Judah's Sins Denounced
8
Woe to those who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land.
9
I heard the
Lord
of Hosts say:
Indeed, many houses will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
10
For a ten-acre vineyard will yield
only six gallons,
and 10 bushels of seed will yield
only one bushel.
11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of beer,
who linger into the evening,
inflamed by wine.
12
At their feasts they have lyre, harp,
tambourine, flute, and wine.
They do not perceive the
Lord
's actions,
and they do not see the work of His hands.
13
Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.
14
Therefore
•Sheol
enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go
•Zion
's dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who carouse in her!
15
Humanity is brought low, man is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.
16
But the
Lord
of Hosts is exalted by His justice,
and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness.
17
Lambs will graze
as if in their own pastures,
and strangers will eat
among the ruins of the rich.
18
Woe to those who drag wickedness
with cords of deceit
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19
to those who say:
“Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place
so that we can know it! ”
20
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21
Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion
and clever in their own sight.
22
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are fearless at mixing beer,
23
who acquit the
•guilty
for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected
the instruction of the
Lord
of Hosts,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore the
Lord
's anger burns against His people.
He raised His hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.
26
He raises a signal flag for the distant nations
and whistles for them from the ends of the earth.
Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!
27
None of them grows weary or stumbles;
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.
28
Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses' hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29
Their roaring is like a lion's;
they roar like young lions;
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.
30
On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.
Isaiah
Isaiah's Call and Mission
6
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.
2
Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3
And one called to another:
Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord
of
•Hosts
;
His glory fills the whole earth.
4
The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5
Then I said:
Woe is me for I am ruined
because I am a man of
•unclean
lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the
Lord
of Hosts.
6
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7
He touched my mouth with it and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.
8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
9
And He replied:
Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;
keep looking, but do not perceive.
10
Dull the minds of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.
11
Then I said, “Until when, Lord? ” And He replied:
Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
12
and the
Lord
drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
13
Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy
•seed
is the stump.
Isaiah
The Message to Ahaz
7
This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but he could not succeed.
2
When it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
3
Then the
Lord
said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller's Field.
4
Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don't be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.
5
For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say,
6
‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it.' ”
7
This is what the Lord
God
says:
It will not happen; it will not occur.
8
The head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
9
the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.
The Immanuel Prophecy
10
Then the
Lord
spoke again to Ahaz:
11
“Ask for a sign from the
Lord
your God — from the depths of
•Sheol
to the heights of heaven.”
12
But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the
Lord
.”
13
Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?
14
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
15
By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating butter and honey.
16
For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.
17
The
Lord
will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah — the king of Assyria is coming.”
18
On that day
the
Lord
will whistle to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19
All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.
20
On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria — to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.
21
On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
22
and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.
23
And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.
24
A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25
You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.
Isaiah
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8
Then the
Lord
said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen:Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
2
I have appointed trustworthy witnesses — Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”
3
I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The
Lord
said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
4
for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”
5
The
Lord
spoke to me again:
6
Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7
the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River —
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8
It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;
and its spreading streams
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!
9
Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
10
Devise a plan; it will fail.
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.
The
Lord
of Hosts, the Only Refuge
11
For this is what the
Lord
said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people: