Isaiah 13-23
The Voice
13 The burden of Babylon (Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw this message):
Isaiah, like many prophets, bears a burden: speaking as God’s mouthpiece in the world. But the burden he bears is nothing compared to the punishing burden Babylon will face for the violence it inflicts on the small nations it is annexing. Isaiah “sees” this message; no one knows how. Was it a vision? Was it a dream? Was it an insight gleaned from some ordinary moment in his extraordinary life?
2 Eternal One: Raise a signal on a bare mountaintop;
flash the message; broadcast it widely.
Shout out to the nations to assemble an army;
wave them on and welcome them at the gates of the nobles.
3 I have enlisted them to be the ones to execute My fierce anger.
They are mine—I have commanded and consecrated them—these high and mighty ones.
4 Listen! There is restlessness and rumbling on the mountains,
as a powerful company assembles.
Listen! There is an uproar among the nations
as they gather their might together.
The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
is mustering an army—thousands, maybe millions—for war.
5 They come from lands far away,
beyond distant horizons.
That’s where the Eternal calls up His weapons of wrath—
in order to destroy the whole land!
6 Cry out in terror!—the time is coming;
the day of the Eternal is nearly here,
Violence and destruction as only God-All-Powerful can wreak.
7-8 This is why all hands will shake and tremble;
every heart will flutter and melt.
People will be paralyzed with fear, weakened with terror.
Taut and shaking, they’ll be overcome like a woman in labor.
They’ll look to each other dumbfounded,
their faces flushed with fear.
9 See here! The fury of God has been building and is too great to stop;
the day of the Eternal is nearly here.
It will come down in all its cruelty, fury, and fiery anger,
to make the land a wasteland, to wipe out all who failed God.
So complete, so persistent are the nation’s sins that even the lights of heaven go out.
10 For the stars that define the constellations in the heavens
will fail to give their light.
The sun will go dark even when it’s high in the sky;
the moon will not shine.[a]
11 Eternal One: I will turn the world’s wrongdoings back on itself.
I will punish those who act wickedly.
I will stop the arrogant musings of the proud and pompous,
and make them puny and weak.
12 People will be a rarity in the land,
like great chunks of gold from Ophir.
13 Like nothing you’ve ever dreamed,
the heavens will tremble and the earth itself will rock out of place,
When the fury of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, is unleashed
and the power of God’s anger is loosed.
14 Then, in their confusion and distress,
like a hunted gazelle or a neglected stray sheep,
They will turn to their own people and run for whatever seems safe;
they’ll try to escape to their own land.
15 The terror rages on. Anyone who’s found will be run through with a sword.
Those who are caught will die by its cruel edge.
16 Their babies will be dashed to pieces on the rocks as they look on in horror;
their houses will be ransacked, and their wives will be raped.
17 See, I’m rousing up the Medes against them; they are a people
who kill indiscriminately and can’t be bribed off with silver or gold.
18 The young warriors will fall before their arrows;
not even infants or toddlers will receive mercy at their hands.
19 But afterward, the awesome and mighty city Babylon, pride of the Chaldeans,
will be razed to the ground like Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed.
20 It’ll never be inhabited again, and future generations will never call it home;
there Arab nomads won’t pitch their tents; shepherds won’t rest their flocks.
21 Only desert animals will occupy the deserted city;
owls will nest in their formerly swept-clean houses.
Mangy jackals and wild goats will roam among the rubble
and romp among the ruins.
22 Hyenas will prowl around and howl among its towers;
jackals will haunt its formerly palatial palaces;
Babylon’s time of destruction is coming; her days are numbered.
14 For the Eternal will extend mercy to Jacob, this family of God’s people. God will choose Israel all over again, and He will settle them in comfort and rest back on their land. Others who are unrelated will want to join them and stick close to the house of Jacob, God’s promise people, 2 who will take them in. These others will work for and among Israel. Whoever used to hold Israel captive—controlling the people’s every moment and every move—will in turn be controlled by Israel; and whoever used to oppress Israel will instead be subject to Israel.
3 Ah, Israel, there will be a time when the Eternal will give you rest from the burden of your labor, the pain of your servitude. 4 And then you will take up this chant against the fallen king of Babylon:
People: How silent and still the oppressor;
the pressure is gone; the raging is done!
