21 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. 2 A 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. 3 Therefore 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. 4 My 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! 6 For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees. 7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.” 8 Then he who saw cried out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. 9 And 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.” 10 O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” 12 The watchman says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”
13 The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites. 14 To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. 15 For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.
16 For 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. 17 And 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.”
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2 And 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; 3 and 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; 4 and 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.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched, 6 and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away. 7 There 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. 8 The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water. 9 The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton. 10 Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved.
11 The 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”? 12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. 13 The 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. 14 The 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. 15 And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And 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.
18 In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 It 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. 21 And 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. 22 And 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.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
20In 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— 2 at 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.
3 Then 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, 4 so 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. 5 Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And 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?’”
During Hezekiah’s 14th year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria went to fight against all the strong cities of Judah. Sennacherib defeated those cities. He sent his commander with a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The commander and his army left Lachish and went to Jerusalem. They stopped near the aqueduct by the Upper Pool, on the street that leads up to Laundryman’s Field.
Three men from Jerusalem went out to talk with the commander. These men were Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Joah son of Asaph, and Shebna. Eliakim was the palace manager, Joah was the record keeper, and Shebna was the royal secretary.
The commander told them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says:
“‘What are you trusting in to help you? I tell you, if you are trusting in power and great battle plans, that is useless. Those are nothing but empty words. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me? Are you depending on Egypt to help you? Egypt is like a broken walking stick. If you lean on it for support, it will only stab you and hurt you. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, cannot be trusted by anyone who depends on him for help.
“‘So maybe you will say, “We trust the Lord our God to help us.” But Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped your God, right? Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem.”
“‘If you still want to fight, my master, the king of Assyria, will make this agreement with you. I promise that I will give you 2000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them into battle. But even then, you couldn’t beat even one of my master’s lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt’s chariots and horse soldiers?
“‘Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord’s help. No, it was the Lord who said to me, “Go up against this country and destroy it!”’”
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the commander, “Please, speak to us in Hebrew. We understand that language. Don’t speak to us in the language of Judah. If you use our language, the people on the city walls will understand you.”
But the commander said, “My master sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you and your master. I must also speak to those people sitting there on the wall. When we surround your city, they will suffer too. Like you, they will become so hungry they will eat their own waste and drink their own urine!”
Then the commander, shouting loudly in Hebrew, gave this warning to them all:
Hear this message from the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah fool you! He cannot save you from my power. Don’t listen to him when he tells you to trust in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says, “The Lord will save us. He will not let the king of Assyria defeat the city.”
Don’t listen to Hezekiah! This is what the king of Assyria says: Come out here and show me that you want peace. Then you will all be free to have grapes from your own vines, figs from your own trees, and water from your own well. After some time, I will come and take you to a land like your own. In that new land, you will have plenty of grain for making bread and vineyards for producing wine.
Don’t believe Hezekiah when he tells you, “The Lord will save us.” He is wrong. Did any of the gods of other nations save their land from the king of Assyria? When I destroyed the cities of Hamath and Arpad, where were their gods? What about the gods of Sepharvaim? Were any gods able to save Samaria from my power? None of the gods of these other places were able to save their land from me! So why do you think the Lord can save Jerusalem from me?
But the people were silent. They did not say a word to the commander, because King Hezekiah had commanded them, “Don’t say anything to him.”
Then the palace manager (Eliakim son of Hilkiah), the royal secretary (Shebna), and the record keeper (Joah son of Asaph) went to Hezekiah. Their clothes were torn to show they were upset. They told Hezekiah everything the Assyrian commander had said.
34 Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.
“For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness.”
For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.
And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest. There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs And hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, Every one with her mate.
“Search from the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
35 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, The excellency of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
32 Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it. Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly. In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected. For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the Lord. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty. The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil. They plot crooked schemes. They lie to convict the poor, even when the cause of the poor is just. But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.
Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug. In a short time—just a little more than a year— you careless ones will suddenly begin to care. For your fruit crops will fail, and the harvest will never take place. Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief. Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines. For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone. The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest. Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, the Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
33 What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed yourselves. You betray others, but you have never been betrayed. When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed. When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed. But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble. The enemy runs at the sound of your voice. When you stand up, the nations flee! Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven, he will make Jerusalem his home of justice and righteousness. In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.
