6:1Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? 6:2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 6:3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies, 6:4You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. 6:5Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead. 6:6Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; no one is bereaved among them. 6:7Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil. 6:8There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number. 6:9My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 6:10Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners? 6:11I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower. 6:12Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots. 6:13Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?
7:1How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince’s daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman. 7:2Your body is like a round goblet, no mixed wine is wanting. Your waist is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies. 7:3Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe. 7:4Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. 7:5Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses. 7:6How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights! 7:7This, your stature, is like a palm tree, your breasts like its fruit. 7:8I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit.” Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the smell of your breath like apples, 7:9Your mouth like the best wine, that goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips of those who are asleep. 7:10I am my beloved’s. His desire is toward me. 7:11Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. 7:12Let’s go early up to the vineyards. Let’s see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love. 7:13The mandrakes produce fragrance. At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.
8:1Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me. 8:2I would lead you, bringing you into my mother’s house, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. 8:3His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me. 8:4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 8:5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you. 8:6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. 8:7Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. 8:8We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for? 8:9If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 8:10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace. 8:11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. 8:12My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit. 8:13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! 8:14Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
Isaiah
1:1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 1:2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 1:3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.” 1:4Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward. 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 1:6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil. 1:7Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 1:8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city. 1:9Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah. 1:10Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 1:11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. 1:12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? 1:13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. 1:14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. 1:15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 1:16Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. 1:17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” 1:18“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 1:19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 1:20but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.” 1:21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 1:22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. 1:23Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them. 1:24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies; 1:25and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. 1:26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ 1:27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 1:28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed. 1:29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 1:30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. 1:31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”
2:1This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2:2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. 2:3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem. 2:4He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 2:5House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh. 2:6For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners. 2:7Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. 2:8Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 2:9Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them. 2:10Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty. 2:11The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. 2:12For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low: 2:13For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan, 2:14For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, 2:15For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, 2:16For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. 2:17The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day. 2:18The idols shall utterly pass away. 2:19Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. 2:20In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 2:21To go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. 2:22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?
3:1For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; 3:2the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, 3:3the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. 3:4I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. 3:5The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable. 3:6Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.” 3:7In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.” 3:8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 3:9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves. 3:10Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 3:11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him. 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths. 3:13Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples. 3:14Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. 3:15What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. 3:16Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet; 3:17therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.” 3:18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, 3:19the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, 3:20the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms, 3:21the signet rings, the nose rings, 3:22the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, 3:23the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls. 3:24It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. 3:25Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. 3:26Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
4:1Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.” 4:2In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 4:3It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem; 4:4when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. 4:5Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 4:6There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.
5:1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 5:2He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 5:3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. 5:4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? 5:5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. 5:6I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.” 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress. 5:8Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land! 5:9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. 5:10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.” 5:11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! 5:12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. 5:13Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. 5:14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. 5:15So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; 5:16but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 5:17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich. 5:18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope; 5:19Who say, “Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!” 5:20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 5:21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 5:22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink; 5:23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent! 5:24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 5:25Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out. 5:26He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly. 5:27No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken: 5:28whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. 5:29Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver. 5:30They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
6:1In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 6:2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 6:3One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” 6:4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 6:5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!” 6:6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 6:7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” 6:8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!” 6:9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ 6:10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” 6:11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste, 6:12And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land. 6:13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
7:1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 7:2David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind. 7:3Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field. 7:4Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 7:5Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying, 7:6“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.” 7:7This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.” 7:8For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people; 7:9and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’” 7:10Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 7:11“Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” 7:12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh.” 7:13He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 7:14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 7:15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 7:16For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken. 7:17Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 7:18It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 7:19They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures. 7:20In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard. 7:21It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; 7:22and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land. 7:23It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns. 7:24People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns. 7:25All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.”
8:1Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; 8:2and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 8:3I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ 8:4For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.” 8:5Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, 8:6“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 8:7now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. 8:8It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel. 8:9Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! 8:10Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.” 8:11For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 8:12“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized. 8:13Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. 8:14He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 8:15Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.” 8:16Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. 8:17I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 8:18Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion. 8:19When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. 8:21They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward, 8:22and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
9:1But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 9:2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined. 9:3You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder. 9:4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. 9:5For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. 9:6For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 9:7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this. 9:8The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls on Israel. 9:9All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart, 9:10“The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.” 9:11Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies, 9:12The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 9:13Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies. 9:14Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day. 9:15The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. 9:16For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed. 9:17Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 9:18For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. 9:19Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother. 9:20One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm: 9:21Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
10:1Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; 10:2to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 10:3What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 10:4They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 10:5Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! 10:6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 10:7However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. 10:8For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? 10:9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” 10:10As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 10:11shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 10:12Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks. 10:13For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. 10:14My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.” 10:15Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. 10:16Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. 10:17The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 10:18He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. 10:19The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number. 10:20It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 10:21A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 10:22For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. 10:23For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, throughout all the earth. 10:24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. 10:25For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.” 10:26Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt. 10:27It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil. 10:28He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. 10:29They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. 10:30Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! 10:31Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 10:32This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 10:33Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. 10:34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
11:1A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. 11:2Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. 11:3His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; 11:4but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. 11:5Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. 11:6The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. 11:7The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. 11:8The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 11:9They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. 11:10It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. 11:11It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 11:12He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 11:13The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim. 11:14They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them. 11:15Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. 11:16There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
12:1In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me. 12:2Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.” 12:3Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation. 12:4In that day you will say, “Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted! 12:5Sing to Yahweh, for he has done excellent things! Let this be known in all the earth! 12:6Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
13:1The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 13:2Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 13:3I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones. 13:4The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle. 13:5They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 13:6Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 13:7Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt. 13:8They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame. 13:9Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it. 13:10For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 13:11I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible. 13:12I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir. 13:13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger. 13:14It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land. 13:15Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. 13:16Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped. 13:17Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. 13:18Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children. 13:19Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 13:20It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. 13:21But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there. 13:22Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
14:1For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob. 14:2The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 14:3It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve, 14:4that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!” 14:5Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, 14:6who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained. 14:7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song. 14:8Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.” 14:9Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 14:10They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?” 14:11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you. 14:12How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! 14:13You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! 14:14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!” 14:15Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. 14:16Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; 14:17who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?” 14:18All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house. 14:19But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot. 14:20You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever. 14:21Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities. 14:22“I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh. 14:23“I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies. 14:24Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 14:25that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders. 14:26This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. 14:27For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” 14:28This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died. 14:29Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent. 14:30The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed. 14:31Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. 14:32What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
15:1The burden of Moab. For in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. 15:2They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off. 15:3In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly. 15:4Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them. 15:5My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction. 15:6For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing. 15:7Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows. 15:8For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim. 15:9For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.
16:1Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 16:2For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. 16:3Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive! 16:4Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortionist is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land. 16:5A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness. 16:6We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing. 16:7Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken. 16:8For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea. 16:9Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen. 16:10Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop. 16:11Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres. 16:12It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail. 16:13This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past. 16:14But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”