Isaiah

Isaiah 1

¹The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

²Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!

For the LORD has spoken:

“I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox knows its master,

the donkey its owner’s manger,

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.”

⁴Woe to the sinful nation,

a people whose guilt is great,

a brood of evildoers,

children given to corruption!

They have forsaken the LORD;

they have spurned the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on him.

⁵Why should you be beaten anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head

there is no soundness—

only wounds and welts

and open sores,

not cleansed or bandaged

or soothed with olive oil.

⁷Your country is desolate,

your cities burned with fire;

your fields are being stripped by foreigners

right before you,

laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

⁸Daughter Zion is left

like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a hut in a cucumber field,

like a city under siege.

⁹Unless the LORD Almighty

had left us some survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD,

you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“The multitude of your sacrifices—

what are they to me?” says the LORD.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure

in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me,

who has asked this of you,

this trampling of my courts?

¹³Stop bringing meaningless offerings!

Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—

I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

¹⁴Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,

I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

¹⁶Wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

stop doing wrong.

¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.^[1]

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

plead the case of the widow.

¹⁸“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,

you will eat the good things of the land;

²⁰but if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

²¹See how the faithful city

has become a prostitute!

She once was full of justice;

righteousness used to dwell in her—

but now murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross,

your choice wine is diluted with water.

²³Your rulers are rebels,

partners with thieves;

they all love bribes

and chase after gifts.

They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;

the widow’s case does not come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes

and avenge myself on my enemies.

²⁵I will turn my hand against you;^[2]

I will thoroughly purge away your dross

and remove all your impurities.

²⁶I will restore your leaders as in days of old,

your rulers as at the beginning.

Afterward you will be called

the City of Righteousness,

the Faithful City.”

²⁷Zion will be delivered with justice,

her penitent ones with righteousness.

²⁸But rebels and sinners will both be broken,

and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

²⁹“You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks

in which you have delighted;

you will be disgraced because of the gardens

that you have chosen.

³⁰You will be like an oak with fading leaves,

like a garden without water.

³¹The mighty man will become tinder

and his work a spark;

both will burn together,

with no one to quench the fire.”

Isaiah 2

The Mountain of the LORD

¹This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established

as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

³Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵Come, descendants of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

⁶You, LORD, have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

They are full of superstitions from the East;

they practice divination like the Philistines

and embrace pagan customs.

⁷Their land is full of silver and gold;

there is no end to their treasures.

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to their chariots.

⁸Their land is full of idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their fingers have made.

⁹So people will be brought low

and everyone humbled—

do not forgive them.^[3]

¹⁰Go into the rocks, hide in the ground

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty!

¹¹The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled

and human pride brought low;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²The LORD Almighty has a day in store

for all the proud and lofty,

for all that is exalted

(and they will be humbled),

¹³for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,

and all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴for all the towering mountains

and all the high hills,

¹⁵for every lofty tower

and every fortified wall,

¹⁶for every trading ship^[4]

and every stately vessel.

¹⁷The arrogance of man will be brought low

and human pride humbled;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

¹⁸and the idols will totally disappear.

¹⁹People will flee to caves in the rocks

and to holes in the ground

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

²⁰In that day people will throw away

to the moles and bats

their idols of silver and idols of gold,

which they made to worship.

²¹They will flee to caverns in the rocks

and to the overhanging crags

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

²²Stop trusting in mere humans,

who have but a breath in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem?

Isaiah 3

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

¹See now, the Lord,

the LORD Almighty,

is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah

both supply and support:

all supplies of food and all supplies of water,

²the hero and the warrior,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty and the man of rank,

the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

⁴“I will make mere youths their officials;

children will rule over them.”

⁵People will oppress each other—

man against man, neighbor against neighbor.

The young will rise up against the old,

the nobody against the honored.

⁶A man will seize one of his brothers

in his father’s house, and say,

“You have a cloak, you be our leader;

take charge of this heap of ruins!”

⁷But in that day he will cry out,

“I have no remedy.

I have no food or clothing in my house;

do not make me the leader of the people.”

⁸Jerusalem staggers,

Judah is falling;

their words and deeds are against the LORD,

defying his glorious presence.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them;

they parade their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

They have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them,

for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked!

Disaster is upon them!

They will be paid back

for what their hands have done.

¹²Youths oppress my people,

women rule over them.

My people, your guides lead you astray;

they turn you from the path.

¹³The LORD takes his place in court;

he rises to judge the people.

