Isaiah 16-22
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 16
1Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2Then, like fluttering birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the crossing places of the Arnon. 3'Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive. 4Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.' For the oppressor has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have been removed from the land. 5A throne will be established in faithfulness, And a judge will sit on it in trustworthiness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice, And be prompt in righteousness. 6We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false. 7Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken. 8For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts; Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea. 9Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away. 10Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I have made the shouting to cease. 11Therefore my inner being sounds like a harp for Moab. And my heart for Kir-hareseth.
13This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab.
14But now the Lord has spoken, saying, 'Within three years, as a hired worker would count them, the glory of Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.'
Chapter 17
1The pronouncement concerning Damascus: 'Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin. 2The cities of Aroer are abandoned; They will be for herds to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them. 3The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,' Declares the Lord of armies. 4Now on that day the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean. 5It will be like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the Valley of Rephaim. 6Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the Lord, the God of Israel. 7On that day man will look to his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. 8And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, Even the Asherim and incense altars. 9On that day their strong cities will be like abandoned places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation. 10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine shoots of a strange god. 11On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will flee On a day of illness and incurable pain. 12Oh, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! 13The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale. 14At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are gone. This will be the fate of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.Chapter 18
1Woe, land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush, 2Which sends messengers by the sea, Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide. 3All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth, As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it. 4For this is what the Lord has told me: 'I will quietly look from My dwelling place Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.' 5For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, And remove and tear away the spreading branches. 6They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the animals of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them. 7At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies From a people tall and smooth, From a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.Chapter 19
1The pronouncement concerning Egypt: Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2'So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom. 3Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confuse their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to mediums and spiritists. 4Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them,' declares the Lord God of armies. 5The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry. 6The canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away. 7The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8And the fishermen will grieve, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away. 9Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected. 10And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul. 11The officials of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you say to Pharaoh, 'I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings'? 12Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the Lord of armies Has planned against Egypt. 13The officials of Zoan have turned out to be fools, The officials of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray. 14The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken person staggers in his vomit. 15There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
16On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of armies, which He is going to wave over them.
17The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the plan of the Lord of armies which He is making against them.
19On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord beside its border.
20And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will save them.
21So the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.
22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.
24On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.'
Chapter 20
1In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, 'Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your sandals off your feet.' And he did so, going naked and barefoot. 3Then the Lord said, 'Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and symbol against Egypt and Cush, 4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5Then they will be terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their pride. 6So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and how are we ourselves to escape?’?'Chapter 21
1The pronouncement concerning the wilderness of the sea: As windstorms in the Negev come in turns, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. 2A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have put an end to all the groaning she has caused. 3For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. 4My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me. 5They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; 'Rise up, captains, oil the shields!' 6For this is what the Lord says to me: 'Go, station the lookout, have him report what he sees. 7When he sees a column of chariots, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, He is to pay close attention, very close attention.' 8Then the lookout called, 'Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post. 9Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.' And one said, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.' 10My downtrodden people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of armies, The God of Israel, I make known to you.
12The watchman says, 'Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.'
14Bring water for the thirsty, You inhabitants of the land of Tema; Meet the fugitive with bread.
15For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, And from the press of battle.
16For this is what the Lord said to me: 'In a year, as a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end;
17and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken.'
Chapter 22
1The pronouncement concerning the valley of vision: What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops? 2You who were full of noise, You tumultuous town, you jubilant city; Your dead were not killed with the sword, Nor did they die in battle. 3All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away. 4Therefore I say, 'Look away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.' 5For the Lord God of armies has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain. 6Elam picked up the quiver, With the chariots, infantry, and horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield. 7Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took positions at the gate. 8And He removed the defense of Judah. On that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest, 9And you saw that the breaches In the wall of the city of David were many; And you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem And tore down houses to fortify the wall. 11And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago. 12Therefore on that day the Lord God of armies called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth. 13Instead, there is joy and jubilation, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: 'Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.' 14But the Lord of armies revealed Himself to me: 'Certainly this wrongdoing will not be forgiven you Until you die,' says the Lord God of armies.
16‘What right do you have here, And whom do you have here, That you have cut out a tomb for yourself here, You who cut out a tomb on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
17Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you violently, you strong man. And He is about to grasp you firmly
18 And wrap you up tightly like a ball, To be driven into a vast country; There you will die, And there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master’s house!’
19I will depose you from your office, And I will pull you down from your position.
20Then it will come about on that day, That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21And I will clothe him with your tunic And tie your sash securely around him. I will hand your authority over to him, And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22Then I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder; When he opens, no one will shut, When he shuts, no one will open.
