18:1Ho! land of the sounding of wings, on the other side of the rivers of Ethiopia: 18:2Which sends its representatives by the sea, even in ships of papyrus on the waters. Go back quickly, O representatives, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people causing fear through all their history; a strong nation, crushing down its haters, whose land is cut through by rivers. 18:3All you peoples of the world, and you who are living on the earth, when a flag is lifted up on the mountains, give attention; and when the horn is sounded, give ear. 18:4For this is what the Lord has said to me: I will be quiet, watching from my place; like the clear heat when the sun is shining, like a mist of dew in the heat of summer. 18:5For before the time of getting in the grapes, after the opening of the bud, when the flower has become a grape ready for crushing, he will take away the small branches with knives, cutting down and taking away the wide-stretching branches. 18:6They will be for the birds of the mountains, and for the beasts of the earth: the birds will come down on them in the summer, and the beasts of the earth in the winter. 18:7In that time an offering will be made to the Lord of armies from a people tall and smooth, causing fear through all their history; a strong nation, crushing down its haters, whose land is cut through by rivers, an offering taken to the place of the name of the Lord of armies, even Mount Zion.
19:1The word about Egypt. See, the Lord is seated on a quick-moving cloud, and is coming to Egypt: and the false gods of Egypt will be troubled at his coming, and the heart of Egypt will be turned to water. 19:2And I will send the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they will be fighting every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; town against town, and kingdom against kingdom. 19:3And the spirit of Egypt will be troubled in her, and I will make her decisions without effect: and they will be turning to the false gods, and to those who make hollow sounds, and to those who have control of spirits, and to those who are wise in secret arts. 19:4And I will give the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a hard king will be their ruler, says the Lord, the Lord of armies. 19:5And the waters of the sea will be cut off, and the river will become dry and waste: 19:6And the rivers will have an evil smell; the stream of Egypt will become small and dry: all the water-plants will come to nothing. 19:7The grass-lands by the Nile, and everything planted by the Nile, will become dry, or taken away by the wind, and will come to an end. 19:8The fishermen will be sad, and all those who put fishing-lines into the Nile will be full of grief, and those whose nets are stretched out on the waters will have sorrow in their hearts. 19:9And all the workers in linen thread, and those who make cotton cloth, will be put to shame. 19:10And the makers of twisted thread will be crushed, and those who ... will be sad in heart. 19:11The chiefs of Zoan are completely foolish; the wisest guides of Pharaoh have become like beasts: how do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the offspring of early kings? 19:12Where, then, are your wise men? let them make clear to you, let them give you knowledge of the purpose of the Lord of armies for Egypt. 19:13The chiefs of Zoan have become foolish, the chiefs of Noph are tricked, the heads of her tribes are the cause of Egypt's wandering out of the way. 19:14The Lord has sent among them a spirit of error: and by them Egypt is turned out of the right way in all her doings, as a man overcome by wine is uncertain in his steps. 19:15And in Egypt there will be no work for any man, head or tail, high or low, to do. 19:16In that day the Egyptians will be like women: and the land will be shaking with fear because of the waving of the Lord's hand stretched out over it. 19:17And the land of Judah will become a cause of great fear to Egypt; whenever its name comes to mind, Egypt will be in fear before the Lord of armies because of his purpose against it. 19:18In that day there will be five towns in the land of Egypt using the language of Canaan, and making oaths to the Lord of armies; and one of them will be named, The Town of the Sun. 19:19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at the edge of the land. 19:20And it will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt: when they are crying out to the Lord because of their cruel masters, then he will send them a saviour and a strong one to make them free. 19:21And the Lord will give the knowledge of himself to Egypt, and the Egyptians will give honour to the Lord in that day; they will give him worship with offerings and meal offerings, and will take an oath to the Lord and give effect to it. 19:22And the Lord will send punishment on Egypt, and will make them well again; and when they come back to the Lord he will give ear to their prayer and take away their disease. 19:23In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt will come into Assyria; and the Egyptians will give worship to the Lord together with the Assyrians. 19:24In that day Israel will be the third together with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the earth: 19:25Because of the blessing of the Lord of armies which he has given them, saying, A blessing on Egypt my people, and on Assyria the work of my hands, and on Israel my heritage.
20:1In the year when the Tartan came to Ashdod, sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, and made war against it and took it; 20:2At that time the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and take off your robe, and your shoes from your feet; and he did so, walking unclothed and without shoes on his feet. 20:3And the Lord said, As my servant Isaiah has gone unclothed and without shoes for three years as a sign and a wonder to Egypt and Ethiopia, 20:4So will the king of Assyria take away the prisoners of Egypt and those forced out of Ethiopia, young and old, unclothed and without shoes, and with backs uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 20:5And they will be full of fear, and will no longer have faith in Ethiopia which was their hope, or in Egypt which was their glory. 20:6And those living by the sea will say in that day, See the fate of our hope to whom we went for help and salvation from the king of Assyria: what hope have we then of salvation?
