Chapter 13
[1] THE VISION WHICH ESAIAS SON OF AMOS SAW AGAINST BABYLON.
[2] Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates, ye rulers. [3] I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting. [4] A voice of many nations on the mountains, even like to that of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a war-like nation, [5] to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors are coming to destroy all the world.
[6] Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive. [7] Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed. [8] The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame. [9] For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, a day of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it. [10] For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light. [11] And I will command evils for the whole world, and will visit their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty. [12] And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir. [13] For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on. [14] And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none to gather them: so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man shall flee to his own land. [15] For whosoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together shall fall by the sword. [16] And they shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses, and shall take their wives.
[17] Behold, I will stir up against you the Medes, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold. [18] They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare thy children. [19] And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha. [20] It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it. [21] But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, [22] and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.
Chapter 14
[1] And the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and they shall rest on their land: and the stranger shall be added to them, yea, shall be added to the house of Jacob. [2] And the Gentiles shall take them, and bring them into their place: and they shall inherit them, and they shall be multiplied upon the land for servants and handmaidens: and they that took them captives shall become captives to them; and they that had lordship over them shall be under their rule.
[3] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and vexation, and from thy hard servitude wherein thou didst serve them. [4] And thou shalt take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon,
How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased! [5] The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes. [6] Having smitten a nation in wrath, with an incurable plague, smiting a nation with a wrathful plague, which spared them not, he rested in quiet. [7] All the earth cries aloud with joy: [8] the trees also of Libanus rejoice against thee, and the cedar of Libanus, saying, From the time that thou hast been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down. [9] Hell from beneath is provoked to meet thee: all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against thee, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. [10] All shall answer and say to thee, Thou also hast been taken, even as we; and thou art numbered amongst us. [11] Thy glory has come down to Hades, and thy great mirth: under thee they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be thy covering. [12] How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the nations is crushed to the earth. [13] But thou saidst in thine heart, I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north: [14] I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High. [15] But now thou shalt go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. [16] They that see thee shall wonder at thee, and say, This is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake; [17] that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity. [18] All the kings of the nations lie in honour, every man in his house. [19] But thou shalt be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathed carcase, with many dead who have been pierced with swords, going down to the grave. [20] As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shalt thou be pure; because thou hast destroyed my land, and hast slain my people: thou shalt not endure for ever, — thou an evil seed. [21] Prepare thy children to be slain for the sins of their father; that they arise not, and inherit the earth, nor fill the earth with wars. [22] And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed: thus saith the Lord. [23] And I will make the region of Babylon desert, so that hedgehogs shall dwell there, and it shall come to nothing: and I will make it a pit of clay for destruction.
[24] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so the matter shall remain: [25] even to destroy the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains: and they shall be for trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall be taken away from their shoulders. [26] This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole earth: and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations. [27] For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
[28] In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
[29] Rejoice not, all ye Philistines, because the yoke of him that smote you is broken: for out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth flying serpents, [30] And the poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy thy seed with hunger, and shall destroy thy remnant. [31] Howl, ye gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry, even all the Philistines: for smoke is coming from the north, and there is no possibility of living. [32] And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion, and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.
Chapter 15
[1] THE WORD AGAINST THE LAND OF MOAB.
By night the land of Moab shall be destroyed; for by night the wall of the land of Moab shall be destroyed. [2] Grieve for yourselves; for even Debon, where your altar is, shall be destroyed: thither shall ye go up to weep, over Nabau of the land of Moab: howl ye: baldness shall be on every head, and all arms shall be wounded. [3] Gird yourselves with sackcloth in her streets: and lament upon her roofs, and in her streets, and in her ways; howl all of you with weeping. [4] For Esebon and Eleale have cried: their voice was heard to Jassa: therefore the loins of the region of Moab cry aloud; her soul shall know. [5] The heart of the region of Moab cries within her to Segor; for it is as a heifer of three years old: and on the ascent of Luith they shall go up to thee weeping by the way of Aroniim: she cries, Destruction, and trembling. [6] The water of Nemerim shall be desolate, and the grass thereof shall fail: for there shall be no green grass. [7] Shall Moab even thus be delivered? for I will bring the Arabians upon the v
alley, and they shall take it. [8] For the cry has reached the border of the region of Moab, even of Agalim; and her howling has gone as far as the well of Ælim. [9] And the water of Dimon shall be filled with blood: for I will bring Arabians upon Dimon, and I will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama.
Chapter 16
[1] I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is not the mount of the daughter of Sion a desolate rock? [2] For thou shalt be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown: even thou shalt be so, daughter of Moab: and then do thou, O Arnon, [3] take farther counsel, and continually make thou a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; be not thou led captive. [4] The fugitives of Moab shall sojourn with thee; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for thine alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from off the earth. [5] And a throne shall be established with mercy; and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgements, and hasting righteousness.
[6] We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud. I have cut off his pride: thy prophecy shall not be thus, no not thus. [7] Moab shall howl; for all shall howl in the land of Moab: but thou shalt care for them that dwell in Seth, and thou shalt not be ashamed. [8] The plains of Esebon shall mourn, the vine of Sebama: swallowing up the nations, trample ye her vines, even to Jazer: ye shall not come together; wander ye in the desert: they that were sent are deserted, for they have gone over to the sea. [9] Therefore will I weep as with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sebama; Esebon and Eleale have cast down thy trees; for I will trample on thy harvest and on thy vintages, and all thy plants shall fall. [10] And gladness and rejoicing shall be taken away from the vineyards; and they shall not at all tread wine into the vats; for the vintage has ceased. [11] Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and thou hast repaired my inward parts as a wall. [12] And it shall be to thy shame, (for Moab is wearied at the altars,) that he shall go in to the idols thereof to pray, but they shall not be at all able to deliver him.
