The Mountain of the House of the LORD
(Micah 4:1–5)

1This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD

will be established as the chief of the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

3And many peoples will come and say:

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

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us His ways

so that we may walk in His paths.”

For the law will go forth from Zion,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4Then He will judge between the nations

and arbitrate for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation,

nor train anymore for war.

The Day of Reckoning

5Come, O house of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the LORD.

6For You have abandoned Your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are filled

with influences from the east;

they are soothsayers like the Philistines;

they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7Their land is full of silver and gold,

with no limit to their treasures;

their land is full of horses,

with no limit to their chariots.

8Their land is full of idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their fingers have made.

9So mankind is brought low,

and man is humbled—

do not forgive them!

10Go into the rocks

and hide in the dust

from the terror of the LORD

and the splendor of His majesty.

11The proud look of man will be humbled,

and the loftiness of men brought low;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

12For the Day of the LORD of Hosts

will come against all the proud and lofty,

against all that is exalted—

it will be humbled—

13against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up,

against all the oaks of Bashan,

14against all the tall mountains,

against all the high hills,

15against every high tower,

against every fortified wall,

16against every ship of Tarshish,a

and against every stately vessel.

17So the pride of man will be brought low,

and the loftiness of men will be humbled;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

18and the idols will vanish completely.

19Men will flee to caves in the rocks

and holes in the ground,

away from the terror of the LORD

and from the splendor of His majesty,

when He rises to shake the earth.

20In that day men will cast away

to the moles and bats

their idols of silver and gold—

the idols they made to worship.

21They will flee to caverns in the rocks

and crevices in the cliffs,

away from the terror of the LORD

and from the splendor of His majesty,

when He rises to shake the earth.

22Put no more trust in man,

who has only the breath in his nostrils.

Of what account is he?

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

1For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts

is about to remove

from Jerusalem and Judah

both supplya and support:

the whole supply of food and water,

2the mighty man and the warrior,

the judge and the prophet,

the soothsayer and the elder,

3the commander of fifty and the dignitary,

the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.

4“I will make mere lads their leaders,

and children will rule over them.”

5The people will oppress one another,

man against man, neighbor against neighbor;

the young will rise up against the old,

and the base against the honorable.

6A man will seize his brother

within his father’s house:

“You have a cloak—you be our leader!

Take charge of this heap of rubble.”

7On that day he will cry aloud:

“I am not a healer.b

I have no food or clothing in my house.

Do not make me leader of the people!”

8For Jerusalem has stumbled

and Judah has fallen

because they spoke and acted against the LORD,

defying His glorious presence.c

9The expression on their faces testifies against them,

and like Sodom they flaunt their sin;

they do not conceal it.

Woe to them,

for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

10Tell the righteous it will be well with them,

for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them!

For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

12Youths oppress My people,

and women rule over them.

O My people, your guides mislead you;

they turn you from your paths.

13The LORD arises to contend;

He stands to judge the people.

14The LORD brings this charge

against the elders and leaders of His people:

“You have devoured the vineyard;

the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15Why do you crush My people

and grind the faces of the poor?”

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

A Warning to the Daughters of Zion

16The LORD also says:

“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—

walking with heads held high

and wanton eyes,

prancing and skipping as they go,

jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

17the Lord will bring sores

on the heads of the daughters of Zion,

and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.d”

18In that day the Lord will take away their finery:

their anklets and headbands and crescents;

19their pendants, bracelets, and veils;

20their headdresses, ankle chains, and sashes;

their perfume bottles and charms;

21their signet rings and nose rings;

22their festive robes, capes, cloaks, and purses;

23and their mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.

24Instead of fragrance

there will be a stench;

instead of a belt, a rope;

instead of styled hair, baldness;

instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;

instead of beauty, shame.e

25Your men will fall by the sword,

and your warriors in battle.

26And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn;

destitute, she will sit on the ground.

A Remnant in Zion

1In that day seven women

will take hold of one man and say,

“We will eat our own bread

and provide our own clothes.

Just let us be called by your name.

Take away our disgrace!”

2On that day the Branch of the LORD

will be beautiful and glorious,

and the fruit of the land

will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

3Whoever remains in Zion

and whoever is left in Jerusalem

will be called holy—

all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—

4when the Lord has washed away

the filth of the daughters of Zion

and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem

by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

5Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion

and over her assemblies

a cloud of smoke by day

and a glowing flame of fire by night.

For over all the glory

there will be a canopy,

6a shelter to give shade

from the heat by day,

and a refuge and hiding place

from the storm and the rain.

The Song of the Vineyard
(Luke 13:6–9)

1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2He dug it up and cleared the stones

and planted the finest vines.

He built a watchtower in the middle

and dug out a winepress as well.

He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes,

but the fruit it produced was sour!

3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

I exhort you to judge

between Me and My vineyard.

4What more could I have done for My vineyard

than I already did for it?

Why, when I expected sweet grapes,

did it bring forth sour fruit?

5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be consumed;

I will tear down its wall,

and it will be trampled.

6I will make it a wasteland,

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and thorns and briers will grow up.

I will command the clouds

that rain shall not fall on it.”

7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are the plant of His delight.

He looked for justice,

but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but heard a cry of distress.

Woes to the Wicked

8Woe to you who add house to house

and join field to field

until no place is left

and you live alone in the land.

9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare:

“Surely many houses will become desolate,

great mansions left unoccupied.

10For ten acres of vineyard

will yield but a bath of wine,a

and a homer of seed

only an ephah of grain.b”

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning

in pursuit of strong drink,

who linger into the evening,

to be inflamed by wine.

12At their feasts are the lyre and harp,

tambourines and flutes and wine.

They disregard the actions of the LORD

and fail to see the work of His hands.

13Therefore My people will go into exile

for their lack of understanding;

their dignitaries are starving

and their masses are parched with thirst.

14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat

and opens wide its enormous jaws,

and down go Zion’s nobles and masses,

her revelers and carousers!

15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled;

the arrogant will lower their eyes.

16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice,

and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures,

and strangersc will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.

18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit

and pull sin along with cart ropes,

19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work

so that we may see it!

Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come

so that we may know it!”

20Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who turn darkness to light

and light to darkness,

who replace bitter with sweet

and sweet with bitter.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

and champions in mixing beer,

23who acquit the guilty for a bribe

and deprive the innocent of justice.

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,

and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,

so their roots will decay

and their blossoms will blow away like dust;

for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts

and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people;

His hand is raised against them to strike them down.

The mountains quake,

and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

26He lifts a banner for the distant nations

and whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!

27None of them grows weary or stumbles;

no one slumbers or sleeps.

No belt is loose

and no sandal strap is broken.

28Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows are strung.

The hooves of their horses are like flint;

their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

29Their roaring is like that of a lion;

they roar like young lions.

They growl and seize their prey;

they carry it away from deliverance.

30In that day they will roar over it,

like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks over the land,

he will see darkness and distress;

even the light will be obscured by clouds.

Isaiah’s Commission
(Matthew 13:10–17; Mark 4:10–12; Acts 28:16–31)

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

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts;

all the earth is full of His glory.”

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

5Then I said:

“Woe is me,

for I am ruined,

because I am a man of unclean lips

dwelling among a people of unclean lips;

for my eyes have seen the King,

the LORD of Hosts.”

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And with it he touched my mouth and said:

“Now that this has touched your lips,

your iniquity is removed

and your sin is atoned for.”

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

“Whom shall I send?

Who will go for Us?”

And I said:

“Here am I. Send me!”

9And He replied:

“Go and tell this people,

‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’b

10Make the hearts of this people calloused;

deafen their ears and close their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.c”

11Then I asked:

“How long, O Lord?”

And He replied:

“Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant,

until the houses are left unoccupied

and the land is desolate and ravaged,

12until the LORD has driven men far away

and the land is utterly forsaken.

13And though a tenth remains in the land,

it will be burned again.

As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled,

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

A Message to Ahaz

1Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Arama marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.

2When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim,b the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.

3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashubc to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 4and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted your ruin, saying: 6‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide itd among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’ 7But this is what the Lord GOD says:

‘It will not arise;

it will not happen.