21:1The word about the waste land. As storm-winds in the South go rushing through, it comes from the waste land, from the land greatly to be feared. 21:2A vision of fear comes before my eyes; the worker of deceit goes on in his false way, and the waster goes on making waste. Up! Elam; to the attack! Media; I have put an end to her sorrow. 21:3For this cause I am full of bitter grief; pains like the pains of a woman in childbirth have come on me: I am bent down with sorrow at what comes to my ears; I am shocked by what I see. 21:4My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me. 21:5They make ready the table, they put down the covers, they take food and drink. Up! you captains; put oil on your breastplates. 21:6For so has the Lord said to me, Go, let a watchman be placed; let him give word of what he sees: 21:7And when he sees war-carriages, horsemen by twos, war-carriages with asses, war-carriages with camels, let him give special attention. 21:8And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night: 21:9See, here come war-carriages with men, horsemen by twos: and in answer he said, Babylon is made low, is made low, and all her images are broken on the earth. 21:10O my crushed ones, the grain of my floor! I have given you the word which came to me from the Lord of armies, the God of Israel. 21:11The word about Edom. A voice comes to me from Seir, Watchman, how far gone is the night? how far gone is the night? 21:12The watchman says, The morning has come, but night is still to come: if you have questions to put, put them, and come back again. 21:13The word about Arabia. In the thick woods of Arabia will be your night's resting-place, O travelling bands of Dedanites! 21:14Give water to him who is in need of water; give bread, O men of the land of Tema, to those in flight. 21:15For they are in flight from the sharp sword, and the bent bow, and from the trouble of war. 21:16For so has the Lord said to me, In a year, by the years of a servant working for payment, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end: 21:17And the rest of the bowmen, the men of war of the children of Kedar, will be small in number: for the Lord, the God of Israel, has said it.
22:1The word about the valley of vision. Why have all your people gone up to the house-tops? 22:2You, who are full of loud voices, a town of outcries, given up to joy; your dead men have not been put to the sword, or come to their death in war. 22:3All your rulers ... have gone in flight; all your strong ones have gone far away. 22:4For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people. 22:5For it is a day of trouble and of crushing down and of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the valley of vision; ... 22:6And Elam was armed with arrows, and Aram came on horseback; and the breastplate of Kir was uncovered. 22:7And your most fertile valleys were full of war-carriages, and the horsemen took up their positions in front of the town. 22:8He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods. 22:9And you saw all the broken places in the wall of the town of David: and you got together the waters of the lower pool. 22:10And you had the houses of Jerusalem numbered, pulling down the houses to make the wall stronger. 22:11And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before. 22:12And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief: 22:13But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes. 22:14And the Lord of armies said to me secretly, Truly, this sin will not be taken from you till your death, says the Lord, the Lord of armies. 22:15The Lord, the Lord of armies, says, Go to this person in authority, this Shebna, who is over the house; who has made himself a resting-place on high, cutting out a place for himself in the rock, and say, 22:16Who are you, and by what right have you made for yourself a resting-place here? 22:17See, O strong man, the Lord will send you violently away, gripping you with force, 22:18Twisting you round and round like a ball he will send you out into a wide country: there you will come to your end, and there will be the carriages of your pride, O shame of your lord's house! 22:19And I will have you forced out of your place of authority, and pulled down from your position. 22:20And in that day I will send for my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah: 22:21And I will put your robe on him, and put your band about him, and I will give your authority into his hand: and he will be a father to the men of Jerusalem, and to the family of Judah. 22:22And I will give the key of the family of David into his care; and what he keeps open will be shut by no one, and what he keeps shut no one will make open. 22:23And I will put him like a nail in a safe place; and he will be for a seat of glory to his father's family. 22:24And all the glory of his father's family will be hanging on him, all their offspring, every small vessel, even the cups and the basins. 22:25In that day, says the Lord of armies, will the nail fixed in a safe place give way; and it will be cut down, and in its fall the weight hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has said it.
