Category: Isaiah

[14:3] The Lord will give the people of Israel relief from their pain and suffering and from the hard work they were forced to do.

[14:4] When he does this, they are to mock the king of Babylon and say: “The cruel king has fallen! He will never oppress anyone again!

[14:5] The Lord has ended the power of the evil rulers

[14:6] who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered.

[14:7] Now at last the whole world enjoys rest and peace, and everyone sings for joy.

[14:8] The cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over the fallen king, because there is no one to cut them down, now that he is gone!

[14:9] “The world of the dead is getting ready to welcome the king of Babylon. The ghosts of those who were powerful on earth are stirring about. The ghosts of kings are rising from their thrones.

[14:10] They all call out to him, ‘Now you are as weak as we are! You are one of us!

[14:11] You used to be honored with the music of harps, but now here you are in the world of the dead. You lie on a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms.’”

[14:12] King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground.

[14:13] You were determined to climb up to heaven and to place your throne above the highest stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that mountain in the north where the gods assemble.

[14:14] You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty.

[14:15] But instead, you have been brought down to the deepest part of the world of the dead.

[14:16] The dead will stare and gape at you. They will ask, “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble?

[14:17] Is this the man who destroyed cities and turned the world into a desert? Is this the man who never freed his prisoners or let them go home?”

[14:18] All the kings of the earth lie in their magnificent tombs,

[14:19] but you have no tomb, and your corpse is thrown out to rot. It is covered by the bodies of soldiers killed in battle, thrown with them into a rocky pit, and trampled down.

[14:20] Because you ruined your country and killed your own people, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.

[14:21] Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.

[14:22] The Lord Almighty says, “I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing—no children, no survivors at all. I, the Lord, have spoken.

[14:23] I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

[14:24] The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: “What I have planned will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.

[14:25] I will destroy the Assyrians in my land of Israel and trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.

[14:26] This is my plan for the world, and my arm is stretched out to punish the nations.”

[14:27] The Lord Almighty is determined to do this; he has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.

[14:28] This is a message that was proclaimed in the year that King Ahaz died.

[14:29] People of Philistia, the rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.

[14:30] The Lord will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines, and it will not leave any of you alive.

[14:31] Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north—it is an army with no cowards in its ranks.

[14:32] How shall we answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that the Lord has established Zion and that his suffering people will find safety there.

[15:1] This is a message about Moab. The cities of Ar and Kir are destroyed in a single night, and silence covers the land of Moab.

[15:2] The people of Dibon climb the hill to weep at the shrine. The people of Moab wail in grief over the cities of Nebo and Medeba; they have shaved their heads and their beards in grief.

[15:3] The people in the streets are dressed in sackcloth; in the city squares and on the rooftops people mourn and cry.

[15:4] The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, and their cry can be heard as far away as Jahaz. Even the soldiers tremble; their courage is gone.

[15:5] My heart cries out for Moab! The people have fled to the town of Zoar, and to Eglath Shelishiyah. Some climb the road to Luhith, weeping as they go; some escape to Horonaim, grieving loudly.

[15:6] Nimrim Brook is dry, the grass beside it has withered, and nothing green is left.

[15:7] The people go across the Valley of Willows, trying to escape with all their possessions.

[15:8] Everywhere at Moab's borders the sound of crying is heard. It is heard at the towns of Eglaim and Beerelim.

[15:9] At the town of Dibon the river is red with blood, and God has something even worse in store for the people there. Yes, there will be a bloody slaughter of everyone left in Moab.

[16:1] From the city of Sela in the desert the people of Moab send a lamb as a present to the one who rules in Jerusalem.

[16:2] They wait on the banks of the Arnon River and move aimlessly back and forth, like birds driven from their nest.

[16:3] They say to the people of Judah, “Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us.

[16:4] Let us stay in your land. Protect us from those who want to destroy us.” (Oppression and destruction will end, and those who are devastating the country will be gone.

[16:5] Then one of David's descendants will be king, and he will rule the people with faithfulness and love. He will be quick to do what is right, and he will see that justice is done.)

[16:6] The people of Judah say, “We have heard how proud the people of Moab are. We know that they are arrogant and conceited, but their boasts are empty.”

[16:7] The people of Moab will weep because of the troubles they suffer. They will all weep when they remember the fine food they used to eat in the city of Kir Heres. They will be driven to despair.

[16:8] The farms near Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah are destroyed—those vineyards whose wine used to make the rulers of the nations drunk. At one time the vines spread as far as the city of Jazer, and eastward into the desert, and westward to the other side of the Dead Sea.

[16:9] Now I weep for Sibmah's vines as I weep for Jazer. My tears fall for Heshbon and Elealeh, because there is no harvest to make the people glad.