5 The Eternal has broken the hold of the wicked,
snapped the staff and the scepter of tyrannical rulers.
6 They would stop at nothing to beat, batter, and bruise the nations,
constantly raging as they hunted down and tyrannized the peoples.
7 The whole earth, mountains to sea, breathes a sigh of relief;
the peace and quiet erupts into a lively, joyful song.
8 The cypresses and cedars of Lebanon rejoice at his demise, singing:
“You can’t hurt us anymore. Now that you’ve been cut down,
No one comes to cut us down!”
9 O Babylon, the land of the dead is excited to greet you at its door.
Your king will enter the grave with ghastly pomp.
It stirs the shadows and spirits of the dead—all long forgotten leaders—
it arouses all the dethroned kings of the nations to welcome your arrival.
10 These departed souls will respond to you with rattling voices,
Departed Souls: Even you, who were so powerful and unstoppable in life,
have been weakened just like us!
11 All of your pomp and power and the music of your harps join you here
where the dead abide,
Where maggots squirm beneath you,
where worms cover you like a blanket.
12 My, how you’ve fallen from the heights of heaven!
O morning star, son of the dawn!
What a star you were, as you menaced and weakened the nations,
but now you’ve been cut down, fallen to earth.
13 Remember how you said to yourself,
“I will ascend to heaven—reach higher and with more power—
and set my throne high above God’s own stars?”
Remember how you thought you could be a god, saying:
“I will sit among them at the mount of assembly in the northern heights.
14 I will rise above the highest clouds and
make myself like the Most High”?
15 Hah! Instead, you have sunk like a stone to where the dead abide.
You’ve hit bottom of the bottommost pit.
16 People peer down at you from above,
and their curiosity overflows.
People: Wow, is this the man who once terrorized the world?
Is he the one who rocked the earth’s kingdoms and threatened us with disaster?
17 Is he the one who turned the bustling cities of the world into a wasteland,
and never let the prisoners of war go home?
18 While all the other world leaders are memorialized with honor,
and each occupies his own elaborate tomb,
19 You will be reviled and disgraced—your tomb desecrated,
your corpse thrown aside like a worthless branch.
Those slain in battle, pierced by swords, will cover you;
you’ll go down to the pit like a corpse left on the battlefield.
20 Because you wrecked your own land and killed your own people,
your corpse will not share in the honor of a proper burial.
May the offspring of such evil never be mentioned again;
don’t speak their names or hear their tales.
21 Let them be obliterated because of their fathers’ wicked deeds
so that they never have a chance to follow in their steps,
Terrorizing and possessing the earth,
filling up the world with their cities!
Then people can live in normalcy and peace.
Eternal One: 22-24 I will move against Babylon and put an end to her future generations. I will cut them off—leaving no survivors—so that your oppressors will become nameless and faceless shadows. I’ll sweep that city with My broom of destruction and turn its pools into stagnant marshes and leave its ruins to be ruled by wild animals.
God swears that our oppressors will be punished. The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, makes this pledge.
Eternal One: Things will happen as I plan.
Things will be as I determine.
25 I will break Assyria’s hold on My land;
on mountain after mountain I will trample over them.
Then My people will no longer have to bow beneath the Assyrian yoke
or bear up under its heavy burden.
26 Because I, God of earth and heaven,
have devised a plan for the whole earth;
I have reached out and am ready to effect change among the nations.
27 And who can argue with that or stand in God’s way?
The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has determined
That this is how it should be.
And so it will be.
While most of Isaiah’s messages are directed to the people of Judah, he pronounces other oracles against neighboring nations and empires. This is typical of most prophets. Chapters 13–23 contain a number of oracles (or prophetic messages) addressed to the nations and cities such as Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Cush, Egypt, Babylon, and others. Each message is distinct, for the sins of their citizens and the threats they face are unique to them. Still each message contains an overriding, dominant claim: God is sovereign over all the earth; and although He has a special relationship with Israel and Judah, all the nations must ultimately bow before God.
28 When our king, Ahaz, died having endured and survived Assyria’s attacks against us, the prophet received this message.
29 Don’t get too excited, Philistia, because your enemy is dead.
The rod that struck you may be broken,
But from the root of the serpent, a viper will come out;
the offspring of that viper will be a flying cobra.
