Isaiah 1:1-27:3

Holman Christian Standard Bible

⁴ Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,^(K)
brood of evildoers,^(L)
depraved children!^[d]
They have abandoned^(M) the Lord;
they have despised^(N) the Holy One of Israel;^(O)
they have turned their backs on Him.

⁵ Why do you want more beatings?
Why do you keep on rebelling?
The whole head is hurt,
and the whole heart is sick.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head,^(P)
no spot is uninjured^(Q)—
wounds, welts, and festering sores
not cleansed, bandaged,
or soothed with oil.

⁷ Your land is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;^(R)
foreigners devour your fields
before your very eyes—
a desolation demolished by foreigners.
⁸ Daughter Zion^(S) is abandoned
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a shack in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
⁹ If the Lord of Hosts^(T)
had not left us a few survivors,^(U)
we would be like Sodom,
we would resemble Gomorrah.^(V)

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,^(W)
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!^(X)
11 “What are all your sacrifices to Me?”
asks the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams
and the fat of well-fed cattle;
I have no desire for the blood of bulls,
lambs, or male goats.^(Y)
12 When you come to appear before Me,
who requires this from you—
this trampling of My courts?
¹³ Stop bringing useless offerings.^(Z)
Your incense is detestable to Me.
New Moons and Sabbaths,^(AA)
and the calling of solemn assemblies^(AB)—
I cannot stand iniquity^(AC) with a festival.
¹⁴ I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am tired of putting up with them.
¹⁵ When you lift up your hands in prayer,^(AD)
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.^(AE)
Your hands are covered with blood.^(AF)

¹⁸ “Come, let us discuss this,”^(AJ)
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;^(AK)
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land.^(AL)
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”^(AM)
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(AN)

²¹ The faithful city—
what an adulteress^[f] she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her—
but now, murderers!
²² Your silver has become dross,^[g]
your beer^[h] is diluted with water.
²³ Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.^(AO)
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.^(AP)
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.^(AQ)

²⁴ Therefore the Lord God of Hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will gain satisfaction from My foes;
I will take revenge against My enemies.^(AR)
25 I will turn My hand against you^(AS)
and will burn away your dross^[i] completely;^[j]
I will remove all your impurities.^(AT)
26 I will restore your judges^(AU) to what they once were,^[k]
and your advisers to their former state.^[l]
Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,^(AV)
a Faithful City.”

²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by justice,
her repentant ones by righteousness.^(AW)
28 But both rebels and sinners will be destroyed,
and those who abandon the Lord will perish.
²⁹ Indeed, they^[m] will be ashamed of the sacred trees
you desired,^(AX)
and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens
you have chosen.^(AY)
30 For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.^(AZ)
31 The strong one will become tinder,
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,^(BA)
with no one to quench the flames.^(BB)

² In^(BD) the last days^(BE)
the mountain of the Lord’s house^(BF) will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,^(BG)
3 and 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.^(BH)
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will settle disputes among the nations
and provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will turn their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.^(BI)
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will never again train for war.^(BJ)

¹² For a day belonging to the Lord of Hosts is coming
against all that is proud and lofty,^(BW)
against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled—
¹³ against all the cedars of Lebanon,^(BX)
lofty and lifted up,
against all the oaks of Bashan,^(BY)
14 against all the high mountains,^(BZ)
against all the lofty hills,
¹⁵ against every high tower,^(CA)
against every fortified wall,
¹⁶ against every ship of Tarshish,^(CB)
and against every splendid sea vessel.
¹⁷ So human pride will be brought low,
and the loftiness of men will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.^(CC)
18 The idols will vanish completely.

¹⁹ People will go into caves in the rocks^(CD)
and holes in the ground,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from His majestic splendor,
when He rises to terrify the earth.^(CE)
20 On that day people will throw
their silver and gold idols,^(CF)
which they made to worship,
to the moles and the bats.
²¹ They will go into the caves of the rocks
and the crevices in the cliffs,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from His majestic splendor,^(CG)
when He rises to terrify the earth.
²² Put no more trust in man,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.^(CH)
What is he really worth?

¹³ The Lord rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.^(CR)
14 The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of His people:^(CS)
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.^(CT)
15 Why do you crush My people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,^(CU)
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
going along with prancing steps,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
¹⁷ the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.