[16:10] No one is happy now in the fertile fields. No one shouts or sings in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes to make wine; the shouts of joy are ended.

[16:11] I groan with sadness for Moab, with grief for Kir Heres.

[16:12] The people of Moab wear themselves out going to their mountain shrines and to their temples to pray, but it will do them no good.

[16:13] That is the message the Lord gave earlier about Moab.

[16:14] And now the Lord says, “In exactly three years Moab's great wealth will disappear. Of its many people, only a few will survive, and they will be weak.”

[17:1] The Lord said, “Damascus will not be a city any longer; it will be only a pile of ruins.

[17:2] The cities of Syria will be deserted forever. They will be a pasture for sheep and cattle, and no one will drive them away.

[17:3] Israel will be defenseless, and Damascus will lose its independence. Those Syrians who survive will be in disgrace like the people of Israel. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

[17:4] The Lord said, “A day is coming when Israel's greatness will come to an end, and its wealth will be replaced by poverty.

[17:5] Israel will be like a field where the grain has been cut and harvested, as desolate as a field in Rephaim Valley when it has been picked bare.

[17:6] Only a few people will survive, and Israel will be like an olive tree from which all the olives have been picked except two or three at the very top, or a few that are left on the lower branches. I, the Lord God of Israel, have spoken.”

[17:7] When that day comes, people will turn for help to their Creator, the holy God of Israel.

[17:8] They will no longer rely on the altars they made with their own hands, or trust in their own handiwork—symbols of the goddess Asherah and altars for burning incense.

[17:9] When that day comes, well-defended cities will be deserted and left in ruins like the cities that the Hivites and the Amorites abandoned as they fled from the people of Israel.

[17:10] Israel, you have forgotten the God who rescues you and protects you like a mighty rock. Instead, you plant sacred gardens in order to worship a foreign god.

[17:11] But even if they sprouted and blossomed the very morning you planted them, there would still be no harvest. There would be only trouble and incurable pain.

[17:12] Powerful nations are in commotion with a sound like the roar of the sea, like the crashing of huge waves.

[17:13] The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a mountainside, like straw in a whirlwind.

[17:14] At evening they cause terror, but by morning they are gone. That is the fate of everyone who plunders our land.

[18:1] Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia there is a land where the sound of wings is heard.

[18:2] From that land ambassadors come down the Nile in boats made of reeds. Go back home, swift messengers! Take a message back to your land divided by rivers, to your strong and powerful nation, to your tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world.

[18:3] Listen, everyone who lives on earth! Look for a signal flag to be raised on the mountaintops! Listen for the blowing of the bugle!

[18:4] The Lord said to me, “I will look down from heaven as quietly as the dew forms in the warm nights of harvest time, as serenely as the sun shines in the heat of the day.

[18:5] Before the grapes are gathered, when the blossoms have all fallen and the grapes are ripening, the enemy will destroy the Ethiopians as easily as a knife cuts branches from a vine.

[18:6] The corpses of their soldiers will be left exposed to the birds and the wild animals. In summer the birds will feed on them, and in winter, the animals.”

[18:7] A time is coming when the Lord Almighty will receive offerings from this land divided by rivers, this strong and powerful nation, this tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world. They will come to Mount Zion, where the Lord Almighty is worshiped.

[19:1] This is a message about Egypt. The Lord is coming to Egypt, riding swiftly on a cloud. The Egyptian idols tremble before him, and the people of Egypt lose their courage.

[19:2] The Lord says, “I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power.

[19:3] I am going to frustrate the plans of the Egyptians and destroy their morale. They will ask their idols to help them, and they will go and consult mediums and ask the spirits of the dead for advice.

[19:4] I will hand the Egyptians over to a tyrant, to a cruel king who will rule them. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

[19:5] The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up.

[19:6] The channels of the river will stink as they slowly go dry. Reeds and rushes will wither,

[19:7] and all the crops planted along the banks of the Nile will dry up and be blown away.

[19:8] Everyone who earns a living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless.

[19:9] Those who make linen cloth will be in despair;

[19:10] weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.

[19:11] The leaders of the city of Zoan are fools! Egypt's wisest people give stupid advice! How do they dare to tell the king that they are successors to the ancient scholars and kings?

[19:12] King of Egypt, where are those clever advisers of yours? Perhaps they can tell you what plans the Lord Almighty has for Egypt.

[19:13] The leaders of Zoan and Memphis are fools. They were supposed to lead the nation, but they have misled it.

[19:14] The Lord has made them give confusing advice. As a result, Egypt does everything wrong and staggers like a drunk slipping on his own vomit.

[19:15] No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.