23:1The word about Tyre. Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish, because your strong place is made waste; on the way back from the land of Kittim the news is given to them. 23:2Send out a cry of grief, you men of the sea-land, traders of Zidon, who go over the sea, whose representatives are on great waters; 23:3Who get in the seed of Shihor, whose wealth is the trade of the nations. 23:4Be shamed, O Zidon: for the sea, the strong place of the sea has said, I have not been with child, or given birth; I have not taken care of young men, or kept watch over the growth of virgins. 23:5When the news comes to Egypt they will be bitterly pained at the fate of Tyre. 23:6Go over to Tarshish; give cries of sorrow, O men of the sea-land. 23:7Is this the town which was full of joy, whose start goes back to times long past, whose wanderings took her into far-off countries? 23:8By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land? 23:9It was the purpose of the Lord of armies to put pride to shame, to make sport of the glory of those who are honoured in the earth. 23:10Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour. 23:11His hand is stretched out over the sea, the kingdoms are shaking: the Lord has given orders about Canaan, to make waste its strong places. 23:12And he said, There is no more joy for you, O crushed virgin daughter of Zidon: up! go over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest. 23:13... 23:14Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish: because your strong place is made waste. 23:15And it will be in that day that Tyre will go out of mind for seventy years, that is, the days of one king: after the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre as in the song of the loose woman. 23:16Take an instrument of music, go about the town, O loose woman who has gone out from the memory of man; make sweet melody with songs, so that you may come back to men's minds. 23:17And it will be after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will have mercy on Tyre, and she will go back to her trade, acting as a loose woman with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 23:18And her goods and her trade will be holy to the Lord: they will not be kept back or stored up; for her produce will be for those living in the Lord's land, to give them food for their needs, and fair clothing.
24:1See, the Lord is making the earth waste and unpeopled, he is turning it upside down, and sending the people in all directions. 24:2And it will be the same for the people as for the priest; for the servant as for his master; and for the woman-servant as for her owner; the same for the one offering goods for a price as for him who takes them; the same for him who gives money at interest and for him who takes it; the same for him who lets others have the use of his property as for those who make use of it. 24:3The earth will be completely waste and without men; for this is the word of the Lord. 24:4The earth is sorrowing and wasting away, the world is full of grief and wasting away, the high ones of the earth come to nothing. 24:5The earth has been made unclean by those living in it; because the laws have not been kept by them, the orders have been changed, and the eternal agreement has been broken. 24:6For this cause the earth is given up to the curse, and those in it are judged as sinners: for this cause those living on the earth are burned up, and the rest are small in number. 24:7The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief. 24:8The pleasing sound of all instruments of music has come to an end, and the voices of those who are glad. 24:9There is no more drinking of wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who take it. 24:10The town is waste and broken down: every house is shut up, so that no man may come in. 24:11There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; there is an end of all delight, the joy of the land is gone. 24:12In the town all is waste, and in the public place is destruction. 24:13For it will be in the heart of the earth among the peoples, like the shaking of an olive-tree, as the last of the grapes after the getting-in is done. 24:14But those will be making sounds of joy; they will be crying loudly from the sea for the glory of the Lord. 24:15Give praise to the Lord in the east, to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the sea-lands. 24:16From the farthest part of the earth comes the sound of songs, glory to the upright. But I said, I am wasting away, wasting away, the curse is on me! The false ones go on in their false way, yes, they go on acting falsely. 24:17Fear, and death, and the net, are come on you, O people of the earth. 24:18And it will be that he who goes in flight from the sound of fear will be overtaken by death; and he who gets free from death will be taken in the net: for the windows on high are open, and the bases of the earth are shaking. 24:19The earth is completely broken, it is parted in two, it is violently moved. 24:20The earth will be moving uncertainly, like a man overcome by drink; it will be shaking like a tent; and the weight of its sin will be on it, crushing it down so that it will not get up again. 24:21And in that day the Lord will send punishment on the army of the high ones on high, and on the kings of the earth on the earth. 24:22And they will be got together, like prisoners in the prison-house; and after a long time they will have their punishment. 24:23Then the moon will be veiled, and the sun put to shame; for the Lord of armies will be ruling in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his judges he will let his glory be seen.
25:1O Lord, you are my God; I will give praise to you, I will give honour to your name; for you have done great acts of power; your purposes in the past have been made true and certain in effect. 25:2For you have made a town a waste place: a strong town a mass of broken walls; the tower of the men of pride has come to an end; it will never be put up again. 25:3For this cause will the strong people give glory to you, the town of the cruel ones will be in fear of you. 25:4For you have been a strong place for the poor and the crushed in their trouble, a safe place from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the wrath of the cruel ones is like a winter storm. 25:5As heat by the shade of a cloud, the noise of the men of pride has been made quiet by you; as heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the cruel ones has been stopped. 25:6And in this mountain will the Lord of armies make for all peoples a feast of good things, a feast of wines long stored, of good things sweet to the taste, of wines long kept and tested. 25:7And in this mountain he will put an end to the shade covering the face of all peoples, and the veil which is stretched over all nations. 25:8He has put an end to death for ever; and the Lord God will take away all weeping; and he will put an end to the shame of his people in all the earth: for the Lord has said it. 25:9And in that day it will be said, See, this is our God; we have been waiting for him, and he will be our saviour: this is the Lord in whom is our hope; we will be glad and have delight in his salvation. 25:10For in this mountain will the hand of the Lord come to rest, and Moab will be crushed down in his place, even as the dry stems of the grain are crushed under foot in the waste place. 25:11And if he puts out his hands, like a man stretching out his hands in swimming, the Lord will make low his pride, however expert his designs. 25:12And the strong tower of your walls has been broken by him, made low, and crushed even to the dust.