30 The poor among us will have enough to eat;
the needy and most vulnerable will sleep in peace.
But I will go after your key people with famine,
and then wipe out any who remain.
31 Look out, Philistia; you will soon vanish!
Let your gates and your city walls cry out!
It’ll be bad for you soon, because an army from the north
Is bearing down on you, burning cities in its wake;
and there is not a straggler in its ranks.
32 So, how do we answer the ambassadors of the nations?
The Eternal has made Zion what it is—
And His humbled and afflicted people will find shelter there.
15 A message about Moab:
In the cover of night, Moab was attacked and decimated.
Both Ar and Kir were decimated in a single night.
2 The whole community traipses up to the temple, to Dibon
to weep and cry out to the gods.
Moab weeps and wails over the dead in Nebo and Medeba,
every head and beard shaved in mourning.
3 They wander the streets dressed in sackcloth;
on roofs and public places people wail, collapsing in abundance of tears.
4 The cries of Heshbon in the north and Elealeh nearby
reach to Jahaz in the east.
Moab is shaken to the core, wracked with terror, sadness, and grief;
even its bravest soldiers cry out.
5 It breaks my heart to hear Moab.
Refugees make for Zoar at Edom’s border to Eglath-shelishiyah.
They climb, weeping, to the heights of Luhith and along roads to Horonaim.
They go with shattering cries.
The land itself is destroyed, dead.
6 Where it had been green and rippling with tall grasses, now it’s brown and dusty.
Where sweet water glistened all along Nimrim, now it’s dry and desolate.
7 So the people are carting away all their belongings.
Whatever they’ve gathered, they carry along the brook lined with poplars.
8 And Moab cries; the whole country wails.
From Eglaim to Beer-elim, you can hear the crying.
9 The waters of Dimon run red with blood.
Eternal One: I will bring more disaster to Dimon: those fugitives of Moab will fare even worse—I’ll send predators upon the remnant of the land to hunt them down.
16 A Refugee (to the Moabites): Bring tender lambs to the ruler of the land.
From Sela through the desert
to the beautiful mountain called Zion, maybe they’ll let us in.
2 And indeed like birds whose homes were demolished,
like baby birds torn from their nests,
Moab’s daughters, scattered and fluttering, arrive at the fords,
ready to cross the Arnon River.
3 (to Jerusalem) Give us your best advice and do what is right.
When the day is at its fiercest, hide us in your cool shade.
Shield the trammeled and abused.
Keep your mouth shut when our enemy comes looking, seeking us out.
4 Let these refugees of Moab come in and stay.
Protect these tempest-tossed; be their hiding place,
a shelter safe from the destroyer.
See, when the one who has squeezed and oppressed you is gone
and the forces of crushing violence wane in the land,
5 Then God will establish a royal throne, in loyal love—
the One who rules there will be utterly reliable,
With absolute integrity under the auspices of David.
With a passion for justice, He will be quick to decide and do what is right.
God’s answer to Moab’s plea for help is none other than the Messiah. One day David’s son will take the throne and rule with absolute justice.
6 Oh yes, we’ve heard of Moab, how much they think of themselves—
so important, so valuable, so hot-tempered;
But we know it’s just idle boasts.
7 Let them bemoan their destruction and fall—every last one of them.
Go ahead, mourn, all you who were struck down;
Cry for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8 The productive fields of Heshbon are withering in the heat;
the choice vines of Sibmah are decimated.
The rulers of the nations are wreaking havoc across the land,
crushing its grape clusters and leveling its old stout vines.
Moab’s tender shoots spread from Jazer to the desert,
then right down to the sea[b] and even across it.
9 This is why I cry salty tears over Jazer,
over the vines of Sibmah and over the fields of Heshbon.
And God’s-Ascent, Elealeh, I weep for you—over your branches,
once so green and strong, now broken and brown with death.
No one rejoices anymore over your fruits and harvest.
10 What joy these fields and orchards brought, what pleasure and delight,
with their beauty, with their bounty.
But no more cheerful shouts accompany the harvest of the vineyards.
No one is left to press the grapes into wine.
I have silenced all your joyous shouting.
