Isaiah 1-27
New Catholic Bible
The Book of Judgment[a]
Indictment of Israel and Judah[b]
Chapter 1
The Sins of Israel. 1 The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he received during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 [c]Listen, O heavens, and pay close attention, O earth,
for the Lord is speaking.
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 An ox knows its owner
and the donkey its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
4 You are a sinful nation,
a people weighed down with iniquity,
a race of evildoers
whose children are corrupt;
you have forsaken the Lord,
despised the Holy One of Israel,
and turned your backs on him.
5 [d]Why do you continue to seek further beatings?
Why do you persist in your rebellion?
Your entire head is sick
and your whole heart is faint.
6 From the sole of your foot to your head
there is not a single healthy area
nothing but bruises and welts and open sores
that have not been drained or bandaged
or soothed with ointment.
7 Your country is a desolate waste,
and fire has destroyed your cities.
Before your very eyes
foreigners have devoured your land
and left it as desolate
as Sodom after it had been overthrown.
8 Daughter Zion[e] is left
like a shack in a vineyard,
like a shed in a field of cucumbers,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of hosts[f]
had not left us a few survivors,
we would have become like Sodom
and been like Gomorrah.
10 [g]Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom.
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah.
11 What do I care about your unceasing sacrifices?
says the Lord.
I am weary of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed animals.
I derive no delight in the blood
of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come into my presence,
who has asked you to present such offerings?
Never again trample my courts!
13 To bring me offerings is futile;
I regard your incense as loathsome.
New moons and Sabbaths and sacred assemblies—
I cannot tolerate your iniquity that accompanies them.
14 I loathe your new moons and your festivals;
they have become a burden to me
and I can no longer endure bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,[h]
I will turn away my eyes from you.
Even if you pray endlessly,
I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with blood.
16 Wash yourselves and become clean;
remove your evil deeds
far from my sight.
Cease to do evil
17 and learn to do good.
Pursue justice and rescue the oppressed;
listen to the plea of the orphan[i]
and defend the widow.
18 Come now and let us discuss this,
says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow.
Though they are as red as crimson,
they shall become as white as wool.
19 If you are willing to obey,
you will eat the best food
that the land has to offer.
20 However, if you refuse and rebel,
the sword will devour you,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 How the faithful city
has become an adulteress,[j]
she who used to be a symbol of justice.
Righteousness used to dwell in her,
but now she is the abode of murderers.
22 Your silver has turned to dross,
and your wine is mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
All of them love bribes
and are eager to receive gifts.
They do not treat the orphan with justice,
and they refuse to listen to the pleas of widows.
24 Therefore, the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, says this:
I am determined to vent my anger upon my enemies
and wreak vengeance on my foes.
25 I will turn my hand against you
and refine your dross in the furnace,
purging all of your impurities.
26 And I will restore your judges
as in the days of old
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Then you will be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
27 Zion will be redeemed by judgment
and those who are repentant by righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners alike will be destroyed,
and those who forsake the Lord will perish.
29 You will be ashamed of the sacred oaks[k]
which offered you such delight,
and you will blush when you behold the gardens
which you chose in their stead.
30 You will be like a tree whose leaves are withered,
like a garden without water.
31 The strong man will become like straw
and his work like a spark.
Both will burn together,
and no one will be able to quench the flames.
The Internal Decadence of a People
Chapter 2
Jerusalem, the Religious Center.[l] 1 This is the vision seen by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be established as the highest mountain
and raised high above the hills.
Then all the nations will stream toward it;
3 many peoples will come to it and say,
“Come, let us ascend the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
so that he may teach us his ways
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion will go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and serve as an arbiter for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
One nation will not lift up a sword against another,
nor will they ever again be trained for war.
The Lord’s Triumph Will Come[m]
5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6 For you, O Lord, have abandoned your people,
the house of Jacob.
They are surrounded by fortune tellers
and by soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they are allying themselves with foreigners.[n]
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
and their treasures are without limit.
Their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.[o]
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down before the work of their hands,
before what their own fingers have fashioned.
9 Therefore human nature has been humbled
and mankind has been brought low;
do not forgive them.
10 Let them conceal themselves among the rocks
and hide in the dust
in their terror of the Lord
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of men will be brought low
and human arrogance will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted
on that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has ordained a day
against all those who are proud and haughty,
against all those who have been exalted and raised high,
13 against all the lofty and proud cedars of Lebanon
and against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the soaring mountains
and all the towering hills,
15 against every high tower
and every fortified wall,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish[p]
and every stately vessel.
17 Human pride will be humbled
and human arrogance will be brought low.
On that day,
the Lord alone will be exalted.
18 The idols will completely disappear;
19 they will crawl into the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
fleeing from the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty
when he arises to strike the world with terror.
20 On that day people will throw away
to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and gold
that they had made for themselves to worship.
21 They will crawl into the crevices of the rocks
and the clefts in the cliffs
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty
when he arises to terrify the earth.
22 Have nothing more to do with men
who have only the breath in their nostrils.
Of what value are they?
Chapter 3
Ruling against Judah and Jerusalem
1 Now the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
is about to deprive Jerusalem and Judah
of resources and provisions—
all supplies of bread and water—
2 warriors and soldiers,
judges and prophets,
fortune tellers and elders,
3 captains and dignitaries,
counselors, skilled magicians,
and expert enchanters.
4 I will appoint young boys as their princes,
mere lads to rule over them.
5 People will oppress one another,
each one ill-treated by his neighbor.
The young will be arrogant toward their elders,
as will the lowly toward the honorable.
6 A man will take hold of his brother
in their father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak;
you will be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
will be under your rule.”
7 But on that day
the other will cry out, saying,
“I am not qualified to undertake this;
in my house there is neither bread nor clothing.
You will not make me leader of the people.”
8 Jerusalem has been brought low
and Judah has fallen
because by their words and their deeds
they turned against the Lord
and defied his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sins like Sodom
without any effort to conceal them.
Woe to them!
For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
10 Happy are the righteous,
for they will eat the fruit of their labors.
11 Woe to the wicked.
All will go ill with them.
They will be repaid
as their actions deserve.
12 O my people, children are oppressing you
and women have become your rulers.
O my people, your rulers are leading you astray
and putting you on the road to ruin.
13 The Lord has risen to argue his case;
he stands up to judge his people.
14 The Lord enters into judgment
against the elders and the princes of his people:
It is you who have ravaged the vineyard;
the spoils you have taken from the poor
are in your houses.
15 What right do you have to crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?
says the Lord God of hosts.
16 The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with their heads held high,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
moving provocatively with mincing steps
and with their anklets tinkling,
17 the Lord will cover with scabs
the scalps of the daughters of Zion,
and he will lay bare their foreheads.
18 [q]On that day the Lord will take away their finery: anklets, headbands, and crescents; 19 pendants, bracelets, and shawls; 20 headdresses, bangles, necklaces, perfume boxes, and amulets; 21 signet rings and nose rings; 22 fine dresses, wraps, cloaks, and purses; 23 mirrors, linen garments, turbans, and veils.
24 Then instead of perfume there will be a stench,
and instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of a lovely hair setting, baldness,
instead of a rich gown, a sackcloth[r] dress,
and instead of beauty, branding marks.
25 O Zion, your men will fall by the sword
and your warriors will perish in battle.
26 Your gates will lament and mourn;
ravaged, you will sit desolate on the ground.
Chapter 4
1 On that day,
seven women will take hold of one man, saying,
“We will eat our own food
and provide for our own clothing.
Just let us bear your name.
Take away our disgrace.”
The Seed of the Lord[s]
2 On that day the branch of the Lord
will be beautiful and glorious,
and the fruit of the land
will be the pride and splendor
of the survivors of Israel.
3 Whoever is left in Zion
and whoever remains in Jerusalem
will be called holy,
everyone whose survival in Jerusalem was decreed.
4 When the Lord has washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst
by a spirit of judgment and of cleansing,
5 then the Lord will create
over every house on Mount Zion,
and over those who assemble there,
a cloud of smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night.
The glory of the Lord will be a canopy over all,
6 serving as a shade by day from the heat
and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain.
Chapter 5
The Song of the Vineyard[t]
1 Now let me sing for my beloved
the song of my friend concerning his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice red vines.