8For the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered as a people.

9The 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 Sign of Immanuel
(Matthew 1:18–25)

10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”

12But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the LORD.”

13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgine will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.f 15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey. 16For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

Judgment to Come
(Micah 1:1–7)

17The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”

18On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.

19And they will all come and settle

in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks,

in all the thornbushes and watering holes.

20On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphratesg—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well. 21On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep, 22and from the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds; for all who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

23And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver,h only briers and thorns will be found. 24Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.

Assyrian Invasion Prophesied

1Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinarya stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.b 2And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

3And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

5And the LORD spoke to me further:

6“Because this people has rejected

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoiced in Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

7the Lord will surely bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the Euphratesc—

the king of Assyria and all his pomp.

It will overflow its channels

and overrun its banks.

8It will pour into Judah,

swirling and sweeping over it,

reaching up to the neck;

its spreading streams will cover

your entire land, O Immanuel!d

9Huddle together,e O peoples, and be shattered;

pay attention, all you distant lands;

prepare for battle, and be shattered;

prepare for battle, and be shattered!

10Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted;

state a proposal, but it will not happen.

For God is with us.f”

A Call to Fear God
(Ecclesiastes 8:10–13)

11For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:

12“Do not call conspiracy

everything these people regard as conspiracy.

Do not fear what they fear;g

do not live in dread.h

13The LORD of Hosts is the One

you shall regard as holy.

Only He should be feared;

only He should be dreaded.

14And He will be a sanctuary—

but to both houses of Israel

a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,i

to the dwellers of Jerusalem

a trap and a snare.

15Many will stumble over these;

they will fall and be broken;

they will be ensnared and captured.”

16Bind up the testimony

and seal the law among my disciples.

17I will wait for the LORD,

who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.

I will put my trust in Him.j

18Here am I, and the children the LORD has given mek as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Darkness and Light

19When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

21They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. 22Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.

Unto Us a Child Is Born
(Matthew 4:12–17; Mark 1:14–15; Luke 4:14–15)

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

2The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death,

a light has dawned.a

3You have enlarged the nation

and increased its joy.

The people rejoice before You

as they rejoice at harvest time,

as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.

4For as in the day of Midian

You have shattered the yoke of their burden,

the bar across their shoulders,

and the rod of their oppressor.

5For every trampling boot of battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given,

and the government will be upon His shoulders.

And He will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the increase of His government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,

to establish and sustain it

with justice and righteousness

from that time and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

Judgment against Israel’s Pride

8The Lord has sent a message against Jacob,

and it has fallen upon Israel.

9All the people will know it—

Ephraimb and the dwellers of Samaria.

With pride and arrogance of heart

they will say:

10“The bricks have fallen,

but we will rebuild with finished stone;

the sycamores have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

11The LORD has raised up the foes of Rezin against him

and joined his enemies together.

12Aramc from the east and Philistia from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouths.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment against Israel’s Hypocrisy

13But the people did not return to Him who struck them;

they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.

14So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day.

15The head is the elder and honorable man,

and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

16For those who guide this people mislead them,

and those they mislead are swallowed up.

17Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men;

He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows.

For every one of them is godless and wicked,

and every mouth speaks folly.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment against Israel’s Unrepentance

18For wickedness burns like a fire

that consumes the thorns and briers

and kindles the forest thickets

which roll upward in billows of smoke.

19By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts

the land is scorched,

and the people are fuel for the fire.

No man even spares his brother.

20They carve out what is on the right,

but they are still hungry;

they eat what is on the left,

but they are still not satisfied.

Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.d

21Manasseh devours Ephraim,

and Ephraim Manasseh;

together they turn against Judah.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Woe to Tyrants

1Woe to those who enact unjust statutes

and issue oppressive decrees,

2to deprive the poor of fair treatment

and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people,

to make widows their prey

and orphans their plunder.

3What will you do on the day of reckoning

when devastation comes from afar?

To whom will you flee for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

4Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;

His hand is still upraised.

Judgment on Assyria

5Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger;

the staff in their hands is My wrath.

6I will send him against a godless nation;

I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage,

to take spoils and seize plunder,

and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

7But this is not his intention;

this is not his plan.

For it is in his heart to destroy

and cut off many nations.

8“Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.

9“Is not Calno like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus?

10As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms

whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11and as I have done to Samaria and its idols,

will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. 13For he says:

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

and by my wisdom, for I am clever.

I have removed the boundaries of nations

and plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

14My hand reached as into a nest

to seize the wealth of the nations.

Like one gathering abandoned eggs,

I gathered all the earth.

No wing fluttered,

no beak opened or chirped.’ ”

15Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it?

Does a saw boast over him who saws with it?

It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it,

or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

16Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease

among Assyria’s stout warriors,

and under his pomp will be kindled

a fire like a burning flame.

17And the Light of Israel will become a fire,

and its Holy One a flame.

In a single day it will burn and devour

Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

18The splendor of its forests and orchards,

both soul and body,

it will completely destroy,

as a sickness consumes a man.

19The remaining trees of its forests will be so few

that a child could count them.

A Remnant Shall Return

20On that day the remnant of Israel

and the survivors of the house of Jacob

will no longer depend

on him who struck them,

but they will truly rely on the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will returna —a remnant of Jacob—

to the Mighty God.

22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea,

only a remnant will return.b

Destruction has been decreed,

overflowing with righteousness.

23For the Lord GOD of Hosts will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.c

24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says:

“O My people who dwell in Zion,

do not fear Assyria,

who strikes you with a rod

and lifts his staff against you

as the Egyptians did.

25For in just a little while

My fury against you will subside,

and My anger will turn to their destruction.”

26And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against them,

as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb.

He will raise His staff over the sea,

as He did in Egypt.

27On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

and the yoke from your neck.

The yoke will be broken

because your neck will be too large.d

28Assyria has entered Aiath

and passed through Migron,

storing their supplies at Michmash.

29They have crossed at the ford:

“We will spend the night at Geba.”

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees.

30Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

O wretched Anathoth!

31Madmenah flees;

the people of Gebim take refuge.

32Yet today they will halt at Nob,

shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

33Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts

will lop off the branches with terrifying power.

The tall trees will be cut down,

the lofty ones will be felled.

34He will clear the forest thickets with an axe,

and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

The Root of Jesse

1Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,

and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and strength,

the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD.

3And He will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what His eyes see,

and He will not decide by what His ears hear,

4but with righteousness He will judge the poor,

and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth

and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

5Righteousness will be the belt around His hips,

and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

6The wolf will live with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the goat;

the calf and young lion and fatling will be together,a

and a little child will lead them.

7The cow will graze with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

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

and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.

9They will neither harm nor destroy

on all My holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD

as the sea is full of water.

10On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him,b and His place of rest will be glorious. 11On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush,c from Elam, from Shinar,d from Hamath, and from the islandse of the sea.

12He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

He will collect the scattered of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

13Then the jealousy of Ephraimf will depart,

and the adversariesg of Judah will be cut off.

Ephraim will no longer envy Judah,

nor will Judah harass Ephraim.

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

together they will plunder the sons of the east.

They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

15The LORD will devote to destructionh

the gulfi of the Sea of Egypt;

with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand

over the Euphrates.j

He will split it into seven streams

for men to cross with dry sandals.

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

who remain from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Joyful Thanksgiving

1In that day you will say:

“O LORD, I will praise You.

Although You were angry with me,

Your anger has turned away,

and You have comforted me.

2Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,

and He also has become my salvation.”

3With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation, 4and on that day you will say:

“Give praise to the LORD;

proclaim His name!

Make His works known among the peoples;

declare that His name is exalted.

5Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things.

Let this be known in all the earth.

6Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion,

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

The Burden against Babylon

1This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:

2Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;

call aloud to them.

Wave your hand,

that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3I have commanded My sanctified ones;

I have even summoned My warriors

to execute My wrath

and exult in My triumph.

4Listen, a tumult on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations gathered together!

The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing

an army for war.

5They are coming from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

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

it will come as destruction from the Almighty.a

7Therefore all hands will fall limp,

and every man’s heart will melt.

8Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;

they will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look at one another,

their faces flushed with fear.

9Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—

cruel, with fury and burning anger—

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy the sinners within it.

10For the stars of heaven and their constellations

will not give their light.

The rising sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light.

11I will punish the world for its evil

and the wicked for their iniquity.

I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant

and lay low the pride of the ruthless.

12I will make man scarcer than pure gold,

and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken from its place

at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts

on the day of His burning anger.

14Like a hunted gazelle,

like a sheep without a shepherd,

each will return to his own people,

each will flee to his native land.

15Whoever is caught will be stabbed,

and whoever is captured will die by the sword.

16Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes,

their houses will be looted,

and their wives will be ravished.

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

who have no regard for silver

and no desire for gold.

18Their bows will dash young men to pieces;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

they will not look with pity on the children.

19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,

the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

20She will never be inhabited

or settled from generation to generation;

no nomad will pitch his tent there,

no shepherd will rest his flock there.

21But desert creatures will lie down there,

and howling creatures will fill her houses.

Ostrichesb will dwell there,

and wild goats will leap about.

22Hyenas will howl in her fortresses

and jackalsc in her luxurious palaces.

Babylon’s time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.

Restoration for Israel

1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. 2The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland.

Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

The Fall of the King of Babylon

3On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, 4you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has ceased,

and how his furya has ended!

5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers.

6It struck the peoples in anger

with unceasing blows;

it subdued the nations in rage

with relentless persecution.

7All the earth is at peace and at rest;

they break out in song.

8Even the cypressesb and cedars of Lebanon

exult over you:

“Since you have been laid low,

no woodcutter comes against us.”

9Sheol beneath is eager

to meet you upon your arrival.

It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—

all the rulers of the earth.

It makes all the kings of the nations

rise from their thrones.

10They will all respond to you, saying,

“You too have become weak, as we are;

you have become like us!”

11Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol,

along with the music of your harps.

Maggots are your bed

and worms your blanket.

12How you have fallen from heaven,

O morning star,c son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the ground,

O destroyer of nations.

13You said in your heart:

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God.

I will sit on the mount of assembly,

in the far reaches of the north.d

14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15But you will be brought down to Sheol,

to the lowest depths of the Pit.

16Those who see you will stare;

they will ponder your fate:

“Is this the man who shook the earth

and made the kingdoms tremble,

17who turned the world into a desert

and destroyed its cities,

who refused to let the captives

return to their homes?”

18All the kings of the nations lie in state,

each in his own tomb.e

19But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch,

covered by those slain with the sword,

and dumped into a rocky pit

like a carcass trampled underfoot.

20You will not join them in burial,

since you have destroyed your land

and slaughtered your own people.

The offspring of the wicked

will never again be mentioned.

21Prepare a place to slaughter his sons

for the iniquities of their forefathers.

They will never rise up to possess a land

or cover the earth with their cities.

22“I will rise up against them,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

“I will cut off from Babylon

her name and her remnant,

her offspring and her posterity,”

declares the LORD.

23“I will make her a place

for owls and for swamplands;

I will sweep her away

with the broom of destruction,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

God’s Purpose against Assyria

24The LORD of Hosts has sworn:

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

as I have purposed, so will it stand.

25I will break Assyria in My land;

I will trample him on My mountain.

His yoke will be taken off My people,

and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

26This is the plan devised for the whole earth,

and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.

27The LORD of Hosts has purposed,

and who can thwart Him?

His hand is outstretched,

so who can turn it back?

Philistia Will Be Destroyed

28In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:

29Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,

that the rod that struck you is broken.

For a viper will spring from the root of the snake,

and a flying serpent from its egg.

30Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture,

and the needy will lie down in safety,

but I will kill your root by famine,

and your remnant will be slain.

31Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city!

Melt away, all you Philistines!

For a cloud of smoke comes from the north,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

32What answer will be given

to the envoys of that nation?

“The LORD has founded Zion,

where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

The Burden against Moab
(Jeremiah 48:1–47)

1This is the burden against Moab:

Ar in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

Kir in Moab is devastated,

destroyed in a night!

2Dibon goes up to its temple

to weep at its high places.

Moab wails over Nebo,

as well as over Medeba.

Every head is shaved,

every beard is cut off.

3In its streets they wear sackcloth;

on the rooftops and in the public squares

they all wail, falling down weeping.

4Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;

their voices are heard as far as Jahaz.

Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out;

their souls tremble within.

5My heart cries out over Moab;

her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,

as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.a

With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith;

they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.

6The waters of Nimrim are dried up,

and the grass is withered;

the vegetation is gone,

and the greenery is no more.

7So they carry their wealth and belongings

over the Brook of the Willows.b

8For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab.

Their wailing reaches Eglaim;

it is heard in Beer-elim.

9The waters of Dimonc are full of blood,

but I will bring more upon Dimon—

a lion upon the fugitives of Moab

and upon the remnant of the land.

Moab’s Destruction
(Zephaniah 2:8–11)

1Send the tribute lambs

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela in the desert

to the mount of Daughter Zion.

2Like fluttering birds

pushed out of the nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon:

3“Give us counsel;

render a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;

do not betray the one who flees.

4Let my fugitives stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased,

and the oppressors have vanished from the land,

5in loving devotiona a throne will be established

in the tent of David.

A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness

will sit on it in faithfulness.

6We have heard of Moab’s pomposity,

his exceeding pride and conceit,

his overflowing arrogance.

But his boasting is empty.

7Therefore let Moab wail;

let them wail together for Moab.

Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,

you who are utterly stricken.

8For the fields of Heshbon have withered,

along with the grapevines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choicest vines,

which had reached as far as Jazer

and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots had spread out

and passed over the sea.b

9So I weep with Jazer

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 gladness are removed from the orchard;

no one sings or shouts in the vineyards.

No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses;

I have put an end to the cheering.

11Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp,

my inmost being for Kir-heres.c

12When Moab appears on the high place,

when he wearies himself

and enters his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.

13This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”

The Burden against Damascus
(Jeremiah 49:23–27)

1This is the burden against Damascus:

“Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;

it has become a heap of ruins.

2The cities of Aroer are forsaken;

they will be left to the flocks,

which will lie down with no one to fear.

3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,a

and the sovereignty from Damascus.

The remnant of Aram will be

like the splendor of the Israelites,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

4“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,

and the fat of his body will waste away,

5as the reaper gathers the standing grain

and harvests the ears with his arm,

as one gleans heads of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

6Yet gleanings will remain,

like an olive tree that has been beaten—

two or three berries atop the tree,

four or five on its fruitful branches,”

declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

7In that day men will look to their Maker

and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

8They will not look to the altars

they have fashioned with their hands

or to the Asherahs and incense altars

they have made with their fingers.

9In that day their strong cities

will be like forsaken thickets and summits,

abandoned to the Israelites

and to utter desolation.

10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.

Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots

and set out cuttings from exotic vines—

11though on the day you plant

you make them grow,

and on that morning

you help your seed sprout—

yet the harvest will vanish

on the day of disease and incurable pain.

12Alas, the tumult of many peoples;

they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations;

they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

13The nations rage like the rush of many waters.

He rebukes them, and they flee far away,

driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,

like tumbleweeds before a gale.

14In the evening, there is sudden terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

This is the portion of those who loot us

and the lot of those who plunder us.

3 a Or The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim , that is, from the northern kingdom of Israel

A Message to Cush

1Woe to the land of whirring wings,a

along the rivers of Cush,b

2which sends couriers by sea,

in papyrus vessels on the waters.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people widely feared,

to a powerful nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.

3All you people of the world

and dwellers of the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it;

when a ram’s horn sounds,

you will hear it.

4For this is what the LORD has told me:

“I will quietly 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 a pruning knife

and remove and discard the branches.

6They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey,

and to the beasts of the land.

The birds will feed on them in summer,

and all the wild animals in winter.

7At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people widely feared,

from a powerful nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

The Burden against Egypt

1This is the burden against Egypt:

Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud;

He is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian;

brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor,

city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

3Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them,

and I will frustrate their plans,

so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead,

to mediums and spiritists.

4I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of harsh masters,

and a fierce king will rule over them,”

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

5The waters of the Nile will dry up,

and the riverbed will be parched and empty.