23I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.
24So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the descendants, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.
25On that day,' declares the Lord of armies, 'the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load that is hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.'
King James Version
12And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
13This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
15Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
16In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
18In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
19In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
20And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.
22And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
23In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Chapter 20
1In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; 2At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; 4So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 6And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?
10O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
11The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
13The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
15For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
16For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.
13And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
14And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts.
15Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
19And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.
20And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
21And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
24And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 16
1Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mountain of Daughter Zion. 2Like a bird fleeing, forced from the nest, the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon. 3Give us counsel and make a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
4Let my refugees stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor. When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ended, and marauders have vanished from the land,
5a throne will be established in love, and one will sit on it faithfully in the tent of David, judging and pursuing what is right, quick to execute justice.
6We have heard of Moab’s pride — how very proud he is— his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.
7Therefore let Moab wail; let every one of them wail for Moab. You who are completely devastated, mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choice vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the sea.
9So I join with Jazer to weep for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
10Joy and rejoicing have been removed from the orchard; no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes in the winepresses. I have put an end to the shouting.
11Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab, as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
12When Moab appears and tires himself out on the high place and comes to his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.
13This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab.
14And now the Lord says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."
2The cities of Aroer are abandoned; they will be places for flocks. They will lie down without fear.
7On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines they made with their fingers.
9On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
11On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, but the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.
12Ah! The roar of many peoples— they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations— they rage like the rumble of rushing water.
13The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14In the evening—sudden terror! Before morning—it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.
Chapter 18
1Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush, 2which sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers. 3All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!
4For the Lord said to me: I will quietly look out from my place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
5For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.
6They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, and all the wild animals the winter.
Chapter 19
1A pronouncement concerning Egypt: Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt’s idols will tremble before him, and Egypt will lose heart. 2I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians; each will fight against his brother and each against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
4I will hand over Egypt to harsh masters, and a strong king will rule it. This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
5The water of the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.
6The channels will stink; they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched. Reed and rush will wilt.
7The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the cultivated areas of the Nile will wither, blow away, and vanish.
8Then the fishermen will mourn. All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will give up.
9Those who work with flax will be dismayed; those combing it and weaving linen will turn pale.
10Egypt’s weavers will be dejected; all her wage earners will be demoralized.
11The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice! How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise, a student of eastern kings"?
12Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and reveal what the Lord of Armies has planned against Egypt.
13The princes of Zoan have been fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
14The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion. The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15No head or tail, palm or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.
16On that day Egypt will be like women and will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Armies when he raises it against them.
17The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the Lord of Armies has planned against it.
19On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near her border.
20It will be a sign and witness to the Lord of Armies in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.
21The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.
22The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will turn to the Lord and he will be receptive to their prayers and heal them.
24On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing within the land.
25The Lord of Armies will bless them, saying, "Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance are blessed."
Chapter 20
1In the year that the chief commander, sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did that, going stripped and barefoot — 3the Lord said, "As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, 4so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame. 5Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed. 6And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’"Chapter 21
1A pronouncement concerning the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror. 2A troubling vision is declared to me: "The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning." 3Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see. 4My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror. 5Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields! 6For the Lord has said to me, "Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees. 7When he sees riders— pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels— he must pay close attention." 8Then the lookout reported, "Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night. 9Look, riders come— horsemen in pairs." And he answered, saying, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the images of her gods have been shattered on the ground." 10My people who have been crushed on the threshing floor, I have declared to you what I have heard from the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel.
11A pronouncement concerning Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, "Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?"
12The watchman said, "Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again."
13A pronouncement concerning Arabia: In the desert brush you will camp for the night, you caravans of Dedanites.
14Bring water for the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the refugees with food.
15For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bow that is strung, and from the stress of battle.
16For the Lord said this to me: "Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.
17The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number." For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Chapter 22
1A pronouncement concerning the Valley of Vision: What’s the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops? 2The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with celebration. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle. 3All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away. 4Therefore I said, "Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people." 5For the Lord God of Armies had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion in the Valley of Vision— people shouting and crying to the mountains; 6Elam took up a quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. 7Your best valleys were full of chariots, and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.
8He removed the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.
9You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.
10You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.
11You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.
12On that day the Lord God of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.
13But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats, eating of meat, and drinking of wine— "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
14The Lord of Armies has directly revealed to me: "This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live." The Lord God of Armies has spoken.
15The Lord God of Armies said: "Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him:
16What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?
17Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,
18wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be—a disgrace to the house of your lord.
19I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.
20"On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
21I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.
23I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family.
24They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots—all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
25On that day"—the declaration of the Lord of Armies—"the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed." Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
New Living Translation
Chapter 16
1Send lambs from Sela as tribute to the ruler of the land. Send them through the desert to the mountain of beautiful Zion. 2The women of Moab are left like homeless birds at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River. 3'Help us,' they cry. 'Defend us against our enemies. Protect us from their relentless attack. Do not betray us now that we have escaped.
4Let our refugees stay among you. Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.' When oppression and destruction have ended and enemy raiders have disappeared,
5then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king. He will rule with mercy and truth. He will always do what is just and be eager to do what is right.
6We have heard about proud Moab — about its pride and arrogance and rage. But all that boasting has disappeared.
7The entire land of Moab weeps. Yes, everyone in Moab mourns for the cakes of raisins from Kir-hareseth. They are all gone now.
8The farms of Heshbon are abandoned; the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted. The rulers of the nations have broken down Moab — that beautiful grapevine. Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer and trailed eastward into the wilderness. Its shoots reached so far west that they crossed over the Dead Sea.
9So now I weep for Jazer and the vineyards of Sibmah; my tears will flow for Heshbon and Elealeh. There are no more shouts of joy over your summer fruits and harvest.
10Gone now is the gladness, gone the joy of harvest. There will be no singing in the vineyards, no more happy shouts, no treading of grapes in the winepresses. I have ended all their harvest joys.
11My heart’s cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp. I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.
12The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines, but it will do them no good. They will cry to the gods in their temples, but no one will be able to save them.
13The Lord has already said these things about Moab in the past.
14But now the Lord says, 'Within three years, counting each day, the glory of Moab will be ended. From its great population, only a feeble few will be left alive.'
Chapter 17
1This message came to me concerning Damascus: 'Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins. 2The towns of Aroer will be deserted. Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with no one to chase them away. 3The fortified towns of Israel will also be destroyed, and the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Syria will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,' declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4'In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim; its robust body will waste away.
5The whole land will look like a grainfield after the harvesters have gathered the grain. It will be desolate, like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
6Only a few of its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest branches, four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,' declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
9Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago. It will be utterly desolate.
10Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings.
11They may sprout on the day you set them out; yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.
12Listen! The armies of many nations roar like the roaring of the sea. Hear the thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like thundering waves.
13But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
14In the evening Israel waits in terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead. This is the just reward of those who plunder us, a fitting end for those who destroy us.
3All you people of the world, everyone who lives on the earth — when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look! When I blow the ram’s horn, listen!
4For the Lord has told me this: 'I will watch quietly from my dwelling place — as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day, or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.'
5Even before you begin your attack, while your plans are ripening like grapes, the Lord will cut off your new growth with pruning shears. He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.
6Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields for the mountain vultures and wild animals. The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer. The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.
2'I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian — brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, province against province.
3The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will confuse their plans. They will plead with their idols for wisdom and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
4I will hand Egypt over to a hard, cruel master. A fierce king will rule them,' says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
5The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields. The riverbed will be parched and dry.
6The canals of the Nile will dry up, and the streams of Egypt will stink with rotting reeds and rushes.
7All the greenery along the riverbank and all the crops along the river will dry up and blow away.
8The fishermen will lament for lack of work. Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan, and those who use nets will lose heart.
9There will be no flax for the harvesters, no thread for the weavers.
10They will be in despair, and all the workers will be sick at heart.
11What fools are the officials of Zoan! Their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong. Will they still boast to Pharaoh of their wisdom? Will they dare brag about all their wise ancestors?
12Where are your wise counselors, Pharaoh? Let them tell you what God plans, what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is going to do to Egypt.
13The officials of Zoan are fools, and the officials of Memphis are deluded. The leaders of the people have led Egypt astray.
14The Lord has sent a spirit of foolishness on them, so all their suggestions are wrong. They cause Egypt to stagger like a drunk in his vomit.
15There is nothing Egypt can do. All are helpless — the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
16In that day the Egyptians will be as weak as women. They will cower in fear beneath the upraised fist of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
17Just to speak the name of Israel will terrorize them, for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has laid out his plans against them.
19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and there will be a monument to the Lord at its border.
20It will be a sign and a witness that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is worshiped in the land of Egypt. When the people cry to the Lord for help against those who oppress them, he will send them a savior who will rescue them.