But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment. Your roads are deserted; no one travels them anymore. The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses. They have no respect for anyone. The land of Israel wilts in mourning. Lebanon withers with shame. The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.
But the Lord says: “Now I will stand up. Now I will show my power and might. You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble. Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you. Your people will be burned up completely, like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire. Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”
The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. Terror seizes the godless. “Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry. “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?” Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong— these are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.
Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance. You will think back to this time of terror, asking, “Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?” You will no longer see these fierce, violent people with their strange, unknown language.
Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut and whose stakes are firmly fixed. The Lord will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, that no enemy ship can sail upon. For the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us. The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will take their share! The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the Lord will forgive their sins.
30 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zo′an and his envoys reach Ha′nes, every one comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.”
An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and the flying serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty, therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever. For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “See not”; and to the prophets, “Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them; therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” And you would not, but you said, “No! We will speed upon horses,” therefore you shall speed away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds,” therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Yea, O people in Zion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, “Begone!”
And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures; and the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. And upon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Behold, the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire; his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones. The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he smites with his rod. And every stroke of the staff of punishment which the Lord lays upon them will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with them. For a burning place has long been prepared; yea, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.
31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord! And yet he is wise and brings disaster, he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
For thus the Lord said to me, As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called forth against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill. Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it.
Turn to him from whom you have deeply revolted, O people of Israel. For in that day every one shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor. His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
26 At that time people will sing this song in Judah:
We have a strong city. God protects us with its strong walls and defenses. Open the gates, and the good people will enter. They follow God’s good way of living. You, Lord, give true peace. You give peace to those who depend on you. You give peace to those who trust you. So, trust the Lord always. Trust the Lord because he is our Rock forever. But the Lord will destroy the proud city. And he will punish the people living there. He will bring that high city down to the ground. He throws it down into the dust. Then those who were hurt by the city will walk on its ruins. Those who were made poor by the city will trample it under their feet.
The path of life of the people who are right with God is level. Lord, you make the way of life smooth for those people. But, Lord, we are waiting for your way of justice. Our souls want to remember you and your name. My soul wants to be with you at night. And my spirit wants to be with you at the dawn of every day. When your way of justice comes to the land, people of the world will learn the right way of living. An evil person will not learn to do good even if you show him kindness. He will continue doing evil, even if he lives in a good world. He never sees the Lord’s greatness. Lord, you are ready to punish those people. But they do not see that. Lord, show them your strong love for your people. Then the evil people will be ashamed. Burn them in the fire you have prepared for your enemies. Lord, all our success is because of what you have done. So give us peace. Lord, our God, other masters besides you have ruled us. But we honor only you. Those masters are now dead. Their ghosts will not rise from death. You decided to destroy them. And you destroyed any memory of them. Lord, you multiplied the number of your people. You multiplied them and brought honor to yourself. You made the borders of the land wide. Lord, people remember you when they are in trouble. They say quiet prayers to you when you punish them. Lord, when we are with you, we are like a woman giving birth to a baby. She cries and has pain from the birth. In the same way, we had pain. We gave birth, but only to wind. We don’t bring salvation to the land. We don’t make new people for the world. Your people have died, but they will live again. Their bodies will rise from death. Dead people in the ground, get up and be happy! The dew covering you is like the dew of a new day. The ground will give birth to the dead buried in it.
My people, go into your rooms. Shut your doors behind you. Hide in your rooms for a short time. Hide until God’s anger is finished. The Lord will leave his place. He will punish the people of the world for their sins. The earth will show the blood of the people who have been killed. It will not cover the dead any longer.
27 At that time the Lord will judge Leviathan, the gliding snake. He will punish Leviathan, the coiled snake. The Lord will use his great sword, his hard and powerful sword. He will kill the monster in the sea.
