Isaiah 18-23

New International Version

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(E)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive^(F) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.^(G)

³ All you people of the world,^(H)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner^(I) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet^(J) sounds,
    you will hear it.
⁴ This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet^(K) and will look on from my dwelling place,^(L)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,^(M)
    like a cloud of dew^(N) in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off^(O) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.^(P)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey^(Q)
    and to the wild animals;^(R)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(T)
    from a people feared^(U) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers^(V)—

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud^(Z)
    and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
    and the hearts of the Egyptians melt^(AA) with fear.

² “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
    brother will fight against brother,^(AB)
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    kingdom against kingdom.^(AC)
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,^(AD)
    and I will bring their plans^(AE) to nothing;^(AF)
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
    the mediums and the spiritists.^(AG)
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
    to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king^(AH) will rule over them,”
    declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

⁵ The waters of the river will dry up,^(AI)
    and the riverbed will be parched and dry.^(AJ)
6 The canals will stink;^(AK)
    the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.^(AL)
The reeds^(AM) and rushes will wither,^(AN)
7     also the plants^(AO) along the Nile,
    at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field^(AP) along the Nile
    will become parched, will blow away and be no more.^(AQ)
8 The fishermen^(AR) will groan and lament,
    all who cast hooks^(AS) into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
    will pine away.
⁹ Those who work with combed flax^(AT) will despair,
    the weavers of fine linen^(AU) will lose hope.
¹⁰ The workers in cloth will be dejected,
    and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

¹¹ The officials of Zoan^(AV) are nothing but fools;
    the wise counselors^(AW) of Pharaoh give senseless advice.^(AX)
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am one of the wise men,^(AY)
    a disciple of the ancient kings”?

¹² Where are your wise men^(AZ) now?
    Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
    has planned^(BA) against Egypt.
¹³ The officials of Zoan^(BB) have become fools,
    the leaders of Memphis^(BC) are deceived;
the cornerstones^(BD) of her peoples
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has poured into them
    a spirit of dizziness;^(BE)
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
    as a drunkard staggers^(BF) around in his vomit.
¹⁵ There is nothing Egypt can do—
    head or tail, palm branch or reed.^(BG)

Like whirlwinds^(DU) sweeping through the southland,^(DV)
    an invader comes from the desert,
    from a land of terror.

² A dire^(DW) vision has been shown to me:
    The traitor betrays,^(DX) the looter takes loot.
Elam,^(DY) attack! Media,^(DZ) lay siege!
    I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

³ At this my body is racked with pain,^(EA)
    pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;^(EB)
I am staggered by what I hear,
    I am bewildered^(EC) by what I see.
⁴ My heart^(ED) falters,
    fear makes me tremble;^(EE)
the twilight I longed for
    has become a horror^(EF) to me.

⁵ They set the tables,
    they spread the rugs,
    they eat, they drink!^(EG)
Get up, you officers,
    oil the shields!^(EH)

“Go, post a lookout^(EI)
    and have him report what he sees.
⁷ When he sees chariots^(EJ)
    with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
    or riders on camels,^(EK)
let him be alert,
    fully alert.”

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
    every night I stay at my post.
⁹ Look, here comes a man in a chariot^(EM)
    with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
    ‘Babylon^(EN) has fallen,^(EO) has fallen!
All the images of its gods^(EP)
    lie shattered^(EQ) on the ground!’”

¹⁰ My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,^(ER)
    I tell you what I have heard
from the Lord Almighty,
    from the God of Israel.

Someone calls to me from Seir,^(ET)
    “Watchman, what is left of the night?
    Watchman, what is left of the night?”
¹² The watchman replies,
    “Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
    and come back yet again.”

You caravans of Dedanites,^(EW)
    who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
¹⁴     bring water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,^(EX)
    bring food for the fugitives.
¹⁵ They flee^(EY) from the sword,^(EZ)
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
    and from the heat of battle.

