Isaiah 18-22

New Living Translation

Go, swift messengers!
Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,
    who are feared far and wide
for their conquests and destruction,
    and whose land is divided by rivers.

³ All you people of the world,
    everyone who lives on the earth—
when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look!
    When I blow the ram’s horn, listen!
⁴ For the Lord has told me this:
“I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—
    as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day,
    or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.”
⁵ Even before you begin your attack,
    while your plans are ripening like grapes,
the Lord will cut off your new growth with pruning shears.
    He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.
⁶ Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields
    for the mountain vultures and wild animals.
The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer.
    The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.

⁷ At that time the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will receive gifts
    from this land divided by rivers,
from this tall, smooth-skinned people,
    who are feared far and wide for their conquests and destruction.
They will bring the gifts to Jerusalem,^[c]
    where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies dwells.

Look! The Lord is advancing against Egypt,
    riding on a swift cloud.
The idols of Egypt tremble.
    The hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

² “I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian—
    brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    province against province.
³ The Egyptians will lose heart,
    and I will confuse their plans.
They will plead with their idols for wisdom
    and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
⁴ I will hand Egypt over
    to a hard, cruel master.
A fierce king will rule them,”
    says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

⁵ The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields.
    The riverbed will be parched and dry.
⁶ The canals of the Nile will dry up,
    and the streams of Egypt will stink
    with rotting reeds and rushes.
⁷ All the greenery along the riverbank
    and all the crops along the river
    will dry up and blow away.
⁸ The fishermen will lament for lack of work.
    Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan,
    and those who use nets will lose heart.
⁹ There will be no flax for the harvesters,
    no thread for the weavers.
¹⁰ They will be in despair,
    and all the workers will be sick at heart.

¹¹ What fools are the officials of Zoan!
    Their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong.
Will they still boast to Pharaoh of their wisdom?
    Will they dare brag about all their wise ancestors?
¹² Where are your wise counselors, Pharaoh?
    Let them tell you what God plans,
    what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is going to do to Egypt.
¹³ The officials of Zoan are fools,
    and the officials of Memphis^[d] are deluded.
The leaders of the people
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has sent a spirit of foolishness on them,
    so all their suggestions are wrong.
They cause Egypt to stagger
    like a drunk in his vomit.
¹⁵ There is nothing Egypt can do.
    All are helpless—
the head and the tail,
    the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.

Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
    like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
² I see a terrifying vision:
    I see the betrayer betraying,
    the destroyer destroying.
Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,
    attack and lay siege.
I will make an end
    to all the groaning Babylon caused.
³ My stomach aches and burns with pain.
    Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
    like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
    I am too afraid to look.
⁴ My mind reels and my heart races.
    I longed for evening to come,
    but now I am terrified of the dark.

⁵ Look! They are preparing a great feast.
    They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
    Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
    You are being attacked!

⁶ Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,
“Put a watchman on the city wall.
    Let him shout out what he sees.
⁷ He should look for chariots
    drawn by pairs of horses,
and for riders on donkeys and camels.
    Let the watchman be fully alert.”

⁸ Then the watchman^[j] called out,
“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.
    Night after night I have remained at my post.
⁹ Now at last—look!
Here comes a man in a chariot
    with a pair of horses!”
Then the watchman said,
    “Babylon is fallen, fallen!
All the idols of Babylon
    lie broken on the ground!”
¹⁰ O my people, threshed and winnowed,
    I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,
    everything the God of Israel has told me.

Someone from Edom^[l] keeps calling to me,
“Watchman, how much longer until morning?
    When will the night be over?”
¹² The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but night will soon return.
    If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”

O caravans from Dedan,
    hide in the deserts of Arabia.
¹⁴ O people of Tema,
    bring water to these thirsty people,
    food to these weary refugees.
¹⁵ They have fled from the sword,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
    and the terrors of battle.

What is happening?
    Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
² The whole city is in a terrible uproar.
    What do I see in this reveling city?
Bodies are lying everywhere,
    killed not in battle but by famine and disease.
³ All your leaders have fled.
    They surrendered without resistance.
The people tried to slip away,
    but they were captured, too.
⁴ That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;
    do not try to comfort me.
Let me cry for my people
    as I watch them being destroyed.”

⁵ Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!
    What a day of confusion and terror
brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    upon the Valley of Vision!
The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,
    and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.
⁶ Elamites are the archers,
    with their chariots and charioteers.
    The men of Kir hold up the shields.
⁷ Chariots fill your beautiful valleys,
    and charioteers storm your gates.
⁸ Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.
    You run to the armory^[o] for your weapons.
⁹ You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.^[p]
    You store up water in the lower pool.
¹⁰ You survey the houses and tear some down
    for stone to strengthen the walls.
¹¹ Between the city walls, you build a reservoir
    for water from the old pool.
But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.
    You never considered the One who planned this long ago.

¹² At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
    and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
¹³ But instead, you dance and play;
    you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
    You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
    for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁶ “Who do you think you are,
    and what are you doing here,
building a beautiful tomb for yourself—
    a monument high up in the rock?
¹⁷ For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.
    He is going to grab you,
¹⁸ crumple you into a ball,
    and toss you away into a distant, barren land.
There you will die,
    and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.
    You are a disgrace to your master!