Isaiah 21–24

1The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.

2A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.

3Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I am so dismayed that I can’t see.

4My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.

5They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!

6For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.

7When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.”

8He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.

9Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.

10You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

11The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

12The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”

13The burden on Arabia. You will lodge in the thickets in Arabia, you caravans of Dedanites.

14They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.

15For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.

16For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,

17and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

1The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

2You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town, your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

3All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.

4Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

5For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.”

6Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.

7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.

8He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.

9You saw the breaches of David’s city, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

10You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

11You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who planned it long ago.

12In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;

13and behold, there is joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

14Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

15The Lord, Yahweh of Armies says, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,

16‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!”

17Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.

18He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you disgrace of your lord’s house.

19I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.

20It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,

21and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

22I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.

23I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.

25“In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it.”

1The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

2Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished.

3On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.

4Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”

5When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.

6Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!

7Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?

8Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?

9Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

10Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.

11He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.

12He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.”

13Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.

14Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!

15It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.

16Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.

17It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.

18Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

1Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.

2It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.

3The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word.

4The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.

5The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

7The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.

8The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases.

9They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

10The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

11There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone.

12The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction.

13For it will be so within the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

14These shall lift up their voice. They will shout for the majesty of Yahweh. They cry aloud from the sea.

15Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!

16From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.

17Fear, the pit, and the snare are on you who inhabit the earth.

18It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middle of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

19The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently.

20The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.

21It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.

22They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited.

23Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem; and glory will be before his elders.