11 My heart hums like a harp with grief for you, Moab.
I ache with soul-sadness for Kir-hareseth.
12 When the people of Moab present themselves to their gods, when they weary themselves with frequent journeys to their high places, when they enter their sanctuary to pray, then they will find none of their gods are able to help them. 13 This is the message the Eternal gave Isaiah earlier about Moab. 14 But now He has another message.
Eternal One: In just three years—as a hired hand might count them—the power and prestige of Moab will come to an end. Its population will be killed and scattered; only a few, the poor and powerless, will survive the onslaught.
17 A message about Damascus:
An ethnic group of Arameans control what will one day be the southern region of Syria; it is known as Aram. Damascus is its capital. Out of fear of Assyria and its brutal expansion west, Israel and Aram form an alliance and try to bully Judah and her king, Ahaz, into joining the futile confederation. But the prophet Isaiah holds a different opinion. He boldly instructs the king not to make any alliances or form any confederation as the Assyrian threat grows; instead, the prophet says, trust in God and God will protect you. But Israel and Aram attempt to force Judah into their alliance, unseating her king and replacing him with someone they can control. So Ahaz makes an alliance, not with Israel and Aram, but with their enemy, Assyria. When he asks for the empire’s help, they eagerly agree. Although Assyria assists Ahaz in warding off one threat, Assyria itself constitutes an even greater threat as Judah will soon experience.
Eternal One: So much for the “city of Damascus.”
It’s done for. Soon it will be just a pile of rubble.
2 The towns around it[c] will empty of people and be turned back to open land.
Imagine—sheep grazing and lying down where people used to live.
There won’t be a soul to scare them off.
3 The defenses of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, will fall—
Ephraim’s fortress walls will tumble down;
Damascus will no longer rule itself.
Aram—what is left of them—will resemble Israel’s fading glory.
That’s what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says.
4 Eternal One: Israel will be humbled then too;
our cousins, the children of Jacob, will lose their luster, their wealth and excess.
5 The land will resemble a field stripped until it is nearly bare,
like when the harvest has come and gone,
like the meager grain gleaned in the valley of Rephaim.
6 But some gleanings will remain
like when olive trees are beaten,
Where two or three olives remain at the top of a tree
and four or five hold on tight to its fruitful branches.
So says the Eternal One, Israel’s God.
7 Then, in that day, people will turn to the One who shaped them.
They’ll look on the Creator, the Holy One of Israel,
8 And disregard the things they’d made into gods.
They’ll turn away from worthless, handmade objects, sacred poles, and incense altars.
9 And then, in that day, their great cities will be abandoned
like defenseless outposts in a hilly forest,
Like those deserted when the Israelites took the land;
the scene will be eerily quiet and empty.
Israel’s devotion to things of their own making will come to nothing. If God is not the center of their work and striving, every gain is in fact a loss.
10 You have proven forgetful of God—how God pulls you clear of danger,
how God stands firm, like a great Rock where you can take shelter.
Because you have forgotten the one True God,
you planted pleasant gardens and set out tender vines of a strange god.
11 They sprouted so quickly the day you set them out;
they budded immediately the morning you planted them;
But you will never gather any sweet grapes from them.
What you reap will be illness and pain; that day will be filled with sadness.
12 Listen to the restless roar of the peoples!
They roar like a fitful sea.
Listen to the crashing thunder of the nations;
they thunder like a powerful surge of water.
13 But even if they thunder like a wall of water,
when God rebukes them, they will run far away;
With a word they’ll be driven like chaff in a mountain gust
or dust in a windstorm.
14 In the evening, look, their enemies terrorize them;
but by morning, they’re gone.
So it will be for those who attack and steal from us;
those who take, take, take will come to nothing and run away.
18 O land abuzz with the whirring of wings,
far away past the Ethiopian rivers,
2 With papyrus-reed boats shuttling ambassadors back and forth!
Go quickly, you messengers, to those impressive people,
Those fearsome and terrifying people so lank and smooth.
Theirs is a powerful nation divided by rivers.
3 All citizens of the world, every last inhabitant of the earth, pay attention!
When you see a signal raised on the mountains, look!
When the trumpets sound the alarm, listen!
4 Because the Eternal told me,
Eternal One: I am in control—calm and serene.