¹⁴The LORD enters into judgment

against the elders and leaders of his people:

“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;

the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people

and grinding the faces of the poor?”

declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

¹⁶The LORD says,

“The women of Zion are haughty,

walking along with outstretched necks,

flirting with their eyes,

strutting along with swaying hips,

with ornaments jingling on their ankles.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;

the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, ¹⁹the earrings and bracelets and veils, ²⁰the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, ²¹the signet rings and nose rings, ²²the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses ²³and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

²⁴Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;

instead of a sash, a rope;

instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;

instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;

instead of beauty, branding.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword,

your warriors in battle.

²⁶The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;

destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Isaiah 4

¹In that day seven women

will take hold of one man

and say, “We will eat our own food

and provide our own clothes;

only let us be called by your name.

Take away our disgrace!”

The Branch of the LORD

²In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. ³Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. ⁴The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit^[5] of judgment and a spirit^[6] of fire. ⁵Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory^[7] will be a canopy. ⁶It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 5

The Song of the Vineyard

¹I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

²He dug it up and cleared it of stones

and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it

and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit.

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard

than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,

why did it yield only bad?

⁵Now I will tell you

what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,

and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland,

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds

not to rain on it.”

⁷The vineyard of the LORD Almighty

is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments

⁸Woe to you who add house to house

and join field to field

till no space is left

and you live alone in the land.

⁹The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing:

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,

the fine mansions left without occupants.

¹⁰A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath^[8] of wine;

a homer^[9] of seed will yield only an ephah^[10] of grain.”

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning

to run after their drinks,

who stay up late at night

till they are inflamed with wine.

¹²They have harps and lyres at their banquets,

pipes and timbrels and wine,

but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD,

no respect for the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people will go into exile

for lack of understanding;

those of high rank will die of hunger

and the common people will be parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Death expands its jaws,

opening wide its mouth;

into it will descend their nobles and masses

with all their brawlers and revelers.

¹⁵So people will be brought low

and everyone humbled,

the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

¹⁶But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,

and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

¹⁷Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;

lambs will feed^[11] among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,

and wickedness as with cart ropes,

¹⁹to those who say, “Let God hurry;

let him hasten his work

so we may see it.

The plan of the Holy One of Israel—

let it approach, let it come into view,

so we may know it.”

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine

and champions at mixing drinks,

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice to the innocent.

²⁴Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw

and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,

so their roots will decay

and their flowers blow away like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty

and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people;

his hand is raised and he strikes them down.

The mountains shake,

and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

²⁶He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,

he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Here they come,

swiftly and speedily!

²⁷Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,

not one slumbers or sleeps;

not a belt is loosened at the waist,

not a sandal strap is broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharp,

all their bows are strung;

their horses’ hooves seem like flint,

their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roar is like that of the lion,

they roar like young lions;

they growl as they seize their prey

and carry it off with no one to rescue.

³⁰In that day they will roar over it

like the roaring of the sea.

And if one looks at the land,

there is only darkness and distress;

even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Commission

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

⁹He said, “Go and tell this people:

“ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

¹⁰Make the heart of this people calloused;

make their ears dull

and close their eyes.^[12]

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

¹¹Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant,

until the houses are left deserted

and the fields ruined and ravaged,

¹²until the LORD has sent everyone far away

and the land is utterly forsaken.

¹³And though a tenth remains in the land,

it will again be laid waste.

But as the terebinth and oak

leave stumps when they are cut down,

so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Isaiah 7

The Sign of Immanuel

¹When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

²Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with^[13] Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,^[14] to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. ⁴Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, ⁶“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” ⁷Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“ ‘It will not take place,

it will not happen,

⁸for the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.

Within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

you will not stand at all.’ ”

¹⁰Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

¹³Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you^[15] a sign: The virgin^[16] will conceive and give birth to a son, and^[17] will call him Immanuel.^{[18] 15}He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, ¹⁶for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. ¹⁷The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

Assyria, the LORD’s Instrument

¹⁸In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ¹⁹They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. ²⁰In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also. ²¹In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. ²²And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. ²³In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels,^[19] there will be only briers and thorns. ²⁴Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. ²⁵As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

Isaiah 8

Isaiah and His Children as Signs

¹The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.”^{[20] 2}So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. ³Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ⁴For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶“Because this people has rejected

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

⁷therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—

the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

run over all its banks

⁸and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

Immanuel^[21]!”

⁹Raise the war cry,^[22] you nations, and be shattered!

Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

propose your plan, but it will not stand,

for God is with us.^[23]

¹¹This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹²“Do not call conspiracy

everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

and do not dread it.

¹³The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

he is the one you are to fear,

he is the one you are to dread.

¹⁴He will be a holy place;

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.

¹⁵Many of them will stumble;

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶Bind up this testimony of warning

and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

¹⁷I will wait for the LORD,

who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light

¹⁹When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²²Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Isaiah 9^[24]

¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

²The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

³You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

⁴For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

⁵Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

⁶For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this.

The LORD’s Anger Against Israel

⁸The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;

it will fall on Israel.

⁹All the people will know it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

who say with pride

and arrogance of heart,

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,

but we will rebuild with dressed stone;

the fig trees have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹But the LORD has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them

and has spurred their enemies on.

¹²Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouth.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

¹³But the people have not returned to him who struck them,

nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.

¹⁴So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day;

¹⁵the elders and dignitaries are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

¹⁶Those who guide this people mislead them,

and those who are guided are led astray.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,

nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,

for everyone is ungodly and wicked,

every mouth speaks folly.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

¹⁸Surely wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns,

it sets the forest thickets ablaze,

so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹By the wrath of the LORD Almighty

the land will be scorched

and the people will be fuel for the fire;

they will not spare one another.

²⁰On the right they will devour,

but still be hungry;

on the left they will eat,

but not be satisfied.

Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring^[25]:

²¹Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;

together they will turn against Judah.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 10

¹Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

²to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,

making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless.

³What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches?

⁴Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

God’s Judgment on Assyria

⁵“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

⁶I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

⁷But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy,

to put an end to many nations.

⁸‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.

⁹‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—

¹¹shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³For he says:

“ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued^[26] their kings.

¹⁴As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as people gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”

¹⁵Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,

or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,

or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

¹⁶Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame.

¹⁷The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers.

¹⁸The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick person wastes away.

¹⁹And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

The Remnant of Israel

²⁰In that day the remnant of Israel,

the survivors of Jacob,

will no longer rely on him

who struck them down

but will truly rely on the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A remnant will return,^[27] a remnant of Jacob

will return to the Mighty God.

²²Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel,

only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed,

overwhelming and righteous.

²³The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

²⁴Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:

“My people who live in Zion,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians,

who beat you with a rod

and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.

²⁵Very soon my anger against you will end

and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”

²⁶The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip,

as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;

and he will raise his staff over the waters,

as he did in Egypt.

²⁷In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be broken

because you have grown so fat.^[28]

²⁸They enter Aiath;

they pass through Migron;

they store supplies at Mikmash.

²⁹They go over the pass, and say,

“We will camp overnight at Geba.”

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees.

³⁰Cry out, Daughter Gallim!

Listen, Laishah!

Poor Anathoth!

³¹Madmenah is in flight;

the people of Gebim take cover.

³²This day they will halt at Nob;

they will shake their fist

at the mount of Daughter Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

³³See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will lop off the boughs with great power.

The lofty trees will be felled,

the tall ones will be brought low.

³⁴He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;

Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

Isaiah 11

The Branch From Jesse

¹A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

²The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

³and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

or decide by what he hears with his ears;

⁴but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

⁵Righteousness will be his belt

and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling^[29] together;

and a little child will lead them.

⁷The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

⁸The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

⁹They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. ¹¹In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,^[30] from Elam, from Babylonia,^[31] from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

¹²He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth.

¹³Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,

and Judah’s enemies^[32] will be destroyed;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

¹⁴They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will subdue Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

¹⁵The LORD will dry up

the gulf of the Egyptian sea;

with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand

over the Euphrates River.

He will break it up into seven streams

so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

¹⁶There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

that is left from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from Egypt.

Isaiah 12

Songs of Praise

¹In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, LORD.

Although you were angry with me,

your anger has turned away

and you have comforted me.

²Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense^[33];

he has become my salvation.”

³With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

⁴In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done,

and proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,

for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Isaiah 13

A Prophecy Against Babylon

¹A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,

shout to them;

beckon to them

to enter the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded those I prepared for battle;

I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—

those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴Listen, a noise on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations massing together!

The LORD Almighty is mustering

an army for war.

⁵They come from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;

it will come like destruction from the Almighty.^[34]

⁷Because of this, all hands will go limp,

every heart will melt with fear.

⁸Terror will seize them,

pain and anguish will grip them;

they will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at each other,

their faces aflame.

⁹See, the day of the LORD is coming

—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—

to make the land desolate

and destroy the sinners within it.