21The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians. Yes, they will know the Lord and will give their sacrifices and offerings to him. They will make a vow to the Lord and will keep it.
22The Lord will strike Egypt, and then he will bring healing. For the Egyptians will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas and heal them.
23In that day Egypt and Assyria will be connected by a highway. The Egyptians and Assyrians will move freely between their lands, and they will both worship God.
24In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.
25For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, 'Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!'
Chapter 20
1In the year when King Sargon of Assyria sent his commander in chief to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod, 2the Lord told Isaiah son of Amoz, 'Take off the burlap you have been wearing, and remove your sandals.' Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.
3Then the Lord said, 'My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign — a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.
4For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt.
5Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt!
6They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’'
Chapter 21
1This message came to me concerning Babylon — the desert by the sea : Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert, like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev. 2I see a terrifying vision: I see the betrayer betraying, the destroyer destroying. Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes, attack and lay siege. I will make an end to all the groaning Babylon caused. 3My stomach aches and burns with pain. Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me, like those of a woman in labor. I grow faint when I hear what God is planning; I am too afraid to look. 4My mind reels and my heart races. I longed for evening to come, but now I am terrified of the dark.
6Meanwhile, the Lord said to me, 'Put a watchman on the city wall. Let him shout out what he sees.
7He should look for chariots drawn by pairs of horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels. Let the watchman be fully alert.'
8Then the watchman called out, 'Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post.
9Now at last — look! Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses!' Then the watchman said, 'Babylon is fallen, fallen! All the idols of Babylon lie broken on the ground!'
10O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me.
11This message came to me concerning Edom : Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, 'Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?'
12The watchman replies, 'Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.'
13This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.
14O people of Tema, bring water to these thirsty people, food to these weary refugees.
15They have fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and the terrors of battle.
16The Lord said to me, 'Within a year, counting each day, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
17Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken!'
Chapter 22
1This message came to me concerning Jerusalem — the Valley of Vision : What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops? 2The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed not in battle but by famine and disease. 3All your leaders have fled. They surrendered without resistance. The people tried to slip away, but they were captured, too. 4That’s why I said, 'Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed.'
5Oh, what a day of crushing defeat! What a day of confusion and terror brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, upon the Valley of Vision! The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.
6Elamites are the archers, with their chariots and charioteers. The men of Kir hold up the shields.
7Chariots fill your beautiful valleys, and charioteers storm your gates.
8Judah’s defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons.
9You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem. You store up water in the lower pool.
10You survey the houses and tear some down for stone to strengthen the walls.
11Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But you never ask for help from the One who did all this. You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
12At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
13But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink wine. You say, 'Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!'
16'Who do you think you are, and what are you doing here, building a beautiful tomb for yourself — a monument high up in the rock?
17For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man. He is going to grab you,
18crumple you into a ball, and toss you away into a distant, barren land. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless. You are a disgrace to your master!
19Yes, I will drive you out of office,' says the Lord. 'I will pull you down from your high position.
20And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you.
21I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.
22I will give him the key to the house of David — the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.
23He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall.
24They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family. '
English Standard Version
Chapter 16
1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 3"Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive; 4let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, 5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness." 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab — how proud he is! — of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right. 7Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. 8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea. 9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased. 10 And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting. 11Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth. 12And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past.
14But now the Lord has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble."
2The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the Lord of hosts.
4And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten — two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares the Lord God of Israel.
7In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.
8He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
Chapter 18
1Ah, land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush, 2which sends ambassadors by the sea, in vessels of papyrus on the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide. 3All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear! 4For thus the Lord said to me: "I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." 5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away. 6 They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. 7At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts.
2And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;
4and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord God of hosts.
5And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,
6and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt 's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.
7There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched, will be driven away, and will be no more.
8The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.
9The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton.
10Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved.
11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"?
12Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger.
14The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them.
17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.
20It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.
21And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.
22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."
Chapter 20
1In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it — 2at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet," and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3Then the Lord said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,
4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.
5Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast.
6And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’"
2A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
5 They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
6For thus the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.
7When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently."
8Then he who saw cried out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.
9And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground."
10O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, "Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?"
12The watchman says: "Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again."
13The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
14To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.
16For thus the Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
17And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken."
2you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.
4Therefore I said: "Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people."
5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.
6And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,
9and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool,
10and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
13and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
14The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die," says the Lord God of hosts.
15Thus says the Lord God of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:
16What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
17Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you
18and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master 's house.
19I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.
20In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father 's house.
24And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father 's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
25In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken."