[13] This is the word which the Lord spoke against Moab, when he spoke. [14] And now I say, in three years, of the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonoured with all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in number, and not honoured.
Chapter 17
[1] THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS.
Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and shall become a ruin; [2] abandoned for ever, to be a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them. [3] And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for thou art no better than the children of Israel, even than their glory; thus saith the Lord of hosts. [4] There shall be in that day a failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken. [5] And it shall be as if one should gather standing corn, and reap the grain of the ears; and it shall be as if one should gather ears in a rich valley; [6] and as if there should be left stubble therein, or as it were the berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or as if four or five should be left on their branches; thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel.
[7] In that day a man shall trust in him that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. [8] And they shall not at all trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.
[9] In that day thy cities shall be deserted, as the Amorites and the Evaeans deserted theirs, because the of children of Israel; and they shall be desolate. [10] Because thou hast forsaken God thy Saviour, and hast not been mindful of the Lord thy helper; therefore shalt thou plant a false plant, and a false seed. [11] In the day wherein thou shalt plant thou shalt be deceived; but if thou sow in the morning, the seed shall spring up for a crop in the day wherein thou shalt obtain an inheritance, and as a man’s father, thou shalt obtain an inheritance for thy sons.
[12] Woe to the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall ye be confounded; and the force of many nations shall sound like water; [13] many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently: and they shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.
[14] Toward evening, and there shall be grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.
Chapter 18
[1] Woe to you, ye wings of the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. [2] He sends messengers by the sea, and paper letters on the water: for swift messengers shall go to a lofty nation, and to a strange and harsh people. Who is beyond it? a nation not looked for, and trodden down. [3] Now all the rivers of the land shall be inhabited as an inhabited country; their land shall be as when a signal is raised from a mountain; it shall be audible as the sound of a trumpet. [4] For thus said the Lord to me, There shall be security in my city, as the light of noonday heat, and it shall be as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest. [5] Before the reaping time, when the flower has been completely formed, and the unripe grape has put forth its flower and blossomed, then shall he take away the little clusters with pruning-hooks, and shall take away the small branches, and cut them off; [6] And he shall leave them together to the birds of the sky, and to the wild beasts of the earth: and the fowls of the sky shall be gathered upon them, and all the beasts of the land shall come upon him. [7] In that time shall presents be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people afflicted and peeled, and from a people great from henceforth and for ever; a nation hoping and yet trodden down, which is in a part of a river of his land, to the place where is the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Sion.
Chapter 19
[1] THE VISION OF EGYPT.
Behold, the Lord sits on a swift cloud, and shall come to Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and their heart shall faint within them. [2] And the Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians: and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, and law against law. [3] And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them; and I will frustrate their counsel: and they shall enquire of their gods and their images, and them that speak out of the earth, and them that have in them a divining spirit. [4] And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of men, of cruel lords; and cruel kings shall rule over them: thus saith the Lord of hosts. [5] And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up. [6] And the streams shall fail, and the canals of the river; and every reservoir of water shall be dried up, in every marsh also of reed and papyrus. [7] And all the green herbage round about the river, and everything sown by the side of the river, shall be blasted with the wind and dried up. [8] And the fishermen shall groan, and all that cast a hook into the river shall groan; they also that cast nets, and the anglers shall mourn. [9] And shame shall come upon them that work fine flax, and them that make fine linen. [10] And they that work at them shall be in pain, and all that make beer shall be grieved, and be pained in their souls. [11] And the princes of Tanis shall be fools: as for the king’s wise counsellors, their counsel shall be turned into folly: how will ye say to the king, we are sons of wise men, sons of ancient kings? [12] Where are now thy wise men? and let them declare to thee, and say, What has the Lord of hosts purposed upon Egypt? [13] The princes of Tanis have failed, and the princes of Memphis are lifted up with pride, and they shall cause Egypt to wander by tribes. [14] For the Lord has prepared for them a spirit of error, and they have caused Egypt to err in all their works, as one staggers who is drunken and vomits also. [15] And there shall be no work to the Egyptians, which shall make head or tail, or beginning or end.
[16] But in that day the Egyptians shall be as women, in fear and in
trembling because of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall bring upon them. [17] And the land of the Jews shall be for a terror to the Egyptians: whosoever shall name it to them, they shall fear, because of the counsel which the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning it. [18] In that day there shall be five cities in Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the name of the Lord of hosts; one city shall be called the city of Asedec. [19] In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar to the Lord by its border. [20] And it shall be for a sign to the Lord for ever in the land of Egypt: for they shall presently cry to the Lord by reason of them that afflict them, and he shall send them a man who shall save them; he shall judge and save them. [21] And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall offer sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord, and pay them. [22] And the Lord shall smite the Egyptians with a stroke, and shall completely heal them: and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall hear them, and thoroughly heal them. [23] In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians. [24] In that day shall Israel be third with the Egyptians and the Assyrians, blessed in the land which the Lord of hosts has blessed, [25] saying, Blessed be my people that is in Egypt, and that is among the Assyrians, and Israel mine inheritance.
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