Isaiah
An Oracle against Moab
Ar in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
2
Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its
•high
places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is cut off.
3
In its streets they wear
•sackcloth
;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
4
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.
5
My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
6
The waters of Nimrim are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
7
So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the
•Wadi
of the Willows.
8
For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
9
The waters of Dibon are full of blood,
but I will bring on Dibon even more than this —
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.
Isaiah
16
Send lambs to the ruler of the land,
from Sela in the desert
to the mountain of Daughter
•Zion
.
2
Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3
Give 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.
4
Let 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.
5
Then in the tent of David
a throne will be established by faithful love.
A judge who seeks what is right
and is quick to execute justice
will sit on the throne forever.
6
We have heard of Moab's pride —
how very proud he is —
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
7
Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
Mourn, you who are completely devastated,
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8
For 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 Dead Sea.
9
So 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.
10
Joy 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.
11
Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
12
When Moab appears on the
•high
place,
when he tires himself out
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.
13
This is the message that the
Lord
previously announced about Moab.
14
And 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.”
Isaiah
An Oracle against Damascus
Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
2
The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
3
The fortress disappears from Ephraim,
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the
Lord
of
•Hosts
.
Judgment against Israel
4
On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body will become emaciated.
5
It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain —
his arm harvesting the heads of grain —
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6
Only gleanings will be left in Israel,
as if an olive tree had been beaten —
two or three berries at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the
Lord
,
the God of Israel.
7
On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8
They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the
•Asherahs
and incense altars they made with their fingers.
9
On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10
For 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.
11
On 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.
Judgment against the Nations
12
Ah! The roar of many peoples —
they roar like the roaring of the seas.
The raging of the nations —
they rage like the raging of mighty waters.
13
The nations rage like the raging of many waters.
He rebukes them, and they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills
and like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14
In 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.
Isaiah
The
Lord
's Message to Cush
18
Ah! The land of buzzing insect wings
beyond the rivers of
•Cush
2
sends couriers by sea,
in reed vessels on the waters.
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.
3
All 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!
4
For, 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.
5
For 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.
6
They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds will spend the summer on them,
and all the animals, the winter on them.
7
At that time a gift will be brought to
•Yahweh
of
•Hosts
from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers — to Mount
•Zion
, the place of the name of Yahweh of Hosts.
Isaiah
An Oracle against Egypt
Look, the
Lord
rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt's idols will tremble before Him,
and Egypt's heart will melt within it.
2
I will provoke Egypt against Egypt;
each will fight against his brother
and each against his friend,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3
Egypt's spirit will be disturbed within it,
and I will frustrate its plans.
Then they will seek idols, ghosts,
spirits of the dead, and spiritists.
4
I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters,
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord
God
of
•Hosts
.
5
The waters of the sea will dry up,
and the river will be parched and dry.
6
The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt's canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will die.
7
The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,
and all the cultivated areas of the Nile
will wither, blow away, and vanish.
8
Then the fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.
9
Those who work with flax will be dismayed;
the combers and weavers will turn pale.
10
Egypt's weavers will be dejected;
all her wage earners will be demoralized.
11
The 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”?
12
Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the
Lord
of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
13
The princes of Zoan have been fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.
Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
14
The
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.
15
No head or tail, palm or reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.
Egypt Will Know the
Lord
16
On that day Egypt will be like women. She will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the
Lord
of Hosts when He raises it against her.
17
The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the
Lord
of Hosts has planned against it.
18
On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the
Lord
of Hosts. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.
19
On 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.
20
It will be a sign and witness to the
Lord
of Hosts 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.
21
The
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.
22
The
Lord
will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the
Lord
and He will hear their prayers and heal them.