In that day people will sing about the pleasant vineyard. “I, the Lord, will care for that vineyard. I will water it at the right time. No one will hurt it. I will guard it day and night. I am not angry. If anyone builds a wall of thornbushes in war, I will march to it and burn it. But if anyone comes to me for safety and wants to make peace with me, he should come and make peace with me.” In the days to come, the people of Jacob will be like a plant with good roots. Israel will grow like a plant beginning to bloom. Then the world will be filled with their children.
The Lord has not hurt his people as he hurt their enemies. His people have not been killed like those who tried to kill them. The Lord will settle his argument with Israel by sending it far away. Like a hot desert wind, he will drive Israel away. This is how Israel’s guilt will be forgiven. This is how its sins will be taken away. Israel will crush the rocks of the altar to dust. No statues or altars will be left standing for the Asherah idols. At that time the strong, walled city will be empty. It will be like a desert. Calves will eat grass there. They will lie down there. They will eat leaves from the branches. The limbs will become dry and break off. Women will use them for firewood. The people refuse to understand. So God will not comfort them. Their Maker will not be kind to them.
At that time the Lord will begin gathering his people one by one. He will gather all his people from the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt. He will separate them from others as grain is separated from chaff. Many of my people are now lost in Assyria. Some of my people have run away to Egypt. But at that time a great trumpet will be blown. And all those people will come back to Jerusalem. They will bow down before the Lord on that holy mountain.
24 Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth dwindle. The earth is also defiled by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.
The new wine mourns, The vine decays, All the joyful-hearted sigh. The joy of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The joy of the harp ceases. They do not drink wine with song; Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of chaos is broken down; Every house is shut up so that no one may enter. There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The joy of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city And the gate is battered to ruins. For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord. Therefore glorify the Lord in the east, The name of the Lord, the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One,” But I say, “I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously.” Terror and pit and snare Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit, And the one who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken apart, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth trembles like a heavy drinker And sways like a hut, For its wrongdoing is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen on that day, That the Lord will punish the rebellious angels of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they willbe punished. Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame, For the Lord of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.
25 Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. For You have turned a city into a heap, A fortified city into a ruin; A palace of strangers is no longer a city, It will never be rebuilt. Therefore a strong people will glorify You; Cities of ruthless nations will revere You. For You have been a stronghold for the helpless, A stronghold for the poor in his distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the ruthless Is like a rain storm against a wall. Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of foreigners; Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
Now the Lord of armies will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will destroy the covering which is over all peoples, The veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let’s rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, And Moab will be trampled down in his place As straw is trampled down in the water of a manure pile. And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands. The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down, Lay low, and throw to the ground, to the dust.
22 Here is a prophecy against Jerusalem that the Lord gave me. Jerusalem is also known as the Valley of Vision.
People of Jerusalem, what’s the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up on the roofs of your houses? Why is your town so full of noise? Why is your city so full of the sound of wild parties? Those among you who died weren’t killed by swords. They didn’t die in battle. All your leaders have run away. They’ve been captured without a single arrow being shot. All you who were caught were taken away as prisoners. You ran off while your enemies were still far away. So I said, “Leave me alone. Let me weep bitter tears. Don’t try to comfort me. My people have been destroyed.”
The Lord who rules over all sent the noise of battle against you. The Lord brought disorder and terror to the Valley of Vision. The walls of the city were knocked down. Cries for help were heard in the mountains. Soldiers from Elam came armed with bows and arrows. They came with their chariots and horses. Soldiers from Kir got their shields ready. Your rich valleys filled up with chariots. Horsemen took up their battle positions at your city gates. The Lord made Judah a place where it wasn’t safe to live anymore.
At that time, you depended on the weapons in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places. You stored up water in the Lower Pool. You picked out the weaker buildings in Jerusalem. You tore them down and used their stones to strengthen the city walls against attack. You built a pool between the two walls. You used it to save the water that was running down from the Old Pool. But you didn’t look to the God who made it all possible. You didn’t pay any attention to the God who planned everything long ago.
The Lord who rules over all called out to you at that time. The Lord told you to weep and cry. He told you to tear your hair out. And he told you to put on the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. Instead, you are enjoying yourselves at wild parties! You are killing cattle and sheep. You are eating their meat and drinking wine. You are saying, “Let’s eat and drink, because tomorrow we’ll die.”