26:1In that day will this song be made in the land of Judah: We have a strong town; he will make salvation our walls and towers. 26:2Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in. 26:3The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you. 26:4Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock. 26:5For he has made low those who are lifted up, all the people of the town of pride: he makes it low, crushing it down to the earth; he makes it low in the dust. 26:6It will be crushed under the feet of the poor and the steps of those who are in need. 26:7The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you. 26:8We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name. 26:9In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness. 26:10Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord. 26:11Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see: let them see ... yes, your haters will be burned up in the fire. 26:12Lord, you will give us peace: for all our works are the outcome of your purpose. 26:13O Lord, our God, other lords than you have had rule over us; but in you only is our salvation, and no other name will we take on our lips. 26:14The dead will not come back to life: their spirits will not come back to earth; for this cause you have sent destruction on them, so that the memory of them is dead. 26:15You have made the nation great, O Lord, you have made it great; glory is yours: you have made wide the limits of the land. 26:16Lord, in trouble our eyes have been turned to you, we sent up a prayer when your punishment was on us. 26:17As a woman with child, whose time is near, is troubled, crying out in her pain; so have we been before you, O Lord. 26:18We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have given birth to wind; no salvation has come to the earth through us, and no children have come into the world. 26:19Your dead will come back; their dead bodies will come to life again. Those in the dust, awaking from their sleep, will send out a song; for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the shades. 26:20Come, my people, into your secret places, and let your doors be shut: keep yourself safe for a short time, till his wrath is over. 26:21For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.
27:1In that day the Lord, with his great and strong and cruel sword, will send punishment on Leviathan, the quick-moving snake, and on Leviathan, the twisted snake; and he will put to death the dragon which is in the sea. 27:2In that day it will be said, A vine-garden of delight, make a song about it. 27:3I, the Lord, am watching it; I will give it water at all times: I will keep it night and day, for fear that any damage comes to it. 27:4My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together. 27:5Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me. 27:6In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers; and the face of the world will be full of fruit. 27:7Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword? 27:8Your anger against her has been made clear by driving her away; he has taken her away with his storm-wind in the day of his east wind. 27:9So by this will the sin of Jacob be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his punishment; when all the stones of the altar are crushed together, so that the wood pillars and the sun-images will not be put up again. 27:10For the strong town is without men, an unpeopled living-place; and she has become a waste land: there the young ox will take his rest, and its branches will be food for him. 27:11When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them. 27:12And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel. 27:13And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
28:1Ho! crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim, and the dead flower of his glory which is on the head of those who are overcome by strong drink! 28:2See, the Lord has a strong and cruel one; like a rain of ice, a storm of destruction, like the overflowing of a strong river, he will violently overcome them. 28:3The crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim will be crushed under foot; 28:4And the dead flower of his glory, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first early fruit before the summer; which a man takes and puts in his mouth the minute he sees it. 28:5In that day will the Lord of armies be a crown of glory, and a fair ornament, to the rest of his people; 28:6And a spirit of wisdom to the judge, and strength to those who keep back the attackers at the door of the town. 28:7And further, these are uncertain through wine, and have gone out of the right way through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are uncertain through strong drink, they are overcome by wine, they have gone out of the way through strong drink; their vision is false, they go wrong in their decisions. 28:8For all the tables are covered with coughed-up food, so that there is not a clean place. 28:9To whom will he give knowledge? and to whom will he make clear the word? Will it be to those who have newly given up milk, and who have only now been taken from the breast? 28:10For it is one rule after another; one line after another; here a little, there a little. 28:11No, but with broken talk, and with a strange tongue, he will give his word to this people: 28:12To whom he said, This is the rest, give rest to him who is tired; and by this you may get new strength; but they would not give ear. 28:13For this cause the word of the Lord will be to them rule after rule, line after line, here a little, there a little; so that they may go on their way, and falling back may be broken, and taken in the net. 28:14Give ear then to the word of the Lord, you men of pride, the rulers of this people in Jerusalem: 28:15Because you have said, We have made death our friend, and with the underworld we have made an agreement; when the overflowing waters come through they will not come near us; for we are looking to false words for help, taking cover in what is untrue: 28:16For this cause says the Lord God, See, I am placing in Zion as a base, a stone, a tested stone, an angle-stone which is certain and of great value: and he who has faith will not give way. 28:17And I will make right decision the measuring-line, and righteousness the weight: and the ice-storm will take away the safe place of false words, and the secret place will be covered by the flowing waters. 