²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of beautifully styled hair,^(CZ) baldness;^(DA)
instead of fine clothes, sackcloth;^(DB)
instead of beauty, branding.^[u]
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
²⁶ Then her gates^(DC) will lament and mourn;
deserted, she will sit on the ground.^(DD)
4 On that day seven women
will seize one man,^(DE) saying,
“We will eat our own bread
and provide our own clothing.
Just let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace.”^(DF)

³ So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between Me
and My vineyard.
⁴ What more could I have done for My vineyard
than I did?^(DY)
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
⁵ Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,^(DZ)
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,^(EA)
and it will be trampled.
⁶ I will make it a wasteland.^(EB)
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.^(EC)
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the house of Israel,^(ED)
and the men^[x] of Judah,
the plant He delighted in.
He looked for justice
but saw injustice,
for righteousness,
but heard cries of wretchedness.

Indeed, many houses^(EF) will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
¹⁰ For a ten-acre^[y] vineyard will yield
only six gallons,^[z]
and 10 bushels^[aa] of seed will yield
only one bushel.^[ab]

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of beer,^(EG)
who linger into the evening,
inflamed by wine.
¹² At their feasts they have lyre, harp,
tambourine, flute, and wine.
They do not perceive the Lord’s actions,^(EH)
and they do not see the work of His hands.^(EI)

¹³ Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;^(EJ)
her^[ac] dignitaries are starving,
and her^[ad] masses are parched with thirst.
¹⁴ Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,^(EK)
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who carouse in her!
¹⁵ Humanity is brought low, man is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.^(EL)
16 But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice,^(EM)
and the holy God^(EN) is distinguished by righteousness.^(EO)
17 Lambs will graze
as if in^[ae] their own pastures,^(EP)
and strangers^[af] will eat
among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Woe to those who drag wickedness
with cords of deceit^(EQ)
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
¹⁹ to those who say:
“Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan^(ER) of the Holy One of Israel^(ES) take place
so that we can know it!”
²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,^(ET)
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion
and clever in their own sight.^[ag](EU)
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are fearless at mixing beer,^(EV)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe^(EW)
and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁴ Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected^(EX)
the instruction of the Lord of Hosts,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.^(EY)
25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burns^(EZ) against His people.
He raised His hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,^(FA)
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.^(FB)

²⁶ He raises a signal flag for the distant nations^(FC)
and whistles^(FD) for them from the ends of the earth.
Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!
²⁷ None of them grows weary or stumbles;^(FE)
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.
²⁸ Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses’ hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
²⁹ Their roaring is like a lion’s;^(FF)
they roar like young lions;^(FG)
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.
³⁰ On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.^[ah]

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
His glory^(FN) fills the whole earth.^(FO)

Woe is me^(FQ) for I am ruined^[ak]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,^(FR)
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.

Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.^(FU)

Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?

Here I am. Send me.

Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;^(FV)
keep looking, but do not perceive.
¹⁰ Dull the minds^[al] of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.^(FW)

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,^(FY)
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
¹² and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
¹³ Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed^(FZ) is the stump.^(GA)

It will not happen; it will not occur.^(GI)
8 The^[an] head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
⁹ the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.

¹⁸ On that day^(GR)
the Lord will whistle^(GS) to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
¹⁹ All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,^(GT)
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

²¹ On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
²² and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.^(GW)

²³ And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.^(GX)
24 A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
²⁵ You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.

⁶ Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with^[aw] Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,^(HC)
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
⁸ It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;^(HD)
and its spreading streams^[ax]
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!^(HE)

⁹ Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
¹⁰ Devise a plan; it will fail.^(HF)
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.^[ay](HG)

¹² Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance.^(HI)
Do not fear what they fear;^(HJ)
do not be terrified.
¹³ You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy.^(HK)
Only He should be feared;^(HL)
only He should be held in awe.
¹⁴ He will be a sanctuary;^(HM)
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone^(HN) to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,^(HO)
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵ Many will stumble over these;^(HP)
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony.^(HQ)
Seal up the instruction^(HR) among my disciples.
¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,^(HS)
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.^(HT)
I will wait for Him.

