Thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open Thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent [them] to reproach the living God.
"Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands,
and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
"And now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, LORD, art God."
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent [word] to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,
this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: "She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken [her] head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem!
"Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised [your] voice, And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!
"Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars [and] its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest.
'I dug [wells] and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.'
"Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
"Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were [as] the vegetation of the field and [as] the green herb, [As] grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.
"But I know your sitting down, And your going out and your coming in, And your raging against Me.
"Because of your raging against Me, And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came.
"Then this shall be the sign for you: you shall eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
"And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
"For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall perform this." '
"Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ' He shall not come to this city, or shoot an arrow there; neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mound against it.
'By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,' declares the LORD.
'For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.' "
Then the angel of the LORD went out, and struck 185000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead.
So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned [home], and lived at Nineveh.
And it came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
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chapter 38
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD,
and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Thy sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
"Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David," I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
"And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city." '
"And this shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:
"Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the sun's [shadow] went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery:
I said, "In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
I said, "I shall not see the LORD, The LORD in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
"Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night Thou dost make an end of me.
"I composed [my soul] until morning. Like a lion-- so He breaks all my bones, From day until night Thou dost make an end of me.
"Like a swallow, [like] a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
"What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I shall wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
"O Lord, by [these] things [men] live; And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health, and let me live!
"Lo, for [my own] welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.
"For Sheol cannot thank Thee, Death cannot praise Thee; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Thy faithfulness.
"It is the living who give thanks to Thee, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Thy faithfulness.
"The LORD will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All [the] days of our life at the house of the LORD."
Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
Then Hezekiah had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"
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chapter 39
At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
And Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon."
And he said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them."
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts,
'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD.
'And [some] of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.' "
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "For there will be peace and truth in my days."
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