6The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up;

the reeds and rushes will wither.

7The bulrushes by the Nile,

by the mouth of the river,

and all the fields sown along the Nile,

will wither, blow away, and be no more.

8Then the fishermen will mourn,

all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament,

and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

9The workers in flax will be dismayed,

and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.

10The workers in clotha will be dejected,

and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.

11The princes of Zoan are mere fools;

Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise,

a son of eastern kings”?

12Where are your wise men now?

Let them tell you and reveal

what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

13The princes of Zoan have become fools;

the princes of Memphisb are deceived.

The cornerstones of her tribes

have led Egypt astray.

14The LORD has poured into her

a spirit of confusion.

Egypt has been led astray in all she does,

as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

15There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm or reed.

A Blessing upon the Earth

16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them. 17The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.

18In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.c

19In 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 a 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 defender to rescue them. 21The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.

22And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers 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 join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth. 25The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

A Sign against Egypt and Cush

1Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it, 2the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.”

And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

3Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,a 4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked 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 on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, ‘See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ ”

Babylon Is Fallen
(Revelation 18:1–8)

1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

2A dire vision is declared to me:

“The traitor still betrays,

and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media!

I will put an end to all her groaning.”

3Therefore my body is filled with anguish.

Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor.

I am bewildered to hear,

I am dismayed to see.

4My heart falters;

fear makes me tremble.

The twilight of my desire

has turned to horror.

5They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,

they eat, they drink!

Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

6For this 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 horsemen,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

he must be alert, fully alert.”

8Then the lookouta shouted:

“Day after day, my lord,

I stand on the watchtower;

night after night

I stay at my post.

9Look, here come the riders,

horsemen in pairs.”

And one answered, saying:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!b

All the images of her gods

lie shattered on the ground!”

10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,

I tell you what I have heard

from the LORD of Hosts,

the God of Israel.

The Burden against Edom
(Isaiah 34:5–17)

11This is the burden against Dumah:c

One calls to me from Seir,d

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

12The watchman replies,

“Morning has come, but also the night.

If you would inquire, then inquire.

Come back yet again.”

The Burden against Arabia

13This is the burden against Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,

O caravans of Dedanites.

14Bring water for the thirsty,

O dwellers of Tema;

meet the refugees with food.

15For they flee from the sword—

the sword that is drawn—

from the bow that is bent,

and from the stress of battle.

16For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone. 17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.”

For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

The Valley of Vision

1This is the burden against the Valley of Vision:

What ails you now,

that you have all gone up to the rooftops,

2O city of commotion,

O town of revelry?

Your slain did not die by the sword,

nor were they killed in battle.

3All your rulers have fled together,

captured without a bow.

All your fugitives were captured together,

having fled to a distant place.

4Therefore I said,

“Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly!

Do not try to console me

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day

of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision—

of breaking down the walls

and crying to the mountains.

6Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen,

and Kir uncovers the shield.

7Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,

and horsemen are posted at the gates.

8He has uncovered

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 and tore them down to strengthen the wall. 11You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.

12On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts

called for weeping and wailing,

for shaven heads

and the wearing of sackcloth.

13But look, there is joy and gladness,

butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”a

14The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing:

“Until your dying day,

this sin of yours will never be atoned for,”

says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

A Message for Shebna

15This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: 16What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

17Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master. 19I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.

20On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house 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.b 23I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.

24So they will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

25In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.”

Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

13 a Cited in 1 Corinthians 15:32
22 b See Revelation 3:7.

The Burden against Tyre
(Ezekiel 26:1–21)

1This is the burden against Tyre:

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,a

for Tyre is laid waste,

without house or harbor.

Word has reached them

from the land of Cyprus.b

2Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,

you merchants of Sidon,

whose traders have crossed the sea.c

3On the great waters

came the grain of Shihor;

the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre;

she was the merchant of the nations.

4Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,

for the sea has spoken:

“I have not been in labor

or given birth.

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.”

5When the report reaches Egypt,

they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.

6Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!

7Is this your jubilant city,

whose origin is from antiquity,

whose feet have taken her

to settle far away?

8Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose traders are princes,

whose merchants are renowned on the earth?

9The LORD of Hosts planned it,

to defile all its glorious beauty,

to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

10Cultivated your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;

there is no longer a harbor.

11The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea;

He has made kingdoms tremble.

He has given a command

that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.

12He said, “You shall rejoice no more,

O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.

Get up and cross over to Cyprus—

even there you will find no rest.”

13Look at the land of the Chaldeanse—

a people now of no account.

The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures;

they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces.

They brought it to ruin.

14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your harbor has been destroyed!

15At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

16“Take up your harp,

stroll through the city,

O forgotten harlot.

Make sweet melody,

sing many a song,

so you will be remembered.”

17And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.

God’s Judgment on the Earth

1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth

and leaves it in ruins.

He will twist its surface

and scatter its inhabitants—

2people and priest alike, servant and master,

maid and mistress, buyer and seller,

lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

3The earth will be utterly laid waste

and thoroughly plundered.

For the LORD has spoken this word.

4The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and fades;

the exalted of the earth waste away.

5The earth is defiled by its people;

they have transgressed the laws;

they have overstepped the decrees

and broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,

and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;

the earth’s dwellers have been burned,

and only a few survive.

7The new wine dries up, the vine withers.

All the merrymakers now groan.

8The joyful tambourines have ceased;

the noise of revelers has stopped;

the joyful harp is silent.

9They no longer sing and drink wine;

strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

10The city of chaos is shattered;

every house is closed to entry.

11In the streets they cry out for wine.

All joy turns to gloom;

rejoicing is exiled from the land.

12The city is left in ruins;

its gate is reduced to rubble.

13So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the westa they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.

15Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.

Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel

in the islandsb of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!

Woe is me.”

The treacherous betray;

the treacherous deal in treachery.

17Terror and pit and snare await you,

O dweller of the earth.

18Whoever flees the sound of panic

will fall into the pit,

and whoever climbs from the pit

will be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are open,

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19The earth is utterly broken apart,

the earth is split open,

the earth is shaken violently.

20The earth staggers like a drunkard

and sways like a shack.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

21In that day the LORD will punish

the host of heaven above

and the kings of the earth below.

22They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.

They will be confined to a dungeon

and punished after many days.

23The moon will be confounded

and the sun will be ashamed;

for the LORD of Hosts will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before His elders with great glory.

Praise to the Victorious God
(Jeremiah 51:15–19)

1O LORD, You are my God!

I will exalt You;

I will praise Your name.

For You have worked wonders—

plans formed long ago—

in perfect faithfulness.

2Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble,

the fortified town a ruin.

The fortress of strangers is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

3Therefore, a strong people will honor You.

The cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

4For You have been a refuge for the poor,

a stronghold for the needy in distress,

a refuge from the storm,

a shade from the heat.

For the breath of the ruthless

is like rain against a wall,

5like heat in a dry land.

You subdue the uproar of foreigners.

As the shade of a cloud cools the heat,

so the song of the ruthless is silenced.

6On this mountain the LORD of Hosts

will prepare a banquet for all the peoples,

a feast of aged wine, of choice meat,

of finely aged wine.

7On this mountain He will swallow up

the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

8He will swallow up death forever.a

The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every faceb

and remove the disgrace of His people

from the whole earth.

For the LORD has spoken.

9And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God;

we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited.

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10For the hand of the LORD

will rest on this mountain.

But Moab will be trampled in his place

as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

11He will spread out his hands within it,

as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim.

His pride will be brought low,

despitec the skill of his hands.

12The high-walled fortress will be brought down,

cast to the ground, into the dust.

A Song of Salvation

1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;

salvation is established as its walls and ramparts.

2Open the gates so a righteous nation may enter—

one that remains faithful.

3You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind,

because he trusts in You.

4Trust in the LORD forever,

because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.

5For He has humbled those who dwell on high;

He lays the lofty city low.

He brings it down to the ground;

He casts it into the dust.

6Feet trample it down—

the feet of the oppressed,

the steps of the poor.

7The path of the righteous is level;

You clear a straight path for the upright.

8Yes, we wait for You, O LORD;

we walk in the path of Your judgments.