^2 [bc]The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;^(IA)
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.^(IB)
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.^[bd](IC)
The people have rejoiced before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.^(ID)
4 For You have shattered their oppressive yoke^(IE)
and the rod on their shoulders,
the staff of their oppressor,
just as You did on the day of Midian.^(IF)
5 For the trampling boot of battle
and the bloodied garments of war
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,^(IG)
and the government will be on His shoulders.^(IH)
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor,^(II) Mighty God,^(IJ)
Eternal Father,^(IK) Prince of Peace.^(IL)
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.^(IM)
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.^(IN)

¹³ The people did not turn to Him who struck them;
they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,^(IQ)
palm branch and reed in a single day.
¹⁵ The head is the elder, the honored one;^(IR)
the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.^(IS)
16 The leaders of the people mislead them,
and those they mislead are swallowed up.^[be]
17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over^[bf] Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,^(IT)
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

¹⁸ For wickedness burns like a fire^(IU)
that consumes thorns and briers
and kindles the forest thickets
so that they go up in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ The land is scorched
by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.^(IV)
No one has compassion on his brother.^(IW)
20 They carve meat on the right,
but they are still hungry;^(IX)
they have eaten on the left,
but they are still not satisfied.
Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.^(IY)
21 Manasseh is with Ephraim,
and Ephraim with Manasseh;
together, both are against Judah.^(IZ)
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.^(JA)

10 Woe to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
² to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice,
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.
³ What will you do on the day of punishment
when devastation comes from far away?
Who will you run to for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
⁴ There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.^[bi]
14 My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,
to seize the wealth of the nations.
Like one gathering abandoned eggs,
I gathered the whole earth.
No wing fluttered;
no beak opened or chirped.

¹⁵ Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts^[bj] it!
It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn’t wood!
¹⁶ Therefore the Lord God of Hosts
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and He will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
¹⁷ Israel’s Light will become a fire,
and its Holy One, a flame.
In one day it will burn up Assyria’s thorns and thistles.
¹⁸ He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
¹⁹ The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.

²¹ The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.
²² Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.^(JE)
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.
²³ For throughout the land
the Lord God of Hosts
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.

¹² He will lift up a banner for the nations
and gather the dispersed of Israel;^(JY)
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.^(JZ)
13 Ephraim’s envy will cease;^(KA)
Judah’s harassment will end.
Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴ But they will swoop down
on the Philistine flank to the west.
Together they will plunder the people of the east.^(KB)
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.^(KC)
15 The Lord will divide^[bn][bo] the Gulf of Suez.^[bp]
He will wave His hand over the Euphrates
with His mighty wind^(KD)
and will split it into seven streams,
letting people walk through on foot.
¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who will survive from Assyria,^(KE)
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.^(KF)

² Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.^(KO)
Call out to them.
Wave your hand, and they will go
through the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded My chosen ones;
I have also called My warriors,
who exult in My triumph,
to execute My wrath.^(KP)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a mighty people!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations being gathered together!
The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
⁵ They are coming from a far land,
from the distant horizon—
the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.^[bq]

⁶ Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.^(KQ)
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.^(KR)
7 Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,
and every man’s heart will melt.
⁸ They will be horrified;
pain and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.^(KS)
They will look at each other,
their faces flushed with fear.
⁹ Look, the day^(KT) of the Lord is coming—
cruel, with rage and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners on it.^(KU)
10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations^[br]
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not shine.^(KV)
11 I will bring disaster on the world,
and their own iniquity,^(KW) on the wicked.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant^(KX)
and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make man scarcer than gold,
and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.^(KY)
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will shake from its foundations^(KZ)
at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
on the day of His burning anger.
¹⁴ Like wandering gazelles
and like sheep without a shepherd,^(LA)
each one will turn to his own people,
each one will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.
¹⁶ Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes;^(LB)
their houses will be looted,
and their wives raped.
¹⁷ Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,^(LC)
who cannot be bought off with^[bs] silver
and who have no desire for gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will cut young men to pieces.
They will have no compassion on little ones;
they will not look with pity on children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.^(LD)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;^(LE)
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.^(LF)
22 Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging^[bt] has become quiet!
⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
⁶ It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows.
It subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
⁷ All the earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
⁸ Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you:^(LO)
“Since you have been laid low,
no woodcutter has come against us.”

⁹ Sheol below is eager to greet your coming.
He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you—
all the rulers^[bu] of the earth.
He makes all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
¹⁰ They all respond to you, saying:
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!
¹¹ Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”

¹² Shining morning star,^[bv](LP)
how you have fallen from the heavens!^(LQ)
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
¹³ You said to yourself:
“I will ascend to the heavens;^(LR)
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.^(LS)
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.^[bw](LT)
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
¹⁵ But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.^(LU)

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
¹⁷ who turned the world into a wilderness,^(LV)
who destroyed its cities
and would not release the prisoners to return home?”
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations
lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.
²⁰ You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be remembered.^(LW)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity^(LX) of their fathers.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.^(LY)
25 I will break Assyria^(LZ) in My land;
I will tread him down on My mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
²⁶ This is the plan^(MA) prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
²⁷ The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is His hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?