I am watching quietly from where I dwell
Just as surely as the heat shimmers in the blazing sun
and the dewy mists cool the warmth of a harvest day.
5 For even before the harvest begins, when the buds blossom
and the flowers make way for the ripening grapes,
God will cut back their shoots with pruning shears,
lop off and clear away the spreading branches.
6 He will leave the trimmings for the birds of prey
and the wild animals on the mountain.
The vultures will feed on their flesh during the summer,
and the wild animals will be nourished on their bones through the winter.
At times God watches “behind the scenes” quietly, calmly. But when it is the right time, God knows where and how to act. Throughout history nations rise and fall, but God is as constant as the summer heat and the cool fall breezes. Many nations such as Ethiopia look for diplomatic solutions and alliances in the face of the Assyrian threat. But Isaiah counsels them to stand back and watch, for he knows what God is about to do. Before the harvest, that is, before the armed rebellion against Assyria is set to begin, God moves in, pruning, lopping, clearing, and preparing the world for a better day.
7 Then those terrifying peoples—the lank and smooth from far away,
from the land divided by rivers, powerful and domineering—
Will honor the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, with gifts.
These proud people will bring them to Mount Zion,
Where the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has placed His special name.
19 A message about Egypt:
The Eternal One will come winging in to Egypt
On a swiftly moving cloud, making her idols quake.
The Egyptians themselves will lose heart in the face of God.
2, 4 The Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says,
Eternal One: I will subject the Egyptians to oppressive forces
and heartless leadership of a dictator-king.
I will make them turn against each other,
Egyptian against Egyptian, a civil war,
Right down to the houses within a neighborhood—
city against city, district against district.[d]
3 They’ll lose all courage and I’ll frustrate their plans.
They’ll seek the advice of long dead ancestors and empty idols,
mediums and fortune-tellers.
But it is I who determine their fate.
5-7 Egypt’s waterways and everything that lives in them will dry up and die—
saltwater and fresh, standing pools and running streams will all evaporate.
All the reeds and rushes along the river’s edge will wither and die and rot away.
All the crops sown by the Nile will turn brittle and dry,
to be blown away—completely away—by sultry winds.
The people who depend on these waters for their livelihood will see their lives and future evaporate before them.
8 Fishermen who set their lines and cast their nets into the Nile
will languish and mourn.
9 Weavers who comb flax into spinning fibers
and produce linen will be deep in despair.
10 The solid citizens of Egypt will be crushed,
and all who work hard for a day’s wage will be deeply distressed.
11 The leaders of Zoan are fools!
And those who count themselves among the Pharaoh’s smartest counselors
Base their advice on bizarre flights of fancy.
How can you tell Pharaoh,
“I am among the long line of Egypt’s wise and an heir of ancient kings”?
12 I certainly don’t see any such sages. If they’re here,
they should be able to tell you
what the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, has in store for Egypt.
13 The elite, the nobles from the northern delta south to bustling Memphis,
have been overconfident, deluded fools.
These cornerstones of society have led Egypt in the wrong direction,
and Egypt pays the price.
14 The Eternal has mixed them up and confused them.
God has frustrated Egypt’s efforts in everything.
Weaving and sick like an everyday drunk.
15 There will be nothing left for Egypt to do.
Nobody—no head, no tail, no noble palm, no lowly reed—
will be able to help Egypt.
16 Then, in that day, when the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, raises His hand and displays His power, the Egyptians will cower like frightened women. 17 Egypt will even be terrified of our little Judah. Just the word “Judah” will set everyone trembling and shaking because of what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, plans to do against them.
18 In that day, five cities in Egypt, one of which is called the city of destruction,[e] will adopt the language we speak in Canaan and swear to remain faithful to the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
19 When that day arrives, there will be an altar for rituals, marking the Eternal’s sacred space right there in the middle of Egypt, and a pillar erected to Him at its border. 20 These will serve to notify everyone that the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, is present; God can and will be in Egypt. And if things get bad for them, the Eternal will respond to their cries for help by sending someone—a liberator and defender—to deliver them from their oppressors. 21 The Eternal will make sure the Egyptians know Him. They will know and worship Him with gifts and praise, solemn promises and offerings. 22 After all God’s disciplining action, the Eternal will take them back with gentle care. After His punishment, there will be healing; the Egyptians will turn to Him, and He will hear and heal them.
Though Egypt and Assyria are mortal enemies, God is about to do something new for them both. The God of peace always seeks to make peace among the nations.
23 When that day arrives, there will be a road connecting Egypt to Assyria and people of both nations will travel it to worship together, side-by-side. 24 Our land of Israel, through which that road travels, will then be allied with these other great nations, and Israel will be a whole-earth blessing, the hub of proper worship. 25 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, declares such blessing:
Eternal One: Egypt, too, shall be blessed and called “My people” and Assyria “My doing,” because I made it. Israel, of course, is simply Mine—now as before and as ever will be—“My heritage.”
20 In the same year that the Assyrian field marshal sent by Sargon II, who was king in Assyria at that time, attacked and successfully defeated Ashdod, 2 Isaiah (Amoz’s son) was told by the Eternal to deliver a message by acting it out.
It is said “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Too true: in order to communicate a spiritual message, sometimes God uses a physical action—something everyone can see or hear—much like a picture. In this instance the actions of Isaiah become the picture God wants His people to see. The prophet himself becomes the focus of attention as he demonstrates in shocking ways what God is intending to do to Israel’s southern neighbors, Egypt and Ethiopia. God is able to speak with clarity because all attention is focused on this prophetic drama that is being played out before them.
Eternal One: Take off all your clothes of mourning, and take off your shoes too.
Of course, Isaiah did that, which left him utterly naked, head to toe.
Eternal One: 3 My servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign that Egypt and Ethiopia will be stripped of everything. 4 Assyria will take away Egypt’s captives and Ethiopia’s exiles, young and old alike, naked and barefoot as slaves. The Egyptians’ shameful impotence and their bare behinds will be on display for all to see as they are driven away by the Assyrians. 5 They will be mortified and humiliated, for they depended on each other, confident that Egypt and Ethiopia could withstand Assyrian assault. 6 In the face of it, people along the coastland, like Ashdod, will say, “If countries like those that we counted on for support and security are falling to the might of Assyria’s king, we don’t have a chance!”
Isaiah is given a vision of a frightening event. It comes roaring at him like a sandstorm blowing across the Negev. The vision is harsh and violent, but very real. The prophet describes this vision and the others like it as “burdens,” for it is hard to bear such bad news. This particular vision is given to the “sea of Wilderness” or Babylon; it is the second prophecy predicting Babylon’s punishment (chapters 13–14). He addresses a series of burdensome messages to other cities, nations, and peoples. What is common to all of these prophecies is that God is angry with these nations for the harsh way they treat His covenant people, and He will not just let it go. So God has decided to punish them, and He warns his prophet ahead of time what is about to happen. This message is welcome news to the Judeans who suffered beneath the cruel tyranny of these foreign powers. On the one hand, God used Judah’s enemies to accomplish His purpose. On the other, they have overstepped the limit.
21 A message about the Sea of Wilderness (Babylon):
From the desert, from a frightening land it comes
like a raging tempest, a sandstorm in the Negev.
2 A vision most harsh came to me:
The deceiver deceives,
and the abuser abuses.
Get up and go, Elam;
and Media, cut off supplies!
All groaning will cease; I’ve put an end to the sounds of misery.
3 My stomach sinks. My gut churns with pain.
As a woman in labor wrenches and writhes, I can hardly bear the news.
I cannot hear because I’m bent over with agony.
I cannot see because I’m deep in the fog of depression.
4 My heart skips a beat; my mind is buzzing, terribly unsettled.
Horror and trembling rattle the serenity of the evening I longed for.
5 Meanwhile, the ones who are in charge
are spreading out a feast, eating and drinking just like normal.
I want to say to them:
“Get up, officers.
Oil your shields, and be prepared!”
6 Because the Eternal has told me,
Eternal One: Get someone to keep an eye on things.
Have him report whatever he sees.
7 Tell him to watch closely for riders on teams of horses, donkeys, and camels.
If he sees them, put him on full alert.
8 Sentinel: I stand guard at the watchtower, Lord, day after day.
I never leave my post during the night.
9 Look! They’re coming just as you said: a chariot driver and a team of horses.
The driver tells me “Babylon is fallen!
Our oppressor has fallen and all their idols,
worthless imposters of the one True God, are shattered on the ground.”
10 O, my people, who have been threshed and winnowed like wheat,
I am telling you what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, Israel’s God, said.
11 A message about Duma:
Someone is calling me from Seir.
Edomite (to a sentinel): How much remains of this night?
How long until morning?
12 Sentinel: Morning is coming, you can be sure of it.
But night will quickly follow.
If you want to know, then check back later.
13 A message about Arabia:
Spend the night in the forests of Arabia, off the beaten path,
O caravans from Dedan.
14 Hey, people of Tema, bring them supplies,
water for the thirsty and food for the refugees.
15 They’re on the run, refugees tired of war,
trying to escape the edge of the sword, the bent bow,
And the imminent threat of battle.
Eternal One (to Isaiah): 16 Within a year—as a hired hand might count it—Kedar will be finished. All that made it so impressive will crumble. 17 As for its archers and mighty warriors, they will all but disappear.
It will happen because the Eternal, the God of Israel, said so.
22 A message about the valley of Vision[f]:
What in the world is wrong with you?
Why have you climbed on your housetops and started celebrating?
2 What noise! The whole city is in an uproar.
Don’t you realize that your fallen comrades didn’t actually die fighting,
3 That your leaders turned tail together and ran,
only to be captured without a fight, without even drawing their weapons?
The rest of you tried to run far away
but were still captured.
4 This is why I said, “Just leave me alone;
let me weep bitterly over this travesty.
Don’t tell me it’s not that bad, or that everything will be all right.
We’re talking about the destruction of my cherished people!”
5 The Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
determined that this would be the time for destruction—
Smashing and crashing, wreaking havoc and chaos in the valley of Vision,
battering down walls and crying out to the mountains.
6 You tried, but how could you hold off Elam’s skilled archers
with chariots and horsemen and Kir’s soldiers—shields held high.
7 The invader’s chariots overran your pristine valleys,
and their horsemen made their stand at the city gates.
8 But God simply did away with Judah’s defenses.
In that day you put your trust in weapons stored in the armory.
9 You began to fix the many breaks in the walls of the city of David.
You stocked up on water from the lower pool.
10 You took stock of the houses in Jerusalem,
and began to dismantle them stone-by-stone to shore up the city wall.
11 You built a reservoir between two walls to hold the water of the old pool.
But in all this you neglected the One who could really save you;
You failed to consider the One who actually made this place
and established it so long ago.
12 Consequently, the Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
determined that day would be a time of weeping and regret,
A time of shaved heads and donning sackcloth
and a time for mourning.
13 Yet you missed the point and made merry,
slaughtering cattle and sheep for a giant celebration,
Eating and drinking your fill of wine!
People (to each other): Eat up, drink up, for tomorrow we die.[g]
14 Eternal One (to Isaiah): This sin will not be forgiven.
It will stay with you until your dying day.
That’s what the Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, said.
This message beginning with verse 15 is laid on the people of God living in and around Jerusalem. The prophet’s word is a corrective to those who proudly and confidently presume that they enjoy a privileged status with God by virtue of where they live and who their ancestors are. After all, God has pledged to King David that his dynasty will continue. The Judeans assume this means they will not have to worry about their enemies, regardless of how faithful or faithless they are to God. So when the enemy threat materializes on their border and moves right into bowshot, they do what most people do: they make reasonable, defensive preparations. But what they forget to do is key: they forget to turn to God. They put their trust in their weapons and their engineering skills. They ignore the One who established the city and made them a nation in the first place. So God tells Isaiah to have a talk with Shebna, the caretaker of the royal palace. God is about to make a change.
Eternal One:[h] 15 Come on. Go to Shebna, the caretaker of the royal household,
and confront him saying,
16 “Why are you here, anyway? Do you really belong here?
What right do you have to build yourself an elegant tomb
And stone monument here out of the rock on this hill?
17 Look, strong man! The Eternal is about to throw you out,
wildly, violently. With a firm grasp
18 He will crush you like a ball—hurl you deep into a land
far, far away where you go to die.
You will be known as the shame of your master’s house
and your splendid chariots will lie empty.