Your name and renown

are the desire of our souls.

9My soul longs for You in the night;

indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn.a

For when Your judgments come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.

10Though grace is shown to the wicked man,

he does not learn righteousness.

In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly

and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

11O LORD, Your hand is upraised,

but they do not see it.

They will see Your zeal for Your people

and be put to shame.

The fire set for Your enemies

will consume them!

12O LORD, You will establish peace for us.

For all that we have accomplished,

You have done for us.

13O LORD our God, other lords besides You have had dominion,

but Your name alone do we confess.

14The dead will not live;

the departed spirits will not rise.

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them;

You have wiped out all memory of them.

15You have enlarged the nation, O LORD;

You have enlarged the nation.

You have gained glory for Yourself;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

16O LORD, they sought You in their distress;

when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

17As a woman with child about to give birth

writhes and cries out in pain,

so were we in Your presence, O LORD.

18We were with child; we writhed in pain;

but we gave birth to wind.

We have given no salvation to the earth,

nor brought any life into the world.

19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!

For your dew is like the dew of the morning,

and the earth will bring forth her dead.

20Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut your doors behind you.

Hide yourselves a little while

until the wrath has passed.

21For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The earth will reveal her bloodshed

and will no longer conceal her slain.

9 a Or my spirit within me seeks You. 

The LORD’s Vineyard
(John 15:1–8)

1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpenta—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea. 2In that day:

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard.

3I, the LORD, am its keeper;

I water it continually.

I guard it night and day

so no one can disturb it;

4I am not angry.

If only thorns and briers confronted Me,

I would march and trample them,

I would burn them to the ground.

5Or let them lay claim to My protection;

let them make peace with Me—

yes, let them make peace with Me.”

6In the days to come, Jacob will take root.

Israel will bud and blossom

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors?

Was she killed like those who slayed her?

8By warfare and exileb You contended with her

and removed her with a fierce wind,

as on the day the east wind blows.

9Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,

and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this:c

When he makes all the altar stones

like crushed bits of chalk,

no Asherah poles or incense altars

will remain standing.

10For the fortified city lies deserted—

a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken.

There the calves graze, and there they lie down;

they strip its branches bare.

11When its limbs are dry,

they are broken off.

Women come and use them for kindling;

for this is a people without understanding.

Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them,

and their Creator shows them no favor.

12In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphratesd to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one. 13And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

The Captivity of Ephraim

1Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’sa drunkards,

to the fading flower of his glorious splendor,

set on the summit above the fertile valley,

the pride of those overcome by wine.

2Behold, the Lord has one

who is strong and mighty.

Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest,

like a driving rain or flooding downpour,

he will smash that crown to the ground.

3The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards

will be trampled underfoot.

4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,

set on the summit above the fertile valley,

will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest:

Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.

5On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory,

a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

6a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

7These also stagger from wine

and stumble from strong drink:

Priests and prophets reel from strong drink

and are befuddled by wine.

They stumble because of strong drink,

muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

8For all their tables are covered with vomit;

there is not a place without filth.

9Whom is He trying to teach?

To whom is He explaining His message?

To infants just weaned from milk?

To babies removed from the breast?

10For they hear:b

“Order on order, order on order,

line on line, line on line;c

a little here, a little there.”

11Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues,

He will speak to this peopled 12to whom He has said:

“This is the place of rest, let the weary rest;

this is the place of repose.”

But they would not listen.

13Then the word of the LORD to them will become:

“Order on order, order on order,

line on line, line on line;

a little here, a little there,”

so that they will go stumbling backward

and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.

A Cornerstone in Zion
(1 Corinthians 3:10–15; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:1–8)

14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15For you said, “We have made a covenant with death;

we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol.

When the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not touch us,

because we have made lies our refuge

and falsehoode our hiding place.”

16So this is what the Lord GOD says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;

the one who believes will never be shaken.f

17I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the level.

Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies,

and water will flood your hiding place.

18Your covenant with death will be dissolved,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be trampled by it.

19As often as it passes through,

it will carry you away;

it will sweep through morning after morning,

by day and by night.”

The understanding of this message

will bring sheer terror.

20Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket too small to wrap around you.

21For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim.

He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,

to do His work, His strange work,

and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

22So now, do not mock,

or your shackles will become heavier.

Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts

a decree of destruction against the whole land.

Listen and Hear

23Listen and hear my voice.

Pay attention and hear what I say.

24Does the plowman plow for planting every day?

Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?

25When he has leveled its surface,

does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?

He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,

and rye within its border.

26For his God instructs

and teaches him properly.

27Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge,

and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin.

But caraway is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

28Grain for bread must be ground,

but it is not endlessly threshed.

Though the wheels of the cart roll over it,

the horses do not crush it.

29This also comes from the LORD of Hosts,

who is wonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.

Woe to David’s City
(Luke 19:41–44)

1Woe to you, O Ariel,a

the city of Ariel where David camped!

Year upon year

let your festivals recur.

2And I will constrain Ariel,

and there will be mourning and lamentation;

she will be like an altar hearthb before Me.

3I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with towers

and set up siege works against you.

4You will be brought low,

you will speak from the ground,

and out of the dust

your words will be muffled.

Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;

your speech will whisper out of the dust.

5But your many foes will be like fine dust,

the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,

6you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts

with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

7All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel—

even all who war against her,

laying siege and attacking her—

will be like a dream,

like a vision in the night,

8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,

then awakens still hungry;

as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,

then awakens faint and parched.

So will it be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

9Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not with wine;

stagger, but not from strong drink.

10For the LORD has poured out on you

a spirit of deep sleep.

He has shut your eyes, O prophets;

He has covered your heads, O seers.

11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” 12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

13Therefore the Lord said:

“These people draw near to Me with their mouths

and honor Me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from Me.

Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.c

14Therefore I will again confound these people

with wonder upon wonder.

The wisdom of the wise will vanish,

and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.d”

15Woe to those who dig deep

to hide their plans from the LORD.

In darkness they do their works and say,

“Who sees us, and who will know?”

16You have turned things upside down,

as if the potter were regarded as clay.

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,

“He did not make me”?e

Can the pottery say of the potter,

“He has no understanding”?

Sanctification for the Godly

17In a very short time,

will not Lebanon become an orchard,

and the orchard seem like a forest?

18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19The humble will increase their joy in the LORD,

and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20For the ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who look for evil

will be cut down—

21those who indict a man with a word,

who ensnare the mediator at the gate,

and who with false charges

deprive the innocent of justice.

22Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed

and no more will his face grow pale.

23For when he sees his children around him,

the work of My hands,

they will honor My name,

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,

and they will stand in awe

of the God of Israel.

24Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

The Worthless Treaty with Egypt

1“Woe to the rebellious children,”

declares the LORD,

“to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine,

who form an alliance, but against My will,

heaping up sin upon sin.

2They set out to go down to Egypt

without asking My advice,

to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

4For though their princes are at Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

5everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them.

They cannot be of help;

they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”

6This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev:

Through a land of hardship and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people of no profit to them.

7Egypt’s help is futile and empty;

therefore I have called her

Rahab Who Sits Still.a

8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the days to come,

a witness forever and ever.

9These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

10They say to the seers,

“Stop seeing visions!”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy to us the truth!

Speak to us pleasant words;

prophesy illusions.

11Get out of the way; turn off the road.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,

trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

13this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail,

a bulge in a high wall,

whose collapse will come suddenly—

in an instant!

14It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar,

shattered so that no fragment can be found.

Not a shard will be found in the dust

large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth

or to skim the water from a cistern.”

15For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“By repentance and rest

you would be saved;

your strength would lie in quiet confidence—

but you were not willing.”

16“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.”

Therefore you will flee!

“We will ride swift horses,”

but your pursuers will be faster.

17A thousand will flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you will all flee,

until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

therefore He rises to show you compassion,

for the LORD is a just God.

Blessed are all who wait for Him.

19O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you. 20The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.

21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” 22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

23Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. 24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

25And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

27Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,

with burning anger and dense smoke.

His lips are full of fury,

and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

28His breath is like a rushing torrent

that rises to the neck.

He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction;

He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

29You will sing

as on the night of a holy festival,

and your heart will rejoice

like one who walks to the music of a flute,

going up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the Rock of Israel.

30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard

and His mighty arm to be revealed,

striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire,

and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

31For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD;

He will strike them with His scepter.

32And with every stroke of the rod of punishmentb

that the LORD brings down on them,

the tambourines and lyres will sound

as He battles with weapons brandished.

33For Topheth has long been prepared;

it has been made ready for the king.

Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,

with plenty of fire and wood.

The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur,

sets it ablaze.

7 a Hebrew Rahab-hem-shebeth 
32 b Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac; MT the rod of foundation ; DSS the rod of His foundation 

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in their abundance of chariots

and in their multitude of horsemen.

They do not look to the Holy One of Israel;

they do not seek the LORD.

2Yet He too is wise and brings disaster;

He does not call back His words.

He will rise up against the house of the wicked

and against the allies of evildoers.

3But the Egyptians are men, not God;

their horses are flesh, not spirit.

When the LORD stretches out His hand,

the helper will stumble,

and the one he helps will fall;

both will perish together.

4For this is what the LORD has said to me:

“Like a lion roaring

or a young lion over its prey—

and though a band of shepherds is called out against it,

it is not terrified by their shouting

or subdued by their clamor—

so the LORD of Hosts will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

5Like birds hovering overhead,

so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will shield it and deliver it;

He will pass over it and preserve it.”

6Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel. 7For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

8“Then Assyria will fall,

but not by the sword of man;

a sword will devour them,

but not one made by mortals.

They will flee before the sword,

and their young men will be put to forced labor.

9Their rock will pass away for fear,

and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,”

declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,

whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

A Righteous King

1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,

and princes will rule with justice.

2Each will be like a shelter from the wind,

a refuge from the storm,

like streams of water in a dry land,

like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

3Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,

and the ears of those who hear will listen.

4The mind of the rash will know and understand,

and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

5No longer will a fool be called noble,

nor a scoundrel be respected.

6For a fool speaks foolishness;

his mind plots iniquity.

He practices ungodliness

and speaks falsely about the LORD;

he leaves the hungry empty

and deprives the thirsty of drink.

7The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive;

he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies,

even when the plea of the needy is just.

8But a noble man makes honorable plans;

he stands up for worthy causes.

The Women of Jerusalem

9Stand up, you complacent women;

listen to me.

Give ear to my word,

you overconfident daughters.

10In a little more than a year you will tremble,

O secure ones.

For the grape harvest will fail

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

11Shudder, you ladies of leisure;

tremble, you daughters of complacency.

Strip yourselves bare

and put sackcloth around your waists.

12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vines,

13and for the land of my people,

overgrown with thorns and briers—

even for every house of merriment

in this city of revelry.

14For the palace will be forsaken,

the busy city abandoned.

The hilla and the watchtower will become caves forever—

the delight of wild donkeys

and a pasture for flocks—

15until the Spirit is poured out

upon us from on high.

Then the desert will be an orchard,

and the orchard will seem like a forest.

16Then justice will inhabit the wilderness,

and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.

17The work of righteousness will be peace;

the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

18Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place,

in safe and secure places of rest.

19But hail will level the forest,

and the city will sink to the depths.

20Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters,

who let the ox and donkey range freely.

14 a Hebrew the Ophel 

The LORD Is Exalted

1Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed,

O traitor never betrayed!

When you have finished destroying,

you will be destroyed.

When you have finished betraying,

you will be betrayed.

2O LORD, be gracious to us!

We wait for You.

Be our strength every morning

and our salvation in time of trouble.

3The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice;

the nations scatter when You rise.

4Your spoil, O nations,a is gathered as by locusts;

like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

5The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6He will be the sure foundation for your times,

a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

7Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets;

the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

8The highways are deserted;

travel has ceased.

The treatyb has been broken,

the witnessesc are despised,

and human life is disregarded.

9The land mourns and languishes;

Lebanon is ashamed and decayed.

Sharon is like a desert;

Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10“Now I will arise,” says the LORD.

“Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

11You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble.

Your breath is a fire that will consume you.

12The peoples will be burned to ashes,

like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

13You who are far off, hear what I have done;

you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

14The sinners in Zion are afraid;

trembling grips the ungodly:

“Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire?

Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

15He who walks righteously

and speaks with sincerity,

who refuses gain from extortion,

whose hand never takes a bribe,

who stops his ears against murderous plots

and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

16he will dwell on the heights;

the mountain fortress will be his refuge;

his food will be provided

and his water assured.

17Your eyes will see the King in His beauty

and behold a land that stretches afar.

18Your mind will ponder the former terror:

“Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs?

Where is he who counts the towers?”

19You will no longer see the insolent,

a people whose speech is unintelligible,

who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

20Look upon Zion,

the city of our appointed feasts.

Your eyes will see Jerusalem,

a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander;

its tent pegs will not be pulled up,

nor will any of its cords be broken.

21But there the Majestic One, our LORD,

will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals,

where no galley with oars will row,

and no majestic vessel will pass.

22For the LORD is our Judge,

the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our King.

It is He who will save us.

23Your ropes are slack;

they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail.

Then an abundance of spoils will be divided,

and even the lame will carry off plunder.

24And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.”

The people who dwell there

will be forgiven of iniquity.

Judgment on the Nations

1Come near, O nations, to listen;

pay attention, O peoples.

Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,

the world and all that springs from it.

2The LORD is angry with all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will devote them to destruction;a

He will give them over to slaughter.

3Their slain will be left unburied,

and the stench of their corpses will rise;

the mountains will flow with their blood.

4All the stars of heaven will be dissolved.

The skies will be rolled up like a scroll,

and all their stars will fall

like withered leaves from the vine,

like foliage from the fig tree.

Judgment on Edom
(Isaiah 21:11–12)

5When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,

then it will come down upon Edom,

upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

6The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood.

It drips with fat—

with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7And the wild oxen will fall with them,

the young bulls with the strong ones.

Their land will be drenched with blood,

and their soil will be soaked with fat.

8For the LORD has a day of vengeance,

a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.b

9Edom’s streams will be turned to tar,

and her soil to sulfur;

her land will become a blazing pitch.

10It will not be quenched—day or night.

Its smoke will ascend forever.

From generation to generation it will lie desolate;

no one will ever again pass through it.

11The desert owl and screech owl will possess it,

and the great owl and raven will dwell in it.c

The LORD will stretch out over Edom

a measuring line of chaos

and a plumb line of destruction.

12No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,

and all her princes will come to nothing.

13Her towers will be overgrown with thorns,

her fortresses with thistles and briers.

She will become a haunt for jackals,d

an abode for ostriches.e

14The desert creatures will meet with hyenas,

and one wild goat will call to another.

There the night creaturef will settle

and find her place of repose.

15There the owl will make her nest;

she will lay and hatch her eggs

and gather her brood under her shadow.

Even there the birds of prey will gather,

each with its mate.

16Search and read the scroll of the LORD:

Not one of these will go missing,

not one will lack her mate,

because He has ordered it by His mouth,

and He will gather them by His Spirit.

17He has allotted their portion;

His hand has distributed it by measure.

They will possess it forever;

they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

The Glory of Zion

1The wilderness and the land will be glad;

the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

2It will bloom profusely

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

3Strengthen the limp hands

and steady the feeble knees!a

4Say to those with anxious hearts:

“Be strong, do not fear!

Behold, your God will come with vengeance.

With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

6Then the lame will leap like a deer

and the mute tongue will shout for joy.

For waters will gush forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert.

7The parched ground will become a pool,

the thirsty land springs of water.

In the haunt where jackalsb once lay,

there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

8And there will be a highway

called the Way of Holiness.

The unclean will not travel it—

only those who walk in the Way—

and fools will not stray onto it.

9No lion will be there,

and no vicious beast will go up on it.

Such will not be found there,

but the redeemed will walk upon it.

10So the redeemed of the LORD will return

and enter Zion with singing,

crowned with everlasting joy.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee.

3 a Cited in Hebrews 12:12
7 b Or serpents  or dragons 

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18:13–37; 2 Chronicles 32:1–8)

1In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh,a with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

3Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

4The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? 5You claim to haveb a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?

6Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?

8Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 9For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ”

11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrewc in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

12But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you. 15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

16Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with med and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

22Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance
(2 Kings 19:1–7)

1On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz 3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. 4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter
(2 Kings 19:8–13)

8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

9Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush:a “He has set out to fight against you.”

On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:

‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction.b Will you then be spared? 12Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? 13Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”

Hezekiah’s Prayer
(2 Kings 19:14–19)

14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:

16“O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

18Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. 19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

20And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.c”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied
(2 Kings 19:20–34)

21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:

‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion

despises you and mocks you;

the Daughter of Jerusalem

shakes her head behind you.

23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,

and you have said:

“With my many chariots

I have ascended

to the heights of the mountains,

to the remote peaks of Lebanon.

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the finest of its cypresses.d

I have reached its farthest heights,

the densest of its forests.

25I have dug wells

and drunk foreigne waters.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

26Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained it;

in days of old I planned it.

Now I have brought it to pass,

that you should crush fortified cities

into piles of rubble.

27Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,

are dismayed and ashamed.

They are like plants in the field,

tender green shoots,

grass on the rooftops,

scorchedf before it is grown.

28But I know your sitting down,

your going out and coming in,

and your raging against Me.

29Because your rage and arrogance against Me

have reached My ears,

I will put My hook in your nose

and My bit in your mouth;

I will send you back

the way you came.’

30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:

This year you will eat

what grows on its own,

and in the second year

what springs from the same.

But in the third year you will sow and reap;

you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah

will again take root below

and bear fruit above.

32For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,

and survivors from Mount Zion.

The zeal of the LORD of Hosts

will accomplish this.

33So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow into it.

He will not come before it with a shield

or build up a siege ramp against it.

34He will go back the way he came,

and he will not enter this city,’

declares the LORD.

35‘I will defend this city

and save it

for My own sake

and for the sake of My servant David.’ ”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians
(2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)

36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got upg the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
(2 Kings 20:1–11; 2 Chronicles 32:24–31)

1In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ”

2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.a 7This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: 8I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’ ”

So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

9This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

10I said, “In the primeb of my life

I must go through the gates of Sheol

and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”

11I said, “I will never again see the LORD,

even the LORD, in the land of the living;

I will no longer look on mankind

with those who dwell in this world.

12My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I have rolled up my life like a weaver;

He cuts me off from the loom;

from day until night You make an end of me.

13I composed myselfc until the morning.

Like a lion He breaks all my bones;

from day until night You make an end of me.

14I chirp like a swallow or crane;

I moan like a dove.

My eyes grow weak as I look upward.

O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

15What can I say?

He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this.

I will walk slowly all my years

because of the anguish of my soul.

16O Lord, by such things men live,

and in all of them my spirit finds life.

You have restored me to health

and have let me live.

17Surely for my own welfare

I had such great anguish;

but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion,

for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

18For Sheol cannot thank You;

Death cannot praise You.

Those who descend to the Pit

cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

19The living, only the living, can thank You,

as I do today;

fathers will tell their children

about Your faithfulness.

20The LORD will save me;

we will play songs on stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

in the house of the LORD.

21Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

22And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures
(2 Kings 20:12–19)

1At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness and recovery. 2And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

3Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?”

“They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”

4“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked.

“They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of Hosts: 6The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 7And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

8But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Prepare the Way for the LORD
(Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–20; John 1:19–28)

1“Comfort, comfort My people,”

says your God.

2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and proclaim to her

that her forced labor has been completed;

her iniquity has been pardoned.

For she has received from the hand of the LORD

double for all her sins.”

3A voice of one calling:

“Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness;a

make a straight highway for our God in the desert.b

4Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill made low;

the uneven ground will become smooth,

and the rugged land a plain.c

5And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,

and all humanity together will see it.d

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Enduring Word
(1 Peter 1:22–25)

6A voice says, “Cry out!”

And I asked, “What should I cry out?”

“All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

7The grass withers and the flowers fall

when the breath of the LORD blows on them;

indeed, the people are grass.

8The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever.”e

Here Is Your God!
(Romans 11:33–36)

9Go up on a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news.

Raise your voice loudly,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news.

Lift it up,f

do not be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,

and His arm establishes His rule.

His reward is with Him,

and His recompense accompanies Him.

11He tends His flock like a shepherd;

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart.

He gently leads the nursing ewes.

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on a scale

and the hills with a balance?

13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,g

or informed Him as His counselor?h

14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him,

and who taught Him the paths of justice?

Who imparted knowledge to Him

and showed Him the way of understanding?

15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered a speck of dust on the scales;

He lifts up the islandsi like fine dust.

16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel,

nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17All the nations are as nothing before Him;

He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

18To whom will you liken God?

To what image will you compare Him?

19To an idol that a craftsman casts

and a metalworker overlays with gold

and fits with silver chains?

20To one bereft of an offering

who chooses wood that will not rot,

who seeks a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not topple?

21Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its dwellers are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23He brings the princes to nothing

and makes the rulersj of the earth meaningless.

24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,

no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground,

than He blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

25“To whom will you liken Me,

or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

26Lift up your eyes on high:

Who created all these?

He leads forth the starry host by number;

He calls each one by name.

Because of His great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

27Why do you say, O Jacob,

and why do you assert, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

and my claim is ignored by my God”?

28Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary;

His understanding is beyond searching out.

29He gives power to the faint

and increases the strength of the weak.

30Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall.

31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;

they will mount up with wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not faint.

God’s Help to Israel

1“Be silent before Me, O islands,a

and let the peoples renew their strength.

Let them come forward and testify;

let us together draw near for judgment.

2Who has aroused one from the east

and called him to his feet in righteousnessb?

He hands nations over to him

and subdues kings before him.

He turns them to dust with his sword,

to windblown chaff with his bow.

3He pursues them, going on safely,

hardly touching the path with his feet.

4Who has performed this and carried it out,

calling forth the generations from the beginning?

I, the LORD—the first and the last—

I am He.”

5The islands see and fear;

the ends of the earth tremble.

They approach and come forward.

6Each one helps the other

and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,

and he who wields the hammer

cheers him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the welding, “It is good.”

He nails it down so it will not be toppled.

8“But you, O Israel, My servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

descendant of Abraham My friend—

9I brought you from the ends of the earth

and called you from its farthest corners.

I said, ‘You are My servant.’

I have chosen and not rejected you.

10Do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be afraid, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you; I will surely help you;

I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

11Behold, all who rage against you

will be ashamed and disgraced;

those who contend with you

will be reduced to nothing and will perish.

12You will seek them but will not find them.

Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.

13For I am the LORD your God,

who takes hold of your right hand

and tells you: Do not fear,

I will help you.

14Do not fear, O worm of Jacob,

O few men of Israel.

I will help you,” declares the LORD.

“Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

and reduce the hills to chaff.

16You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away;

a gale will scatter them.

But you will rejoice in the LORD;

you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17The poor and needy seek water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

I, the LORD, will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18I will open rivers on the barren heights,

and fountains in the middle of the valleys.

I will turn the desert into a pool of water,

and the dry land into flowing springs.

19I will plant cedars in the wilderness,

acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.

I will set cypressesc in the desert,

elms and boxwood together,

20so that all may see and know,

may consider and understand,

that the hand of the LORD has done this

and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Meaningless Idols

21“Present your case,” says the LORD.

“Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

22“Let them come and tell us what will happen.

Tell the former things,

so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome.

Or announce to us what is coming.

23Tell us the things that are to come,

so that we may know that you are gods.

Yes, do something good or evil,

that we may look on together in dismay.

24Behold, you are nothing

and your work is of no value.

Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

25I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—

one from the east who calls on My name.

He will march over rulers as if they were mortar,

like a potter who treads the clay.

26Who has declared this from the beginning,

so that we may know,

and from times past,

so that we may say: ‘He was right’?

No one announced it, no one foretold it,

no one heard your words.

27I was the first to tell Zion:d

‘Look, here they are!’

And I gave to Jerusalem

a herald of good news.

28When I look, there is no one;

there is no counselor among them;

when I ask them,

they have nothing to say.