²⁹ Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you^(MD) is broken.
For a viper will come from the root^[by] of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.^(ME)
30 Then the firstborn^(MF) of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.^[bz]
31 Wail, you gates!^(MG) Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear,^(MH) all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,^(MI)
and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.
³² What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,^(MJ)
and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

Ar in Moab is devastated,^(ML)
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
² Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at^[ca] Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is cut off.
³ In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.^(MM)
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.^[cb]
5 My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,^(MN)
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim^(MO) are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
⁷ So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Wadi of the Willows.^(MP)
8 For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
⁹ The waters of Dibon^[cc] are full of blood,^(MQ)
but I will bring on Dibon^[cd] even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.^(MR)

16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^(MS)
from Sela in the desert^(MT)
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
² Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³ Give us counsel and make a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade that is as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;^(MU)
do not betray the one who flees.
⁴ Let my refugees stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab^[ce] from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,
destruction has ended,
and marauders have vanished from the land.
⁵ Then in the tent of David
a throne will be established by faithful love.^(MV)
A judge who seeks what is right
and is quick to execute justice
will sit on the throne forever.

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pride^(MW)—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
Mourn, you who are completely devastated,
for the raisin cakes^(MX) of Kir-hareseth.^(MY)
8 For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards
and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled its choice vines
that reached as far as Jazer^(MZ)
and spread to the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and reached the Dead Sea.^(NA)
9 So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent^[cf]
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
¹⁰ Joy and rejoicing^(NB) have been removed from the orchard;
no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.^(NC)
No one tramples grapes^[cg] in the winepresses.
I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,^(ND)
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
¹² When Moab appears on the high place,
when he tires^[ch] himself out^(NE)
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.^(NF)

Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
² The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
³ The fortress disappears from Ephraim,^(NJ)
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

⁹ On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops^[cj]
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength;^(NQ)
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
¹¹ On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.

Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and near,
a powerful nation with a strange language,^[cl]
whose land is divided by rivers.
³ All you inhabitants of the world
and you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet sounds, listen!

I will quietly look out from My place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.
⁶ They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds will spend the summer on them,
and all the animals, the winter on them.

Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud^(NZ)
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s idols will tremble before Him,^(OA)
and Egypt’s heart will melt within it.^(OB)
2 I will provoke Egypt against Egypt;
each will fight against his brother^(OC)
and each against his friend,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.^(OD)
3 Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,
and I will frustrate its plans.
Then they will seek idols, ghosts,
spirits of the dead, and spiritists.^(OE)
4 I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters,^(OF)
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.

⁵ The waters of the sea will dry up,
and the river will be parched and dry.
⁶ The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will die.^[cn]
7 The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,
and all the cultivated areas of the Nile
will wither, blow away, and vanish.
⁸ Then the fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.
⁹ Those who work with flax will be dismayed;^(OG)
the combers and weavers will turn pale.^[co]
10 Egypt’s weavers^[cp] will be dejected;
all her wage earners will be demoralized.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan are complete fools;^(OH)
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one^[cq] of the wise,
a student of eastern^[cr] kings”?
¹² Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have been fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.^(OI)
Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion.
The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ No head or tail, palm or reed,^(OJ)
will be able to do anything for Egypt.

Like storms that pass over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.
² A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,^(PA)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”

³ Therefore I am^[cv] filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.^(PB)
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.
⁴ My heart staggers;
horror terrifies me.
He has turned my last glimmer of hope^[cw]
into sheer terror.^(PC)
5 Prepare a table,^(PD) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

⁶ For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”
⁸ Then the lookout^[cx] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,^(PE)
and I stay at my post all night.
⁹ Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,^(PF) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”^(PG)

¹⁰ My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,^(PH)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel.

One calls to me from Seir,^(PK)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
¹² The watchman said,
“Morning has come, and also night.
If you want to ask, ask!
Come back again.”

In the desert^[cz] brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.^(PM)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema^(PN)
meet^[da] the refugees with food.
¹⁵ For they have fled from swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bow that is strung,
and from the stress of battle.

What’s the matter with you?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?^(PS)
2 The noisy city, the jubilant town,^(PT)
is filled with revelry.
Your dead did not die by the sword;
they were not killed in battle.
³ All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together;
they had fled far away.
⁴ Therefore I said,
“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!^(PU)
Do not try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dear^[db] people.”
⁵ For the Lord God of Hosts
had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion^(PV)
in the Valley of Vision—
people shouting^[dc] and crying to the mountains;
⁶ Elam took up a quiver
with chariots and horsemen,^[dd]
and Kir^(PW) uncovered the shield.
⁷ Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the gates.
⁸ He removed the defenses of Judah.