In its midst he built a watchtower
and also hewed out a winepress.
He expected it to yield a rich crop of grapes,
but the only thing it brought forth was wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
I ask you to judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I did not do?
When I expected it to yield choice grapes,
why did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 Now listen to me as I tell you
what I am planning to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge
and use it for grazing.
I will knock down its wall
and let it be trampled upon.
6 I will let it go to waste;
it will be neither pruned nor hoed,
but left overgrown with briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
not to allow any rain to fall upon it.
7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the plant he cherished.
He expected justice but found bloodshed;
he expected righteousness but heard cries of distress.
The Doom of Sinners
8 Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no further space remaining
and you are left to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts in my hearing
has sworn this solemn oath:
Many houses will be left desolate,
large and fine mansions
with no one to inhabit them.
10 For ten acres of vineyard
will yield only one barrel,
and ten bushels of seed
will yield only a single bushel.
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to imbibe strong drink,
and who linger far into the night
inflamed with wine.
12 Their feasts are marked with harps and lyres,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
But they never give thought to the deeds of the Lord,
or note what his hands have accomplished.
13 Therefore, my people shall end up in exile
because they have no knowledge of my deeds.
Their nobles are dying of hunger
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14 As a result, the netherworld has increased its appetite
and opened its jaws to an immeasurable extent,
swallowing the nobility of Jerusalem and her masses,
her throngs and all who exult in her.
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by his judgment,
and by righteousness the holy God has displayed his holiness.
17 Lambs will graze there as in their pasture,
and yearlings will feed among the ruins.
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity along
with the cords of perversity,
and who drag sin along
as though with cart ropes;
19 woe to those who say, “Let the Lord make haste
and speed up his work that we may see it;
let the Holy One of Israel
be brought to fulfillment
so that we may know it.”
20 Woe to those who call good what is evil
and call evil what is good,
who classify as darkness what is light
and designate as light what is darkness,
who make sweet what is bitter
and make bitter what is sweet.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and consider themselves to be prudent.
22 Woe to those who are unmatched in their consumption of wine
and unsurpassed in mixing drinks,
23 who accept bribes to acquit the guilty
and deny justice to the innocent.
24 As tongues of fire devour the stubble,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flames,
so their root will decay
and their blossoms will be scattered like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the anger of the Lord
blazed forth against his people;
he raised his hand against them
and struck them down.
The mountains quaked,
and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
But despite all this
his anger has not been sated,
and his hand is still stretched out.
Deliverance[u]
26 He will deliver a signal to a far-distant nation
and summon them from the ends of the earth;
they will respond swiftly without any delay.[v]
27 None of them are weary, none of them stumble,
no one slumbers or sleeps.
None of them have their belts unfastened
or sandals with a broken strap.
28 Their arrows are sharpened
and all their bows are bent.
The hoofs of their horses seem like flint,
and their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of a lion;
they growl like young lions.
They roar as they seize their prey,
and no one can prevent them from carrying it off.
30 They will roar over it on that day,
similar to the roaring of the sea.
And if anyone looks at the land,
he will behold only darkness and distress,
with the light fading at the approaching clouds.
The Book of Immanuel
Chapter 6
Isaiah’s Call.[w] 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 In attendance above him were seraphim.[x] Each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the third pair they flew. 3 And they called out to one another,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The entire earth is filled with his glory.”
4 The voices of those who called out shook the thresholds, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! I am doomed.
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding in his hand a burning coal that he had removed from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said,
“Now that this has touched your lips,
your guilt has been removed
and your sin has been blotted out.”
8 I then heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me!” 9 Then he replied: Go forth and tell this people:
No matter how carefully you listen,
you will not understand.
You will continue to look,
but you will not comprehend.
10 Make the minds of this people dull;
stop up their ears
and close their eyes.
Otherwise their eyes will see,
their ears will hear,
their hearts will understand,
and they will change their ways
and be healed.
11 Then I asked, “How long, O Lord?” He replied:
Until the cities lie in ruins
and become deserted,
until the houses are unoccupied
and the land lies completely desolate,
12 until the Lord drives the people far away
and the country will be totally abandoned.
13 Even if a tenth of the people remain there,
that area too will be destroyed,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains when it is felled;
the holy seed is its stump.
Chapter 7[y]
The Coming of Immanuel.[z] 1 During the period when Ahaz, the son of Jotham and the grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel, the son of Remaliah, went forth to conquer Jerusalem, but they were unable to mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was informed that Aram had pitched camp in Ephraim, the heart of King Ahaz and the hearts of his people began to tremble just as trees of the forest shake in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah: Go forth with your son Shear-jashub[aa] to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him, Pay close attention to me. Remain calm and be unafraid. Do not let your courage fail because of these two smoldering stumps of firewood. Do not yield to the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah, 5 or become fearful because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have been plotting against you and saying, 6 “Let us go forth and attack Judah. Let us tear it apart, force it to surrender to us, and appoint the son of Tabeel[ab] there as king.”
7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
This will not happen,
either now or ever.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
9 Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will no longer be a people.
If you do not stand firm in your faith
you will not stand firm at all.
10 [ac]Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying:
11 Ask the Lord, your God for a sign;
let it be as deep as the netherworld
or as high as the heavens.
12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Are you not satisfied to try the patience of men?
Must you also try the patience of my God?
14 Therefore, you will be given this sign
by the Lord himself:
The virgin will be with child,
and she will give birth to a son,
and she will name him Immanuel.
15 He will feed on curds and honey
by the time he learns to reject the bad
and choose the good.
16 Before that child has learned
to reject the bad and choose the good,
deserted will be the lands
of those two kings whom you dread.
17 The Lord will inflict on you,
and on your people and your father’s house,
days far worse than any that have been seen
since Ephraim[ad] broke away from Judah—
you will become subjects of the king of Assyria.
18 When that day arrives,
the Lord will summon flies from the distant streams of Egypt
and bees from the land of Assyria.
19 They will all come forth and settle
in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks,
on all the thornbushes and in all the pastures.
20 On that day the Lord will shave
with a razor hired from across the river[ae]
(with the king of Assyria)
the head and the hair between the legs
as well as the beard.
21 When that day comes,
each man will keep a young cow and two sheep,
22 and because of the abundant milk they give
he will subsist on curds.
For all those who are left in the land
will eat curds and honey.
23 On that day,
wherever there used to be a thousand vines
worth a thousand pieces of silver,
that area will then be covered
with brambles and thornbushes.
24 Men will go there with bows and arrows,
for the entire country will be covered
by briers and thorns.
25 For fear of briers and thorns
you will not venture upon any hills
that used to be hoed with a hoe.
They will become a place for cattle to graze
and where sheep may tread.
Chapter 8
Isaiah’s Son.[af] 1 The Lord said to me: Take a large scroll and write on it in ordinary letters: “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” 2 I had it attested for me by reliable witnesses, Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The Lord said to me: Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for, before the child knows how to say “father” or “mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.
5 [ag]Once again the Lord spoke to me and said:
6 Because this people has rejected
the waters of Shiloah that flow gently
and trembled in fear
before Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
7 the Lord will therefore raise against it
the mighty flood waters of the river
(the king of Assyria and all his glory).
The river will rise above all its channels
and overflow all its banks;
8 it will sweep on into Judah like a flood
reaching up to the neck,
and its wings, spreading out,
will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
9 Realize this, you peoples, and be afraid.
Listen, all you far-distant nations.
Arm yourselves, but be frightened;
arm yourselves, but be frightened.
10 No matter what plans you devise,
they will come to naught,
for God is with us.
11 Isaiah’s Followers. This is what the Lord said to me when he held me firmly with his hand and warned me not to follow the ways of this people:
12 [ah]Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy,
and do not fear what they fear
or stand in awe of them.
13 The Lord is the one whom you should proclaim holy;
he must be the object of your fear and awe.
14 He will become a snare, an obstacle,
a rock over which the two houses of Israel[ai] will stumble,
a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and taken captive.
16 Bind up the testimony and seal the teaching
so that my disciples can keep it in their hearts.
17 I will wait eagerly for the Lord
who has hidden his face from the house of Jacob;
I will place my hope in him.