19 I will see to it that you’re driven from your post, toppled from your position,
with all the disgrace and shame that you deserve.
20 When that day comes, I will summon My faithful servant;
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah will be called
21 To take over and assume your authority and office.
I will clothe him in your royal robes and fasten your sash securely around him.
He will be a father to the people:
He will have authority over Jerusalem and Judah.
22 I will grant him the key to David’s royal house and
no one can shut what he opens;
no one can open what he shuts.
23 I will attach him securely like a peg to that house,
and he will bring honor to his father and his family.
24 On him will hang all the riches,
all the honor, of his family’s future.
25 On the appointed day, the peg that was attached so securely to that house
will become weak, break off, and fall to the ground.
And everything that had been hung on it will fall down and shatter.
The Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, has declared it to be so.
23 A message about Tyre:
For a period under David and Solomon, the Israelites live in harmony with their neighbors. But jealousy and envy are frequently under the surface. The people of Israel occupy a key location that becomes a battleground for domination by world powers because of its important trade routes. At some point, every single one of Israel’s neighbors attacks and abuses this little nation. This oracle has to do primarily with the city of Tyre, a port on the Phoenician coast famous for the people’s advanced technologies and skills in shipbuilding, sailing, and trading. But those who sail across the Mediterranean so easily are getting ready to face hard times.
Cry out in anguish, you who travel the Mediterranean from east to west!
Cry out, Tarshishian ships, because Tyre is no more.
It is devastated—no houses, no harbor—nothing is left.
The people from Cyprus have witnessed it.
2 Grieve quietly, you people along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea.
3 You go through great waters in boats filled with the grain of Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was Tyre’s revenue;
She was the marketplace of the nations.
4 Shame runs deep for Sidon since the sea has said,
“I bore and raised no sons or daughters as my own.”
5 Egypt will be terribly upset, too,
when they learn about Tyre’s destruction.
6 So you who live along the coast,
make for Tarshish, and bewail your fate.
7 One wonders: could this really be the same city?
It was so jubilant, so magnificent, so commanding for its trade.
Is this the city that’s been around longer than memory
and her citizens have traveled to exotic, faraway places?
8 Tyre’s merchants and traders were princes and nobles,
respected everywhere around the world.
Who did this to Tyre,
a city that awards honor with crowns?
9 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has determined,
Tyre should be destroyed, wrecked, and disgraced
To spoil the foolish arrogance of all glory and
to show how insignificant earthly honors are.
10 People of Tarshish, you should traverse your land as if it were the Nile.
With Tyre out of the way, there’s nothing to stop you anymore.
11 God’s power extends across the sea;
He has terrified the nations,
turning Canaan loose against them to demolish their fortresses.
12 Eternal One: The celebration is over, downtrodden virgin daughter of Sidon.
There’s nothing left of you to take pride in.
Go ahead, pack up and move to Cyprus.
But you still won’t find rest.
13 Just look at the land of the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia. There are no such people anymore. The Assyrians came along, took it over, and left it for the desert animals; they built their siege machines, stripped its palaces, and determined that it should be ruined.
14 Cry out in anguish, ships of Tarshish
because your fortress is no more.
15 Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the lifespan of a king. After that Tyre’s fate will be like the song of the prostitute:
16 “O forgotten woman, yesterday’s prostitute,
take up a harp, and walk about the city.
Play it well, and sing your melodies,
so you will be remembered.”
17 When 70 years have passed, the Eternal will visit Tyre, and she’ll return to her wicked ways—selling herself to all the countries of the world. 18 But everything Tyre earns—her profit, her goods—won’t be stored or saved: all will be devoted to the Eternal; her stocks will supply all the food and fine clothing needed by those who serve in the presence of the Eternal One.
Footnotes
- 13:10 Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24–25
- 16:8 The Dead Sea
- 17:2 Hebrew manuscripts read, “cities of Aroer.”
- 19:4 Verse 4 has been moved forward to help in the comprehension of the passage.
- 19:18 Or “city of the sun,” Heliopolis
- 22:1 A reference to Jerusalem
- 22:13 1 Corinthians 15:32
- 22:15 “The Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies” has been shifted to the end of the discourse (verse 25) to avoid confusing the identity of the speaker.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