What troubles you now,
    that you have all gone up on the roofs,^(FI)
2 you town so full of commotion,
    you city of tumult^(FJ) and revelry?^(FK)
Your slain^(FL) were not killed by the sword,^(FM)
    nor did they die in battle.
³ All your leaders have fled^(FN) together;
    they have been captured^(FO) without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
    having fled while the enemy was still far away.
⁴ Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
    let me weep^(FP) bitterly.
Do not try to console me
    over the destruction of my people.”^(FQ)

⁵ The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day^(FR)
    of tumult and trampling^(FS) and terror^(FT)
    in the Valley of Vision,^(FU)
a day of battering down walls^(FV)
    and of crying out to the mountains.
⁶ Elam^(FW) takes up the quiver,^(FX)
    with her charioteers and horses;
    Kir^(FY) uncovers the shield.
⁷ Your choicest valleys^(FZ) are full of chariots,
    and horsemen are posted at the city gates.^(GA)

⁸ The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
    and you looked in that day^(GB)
    to the weapons^(GC) in the Palace of the Forest.^(GD)
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
    were broken through^(GE) in many places;
you stored up water
    in the Lower Pool.^(GF)
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
    and tore down houses^(GG) to strengthen the wall.^(GH)
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls^(GI)
    for the water of the Old Pool,^(GJ)
but you did not look to the One who made it,
    or have regard^(GK) for the One who planned^(GL) it long ago.

¹² The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day^(GM)
to weep^(GN) and to wail,
    to tear out your hair^(GO) and put on sackcloth.^(GP)
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,^(GQ)
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!^(GR)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
    “for tomorrow we die!”^(GS)

“Go, say to this steward,
    to Shebna^(GV) the palace^(GW) administrator:^(GX)
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission
    to cut out a grave^(GY) for yourself^(GZ) here,
hewing your grave on the height
    and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷ “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
    and hurl^(HA) you away, you mighty man.
¹⁸ He will roll you up tightly like a ball
    and throw^(HB) you into a large country.
There you will die
    and there the chariots^(HC) you were so proud of
    will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
¹⁹ I will depose you from your office,
    and you will be ousted^(HD) from your position.^(HE)

Wail,^(HV) you ships^(HW) of Tarshish!^(HX)
    For Tyre is destroyed^(HY)
    and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
    word has come to them.

² Be silent,^(HZ) you people of the island
    and you merchants^(IA) of Sidon,^(IB)
    whom the seafarers have enriched.
³ On the great waters
    came the grain of the Shihor;^(IC)
the harvest of the Nile^[i](ID) was the revenue of Tyre,^(IE)
    and she became the marketplace of the nations.

⁴ Be ashamed, Sidon,^(IF) and you fortress of the sea,
    for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;^(IG)
    I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
⁵ When word comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish^(IH) at the report from Tyre.^(II)

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish;^(IJ)
    wail, you people of the island.
⁷ Is this your city of revelry,^(IK)
    the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
    to settle in far-off lands?
⁸ Who planned this against Tyre,
    the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants^(IL) are princes,
    whose traders^(IM) are renowned in the earth?
⁹ The Lord Almighty planned^(IN) it,
    to bring down^(IO) her pride in all her splendor
    and to humble^(IP) all who are renowned^(IQ) on the earth.

¹⁰ Till^[j] your land as they do along the Nile,
    Daughter Tarshish,
    for you no longer have a harbor.
¹¹ The Lord has stretched out his hand^(IR) over the sea
    and made its kingdoms tremble.^(IS)
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
    that her fortresses be destroyed.^(IT)
12 He said, “No more of your reveling,^(IU)
    Virgin Daughter^(IV) Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;^(IW)
    even there you will find no rest.”
¹³ Look at the land of the Babylonians,^[k](IX)
    this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians^(IY) have made it
    a place for desert creatures;^(IZ)
they raised up their siege towers,^(JA)
    they stripped its fortresses bare
    and turned it into a ruin.^(JB)

¹⁴ Wail, you ships^(JC) of Tarshish;^(JD)
    your fortress is destroyed!^(JE)

¹⁶ “Take up a harp, walk through the city,
    you forgotten prostitute;^(JH)
play the harp well, sing many a song,
    so that you will be remembered.”