18 I stand here with the children
whom the Lord has given me
to be signs and portents in Israel
sent by the Lord of hosts
who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 People may say to you,
“Seek guidance from ghosts and mediums
who whisper and mutter.
Should not a people consult its gods
and the dead on behalf of the living
20 while seeking instruction or a message?”
Those who offer suggestions like this
will experience no dawn.
21 They will wander through the land
greatly distressed and starving.
Once their hunger becomes acute,
they will be enraged
and curse their king and their gods.
They will turn their gaze upward,
22 or downward to the earth,
but they will behold only distress and anguish,
confusion and the gloom of darkness.
23 As the land of Zebulun[aj] and the land of Naphtali were humbled in the past by the Lord, so in the future he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, the district of the Gentiles.
Chapter 9
The Prince of Peace[ak]
1 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
2 You have enlarged the nation
and given them great joy;
they rejoice before you
as those who rejoice at the harvest,
as they exult when dividing spoils.
3 For the yoke that burdened them,
the bar across their shoulders,
and the rod of their oppressor
you have broken as on the day of Midian.[al]
4 For every boot of a warrior that tramped in battle
and every garment soaked in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
5 For a child has been born to us,
a son has been given to us.
Upon his shoulders dominion rests,
and this is the name he has been given:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
6 His dominion will grow continually,
and there will be endless peace
bestowed on David’s throne
and over his kingdom.
He will establish and sustain it
with justice and integrity
from this time onward and forevermore;
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Fall of the Northern Kingdom
7 The Lord has sent forth his word against Jacob,
and it has fallen on Israel.
8 [am]All the people were aware of this,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
but they said in their arrogance and pride of heart,
9 “The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stones.
The sycamores have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
10 In response the Lord raised up foes against them
and spurred on their enemies,
11 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
and they devoured Israel with gaping jaws.
Yet after all this his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
12 But the people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor did they seek the Lord of hosts.
13 Therefore, the Lord cut off from Israel
head and tail, palm branch and reed,
in a single day.
14 [The elders and the nobles are the head;
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.]
15 For those who were leaders of the people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were swallowed up.
16 For this reason
the Lord did not show pity to their young people
or have compassion on their orphans and widows,
since all of them were godless evildoers
and every word they spoke was impious.
Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
17 For wickedness continued to burn like a fire,
consuming briers and thorns,
and setting ablaze the thickets of the forest
which rose upward in a column of smoke.
18 The land was set ablaze
by the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
no one spared his brother.
19 They gorged on the right but were still hungry;
they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
many ate the flesh of their own offspring.
20 Manasseh devoured Ephraim,
and Ephraim devoured Manasseh;
together they turned against Judah.
21 Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
Chapter 10
Social Injustice
1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and enforce oppressive statutes,
2 thereby depriving the needy of justice,
and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
and make the orphans their prey.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your riches,
4 so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
his hand is still outstretched.
The Lord Punishes the King of Assyria
5 [an]Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the club in their hands is my fury.
6 Against a godless people I send him forth,
against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
and to trample on them like mud in the street.
7 But this is not his intention,
nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
8 For he says,
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?[ao]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 As I did to Samaria and her idols,
shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
20 [ap]When that day arrives,
the remnant of Israel
and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them[aq]
and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 Although your people, O Israel,
may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
as righteousness and justice demand.
23 For throughout the entire land
the Lord God of hosts will enforce
the final destruction that has been decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this:
O my people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
and raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 For it will be only a short time
until my wrath will subside
and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
26 Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
as he did against Egypt.
27 On that day
his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
and fall from your neck.
Sennacherib’s Assault[ar]
Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
28 and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
and stored their supplies at Michmash.
29 Once they crossed the ravine,
they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
Listen carefully, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
32 This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
and the lofty ones will be laid low.
34 The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.
Chapter 11
A Reign of Justice and Peace[as]
1 A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch will grow from his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and power,
a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord,
3 and his delight will be the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by outward appearances
or reach a verdict based on hearsay.
4 Rather, he will judge the poor with justice
and render fair decisions for the weak and the poor.
He will strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 Then the wolf will live alongside the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion will browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze side by side;
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat hay like the ox.
8 The infant will play by the cobra’s den,
and the young child will lay his hand
on the viper’s nest.
9 No injury or harm will occur
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord
just as water covers the sea.
Ephraim and Judah United
10 On that day the root of Jesse
will be established as a signal to the nations.
They will come forth to unite under him,
and his dwelling will be glorious.
11 When that day comes,
the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to recover the remnant of his people
from Assyria and Egypt,
from Patmos,[at] Ethiopia, and Elam,
from Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal to the nations
and assemble the outcasts of Israel.
He will also gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim will cease
and the hostility of Judah will end.
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor will Judah have any hostility toward Ephraim.
14 Together they will swoop down
on the foothills of the Philistines to the west
and plunder the people of the east.
Edom and Moab will become subject to their rule,
and the Ammonites will obey them.[au]
15 The Lord will dry up a pathway
through the Sea of Egypt,
and he will wave his hand over the Euphrates
in his fierce anger,
splitting it into seven streams
so that it can be crossed on foot.
16 Thus there will be a highway
for the remnant of his people from Assyria,
as there was for the Israelites
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
Thanksgiving for Salvation
1 On that day you will say:
I will give you thanks, O Lord.
Even though you were angry with me,
your anger has abated
and you have consoled me.
2 God truly is my salvation;
I will trust in him and be unafraid.
For the Lord is my strength and my source of courage;
he has been my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water
from the fountain of salvation,
4 and you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
invoke his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praise to the Lord for his mighty deeds;
let this be known throughout the entire world.
6 Cry out and shout for joy,
all of you who dwell on Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel.
Oracles among the Pagan Nations[av]
Chapter 13
Babylon.[aw] 1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, received in a vision:
2 Upon a barren hill raise a banner;
cry aloud to them.
Wave your hand to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my consecrated soldiers
and summoned my dedicated warriors
to carry out my vengeance.
4 Listen to the great tumult on the mountains
like that of an immense gathering.
Listen to the uproar of the kingdoms,
of nations assembling;
the Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.
5 From a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his wrath
are coming to destroy the entire earth.
6 Cry out in anguish,
for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like devastation from the Almighty.
7 Therefore, every hand will hang limp
and every man’s courage will fade;
8 they will all be panic-stricken,
overcome with pangs and agony
and writhing like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
with their faces aflame with fear.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
a cruel day of wrath and burning anger,
to reduce the land to a desert waste
and to destroy all the sinners within it.
10 The stars of the heavens and their constellations
will no longer give forth their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not provide its light.
11 By taking this course
I will punish the world for its wickedness
and those who are evil for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and humble the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
far more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore, I am determined to make the heavens tremble
and the earth will be shaken to its very foundations,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
on the day of his blazing anger.
14 Like a gazelle fleeing from a hunter,
or like a flock of sheep that no one gathers,
everyone will return to his own people
and flee to his native land.
15 Any who are found will be slaughtered;
without exception they will be slain by the sword.
16 Their infants will be smashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives will be ravished.
17 Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes
who have no interest in silver
and are not tempted by gold.[ax]
18 With their bows they will slaughter the young men,
and they will show no pity for young children.
19 And Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
the splendor and jewel of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when they were overthrown by God.
20 It will never be inhabited;
no future generations will ever reside there.
No Arab will ever again pitch his tent there,
nor will shepherds rest their flocks in that land.
21 However, wild animals of the desert will dwell there,
and its houses will be filled with jackals.
There ostriches will reside,
and there wild goats[ay] will dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in her castles
and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time draws near,
and her days will not be prolonged.
Chapter 14
Taunting the King of Babylon. 1 The Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and he will once again choose Israel. He will resettle them on their native soil, where foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 Nations will take them and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Israel will accept them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. The house of Israel will also enslave those who had enslaved them and will rule her oppressors.
3 [az]When that day arrives that the Lord affords you relief from your suffering and trouble and from the cruel servitude that had been imposed upon you, 4 you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon:
Behold how the oppressor has come to an end!
Behold how his arrogance has ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck down the peoples in wrath,
inflicting continuous blows,
and that furiously crushed the nations
with relentless persecution.
7 The entire world is at rest and peaceful;
shouts of joy resound.