28:18And the help you were looking for from death will come to nothing, and your agreement with the underworld will be broken; when the overflowing waters come through, then you will be overcome by them. 28:19Whenever they come through they will overtake you; for they will come through morning after morning, by day and by night: and the news will be nothing but fear. 28:20For the bed is not long enough for a man to be stretched out on: and the cover is not wide enough for him to be covered with. 28:21For the Lord will come up as on Mount Perazim, he will be moved to wrath as in the valley of Gibeon; so that he may do his work--strange is his work; and give effect to his act--unnatural is his act. 28:22And now, take care that you do not make sport of him, or your bands will be made strong; for I have had word from the Lord, the Lord of armies, of an end, of a complete end, which is to come on all the land. 28:23Let your ears be open to my voice; give attention to what I say. 28:24Is the ploughman for ever ploughing? does he not get the earth ready and broken up for the seed? 28:25When the face of the earth has been levelled, does he not put in the different sorts of seed, and the grain in lines, and the barley in its place, and the spelt at the edge? 28:26For his God is his teacher, giving him the knowledge of these things. 28:27For the fitches are not crushed with a sharp instrument, and a cart-wheel is not rolled over the cummin; but the grain of the fitches is hammered out with a stick, and of the cummin with a rod. 28:28Is the grain for bread crushed? He does not go on crushing it for ever, but he lets his cart-wheels and his horses go over it without crushing it. 28:29This comes from the Lord of armies, purposing wonders, and wise in all his acts.
29:1Ho! Ariel, Ariel, the town against which David made war; put year to year, let the feasts come round: 29:2And I will send trouble on Ariel, and there will be weeping and cries of grief; and she will be to me as Ariel. 29:3And I will make war on you like David, and you will be shut in by earthworks, and I will make towers round you. 29:4And you will be made low, and your voice will come out of the earth, and your words will be low out of the dust; and your voice will come out of the earth like that of a spirit, making bird-like noises out of the dust. 29:5And the army of your attackers will be like small dust, and all the cruel ones like dry stems gone before the wind; suddenly it will come about. 29:6The Lord of armies will come in with thunder and earth-shaking and great noise, with rushing wind and storm, and the flame of burning fire. 29:7And all the nations making war on Ariel, and all those who are fighting against her and shutting her in with their towers, will be like a dream, like a vision of the night. 29:8And it will be like a man desiring food, and dreaming that he is feasting; but when he is awake there is nothing in his mouth: or like a man in need of water, dreaming that he is drinking; but when he is awake he is feeble and his soul is full of desire: so will all the nations be which make war on Mount Zion. 29:9Be surprised and full of wonder; let your eyes be covered and be blind: be overcome, but not with wine; go with uncertain steps, but not because of strong drink. 29:10For the Lord has sent on you a spirit of deep sleep; and by him your eyes, the prophets, are shut, and your heads, the seers, are covered. 29:11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book which is shut, which men give to one who has knowledge of writing, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I am not able to, for the book is shut: 29:12And they give it to one without learning, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I have no knowledge of writing. 29:13And the Lord said, because this people come near to me with their mouths, and give honour to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is false, a rule given them by the teaching of men; 29:14For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen. 29:15Cursed are those who go deep to keep their designs secret from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who has knowledge of our acts? 29:16You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge? 29:17In a very short time Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will seem like a wood. 29:18And in that day those whose ears are stopped will be hearing the words of the book; and the eyes of the blind will see through the mist and the dark. 29:19And the poor will have their joy in the Lord increased, and those in need will be glad in the Holy One of Israel. 29:20For the cruel one has come to nothing; and those who make sport of the Lord are gone; and those who are watching to do evil are cut off: 29:21Who give help to a man in a wrong cause, and who put a net for the feet of him who gives decisions in the public place, taking away a man's right without cause. 29:22For this reason the Lord, the saviour of Abraham, says about the family of Jacob, Jacob will not now be put to shame, or his face be clouded with fear. 29:23But when they, the children of Jacob, see the work of my hands among them, they will give honour to my name; yes, they will give honour to the Holy One of Jacob, and go in fear of the God of Israel. 29:24Those whose hearts were turned away from him will get knowledge, and those who made an outcry against him will give attention to his teaching.
30:1Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin: 30:2Who make a move to go down into Egypt, without authority from me; who are looking to the strength of Pharaoh for help, and whose hope is in the shade of Egypt. 30:3And the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and your hope in the shade of Egypt will come to nothing. 30:4For his chiefs are at Zoan, and his representatives have come to Hanes. 30:5For they have all come with offerings to a people of no use to them, in whom is no help or profit, but only shame and a bad name. 30:6The word about the Beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and grief, the land of the she-lion and the voice of the lion, of the snake and the burning winged snake, they take their wealth on the backs of young asses, and their stores on camels, to a people in whom is no profit. 30:7For there is no use or purpose in the help of Egypt: so I have said about her, She is Rahab, who has come to an end. 30:8Now go, put it in writing before them on a board, and make a record of it in a book, so that it may be for the future, a witness for all time to come. 30:9For they are an uncontrolled people, false-hearted, who will not give ear to the teaching of the Lord: 30:10Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not give us word of what is true, but say false things to give us pleasure: 30:11Get out of the good way, turning from the right road; do not keep the Holy One of Israel before our minds. 30:12For this cause the Holy One of Israel says, Because you will not give ear to this word, and are looking for help in ways of deceit and evil, and are putting your hope in them: 30:13This sin will be to you like a crack in a high wall, causing its fall suddenly and in a minute. 30:14And he will let it be broken as a potter's vessel is broken: it will be smashed to bits without mercy; so that there will not be a bit in which one may take fire from the fireplace, or water from the spring. 30:15For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, said, In quiet and rest is your salvation: peace and hope are your strength: but you would not have it so. 30:16Saying, No, for we will go in flight on horses; so you will certainly go in flight: and, We will go on the backs of quick-running beasts; so those who go after you will be quick-footed. 30:17A thousand will go in fear before one; even before five you will go in flight: till you are like a pillar by itself on the top of a mountain, and like a flag on a hill. 30:18For this cause the Lord will be waiting, so that he may be kind to you; and he will be lifted up, so that he may have mercy on you; for the Lord is a God of righteousness: there is a blessing on all whose hope is in him. 30:19O people, living in Zion, at Jerusalem, your weeping will be ended; he will certainly have mercy on you at the sound of your cry; when it comes to his ear, he will give you an answer. 30:20And though the Lord will give you the bread of trouble and the water of grief, you will no longer put your teacher on one side, but you will see your teacher: 30:21And at your back, when you are turning to the right hand or to the left, a voice will be sounding in your ears, saying, This is the way in which you are to go. 30:22And you will make unclean what is covering your pictured images of silver, and the plating of your images of gold: you will send them away as an unclean thing, saying, Be gone! 30:23And he will give rain for your seed, so that you may put it in the earth; and you will have bread from the produce of the earth, good and more than enough for your needs: in that day the cattle will get their food in wide grass-lands. 30:24And the oxen and the young asses which are used for ploughing, will have salted grain which has been made free from the waste with fork and basket. 30:25And there will be rivers and streams of water on every tall mountain and on every high hill, in the day when great numbers are put to the sword, when the towers come down. 30:26And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times greater, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord puts oil on the wounds of his people, and makes them well from the blows they have undergone. 30:27See, the name of the Lord is coming from far, burning with his wrath, with thick smoke going up: his lips are full of passion, and his tongue is like a burning fire: 30:28And his breath is as an overflowing stream, coming up even to the neck, shaking the nations for their destruction, like the shaking of grain in a basket: and he will put a cord in the mouths of the people, turning them out of their way. 30:29You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and you will be glad in heart, as when they go with music of the pipe to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock of Israel. 30:30And the Lord will send out the sound of his great voice, and they will see his arm stretched out, with the heat of his wrath, and the flame of a burning fire; with a cloud-burst, and storm, and a rain of ice. 30:31For through the voice of the Lord the Assyrian will be broken, and the Lord's rod will be lifted up against him. 30:32And every blow of the rod of his punishment, which the Lord will send on him, will be with the sound of music: and with the waving of his sword the Lord will make war against him. 30:33For a place of fire has long been ready; yes, it has been made ready for the king; he has made it deep and wide: it is massed with fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of fire, puts a light to it.