¹² On that day the Lord God of Hosts
called for weeping,^(QC) for wailing, for shaven heads,
and for the wearing of sackcloth.
¹³ But look: joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat, and drinking of wine—
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”^(QD)
14 The Lord of Hosts has directly revealed to me:^(QE)
“This sin of yours will never^[de] be wiped out.”^(QF)
The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

Wail, ships of Tarshish,^(QO)
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.^[dg](QP)
2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;^(QQ)
your agents have crossed the sea^[dh]
3 on many waters.
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.^(QR)
4 Be ashamed 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.”
⁵ When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.^(QS)
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
⁷ Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
⁸ Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
⁹ The Lord of Hosts planned it,
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
¹⁰ Overflow^[di] your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer anything to restrain you.^[dj]
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea;^(QT)
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.
¹² He said,
“You will not rejoice anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus^(QU)—
even there you will have no rest!”
¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans—
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.
¹⁴ Wail, ships of Tarshish,
because your fortress is destroyed!

¹⁶ Pick up your lyre,
stroll through the city,
prostitute forgotten by men.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song,
and you will be thought of again.

⁴ The earth mourns and withers;
the world wastes away and withers;
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
⁵ The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,^(QY)
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.^(QZ)
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,^(RA)
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
⁷ The new wine mourns;^(RB)
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
⁸ The joyful tambourines^(RC) have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
⁹ They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The city of chaos is shattered;^(RD)
every house is closed to entry.^(RE)
11 In the streets they cry^[dk] for wine.
All joy grows dark;
earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
¹² Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
¹³ For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.^(RF)

¹⁴ They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord.
¹⁵ Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!
In the islands of the west
honor the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.^(RG)

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!^[dl]
Woe is me.”
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.^(RH)

¹⁷ Panic, pit, and trap await you^(RI)
who dwell on the earth.^(RJ)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the windows are opened from heaven,^(RK)
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.^(RL)
19 The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunkard^(RM)
and sways like a hut.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹ On that day^(RN) the Lord will punish
the host of heaven above
and kings of the earth below.
²² They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.^(RO)
They will be confined to a dungeon;^(RP)
after many days they will be punished.
²³ The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and He will display His glory
in the presence of His elders.^(RQ)

⁶ The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast^(RW)
for all the peoples on this mountain^[dn](RX)—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat,^[do] finely aged wine.
⁷ On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;^(RY)
8 He will destroy death forever.^(RZ)
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face^(SA)
and remove His people’s disgrace^(SB)
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

⁹ On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”^(SC)
10 For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moab^(SD) will be trampled in his place^[dp]
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.
¹¹ He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
along with the trickery of his hands.^(SE)
12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.^(SF)

We have a strong city.
Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.^(SG)
2 Open the gates
so a righteous nation can come in—
one that remains faithful.
³ You will keep the mind that is dependent on You
in perfect peace,^(SH)
for it is trusting in You.
⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,
because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!^(SI)
5 For He has humbled those who live in lofty places—
an inaccessible city.^(SJ)
He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground;
He throws it to the dust.
⁶ Feet trample it,
the feet of the humble,
the steps of the poor.

¹¹ Lord, Your hand is lifted up to take action,
but they do not see it.
They will see Your zeal for Your people,
and they will be put to shame.
The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!
¹² Lord, You will establish peace for us,
for You have also done all our work for us.
¹³ Yahweh our God, lords other than You have ruled over us,
but we remember Your name alone.^(SN)

¹⁴ The dead do not live;
departed spirits do not rise up.
Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them;
You have wiped out all memory of them.^(SO)
15 You have added to the nation, Lord.^(SP)
You have added to the nation; You are honored.
You have expanded all the borders of the land.^(SQ)
16 Lord, they went to You in their distress;^(SR)
they poured out whispered prayers
because Your discipline fell on them.^[dq]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,^(SS)
so we were before You, Lord.
¹⁸ We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;
we gave birth to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

¹⁹ Your dead will live; their bodies^[dr] will rise.^(ST)
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,^[ds]
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms
and close your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.^(SU)
21 For look, the Lord is coming from His place^(SV)
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.^(SW)
The earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and will no longer conceal her slain.