¹⁰The stars of heaven and their constellations

will not show their light.

The rising sun will be darkened

and the moon will not give its light.

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil,

the wicked for their sins.

I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty

and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make people scarcer than pure gold,

more rare than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;

and the earth will shake from its place

at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,

in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle,

like sheep without a shepherd,

they will all return to their own people,

they will flee to their native land.

¹⁵Whoever is captured will be thrust through;

all who are caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;

their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

¹⁷See, I will stir up against them the Medes,

who do not care for silver

and have no delight in gold.

¹⁸Their bows will strike down the young men;

they will have no mercy on infants,

nor will they look with compassion on children.

¹⁹Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,

the pride and glory of the Babylonians,^[35]

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰She will never be inhabited

or lived in through all generations;

there no nomads will pitch their tents,

there no shepherds will rest their flocks.

²¹But desert creatures will lie there,

jackals will fill her houses;

there the owls will dwell,

and there the wild goats will leap about.

²²Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,

jackals her luxurious palaces.

Her time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14

¹The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;

once again he will choose Israel

and will settle them in their own land.

Foreigners will join them

and unite with the descendants of Jacob.

²Nations will take them

and bring them to their own place.

And Israel will take possession of the nations

and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.

They will make captives of their captors

and rule over their oppressors.

³On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, ⁴you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has come to an end!

How his fury^[36] has ended!

⁵The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers,

⁶which in anger struck down peoples

with unceasing blows,

and in fury subdued nations

with relentless aggression.

⁷All the lands are at rest and at peace;

they break into singing.

⁸Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon

gloat over you and say,

“Now that you have been laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”

⁹The realm of the dead below is all astir

to meet you at your coming;

it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—

all those who were leaders in the world;

it makes them rise from their thrones—

all those who were kings over the nations.

¹⁰They will all respond,

they will say to you,

“You also have become weak, as we are;

you have become like us.”

¹¹All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,

along with the noise of your harps;

maggots are spread out beneath you

and worms cover you.

¹²How you have fallen from heaven,

morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

¹³You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.^[37]

¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶Those who see you stare at you,

they ponder your fate:

“Is this the man who shook the earth

and made kingdoms tremble,

¹⁷the man who made the world a wilderness,

who overthrew its cities

and would not let his captives go home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in state,

each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are cast out of your tomb

like a rejected branch;

you are covered with the slain,

with those pierced by the sword,

those who descend to the stones of the pit.

Like a corpse trampled underfoot,

²⁰you will not join them in burial,

for you have destroyed your land

and killed your people.

Let the offspring of the wicked

never be mentioned again.

²¹Prepare a place to slaughter his children

for the sins of their ancestors;

they are not to rise to inherit the land

and cover the earth with their cities.

²²“I will rise up against them,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,

her offspring and descendants,”

declares the LORD.

²³“I will turn her into a place for owls

and into swampland;

I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

²⁴The LORD Almighty has sworn,

“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,

and as I have purposed, so it will happen.

²⁵I will crush the Assyrian in my land;

on my mountains I will trample him down.

His yoke will be taken from my people,

and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶This is the plan determined for the whole world;

this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

²⁸This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,

that the rod that struck you is broken;

from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,

its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.

³⁰The poorest of the poor will find pasture,

and the needy will lie down in safety.

But your root I will destroy by famine;

it will slay your survivors.

³¹Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!

Melt away, all you Philistines!

A cloud of smoke comes from the north,

and there is not a straggler in its ranks.

³²What answer shall be given

to the envoys of that nation?

“The LORD has established Zion,

and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 15

A Prophecy Against Moab

¹A prophecy against Moab:

Ar in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

Kir in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

²Dibon goes up to its temple,

to its high places to weep;

Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.

Every head is shaved

and every beard cut off.

³In the streets they wear sackcloth;

on the roofs and in the public squares

they all wail,

prostrate with weeping.

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.

Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,

and their hearts are faint.

⁵My heart cries out over Moab;

her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,

as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.

They go up the hill to Luhith,

weeping as they go;

on the road to Horonaim

they lament their destruction.

⁶The waters of Nimrim are dried up

and the grass is withered;

the vegetation is gone

and nothing green is left.

⁷So the wealth they have acquired and stored up

they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

⁸Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;

their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,

their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.

⁹The waters of Dimon^[38] are full of blood,

but I will bring still more upon Dimon^[39]—

a lion upon the fugitives of Moab

and upon those who remain in the land.

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] 4}so 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.