31:1Cursed are those who go down to Egypt for help, and who put their faith in horses; looking to war-carriages for salvation, because of their numbers; and to horsemen, because they are very strong; but they are not looking to the Holy One of Israel, or turning their hearts to the Lord; 31:2Though he is wise, and able to send evil, and his purpose will not be changed; but he will go against the house of the evil-doers, and against those to whom they are looking for help. 31:3For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together. 31:4For the Lord has said to me, As a lion, or a young lion, makes an angry noise over his food, and if a band of herdsmen come out against him, he will not be in fear of their voices, or give up his food for their noise: so the Lord of armies will come down to make war against Mount Zion and its hill. 31:5Like birds with outstretched wings, so will the Lord of armies be a cover to Jerusalem; he will be a cover and salvation for it, going over it he will keep it from danger. 31:6Come back to him who has been so deeply sinned against by the children of Israel. 31:7For in that day they will all give up their images of silver and of gold, the sin which they made for themselves. 31:8Then the Assyrian will come down by the sword, but not of man; the sword, not of men, will be the cause of his destruction: and he will go in flight from the sword, and his young men will be put to forced work. 31:9And his rock will come to nothing because of fear, and his chiefs will go in flight from the flag, says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his altar in Jerusalem.
32:1See, a king will be ruling in righteousness, and chiefs will give right decisions. 32:2And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land. 32:3And the eyes of those who see will not be shut, and those who have hearing will give ear to the word. 32:4The man of sudden impulses will become wise in heart, and he whose tongue is slow will get the power of talking clearly. 32:5The foolish man will no longer be named noble, and they will not say of the false man that he is a man of honour. 32:6For the foolish man will say foolish things, having evil thoughts in his heart, working what is unclean, and talking falsely about the Lord, to keep food from him who is in need of it, and water from him whose soul is desiring it. 32:7The designs of the false are evil, purposing the destruction of the poor man by false words, even when he is in the right. 32:8But the noble-hearted man has noble purposes, and by these he will be guided. 32:9Give ear to my voice, you women who are living in comfort; give attention to my words, you daughters who have no fear of danger. 32:10In not much more than a year, you, who are not looking for evil, will be troubled: for the produce of the vine-gardens will be cut off, and there will be no getting in of the grapes. 32:11Be shaking with fear, you women who are living in comfort; be troubled, you who have no fear of danger: take off your robes and put on clothing of grief. 32:12Have sorrow for the fields, the pleasing fields, the fertile vine; 32:13And for the land of my people, where thorns will come up; even for all the houses of joy in the glad town. 32:14For the fair houses will have no man living in them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place of food for the flocks; 32:15Till the spirit comes on us from on high, and the waste land becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is changed into a wood. 32:16Then in the waste land there will be an upright rule, and righteousness will have its place in the fertile field. 32:17And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever. 32:18And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places. 32:19But the tall trees will come down with a great fall, and the town will be low in a low place. 32:20Happy are you who are planting seed by all the waters, and sending out the ox and the ass.
33:1Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you. 33:2O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble. 33:3At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions. 33:4And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts. 33:5The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion. 33:6And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth. 33:7See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly. 33:8The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man. 33:9The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling. 33:10Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen. 33:11Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath. 33:12And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire. 33:13Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near. 33:14The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings? 33:15He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil; 33:16He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain. 33:17Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land. 33:18Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered? 33:19Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you. 33:20Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken. 33:21But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing. 33:22For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour. 33:23Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war. 33:24And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.
34:1Come near, you nations, and give ear; take note, you peoples: let the earth and everything in it give ear; the world and all those living in it. 34:2For the Lord is angry with all the nations, and his wrath is burning against all their armies: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction. 34:3Their dead bodies will be thick on the face of the earth, and their smell will come up, and the mountains will be flowing with their blood, and all the hills will come to nothing. 34:4And the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book: and all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree. 34:5For my sword in heaven is full of wrath: see, it is coming down on Edom, in punishment on the people of my curse. 34:6The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is fat with the best of the meat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the best parts of the sheep: for the Lord has a feast in Bozrah, and much cattle will be put to death in the land of Edom. 34:7And the strong oxen will go down to death together with the smaller cattle. 34:8For it is the day of the Lord's punishment, when he gives payment for the wrongs done to Zion. 34:9And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire. 34:10It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever. 34:11But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land. 34:12The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end. 34:13And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches. 34:14And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there. 34:15The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos. 34:16See what is recorded in the book of the Lord: all these will be there, not one without the other: the mouth of the Lord has given the order, and his spirit has made them come together. 34:17And he has given them their heritage, and by his hand it has been measured out to them: it will be theirs for ever, their resting-place from generation to generation.