8 The cypresses exult over you,
as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Now that you have been laid low,
no one approaches to cut us down.”[ba]
9 The netherworld below is all astir
to greet you upon your arrival.
To welcome you it aroused the departed spirits,
all the rulers of the earth.
It raised from their thrones
all those who were kings of the nations.
10 All of them will speak out
and greet you with these words,
“You too have become as weak as we are.
You have become like us.”
11 Your pomp has descended to the netherworld
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots compose the mattress upon which you lie,
and worms serve as your blanket.
12 To what depths have you fallen from the heavens,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You used to say in your heart,
“I will scale the heavens.
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the Mountain of Assembly,
in the far recesses of the north.
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will be like the Most High.”
15 Instead you have been hurled down to the netherworld,
to the depths of the abyss.
16 Those who see you will stare at you,
and as they do so they will wonder,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble
and overthrew kingdoms,
17 who turned the world into a desert,
laid its cities in ruins,
and refused to let his prisoners return home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie in honor,
each one in his own tomb.
19 But you have been cast out without burial,
like some loathsome piece of flesh;
you are covered with the dead,
with those pierced by the sword
who descend to the rocks of the abyss.
20 You will never be buried with those kings
because you have destroyed your land
and brought death to your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never again be mentioned.
21 Make ready to slaughter his sons
because of the guilt of their father.
Let them never again rise to possess the earth
and cover the face of the earth with their cities.
22 I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will deprive Babylon of her name and remnant, her offspring and posterity, says the Lord. 23 I will cause it to become a haunt of the hedgehogs and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.
Assyria[bb]
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have resolved, so will it be;
as I have planned, so will it come to pass.
25 I will break the Assyrian in my land
and trample him underfoot on my mountains;
his yoke will be lifted from my people,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan that the Lord has prepared
for the entire world,
and this is the hand that he has outstretched
over all the nations.
27 For the Lord of hosts has devised this plan;
who can thwart it?
His hand is outstretched;
who can turn it back?
28 Philistia. In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle was proclaimed:
29 Let not a single one of you rejoice, O Philistia,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
For from the root of a snake will be born a viper,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
30 The poor of my people will eat in my pasture,
and the destitute will lie down in safety.
But I will make your offspring die of hunger,
and I will then slay the remnant.
31 Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city!
Let all Philistia be stricken with fear!
For a mighty foe is coming from the north,
without a single straggler in its ranks.
32 What reply will then be given
to the envoys of that nation?
“The Lord has established Zion,
and the afflicted of his people
will find refuge in her.”
Chapter 15
Moab[bc]
1 [bd]An oracle concerning Moab:
Having been laid waste in a single night,
Ar of Moab is destroyed.
Having been laid waste in a single night,
Kir of Moab is destroyed.
2 The daughter of Dibon goes up
to the high places to weep.
Moab wails unceasingly
over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head has been shaved,
every beard has been cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
everyone wails and collapses in tears.
4 Hesbon and Elealeh cry out in distress;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
As a result, the bravest of Moab’s warriors cry out
and their hearts grow faint.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives have arrived close to Zoar,
at Eglath-shelishiyah.
They climb the slope of Luhith,
weeping as they make their ascent;
on the road to Horonaim
they emit heart-rending cries.
6 The waters of Nimrim
have become a desolate waste.
The grass is parched,
the plants have withered away,
and nothing green can be seen.
7 Therefore, the people carry away
across the Ravine of the Willows
whatever possessions they can manage
and the savings they have accumulated.
8 Their cry of distress has echoed
around the land of Moab.
Their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim;
it can be heard even to the land of Beer-elim.
9 The waters of Dimon are filled with blood,
but I have far worse in store for Dimon:
a lion for those who are fleeing from Moab,
as well as for those who are left on its soil.
Chapter 16
1 [be]Send forth lambs to the ruler of the land,
from Sela across the desert
to the mount of daughter Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
are the women of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
3 Offer your counsel,
grant us your justice.
At high noon
let your shadow be like night.
Hide those who are outcasts
and do not betray the fugitives.
4 Allow the outcasts of Moab
to settle among you,
and be their refuge from the destroyer.
When the oppression has ceased
and the devastation is at an end,
and the marauders who have trampled the land
have finally departed,
5 a throne established in faithful love
will be established in the tent of David,
and on it will sit in fidelity
a judge who offers fair judgment
and is prompt to ensure justice.
6 We have heard about the pride of Moab,
about how truly intense that pride is,
with its arrogance, its pride, and its insolence,
as well as its boasts which have little basis.
7 Therefore, let Moab wail,
every one of its inhabitants.
In their grief they will long
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8 The vineyards of Heshbon have withered,
the vines of Sibmah.
The lords of the nations
have destroyed the choicest vines
that once reached as far as Jazer
and spread out toward the desert,
and whose shoots with their spreading branches
spread across the sea.
9 Therefore, I weep with Jazer
for the vines of Sibmah.
I drench you with tears,
Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the cries of battle have fallen
over your harvest and vintage.
10 Joy and gladness
have been taken away from the fields.
In the vineyards no songs are sung,
no joyful shouts are raised.
No one treads out wine in the wine-presses
no cheers of happiness are heard.
11 That is the reason why
my heart throbs like a harp for Moab
and my soul for Kir-hareseth.
12 When the Moabites approach
and exhaust themselves on the high places,
they will flock to their sanctuaries to pray,
but it will avail them nothing.
13 This was the word that the Lord spoke about Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord says: In three years, as a hired worker reckons them, the glory of Moab will be regarded with contempt, despite its vast multitude. The remnant that survive will be few in number and very feeble.
Chapter 17
Damascus
1 An oracle concerning Damascus:
Before long Damascus will cease to be a city,
and she will be reduced to a heap of ruins.
2 Her towns will be abandoned forever;
they will serve as pastures for flocks
who will lie there undisturbed.
3 No longer will Ephraim have a fortress
or Damascus a kingdom.
The glory of the remnant of Aram
will be like that of the children of Israel,
says the Lord of hosts.
4 On that day
the glory of Jacob will grow dim
and the flesh of his body will grow lean,
5 as when the reaper gathers the standing grain,
harvesting the ears with his arms,
or as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.[bf]
6 Nothing will remain except the scattered remnant,
as when an olive tree is beaten:
two or three olives on the highest bough,
four or five on each of its fruitful branches,
says the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day,
men will look to their Creator,
and they will turn their eyes
to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not gaze upon the altars, their handiwork,
nor shall they regard what their fingers have made
the sacred poles and the altars of incense.
9 On that day their strong cities will be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites
which they deserted because of the Israelites’ advance;
their cities will be left desolate.
10 You have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not kept in mind the Rock, your refuge.
Therefore, you plant your pagan gardens
and sow exotic seeds for a foreign god.
11 Even though you cause them to sprout
on the day that you plant them,
and make them sprout blossoms
on the following morning,
yet the harvest will disappear
when struck by a wasting disease and incurable blight.
12 Listen to the thunder of vast hordes,
its volume like that of the roaring sea.
Listen to the roar of nations,
its volume like that of mighty waves.
13 But when God rebukes them
they flee far away,
driven like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and like whirling dust before the storm.
14 In the evening terror has spread,
but by the morning it has disappeared.
Such is the fate of those who plunder us,
the lot of those who despoil us.
Chapter 18
Ethiopia
1 Woe to the land of buzzing locusts
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,[bg]
2 sending ambassadors by sea
in papyrus vessels across the waters.
Go forth, you swift messengers,
to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people dreaded near and far,
a mighty and conquering nation
whose land is crossed by many rivers.
3 All you who inhabit the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
you will see when the signal is raised on the mountains
and hear when the trumpet is sounded.
4 For this is what the Lord said to me:
I will quietly look down from my dwelling
like the shimmering heat of the summer sun,
like a cloud of dew during the harvest heat.
5 For prior to the harvest, when the flowering is over
and the blooms become ripening grapes
the shoots will be cut off with pruning hooks,
and the branches will be cut away and discarded.
6 They will all be left
to the birds of prey on the mountains
and to the wild beasts of the earth.
In summer the birds of prey will dwell there,
while the wild animals will winter on them.
