Isaiah 20-22

English Standard Version

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that ^(A)the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to ^(B)Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— ²at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking ^(C)naked and barefoot.

³Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years ^(D)as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,^[a] ⁴so shall the ^(E)king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ⁵^(F)Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶And the inhabitants of ^(G)this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and ^(H)to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21 The ^(I)oracle concerning the wilderness of ^(J)the sea.

^(K)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the wilderness,
    from a terrible land.
²A stern vision is told to me;
    ^(L)the traitor betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(M)Elam;
    lay siege, O ^(N)Media;
all the ^(O)sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.
³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    ^(P)pangs have seized me,
    like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
    I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
    ^(Q)the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵^(R)They prepare the table,
    they spread the rugs,^[b]
    they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
    ^(S)oil the shield!
⁶For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
    very diligently.”
⁸Then he who saw cried out:^[c]
^(T)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    whole nights.
⁹And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(U)And he answered,
    ^(V)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(W)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰O ^(X)my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The ^(Y)oracle concerning ^(Z)Dumah.

One is calling to me from ^(AA)Seir,
    “Watchman, what time of the night?
    Watchman, what time of the night?”
¹²The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also ^(AB)the night.
    If you will inquire, ^(AC)inquire;
    come back again.”

¹³The ^(AD)oracle concerning ^(AE)Arabia.

In the thickets in ^(AF)Arabia you will lodge,
    O ^(AG)caravans of ^(AH)Dedanites.
¹⁴To the thirsty bring water;
    meet the fugitive with bread,
    O inhabitants of the land of ^(AI)Tema.
¹⁵For they have fled from the swords,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
    and from the press of battle.

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, ^(AJ)according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of ^(AK)Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of ^(AL)Kedar will be few, ^(AM)for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The ^(AN)oracle concerning ^(AO)the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
    all of you, to the housetops,
²you who are full of shoutings,
    tumultuous city, ^(AP)exultant town?
Your slain are ^(AQ)not slain with the sword
    or dead in battle.
³^(AR)All your leaders have fled together;
    without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
    though they had fled far away.
⁴Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
    ^(AS)let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
    concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

⁵^(AT)For the Lord God of hosts has ^(AU)a day
    of tumult and ^(AV)trampling and ^(AW)confusion
    in ^(AX)the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
    and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶And ^(AY)Elam bore the quiver
    with chariots and horsemen,
    and ^(AZ)Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
    and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸He has taken away ^(BA)the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to ^(BB)the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that ^(BC)the breaches of the city of David were many. ^(BD)You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹^(BE)You made a reservoir between ^(BF)the two walls for the water of ^(BG)the old pool. But ^(BH)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

¹²In that day ^(BI)the Lord God of hosts
    called for weeping and mourning,
    for ^(BJ)baldness and ^(BK)wearing sackcloth;
¹³and behold, joy and gladness,
    killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
    eating flesh and drinking wine.
^(BL)“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”
¹⁴The Lord of hosts ^(BM)has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely ^(BN)this iniquity will not be atoned for you ^(BO)until you die,”
    says the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to ^(BP)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here, and whom have you here, ^(BQ)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you ^(BR)who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. ^(BS)He will seize firm hold on you ¹⁸and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be ^(BT)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. ¹⁹^(BU)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant ^(BV)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and ^(BW)I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ^(BX)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place ^(BY)on his shoulder ^(BZ)the key of the house of David. ^(CA)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him ^(CB)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become ^(CC)a throne of honor to his father's house. ²⁴And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^(CD)the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 20:3 Probably Nubia
Isaiah 21:5 Or they set the watchman
Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion