Holy Bible
Isaiah
Isaiah 16
1Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
3“Make up your mind,” Moab says.
“Render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—at high noon.
Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.
4Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.”
The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house[40] of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.
6We have heard of Moab’s pride—how great is her arrogance!—of her conceit, her pride and her insolence; but her boasts are empty.
7Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
8The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also.
The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.[41]
9So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and Elealeh,
I drench you with tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.
10Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.
11My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.
12When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail.
13This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab. 14But now the LORD says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”
Isaiah 17
A Prophecy Against Damascus
1A prophecy against Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.
3The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,” declares the LORD Almighty.
4“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.
5It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms—as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
6Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
7In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[42] and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,
11though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12Woe to the many nations that rage—they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale.
14In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.
Isaiah 18
A Prophecy Against Cush
1Woe to the land of whirring wings[43] along the rivers of Cush,[44]
2which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.
3All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.
4This is what the LORD says to me:
“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
6They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.
7At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.
Isaiah 19
A Prophecy Against Egypt
1A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.
4I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
5The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away.
9Those who work with combed flax will despair, the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings”?
12Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known what the LORD Almighty has planned against Egypt.
13The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.
14The LORD has poured into them a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them. 17And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LORD Almighty is planning against them.
18In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[45]
19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. 20It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. 22The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[46] on the earth. 25The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
Isaiah 20
A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush
1In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it—2at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
3Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,[47] 4so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. 5Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. 6In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ ”
Isaiah 21
A Prophecy Against Babylon
1A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
2A dire vision has been shown to me:
The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!
I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.
3At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;
I am staggered by what I hear,
I am bewildered by what I see.
4My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.
5They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink!
Get up, you officers, oil the shields!
6This is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
7When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”
8And the lookout[48] shouted,
“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.
9Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ ”
10My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,
I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11A prophecy against Dumah[49]:
Someone calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”
A Prophecy Against Arabia
13A prophecy against Arabia:
You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
14bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives.
15They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and from the heat of battle.
16This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. 17The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Isaiah 22
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
1A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:
What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
2you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
3All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
5The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.
6Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses;
Kir uncovers the shield.
7Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
8The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
9You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
10You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
11You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
12The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
13But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”
14The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
15This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator:
16What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
17“Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.
18He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country.
There you will die and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.
20“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat[50] of honor for the house of his father. 24All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25“In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 23
A Prophecy Against Tyre
1A prophecy against Tyre:
Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus word has come to them.
2Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.
3On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile[51] was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations.
4Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea, for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;
I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
5When word comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.
6Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you people of the island.
7Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands?
8Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?
9The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
10Till[52] your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter Tarshish, for you no longer have a harbor.
11The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble.
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia that her fortresses be destroyed.
12He said, “No more of your reveling,
Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!
“Up, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
13Look at the land of the Babylonians,[53] this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.
14Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed!
15At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16“Take up a harp, walk through the city, you forgotten prostitute; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered.”
17At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.
Isaiah 24
The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth
1See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—
2it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor.
3The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered.
The LORD has spoken this word.
4The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth.
5The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
7The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan.
8The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.
9No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
11In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces.
13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
14They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.
15Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.
16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!”
17Terror and pit and snare await you, people of the earth.
18Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare.
The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
19The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken.
20The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.
21In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.
22They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished[54] after many days.
23The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.
Isaiah 25
Praise to the LORD
1LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
2You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall
5and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
10The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness[55] of their hands.
12He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.
Isaiah 26
A Song of Praise
1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
3You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.
5He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
6Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
7The path of the righteous is level;
you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
8Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,[56] we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
10But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.
11LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
12LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
13LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
14They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
15You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation.
You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.
16LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.[57]
17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, LORD.
18We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.
19But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
20Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
21See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Isaiah 27
Deliverance of Israel
1In that day,
the LORD will punish with his sword—his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.
2In that day—
“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
3I, the LORD, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.
4I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
I would march against them in battle;
I would set them all on fire.
5Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me,
yes, let them make peace with me.”
6In days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.
7Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?
8By warfare[58] and exile you contend with her—with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.
9By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles[59] or incense altars will be left standing.
10The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
11When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them.
For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
12In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. 13And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 28
Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah
1Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley—to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
2See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.
Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
4That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest—as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them.
5In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
6He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.
8All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
9“Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
10For it is:
Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that[60]; a little here, a little there.”
11Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—but they would not listen.
13So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there—so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured.
14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood[61] our hiding place.”
16So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
19As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.”
The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
22Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
23Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
24When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,[62] barley in its plot,[63] and spelt in its field?
26His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
27Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick.
28Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
Isaiah 29
Woe to David’s City
1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled!
Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.[64]
3I will encamp against you on all sides;
I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.
4Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust.
Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
8as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still.
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[65]
14Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.”
Isaiah 30
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
1“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
2who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace.”
6A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,
7to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her
Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
9For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
10They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!” and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
13this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”
18Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
19People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
23He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
29And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
30The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.
32Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.