7 At that time offerings will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a tall and bronzed people dreaded near and far, a mighty and conquering nation whose land is crisscrossed by rivers, to Mount Zion, the place where the name of the Lord of hosts dwells.
Chapter 19
Egypt
1 An oracle concerning Egypt:
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud,
and he is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight against one another,
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit of the Egyptians will ebb away within them,
and I will throw their deliberations into disarray.
They will then resort to consulting idols
and the spirits of the dead,
as well as ghosts and sorcerers.
4 I will deliver the Egyptians
into the power of a harsh master,
a cruel king who will rule over them—
says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5 The waters of the Nile will ebb away,
and the river will become parched and dry.
6 Its canals will emit a terrible stench,
and its branches will diminish and dry up;
reeds and rushes will wither away.
7 All the plants on the banks of the Nile
and all the vegetation of the Nile
will dry up, blow away, and vanish.
8 The fishermen will groan and mourn,
all those who cast their hooks into the Nile,
while those who spread their nets on the water
will lose heart.
9 The linen-workers will despair,
as will the combers and weavers.
10 The spinners will be dismayed,
and all who work for wages will be crushed.
11 The princes of Zoan[bh] are utter fools;
the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors offer stupid advice.
How can you dare to say to Pharaoh,
“I am descended from sages;
I spring from ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your sages?
Let them tell you,
so that all may know
what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools.
and the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has infused them
with a spirit of confusion;
they have made Egypt stagger in everything she does,
just as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 Neither head nor tail,
neither palm branch nor reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.
16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women, trembling with fear because the Lord of hosts has raised his hand against them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a source of terror to the Egyptians. Every time they remember Judah, they will tremble with fear because of the plan that the Lord of hosts has devised against them.
18 On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 It will serve as a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord for his help against their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and oblations, and they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt severely, but he will then bring them healing. After that they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.
23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will enter Egypt, and the Egyptians will enter Assyria, and Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
24 On that day Israel will be a member of a triumvirate with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing at the center of the world, 25 and the Lord of hosts will bless them with these words: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
Chapter 20
The Fate of Egypt and Ethiopia.[bi] 1 In the year that the commander-in-chief, who had been sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod, he fought against it and captured it. 2 At that time the Lord spoke to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, and issued this warning, “Go forth, take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet.” Isaiah did as he had been instructed, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles from Ethiopia, both the young and the aged, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then they will be dismayed and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 On that day the inhabitants of the coastland will say, ‘Observe what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria. How will we now be able to escape?’ ”
Chapter 21
The Defeat of Babylon[bj]
1 An oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb,[bk]
there comes from the desert,
from a land that inspires terror,
2 a harsh vision that is shown to me:
the traitor betrays
and the despoiler despoils.
Go forth, O Elam;[bl]
lay siege, O Media.
I will bring to an end
all the pain she has inflicted.
3 Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me
like those of a woman in labor.
I am so distraught that I cannot hear;
I am too frightened even to look.
4 My mind reels,
and I am overcome with dread;
the twilight I yearned for
has become horrifying to me.
5 They set the table;
they spread out the rugs;
they eat and they drink.
Rise up, O princes;
oil your shields.
6 For this is what the Lord has said to me:
Go forth and post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
7 If he should see cavalry,
horsemen riding in pairs,
men mounted on donkeys,
men mounted on camels,
instruct him to watch closely
and to listen diligently.
8 Then the lookout shouted,
“I stand on the watchtower, O Lord,
all day long,
and I remain stationed at my post
throughout the night.
9 Behold, here come the cavalry now,
horsemen riding in pairs.”
Then the Lord responded:
Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
have been smashed to the ground.
10 O my people,
you who have been trodden
upon the threshing floor,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
from the God of Israel,
I have proclaimed to you.
Edom
11 An oracle concerning Edom:
Someone is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, when will the night end?
Watchman, when will it end?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning will come, and so will the night.
If you wish to ask, do so;
come back again.”
Arabia
13 An oracle concerning Arabia:
In the thickets of the desert you will encamp,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water to the thirsty
and greet the fugitives with bread,
you inhabitants of the land of Tema.[bm]
15 For they have fled from the sword,
from the sharp edge of the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the stress of battles.
16 For these are the words spoken to me by the Lord: Within a year, as a hired worker reckons time, all the glory of Kedar[bn] will come to an end. 17 Hardly any of Kedar’s valiant warriors will be left, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Chapter 22
Jerusalem[bo]
1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision:[bp]
What possible reason can there be
for all of you to have gone up on the housetops,
2 dwellers in a city full of commotion,
a city exultant and filled with tumult?
Your slain did not fall by the sword,
nor did they perish in battle.
3 All your leaders fled away together,
only to be captured
without a weapon to defend themselves.
All of them who were found were captured
even though they had fled in all directions.
4 That is the reason why I said:
Turn your eyes away from me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
about the destruction of my people.
5 For this is a day ordained by the Lord of hosts,
a day of rout, tumult, and confusion
in the Valley of Vision,
a day on which walls will be battered down
and cries for help echo through the mountains.
6 Elam has taken up his quiver,
the chariots of Aram have their horses prepared,
and Kir has bared his shield.
7 Your fairest valleys are filled with chariots,
and the cavalry stands ready at the gates;
8 the Lord has removed his sheltering hand from Judah.
On that day you checked out the supply of weapons in the House of the Forest.[bq] 9 You observed that there were many breaches in the City of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem, and you tore down some to strengthen the wall. 11 Between the two walls you constructed a reservoir for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the city’s Maker or give a thought to him who built it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord,
the Lord of hosts,
called on you to eat and mourn,
to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
13 But instead you indulged in joy and merriment,
the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep,
the eating of meat and the drinking of wine,
saying, “Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 Then the Lord of hosts revealed this to me:
This wickedness will not be forgiven you
until you die,
says the Lord God of hosts.
Shebna and Eliakim
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts:
Go forth and find that official,
Shebna, the master of the palace, and say:
16 What are you doing here,
and who gave you permission
to hew a tomb for yourself here?
By what right have you hewn your grave on a height
and chiseled out your tomb in the rock?
17 The Lord is about to hurl you away violently;
he will grasp you firmly
18 and roll you up and throw you like a ball
into a vast expanse.
There you will die,
and there your splendid chariots will lie;
you are a disgrace to your master’s household.
19 I will remove you from your office,
and you will be pulled down from your post.
20 On that day I will summon
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
21 I will clothe him with your robe
and place your sash around his waist,
and I will bestow upon him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 I will place on his shoulder
the key of the house of David.
When he opens,
no one will close;
when he closes,
no one will open.[br]
23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place,
and he will become a throne of honor for his family.
24 Upon him will depend all the glory of his family,
his descendants, and his offspring,
and even the smallest vessels, from cups to pitchers.
25 On that day, says the Lord of hosts,
the peg that was securely fastened
will give way, break loose, and fall,
and whatever had been hanging on it will be lost.
For the Lord has spoken.
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon[bs]
1 An oracle concerning Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
the news has reached them.
2 Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
3 to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
provided your revenue;
you were the merchant for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in anguish
upon hearing the fate of Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
7 Is this your vibrant city
founded in the days of old,
and whose feet have led her away
to settle in distant lands?
8 Who has devised this plan
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes
and whose traders were held in the highest esteem
throughout the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has devised this plan
to deflate the glory of the proud
and to humiliate the honored men of the earth.
10 Cross over to your own land,
you ships of Tarshish,
for your harbors no longer exist.[bt]
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
and brought kingdoms to their knees;
he has commanded the destruction
of the fortresses of Canaan.
12 He has said:
You will exult no more,
O greatly oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise and cross over to Cyprus,
but even there you will find no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
it was this people, not Assyria,
who erected siege-towers,
tore down its palaces,
and left it in ruins.
14 Cry out in anguish, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress has been destroyed.
15 From that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of one king’s life. At the end of those seventy years, the plight of Tyre will be identical to that of the prostitute in the song:
16 Take your harp
and walk throughout the city,
you long-forgotten prostitute.
Pluck your strings sweetly
and sing many songs
so that they may remember you.
17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord will visit Tyre. She will once again ply her trade and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 But her merchandise and her profits will be dedicated to the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded, but they will provide abundant food and clothing to those who live in the presence of the Lord.