New International Version
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.
5In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house 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.
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."
Chapter 17
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 and the incense altars their fingers have made.
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.
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.
Chapter 19
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.
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.
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 on the earth.
25The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."
Chapter 20
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,
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?’ "
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."
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.
11A prophecy against Dumah : 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."
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.
Chapter 22
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!"
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 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.
New King James Version
Chapter 16
1Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the wilderness, To the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 3“Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes. 4Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, Devastation ceases, The oppressors are consumed out of the land. 5In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.” 6We have heard of the pride of Moab— He is very proud— Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; But his lies shall not be so. 7Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab; Everyone shall wail. For the foundations of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn; Surely they are stricken. 8For the fields of Heshbon languish, And the vine of Sibmah; The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants, Which have reached to Jazer And wandered through the wilderness. Her branches are stretched out, They are gone over the sea. 9Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah, With the weeping of Jazer; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For battle cries have fallen Over your summer fruits and your harvest. 10 Gladness is taken away, And joy from the plentiful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing, Nor will there be shouting; No treaders will tread out wine in the presses; I have made their shouting cease. 11Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir Heres. 12And it shall come to pass, When it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, That he will come to his sanctuary to pray; But he will not prevail.
13This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”
Chapter 17
1The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. 3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Syria; They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” Says the Lord of hosts. 4“In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of Jacob will wane, And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. 5 It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain In the Valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches,” Says the Lord God of Israel. 7In that day a man will look to his Maker, And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. 8He will not look to the altars, The work of his hands; He will not respect what his fingers have made, Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars. 9In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough And an uppermost branch, Which they left because of the children of Israel; And there will be desolation. 10Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; 11In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow. 12Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us.Chapter 18
1Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, 2Which sends ambassadors by sea, Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, To a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide.” 3All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it. 4For so the Lord said to me, “I will take My rest, And I will look from My dwelling place Like clear heat in sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” 5For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect And the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks And take away and cut down the branches. 6They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey And for the beasts of the earth; The birds of prey will summer on them, And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. 7In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth of skin, And from a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, To Mount Zion.Chapter 19
1The burden against Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. 2“I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; Everyone will fight against his brother, And everyone against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel, And they will consult the idols and the charmers, The mediums and the sorcerers. 4And the Egyptians I will give Into the hand of a cruel master, And a fierce king will rule over them,” Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts. 5 The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up. 6The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither. 7The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River, And everything sown by the River, Will wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8The fishermen also will mourn; All those will lament who cast hooks into the River, And they will languish who spread nets on the waters. 9Moreover those who work in fine flax And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed; 10And its foundations will be broken. All who make wages will be troubled of soul. 11Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, The son of ancient kings?” 12 Where are they? Where are your wise men? Let them tell you now, And let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. 13The princes of Zoan have become fools; The princes of Noph are deceived; They have also deluded Egypt, Those who are the mainstay of its tribes. 14The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit. 15Neither will there be any work for Egypt, Which the head or tail, Palm branch or bulrush, may do.
16In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He waves over it.
17And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He has determined against it.
19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.
20And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.
21Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.
22And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
24In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land,
25whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Chapter 20
1In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, 2at the same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia,
4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory.
6And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’ ”
Chapter 21
1The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 2A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease. 3Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. 4My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. 5 Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield! 6For thus has the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.” 7And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, And he listened earnestly with great care. 8Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night. 9And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” 10 Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you.
11The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back!”
13The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites.
14O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Bring water to him who is thirsty; With their bread they met him who fled.
15For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.
16For thus the Lord has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail;
17and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.”
Chapter 22
1The burden against the Valley of Vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops, 2You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle. 3All your rulers have fled together; They are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; They have fled from afar. 4Therefore I said, “Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; Do not labor to comfort me Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.” 5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord God of hosts In the Valley of Vision— Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain. 6 Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield. 7It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. 8 He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest; 9 You also saw the damage to the city of David, That it was great; And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. 10You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, And the houses you broke down To fortify the wall. 11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago. 12And in that day the Lord God of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, “Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts.
15Thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Go, proceed to this steward, To Shebna, who is over the house, and say:
16‘What have you here, and whom have you here, That you have hewn a sepulcher here, As he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock?
17Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, And will surely seize you.
18He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball Into a large country; There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots Shall be the shame of your master’s house.
19So I will drive you out of your office, And from your position he will pull you down.
20‘Then it shall be in that day, That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
21I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah.
22The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open.
23I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.
25In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.’ ”