I heard the Lord who rules over all speaking. “Your sin can never be paid for as long as you live,” says the Lord.
The Lord who rules over all speaks. The Lord says,
“Go and speak to Shebna, the head servant. He is in charge of the palace. Tell him, ‘What are you doing here outside the city? Who allowed you to cut out a tomb for yourself here? Who said you could carve out your grave on the hillside? Who allowed you to cut out your resting place in the rock?
“ ‘Watch out, you mighty man! The Lord is about to grab you. He is about to throw you away. He will roll you up tightly like a ball. He will throw you into a very large country. There you will die. And that’s where the chariots you were so proud of will be. Those chariots will then bring nothing but shame on your master’s family! The Lord will remove you from your job. You will be brought down from your high position.
“ ‘At that time he will send for his servant Eliakim. He is the son of Hilkiah. The Lord will put your robe on Eliakim. He will tie your belt around him. He will hand your authority over to him. Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. The Lord will give Eliakim the key of authority in David’s royal house. No one can shut what he opens. And no one can open what he shuts. The Lord will set him firmly in place like a peg driven into a wall. He will hold a position of honor in his family. The good name of his whole family will depend on him. They will be like bowls and jars hanging on a peg.
“ ‘But a new day is coming,’ ” announces the Lord who rules over all. “ ‘At that time the peg that was driven into the wall will give way. It will break off and fall down. And the heavy load hanging on it will also fall.’ ” The Lord has spoken.
23 Here is a prophecy against Tyre that the Lord gave me.
Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out! The city of Tyre is destroyed. Its houses and harbor are gone. That’s the message you have received from the island of Cyprus.
People on the island of Tyre, be silent. Traders from the city of Sidon, be quiet. Those who sail on the Mediterranean Sea have made you rich. Grain from Egypt came across the mighty waters. The harvest of the Nile River brought wealth to Tyre. It became the market place of the nations.
Sidon, be ashamed. Mighty Tyre out in the sea, be ashamed. The sea has spoken. It has said, “It’s as if I had never felt labor pains or had children. It’s as if I had never brought up sons or daughters. It’s as if the city of Tyre had never existed.” The Egyptians will hear about what has happened to Tyre. They’ll be very sad and troubled.
People of the island of Tyre, cry out! Go across the sea to Tarshish. Just look at Tyre. It’s no longer the old, old city that was known for its wild parties. It no longer sends its people out to make their homes in lands far away. Tyre was a city that produced kings. Its traders were princes. They were honored all over the earth. So who planned to destroy such a city? The Lord who rules over all planned to do it. He wanted to bring down all its pride and glory. He wanted to shame those who were honored all over the earth.
People of Tarshish, farm your land as they do along the Nile River. That’s because you don’t have a harbor anymore. The Lord has reached his powerful hand out over the sea. He has made its kingdoms tremble with fear. He has given a command concerning Phoenicia. He has ordered that its forts be destroyed. He said, “No more wild parties for you! People of Sidon, you are now destroyed!
“Leave your city. Go across the sea to Cyprus. Even there you will not find any rest.” Look at the land of the Babylonians. No one lives there anymore. The Assyrians have turned it into a place for desert creatures. They built their towers in order to attack it. They took everything out of its forts. They knocked down all its buildings.
Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out! Mighty Tyre is destroyed!
A time is coming when people will forget about Tyre for 70 years. That’s the length of a king’s life. But at the end of those 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute that people sing about. They say,
“Forgotten prostitute, pick up a harp. Walk through the city. Play the harp well. Sing many songs. Then you will be remembered.”
At the end of the 70 years, the Lord will punish Tyre. He will let it return to its way of life as a prostitute. It will earn its living with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. But the money it earns will be set apart for the Lord. The money won’t be stored up or kept for Tyre. Instead, it will go to those who live the way the Lord wants them to. It will pay for plenty of food and fine clothes for them.
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
A 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.
At 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. My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.
They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!
This is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”
And the lookout shouted,
“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post. Look, 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!’”
My 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 Dumah:
Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?” The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”
A prophecy against Arabia:
You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia, bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives. They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and from the heat of battle.
This 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. The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