Apocalypse of Isaiah[bu]
Chapter 24
Universal Judgment: A Grateful Remnant
1 Behold how the Lord is preparing
to lay waste the earth;
he will turn it into a desert
and scatter its inhabitants,
2 with the same fate afflicting both priest and people,
slave and master,
maid and mistress,
seller and buyer,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be totally ravaged
and completely despoiled;
this has the Lord decreed.
4 The earth mourns and fades away;
the world languishes and withers;
the exalted of the earth are brought low.
5 The earth is defiled
by those who dwell in it;
for they have transgressed laws,
violated statutes,
and broken the everlasting covenant.[bv]
6 Therefore, a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants pay the penalty of their guilt;
as a result, the number of its inhabitants dwindles,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine dries up
and the vine withers away
as the revelers groan in their sorrow.
8 The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the shouts of the revelers fade away;
the lyre’s joyful melodies are no longer heard.
9 The people drink wine but without any singing;
strong liquor tastes bitter to those who consume it.
10 The city is shattered and in a state of chaos;
every house has its entrance barred.[bw]
11 In the streets the people cry out for wine;
no joy can be observed;
happiness seems to have been banished from the land.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gates have been smashed so badly
that they are beyond hope of repair.
13 This condition will hold true
among all the nations throughout the world;
as happens to an olive tree after it is beaten
or to the gleanings that remain
after the grape harvest.
14 The people raise their voices in joyful praise,
proclaiming from the west the majesty of the Lord,
15 “Let the Lord be glorified in the east;
in the coastlands of the sea
glorify the name of the Lord,
the God of Israel.”
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs
that praise the glory of the Righteous One.
But I said, “I am wasting away.
I am wasting away. Woe is me!
For the traitors continue to betray;
the traitors have acted with great treachery.
17 Terror and the pit and the snare
threaten all of you inhabitants of the earth.
18 Anyone who flees from the sound of terror
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven will be opened
and the foundations of the earth will shake.
19 The earth will be totally shattered,
the earth will be torn apart
the earth will be violently convulsed.
20 The earth will stagger like a drunkard
and sway like a fragile hut;
its transgressions will weigh heavily upon it,
and it will fall, never to rise again.”
21 On that day the Lord will punish
in the heavens the host of the heavens,[bx]
and on the earth the kings of the earth.
22 They will be herded together,
jammed in like prisoners in a dungeon.
They will be shut up in a pit
and punished after many years.
23 Then the moon will seem to fade away
and the sun will hide in shame.
For the Lord of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and he will manifest his glory
to the elders of his people.
Chapter 25
1 O Lord, you are my God.
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonderful things,
formulated in ages past, faithful and sure.
2 You have made the city a heap of ruins,
the fortified city a mass of rubble.
The citadel of foreigners is a city no more,
and it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, mighty peoples will honor you,
and the cities of ruthless nations
will regard you with awe.
4 For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
5 The blast of the ruthless
is like a winter storm or a scorching drought,
but you subdue the roar of the foe,
and the song of the ruthless fades away.
6 On this mountain[by] the Lord of hosts
will prepare for all peoples
a feast of rich food and vintage wines,
of succulent foods and well-aged wines.
7 On this mountain the Lord will destroy
the veil that shrouds[bz] all the peoples,
the path spread over all the nations;
8 he will destroy death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and from the entire earth he will remove
the shame of all his people;
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God;
in him we place our hope for deliverance.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will not rest on this mountain,
but Moab will be trodden under his feet
as straw is trodden into the dung-heap.
11 The Lord will stretch forth his hands in Moab
as a swimmer stretches out his hands to swim,
and he will humble their pride
as his hands sweep over them.
12 He will overthrow the high fortifications of their walls,
casting them down to the ground
and making them level with the dust.
Chapter 26
A Song of Victory. 1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strongly fortified city,
with walls and ramparts established to protect us.
2 Open the gates
to allow the upright nation to enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 O Lord, you grant peace to those who are steadfast
because of their trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord is an eternal rock.
5 He has brought low those in high places
and leveled their citadel,
casting it down to the ground
and flinging it down to the dust,
6 to be trampled underfoot
by the feet of the poor and the oppressed.
7 The path of the righteous is smooth,
for you make level the way of the just.
8 As we proceed in the path of your judgments,
we wait for you, O Lord;
your name and your renown
are all that our heart desires.
9 My soul longs for you throughout the night,
and my spirit within me seeks your presence.
For when your judgments are revealed to the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn to practice justice.
10 If favor is granted to the wicked,
they will never learn justice.
In the presence of the upright they will act perversely
and fail to behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, your hand is raised high
but they fail to see it.
Let them be ashamed
when they behold your zeal for your people;
let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
12 O Lord, you will grant us peace;
everything we have accomplished you have done for us.
13 O Lord, our God,
other lords besides you have ruled us,
but we acknowledge only your name.
14 The dead will not come back to life;
their departed spirits will not rise again.
For you have punished and destroyed them
and eradicated all memory of them.
15 O Lord, you have enlarged the nation,
and in enlarging it you have been glorified;
you have extended all the frontiers of the country.
16 O Lord, in our distress we cried out to you,
pouring forth our prayers
as we suffered your chastisement.
17 As a woman who is pregnant
writhes and cries out in her agony
when her time of delivery is near,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
18 We were with child and writhed with pain,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have achieved no salvation for the earth,
and no one has been born to inhabit the world.
19 But your dead will live
and their bodies will rise again.
Awake and sing for joy,
you who sleep in the dust.
For your dew will be radiant,
and the earth will give birth again
to those who have long been dead.
The Lord’s Vindication
20 Go forth, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you.
Withdraw for a short while
until the wrath has subsided.
21 For the Lord emerges from his dwelling place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth
for their wickedness.
The earth will reveal the blood shed upon it
and will no longer hide its slain.
Chapter 27
1 On that day,
the Lord will use his sword
that is cruel and great and strong
to punish Leviathan[ca] the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the writhing serpent,
and he will slay that dragon
that resides in the sea.
2 [cb]On that day,
sing of the pleasant vineyard.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:1 This first part of the Book presents Isaiah himself and his message, although some sections are clearly from a later date, such as chapters 24–27; 34–35, which are often called “the Isaiah apocalypses.” But the oracles in the collection do not follow a strict chronological order.
In the midst of political upheaval, Isaiah proclaimed the greatness of God, the “Holy One of Israel,” who governs the world. He opposed King Ahaz, who nonetheless called on Assyria for help and came under its control; he opposed Hezekiah, who wanted to defy Assyria by allying himself with Egypt. Such insecure and shifting alliances could do nothing to change the fate of the people of God; the nation would, however, be safe if it learned to emphasize above all else its covenant with God, in which justice was a supreme value. Judah should have found within itself the courage for a moral renewal. Yet the people of the covenant remain strong thanks above all to their faith. - Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah: thus begins the book; Isaiah in fact remains an unparalleled seer in the history of humanity. The title, “Vision,” applies above all to the first twelve chapters. Nothing, whether the powers of this world, or external events, or domestic intrigues, can turn the prophet’s gaze from the holiness of God, before whom everything else disappears. In this entire body of oracles, we can distinguish several collections: oracles uttered in the most diverse circumstances during fifty years of prophetic ministry from the last days of Uzziah (740 B.C.) to the death of Hezekiah (687 B.C.).
The first five chapters perhaps correspond most closely to the beginning of Isaiah’s activity; the remainder belong to the course of the Syro-Ephraimite war against Judah in 732 B.C. It is true that some of the verses look more to the northern kingdom (9:7) and to Assyria (10:5), but on the whole, the oracles are addressed to the people of Judah. The “Book of Immanuel” that begins in chapter 6 is doubtless the jewel of Isaiah’s work and has won him the title of supreme prophetic foreteller of the coming of Jesus. The Advent liturgy draws upon these chapters. - Isaiah 1:2 Isaiah must denounce decadence and open the eyes of those who no longer want to see. He first takes on himself the suffering involved in the fate of his country by remaining in solidarity with the very people whom he accuses and even severely indicts.