35:1The waste land and the dry places will be glad; the lowland will have joy and be full of flowers. 35:2It will be flowering like the rose; it will be full of delight and songs; the glory of Lebanon will be given to it; the pride of Carmel and Sharon: they will see the glory of the Lord, the power of our God. 35:3Make strong the feeble hands, give support to the shaking knees. 35:4Say to those who are full of fear, Be strong and take heart: see, your God will give punishment; the reward of God will come; he himself will come to be your saviour. 35:5Then the eyes of the blind will see, and the ears which are stopped will be open. 35:6Then will the feeble-footed be jumping like a roe, and the voice which was stopped will be loud in song: for in the waste land streams will be bursting out, and waters in the dry places. 35:7And the burning sand will become a pool, and the dry earth springs of waters: the fields where the sheep take their food will become wet land, and water-plants will take the place of grass. 35:8And a highway will be there; its name will be, The Holy Way; the unclean and the sinner may not go over it, and those who go on it will not be turned out of the way by the foolish. 35:9No lion will be there, or any cruel beast; they will not be seen there; but those for whom the Lord has given a price, 35:10Even those whom he has made free, will come back again; they will come with songs to Zion; on their heads will be eternal joy; delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever.
36:1And it came about in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the walled towns of Judah and took them. 36:2And the king of Assyria sent the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a strong force, and he took up his position by the stream of the higher pool, by the highway of the washerman's 36:3And there came out to him Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder. 36:4And the Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, These are the words of the great king, the king of Assyria: In what are you placing your hope? 36:5You say you have a design and strength for war, but these are only words: now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority? 36:6See, you are basing your hope on that broken rod of Egypt, which will go into a man's hand if he makes use of it for a support; for so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who put their faith in him. 36:7And if you say to me, Our hope is in the Lord our God; is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and Jerusalem that worship may only be given before this altar? 36:8And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them. 36:9How then may you put to shame the least of my master's servants? and you have put your hope in Egypt for war-carriages and horsemen: 36:10And have I now come to send destruction on this land without the Lord's authority? It was the Lord himself who said to me, Go up against this land and make it waste. 36:11Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Please make use of the Aramaean language in talking to your servants, for we are used to it, and do not make use of the Jews' language in the hearing of the people on the wall. 36:12But the Rab-shakeh said, Is it to your master or to you that my master has sent me to say these words? has he not sent me to the men seated on the wall? for they are the people who will be short of food with you when the town is shut in. 36:13Then the Rab-shakeh got up and said with a loud voice in the Jews' language, Give ear to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria: 36:14This is what the king says: Do not be tricked by Hezekiah, for there is no salvation for you in him. 36:15And do not let Hezekiah make you put your faith in the Lord, saying, The Lord will certainly keep us safe, and this town will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. 36:16Do not give ear to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says, Make peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone will be free to take the fruit of his vine and of his fig-tree, and the water of his spring; 36:17Till I come and take you away to a land like yours, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vine-gardens. 36:18Give no attention to Hezekiah when he says to you, The Lord will keep us safe. Has any one of the gods of the nations kept his land from falling into the hands of the king of Assyria? 36:19Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? where are the gods of Samaria? and have they kept Samaria out of my hand? 36:20Who among all the gods of these countries have kept their country from falling into my hand, to give cause for the thought that the Lord will keep Jerusalem from falling into my hand? 36:21But they kept quiet and gave him no answer: for the king's order was, Give him no answer. 36:22Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothing parted as a sign of grief, and gave him an account of what the Rab-shakeh had said.
37:1And on hearing it Hezekiah took off his robe and put on haircloth and went into the house of the Lord. 37:2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 37:3And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame: for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them. 37:4It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people. 37:5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 37:6And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing. 37:7See, I will put a spirit into him, and bad news will come to his ears, and he will go back to his land; and there I will have him put to death. 37:8So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah: for it had come to his ears that the king of Assyria had gone away from Lachish. 37:9And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, ... And he sent representatives to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, 37:10This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. 37:11No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse: and will you be kept safe from their fate? 37:12Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 37:13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivva? 37:14And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord, 37:15And he made prayer to the Lord, saying, 37:16O Lord of armies, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 37:17Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord; let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see: take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God. 37:18Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste all the nations and their lands, 37:19And have given their gods to the fire: for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction. 37:20But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hand, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you, and you only, are the Lord. 37:21Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears. 37:22This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you. 37:23Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel. 37:24You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods. 37:25I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry. 37:26Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls. 37:27This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste. 37:28But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in. 37:29Because your wrath against me and your pride have come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came. 37:30And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself, and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed, and get in the grain, and make vine-gardens, and take of their fruit. 37:31And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth, and give fruit. 37:32For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done. 37:33For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it. 37:34By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town. 37:35For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David. 37:36And the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men: and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies. 37:37Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh. 37:38And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword, and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon, his son, became king in his place.