29See, they are all a delusion;

their works amount to nothing;

their images are as empty as the wind.

Here Is My Servant
(Matthew 12:15–21)

1“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold,

My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights.

I will put My Spirit on Him,

and He will bring justice to the nations.

2He will not cry out or raise His voice,

nor make His voice heard in the streets.

3A bruised reed He will not break

and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4He will not grow weak or discourageda

before He has established justice on the earth.

In His law the islands will put their hope.”b

5This is what God the LORD says—

He who created the heavens

and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and its offspring,

who gives breath to the people on it

and life to those who walk in it:

6“I, the LORD, have called you

for a righteous purpose,

and I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and appoint you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light to the nations,

7to open the eyes of the blind,

to bring prisoners out of the dungeon

and those sitting in darkness

out from the prison house.

8I am the LORD;

that is My name!

I will not yield My glory to another

or My praise to idols.

9Behold, the former things have happened,

and now I declare new things.

Before they spring forth

I proclaim them to you.”

A New Song of Praise
(Psalm 98:1–9; Psalm 149:1–9)

10Sing to the LORD a new song—

His praise from the ends of the earth—

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

you islands,c and all who dwell in them.

11Let the desert and its cities raise their voices;

let the villages of Kedar cry aloud.

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

let them cry out from the mountaintops.

12Let them give glory to the LORD

and declare His praise in the islands.

13The LORD goes forth like a mighty one;

He stirs up His zeal like a warrior.

He shouts; yes, He roars

in triumph over His enemies:

14“I have kept silent from ages past;

I have remained quiet and restrained.

But now I will groan like a woman in labor;

I will at once gasp and pant.

15I will lay waste the mountains and hills

and dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn the rivers into dry landd

and drain the marshes.

16I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;

I will guide them on unfamiliar paths.

I will turn darkness into light before them

and rough places into level ground.

These things I will do for them,

and I will not forsake them.

17But those who trust in idols

and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’

will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel Is Deaf and Blind

18Listen, you deaf ones;

look, you blind ones, that you may see!

19Who is blind but My servant,

or deaf like the messenger I am sending?

Who is blind like My covenant partner,

or blind like the servant of the LORD?

20Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch.

Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”

21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness,

to magnify His law and make it glorious.

22But this is a people plundered and looted,

all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons.

They have become plunder with no one to rescue them,

and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”

23Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen and obey hereafter?

24Who gave Jacob up for spoil,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD,

against whom we have sinned?

They were unwilling to walk in His ways,

and they would not obey His law.

25So He poured out on them His furious anger

and the fierceness of battle.

It enveloped them in flames,

but they did not understand;

it consumed them,

but they did not take it to heart.

Israel’s Only Savior

1Now this is what the LORD says—

He who created you, O Jacob,

and He who formed you, O Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name; you are Mine!

2When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you go through the rivers,

they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be scorched;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

3For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

Cusha and Seba in your place.

4Because you are precious and honored in My sight,

and because I love you,

I will give men in exchange for you

and nations in place of your life.

5Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east

and gather you from the west.

6I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’

Bring My sons from afar,

and My daughters from the ends of the earth—

7everyone called by My name and created for My glory,

whom I have indeed formed and made.”

8Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind,

and who have ears but are deaf.

9All the nations gather together

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this,

and proclaim to us the former things?

Let them present their witnesses to vindicate them,

so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”

10“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,

“and My servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider and believe Me

and understand that I am He.

Before Me no god was formed,

and after Me none will come.

11I, yes I, am the LORD,

and there is no Savior but Me.

12I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed—

I, and not some foreign god among you.

So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,

“that I am God.

13Even from eternity I am He,

and none can deliver out of My hand.

When I act, who can reverse it?”

A Way in the Wilderness

14Thus says the LORD your Redeemer,

the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake, I will send to Babylon

and bring them all as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans,b

in the ships in which they rejoice.

15I am the LORD, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, and your King.”

16Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea

and a path through the surging waters,

17who brings out the chariots and horses,

the armies and warriors together,

to lie down, never to rise again;

to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18“Do not call to mind the former things;

pay no attention to the things of old.

19Behold, I am about to do something new;

even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

20The beasts of the field will honor Me,

the jackalsc and the ostriches,d

because I provide water in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to My chosen people.

21The people I formed for Myself

will declare My praise.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness
(Judges 2:10–15; Jeremiah 2:23–37)

22But you have not called on Me, O Jacob,

because you have grown weary of Me, O Israel.

23You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings,

nor honored Me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

nor wearied you with frankincense.

24You have not bought Me sweet cane with your silver,

nor satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened Me with your sins;

you have wearied Me with your iniquities.

25I, yes I, am He

who blots out your transgressions for My own sake

and remembers your sins no more.

26Remind Me, let us argue the matter together.

State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

27Your first father sinned,

and your spokesmen rebelled against Me.

28So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary,

and I will devote Jacob to destructione and Israel to reproach.”

The LORD Has Chosen Israel

1But now listen, O Jacob My servant,

Israel, whom I have chosen.

2This is the word of the LORD, your Maker,

who formed you from the womb and who will help you:

“Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant,

Jeshurun,a whom I have chosen.

3For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and currents on the dry ground.

I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants,

and My blessing on your offspring.

4They will sprout among the grass

like willowsb by flowing streams.

5One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD,’

another will call himself by the name of Jacob,

and still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’

and will take the name of Israel.”

6Thus says the LORD,

the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts:

“I am the first and I am the last,

and there is no God but Me.

7Who then is like Me?

Let him say so!

Let him declare his case before Me,

since I established an ancient people.

Let him foretell the things to come,

and what is to take place.

8Do not tremble or fear.

Have I not told you and declared it long ago?

You are My witnesses!

Is there any God but Me?

There is no other Rock;

I know not one.”

9All makers of idols are nothing,

and the things they treasure are worthless.

Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend,

so they are put to shame.

10Who fashions a god or casts an idol

which profits him nothing?

11Behold, all his companions will be put to shame,

for the craftsmen themselves are only human.

Let them all assemble and take their stand;

they will all be brought to terror and shame.

12The blacksmith takes a tool

and labors over the coals;

he fashions an idol with hammers

and forges it with his strong arms.

Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength;

he fails to drink water and grows faint.

13The woodworker extends a measuring line;

he marks it out with a stylus;

he shapes it with chisels

and outlines it with a compass.

He fashions it in the likeness of man,

like man in all his glory,

that it may dwell in a shrine.

14He cuts down cedars

or retrieves a cypressc or oak.

He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.

He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

15It serves as fuel for man.

He takes some of it to warm himself,

and he kindles a fire

and bakes his bread;

he even fashions it into a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it.

16He burns half of it in the fire,

and he roasts meat on that half.

He eats the roast and is satisfied.

Indeed, he warms himself and says,

“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

17From the rest he makes a god, his graven image.

He bows down to it and worships;

he prays to it and says,

“Save me, for you are my god.”

18They do not comprehend or discern,

for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see

and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

19And no one considers in his heart,

no one has the knowledge or insight to say,

“I burned half of it in the fire,

and I baked bread on its coals;

I roasted meat and I ate.

Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it?

Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

20He feeds on ashes.

His deluded heart has led him astray,

and he cannot deliver himself or say,

“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Jerusalem to Be Restored

21Remember these things, O Jacob,

for you are My servant, O Israel.

I have made you, and you are My servant;

O Israel, I will never forget you.

22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like a mist.

Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

23Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;

shout aloud, O depths of the earth.

Break forth in song, O mountains,

you forests and all your trees.

For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,

and revealed His glory in Israel.

24Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer who formed you from the womb:

“I am the LORD,

who has made all things,

who alone stretched out the heavens,

who by Myself spread out the earth,

25who foils the signs of false prophets

and makes fools of diviners,

who confounds the wise

and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

26who confirms the message of His servant

and fulfills the counsel of His messengers,

who says of Jerusalem,

‘She will be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah,

‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’

27who says to the depths of the sea,

‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’

28who says of Cyrus,

‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’

who says of Jerusalem,

‘She will be rebuilt,’

and of the temple,

‘Let its foundation be laid.’ ”