- Isaiah 1:5 The enemy, perhaps Sennacherib (in 701 B.C.), has ravaged the realm and taken many inhabitants captive. The country has suffered a deadly blow. Only Jerusalem, the Daughter Zion, has been spared.
- Isaiah 1:8 Daughter Zion: a personification of Jerusalem. Shack: huts for keeping the grapes were built among the vines during the grape harvest.
- Isaiah 1:9 Lord of hosts: literally, “Lord of armies (Hebrew, sabaoth),” indicates that the God of Israel is master of everything, from the armed hosts of Israel to the stars and every celestial power. Sodom and Gomorrah are cities constantly recalled (even in Mt 10:15) as an example of moral depravity that calls down punishment from God (see Gen 18:16—19:29).
- Isaiah 1:10 Right in the temple of Jerusalem, young Isaiah raises his voice in denunciation of hypocrisy in worship. He compares the leaders and people to the most dissolute sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:16—19:29). The diatribe against hypocritical worship occurs frequently in the Bible (Pss 40:6-8; 50:5-15; Jer 6:20; Am 5:21-27; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:5-8). We already think of the scathing words of Jesus against Pharisaism (Mt 7:21) and of his forceful action against the sellers in the temple (Lk 19:45-46; Jn 2:13-22).
- Isaiah 1:15 Hands: the habitual manner of praying was to extend the hands with the palms open upwards.
- Isaiah 1:17 Orphan, widow: these were the people most defenseless and most exposed to injustice in the social order of the time. This is why they are constantly mentioned in ethical passages of the Bible.
- Isaiah 1:21 Adulteress: the term signifies infidelity to God, inasmuch as the covenant between God and his people had its most appropriate image in the bond of conjugal love. This allegory recurs constantly.
- Isaiah 1:29 Sacred oaks: a reference to places of idolatrous worship, which was practiced for the most part in sacred groves on high places.
- Isaiah 2:1 This theme, which returns often in the third part of the Book (Isa 56:6-8; 60:11-14) and in the Psalms of Zion, especially Ps 48, prepares the way for the expectation of a Messianic city in which all human beings are invited to share the joy of Christ (Heb 12:22; Rev 14:1; 21:10-26).
- Isaiah 2:5 Isaiah is probably referring here to the northern kingdom and its capital, Samaria, which were boasting of their prosperity at the very time when Assyrian invaders were already on the move (722 B.C.).
- Isaiah 2:6 Despite Israelite law and the preaching of the prophets, divination was widely practiced even in Palestine, as in the whole of the East.
- Isaiah 2:7 Chariots: war chariots, the use of which in Palestine went back to Solomon.
- Isaiah 2:16 Ships of Tarshish: Tarshish was perhaps Tartessos in Spain; the name was used for ships capable of lengthy voyages.
- Isaiah 3:18 Of these various garments and jewels some would have had a magical or idolatrous significance.
- Isaiah 3:24 Sackcloth: a coarse cloth of which sacks were made.
- Isaiah 4:2 The name branch will be given to the future Messiah because he will be the true Son of David, and from him will spring a new people (Jer 23:5; Zec 3:8; 6:12). The promise will stir and direct the hope of the faithful amid the conflicts and failures of coming centuries. John, the seer of Patmos, will see the new Jerusalem in which the promise will find its complete fulfillment (Rev 21).
- Isaiah 5:1 The image of the beloved vineyard that is ravaged is often used by the prophets (Jer 2:21; Ezek 15:1-8; etc.). Jesus, too, will like this comparison (Mt 21:33-34) and will describe himself as the true vine whose branches will be tended by the vinedresser, his Father (Jn 15).
- Isaiah 5:26 The Assyrian invaders arrive; the forces assembled under the banner of the lion, the emblem of Assyria (see v. 29), are irresistible.
- Isaiah 5:26 To summon warriors, a banner was raised on the top of a hill and a horn was sounded.
- Isaiah 6:1 In around 740 B.C., in the midst of the temple ceremonial, the prophet was seized by the glory of God, who is beyond every creature. The “seraphs,” beings of fire, seem to surround God but are unable to endure the splendor of his mystery. Heaven resounds with the great acclamation of the Lord of hosts, that is, the Lord of all the creatures of the universe; God’s “glory,” his mysterious, active presence fills the worlds.
In the moment in which Isaiah experiences the greatness and holiness of God, he is pierced by a sense that he is nothing but sin. But it is not possible to discover God without also opening oneself to some demand; in the Bible, there is no call without a mission. God wills that he should need human beings in order to carry out his plan. His call purifies the one whom he chooses. From now on, Isaiah will be another person, one charged with the mission of censuring his fellow Israelites who are blinding themselves and closing their ears. Only when the people, greatly reduced in numbers, will have lost every illusion and every human support, will salvation from God arise out of the little group of survivors. This vocation story introduces the “Book of Immanuel” (Isa 7–12), which conveys the essentials of his message. - Isaiah 6:2 Seraphim: the word means “burning, blazing.” Here, they are heavenly beings in human form. Isaiah is the first in the Bible to connect them with Yahweh.
- Isaiah 7:1 The “Book of Immanuel” records the major interventions of Isaiah in the politics of the kingdom of Judah, especially from 734–732 B.C., that is, at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite war which was on the point of dragging the throne of David down to destruction (see 2 Ki 16:5). In this period of uncertainty, a promise kindles a light: a boy child will be born and named Immanuel, that is, “God with us.” For Christians, this promise finds its complete fulfillment in the coming of Jesus. Some later oracles have been inserted into the Book of Immanuel.
- Isaiah 7:1 Assyrian expansion roused concern throughout the Near East, while the kingdom of Israel plotted to free themselves from the Assyrian yoke. Their intention was to bring the king of Jerusalem into this affair, by force if necessary. The undertaking was a dangerous one and could cost this king his throne and put an end to the house of David. The king of Judah, in order to escape from the pressure of his neighbors, was going to put himself under the protection of mighty Assyria and was ready to become its vassal. But Isaiah stood up to him: the king must trust in God alone.
- Isaiah 7:3 Shear-jashub: a symbolic name, signifying “a remnant will return” (see Isa 10:20-22). The pool was south of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 7:6 Tabeel: a region across the Jordan. The two kings want to put someone not of Davidic descent on the throne of Judah.
- Isaiah 7:10 King Ahaz hesitates and does not know what to do with a sign from heaven. In God’s name Isaiah announces a solemn promise: a virgin will bear a son; his name, “God with us,” signifies salvation. The child’s nourishment recalls the great days of nomadic life and of the Exodus, the ideal period when Israel was poor and close to God. It foretells, along with a hereditary ruler, a different age, and a different Messiah, expectation of whom will never be erased from the Hebrew heart. Later on, the Greek tradition will specify that the “young woman” who is to give birth is a virgin (v. 14). Matthew and the Christian tradition will see this prediction as completely fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, the true Immanuel, born of the Virgin Mary by a supernatural intervention (Mt 1:23).
- Isaiah 7:17 Ephraim: though but one region, it stands here for the entire northern kingdom. The division of the two kingdoms went back to 931 B.C.
- Isaiah 7:20 The river is the Euphrates. Prisoners were shaved to disfigure and shame them.
- Isaiah 8:1 The prophet performs an action rich in symbolism: he sires a boy child whose name has been determined in advance; the name means “Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.” In this way, the prophet foretells the punishment in store for those who have formed a coalition against the kingdom of Judah. And in fact, Damascus and the provinces of northern Israel will fall into the hands of the Assyrians in 732 B.C.
- Isaiah 8:5 Jerusalem had but a single reservoir, the spring of Shiloah. Was this not perhaps a sign of the invisible protection of God? But when faced with the threat from Syria, the king and people sought a more obvious form of security. As a result, the flood waters of the Euphrates (the river, v. 7), that is, the hordes of the Assyrian invaders, will overwhelm Judah.
- Isaiah 8:12 The conspiracy is the league between Ahaz and Assyria; the conspiracy which the people fear is the Syro-Ephraimite coalition.
- Isaiah 8:14 Two houses of Israel: that is, the kingdoms of Judah and of Israel.
- Isaiah 8:23 Zebulun . . . Naphtali: Galilee.
- Isaiah 9:1 After the threats and predictions of sorrow, the prophet bursts into a song of hope and deliverance. He consoles the Galileans who have been deported by the king of Assyria in 732 B.C. (2 Ki 15:29). Another vision is given to the seer, and hope springs up in the hearts of believers: The Lord will set free the oppressed and will establish his people in peace. All power will be given to the mysterious child who is to be born of royal blood, the Immanuel who has already been foretold (Isa 7:14). This is an ideal passage for the Christmas liturgy and in fact, is prominent there.
- Isaiah 9:3 See the description of Gideon’s victory over the Midianites in Jdg 7:16-25.
- Isaiah 9:8 In all likelihood, this song goes back to about 739 B.C.; at that time Israel, now subject to the Assyrians, was assailed by its neighbors (2 Ki 15:19).
- Isaiah 10:5 We are now in a different period, perhaps 701 B.C. It is already twenty years since the northern kingdom was destroyed. Judah in turn is about to succumb (Isa 36–39).
- Isaiah 10:9 Some fortified cities of Syria are listed that have already been subdued by the Assyrians in earlier wars.
- Isaiah 10:20 The trial is a hard one, but the promise remains (see Isa 7:3 and the symbolic name of Isaiah’s elder son: Shear-jashub, which means “a remnant will return”).
- Isaiah 10:20 Who struck them: in 734 B.C., Ahaz had imprudently asked the Assyrians for help.
- Isaiah 10:27 The places listed were all north of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 11:1 For the third time the prophet promises the people a king descended from David, the son of Jesse. In contrast to corrupt leaders, he will introduce justice; in contrast to rulers who brought war and destruction, he will inaugurate an era of peace. Filled with every gift (all the gifts which have become the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Christian tradition), he will be the perfect king, a new Solomon, a new David, and a new Moses. His reign will restore a golden age, as at the beginning of the world. Christians will immediately recognize Christ in this majestic figure, who represents an ideal in whom each individual can see realized the best aspirations of human beings.
- Isaiah 11:11 Patmos: the Hebrew has Pathros, which was in Upper Egypt. Ethiopia: Cush. Elam: Persia. Babylonia: Hebrew, Shinar. Hamath: in Syria.
- Isaiah 11:14 The peoples listed were Israel’s neighbors and traditional enemies.
- Isaiah 13:1 The oracles grouped together in chapters 13–23 arose in historical situations that were very diverse and often remote from one another in time. Some of the oracles were composed by Isaiah, others by some of his later disciples. These inspired men saw in the development of events and the collisions of peoples a fulfillment of the judgment of God, who offers salvation to every people that turns to him. Discreetly but firmly, the national boundaries of Israel are ignored, and the theme of the call of the nations makes its appearance.
- Isaiah 13:1 The editor of the Book attributes this lament to Isaiah himself. This lament describes the fall of Babylon after the manner of the fall of Nineveh. In fact, the city conquered by Cyrus in 539 B.C., was not destroyed, but the disappearance of the Assyrian capital, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, always remained a paradigm for the prophets.
- Isaiah 13:17 The Medes were originally warlike tribes from the mountains east of Babylonia; once gathered as a kingdom, they were first allied with Babylon against the Assyrians; later, joined with the Persians, they would contribute to the fall of Babylon.
- Isaiah 13:21 Wild goats: or “satyrs,” popular personifications of the demons who dwelt in ruins.
- Isaiah 14:3 The passage refers perhaps to Sargon II, king of Assyria, or, more probably, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia. The Fathers of the Church saw in the Lucifer of verse 12 the leader of the angels, who had become the prince of demons in punishment for his boundless pride.
- Isaiah 14:8 The kings of Assyria and Babylon had had a great many of the cedars of Lebanon cut down for their building projects.
- Isaiah 14:24 In 701 B.C., Sennacherib invaded the kingdom of Judah and surrounded Jerusalem. He had to lift the siege, however: an epidemic was destroying his army. This was the beginning of the decline of this empire.
- Isaiah 15:1 Moab, ancient rival and enemy of Israel, was devastated during the Assyrian war of 701 B.C.
- Isaiah 15:1 The names are those of places belonging at that time to the kingdom of Moab.
- Isaiah 16:1 The text is uncertain— verse 2 belongs before verse 1, as a continuation of 15:9. Then, it seems, the ruler of Moab is urged to send a messenger to ask for asylum in Jerusalem, to which verses 3-4 refer.
- Isaiah 17:5 Valley of Rephaim: west of Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 18:1 Rivers of Ethiopia: the reference is to the Upper Nile and its tributaries.
- Isaiah 19:11 Zoan: the Tanis of the Greeks, a city in the Nile Delta. Egyptian wise men enjoyed a high reputation in the ancient East.
- Isaiah 20:1 Because it had incited an anti-Assyrian coalition, the Philistine city of Ashdod was captured in 711 B.C. by the supreme commander of Sargon II. Isaiah performs a prophetic gesture; his incongruous behavior illustrates the fate reserved for prisoners from the contingent, which Egypt and Ethiopia had sent to serve under the Philistines.
- Isaiah 21:1 Proud Babylon has fallen. The reference is either to 710 B.C., when Babylon was attacked by the Assyrian, Sargon, who put down the rebellion of Merodach-baladan (see 2 Ki 20:10; Jer 39:1-8), or to its fall in 539 B.C. under the attack of Cyrus. Tradition has it that the city was taken by the allied Medes and Persians during the night, while the ruler and his men were feasting in the assurance that the walls were impregnable (v. 5; see Dan 5).
- Isaiah 21:1 The desert: the plain of Babylonia. The Negeb: the vast southern wilderness of Palestine.
- Isaiah 21:2 Elam: an ancient people dwelling in the area from which the Persians would come. For the Medes, see 13:17.
- Isaiah 21:14 Tema: an oasis in the northeastern Arabian peninsula.
- Isaiah 21:16 Kedar: a powerful tribe in southern Arabia.
- Isaiah 22:1 Delighted by a passing military success, or by the defeat of Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (Isa 36–37), the city celebrates. The inhabitants are proud of their preparations for war, their strengthened defenses, and the subterranean channel which King Hezekiah had had dug in order to provide the city with drinking water.
- Isaiah 22:1 Valley of Vision: the valley around southeastern Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 22:8 House of the Forest: a hall supported by cedar columns and serving as an armory; see 1 Ki 7:2-5; 10:17.
- Isaiah 22:22 Key . . . close . . . open: symbolizes the power to govern.
- Isaiah 23:1 Two songs oddly combined, one by Isaiah (vv. 1-4, 12-14), the other of much more recent date (vv. 5-11); the two describe the fall of Tyre and Sidon, the capitals of maritime trade. Sennacherib destroyed Sidon around 701 B.C. In the sixth century, Nebuchadnezzar, and later on (in 332 B.C.) Alexander, would besiege the impregnably fortified island of Tyre.
- Isaiah 23:10 Once Tyre fell, trade with Spain and Tarshish was left to its own resources.
- Isaiah 24:1 It was probably a political disaster that inspired this striking picture, which celebrates the coming of a new world as predicted by Isaiah and later by Ezekiel. The inspired prophet sees the final judgment of the universe coming. He announces the reign of God who is victorious over all hostile forces on earth and in heaven. The city of God, which is promised a glorious future, arises before our eyes on the ruins of the city of evil. This kind of transposition of events in prophecies of judgment, this kind of intermingling of cataclysm and renewal, is characteristic of the literary genre known as apocalypse, that is, revelation of the hidden destiny of the world, with images of terror and light providing a key to understanding it.
- Isaiah 24:5 Everlasting covenant: the covenant entered into with the entire human race in the person of Noah (Gen 9:16).
- Isaiah 24:10 A city in complete disorder and symbolically contrasted with the city of God.
- Isaiah 24:21 The host of the heavens: the stars, often adored as divinities by the ancients.
- Isaiah 25:6 Among the Semites a sacred banquet was an important act of worship. Beginning with this passage, the idea of a Messianic banquet becomes customary in Judaism and on into the New Testament. The mountain is Zion.
- Isaiah 25:7 Shrouds: signifies the inability to recognize truth; therefore, religious ignorance.
- Isaiah 27:1 Leviathan: a sea monster in Semitic mythology, a symbol of the forces of evil.
- Isaiah 27:2 This impressive passage has come down to us in a rather defective textual form.