Isaiah 22-24

English Standard Version

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)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, ^(C)exultant town?
Your slain are ^(D)not slain with the sword
    or dead in battle.
³^(E)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;
    ^(F)let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
    concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

⁵^(G)For the Lord God of hosts has ^(H)a day
    of tumult and ^(I)trampling and ^(J)confusion
    in ^(K)the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
    and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶And ^(L)Elam bore the quiver
    with chariots and horsemen,
    and ^(M)Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
    and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸He has taken away ^(N)the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to ^(O)the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that ^(P)the breaches of the city of David were many. ^(Q)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^(R)You made a reservoir between ^(S)the two walls for the water of ^(T)the old pool. But ^(U)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

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

¹⁵Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to ^(AC)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here, and whom have you here, ^(AD)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you ^(AE)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. ^(AF)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 ^(AG)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. ¹⁹^(AH)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant ^(AI)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and ^(AJ)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 ^(AK)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place ^(AL)on his shoulder ^(AM)the key of the house of David. ^(AN)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him ^(AO)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become ^(AP)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, ^(AQ)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.”

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The ^(AR)oracle concerning ^(AS)Tyre.

Wail, O ^(AT)ships of Tarshish,
    for Tyre is laid waste, ^(AU)without house or harbor!
From ^(AV)the land of Cyprus^[a]
    it is revealed to them.
²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
    the merchants of ^(AW)Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
³And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were ^(AX)the merchant of the nations.
⁴Be ashamed, O ^(AY)Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
    the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
    I have neither reared young men
    nor brought up young women.”
⁵When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish^[b] over the report about Tyre.
⁶^(AZ)Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
⁷Is this your exultant city
    ^(BA)whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?
⁸Who has purposed this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
⁹The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
    ^(BB)to defile the pompous pride of all glory,^[c]
    to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
¹⁰Cross over your land like the Nile,
    O daughter of Tarshish;
    there is no restraint anymore.
¹¹^(BC)He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
    he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
    to destroy its strongholds.
¹²And he said:
“You will no more exult,
    O oppressed virgin daughter of ^(BD)Sidon;
arise, ^(BE)cross over to ^(BF)Cyprus,
    even there you will have no rest.”

¹³Behold the land of ^(BG)the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;^[d] Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected ^(BH)their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

¹⁴^(BI)Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.

¹⁵In that day Tyre will be forgotten for ^(BJ)seventy years, like the days^[e] of one king. At the end of ^(BK)seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶“Take a harp;
    go about the city,
    O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
    sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of ^(BL)seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and ^(BM)will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

Judgment on the Whole Earth

24 Behold, ^(BN)the Lord will empty the earth^[f] and make it desolate,
    and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
²^(BO)And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
    as with the slave, so with his master;
    as with the maid, so with her mistress;
^(BP)as with the buyer, so with the seller;
    as with the lender, so with the borrower;
    ^(BQ)as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³^(BR)The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
    ^(BS)for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴^(BT)The earth mourns and withers;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵The earth lies ^(BU)defiled
    under its inhabitants;
for ^(BV)they have transgressed the laws,
    violated the statutes,
    broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶Therefore ^(BW)a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants ^(BX)suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
    and few men are left.
⁷^(BY)The wine mourns,
    the vine languishes,
    all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸^(BZ)The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
    the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
    the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹No more do they drink wine ^(CA)with singing;
    strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰^(CB)The wasted city is broken down;
    ^(CC)every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹^(CD)There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
    ^(CE)all joy has grown dark;
    the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹²Desolation is left in the city;
    the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
    among the nations,
^(CF)as when an olive tree is beaten,
    as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
    over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.^[g]
¹⁵^(CG)Therefore in the east^[h] give glory to the Lord;
    in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
¹⁶^(CH)From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
    of glory to ^(CI)the Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away,
    I waste away. Woe is me!
For ^(CJ)the traitors have betrayed,
    with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

¹⁷^(CK)Terror and the pit and the snare^[i]
    are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸^(CL)He who flees at the sound of the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
For ^(CM)the windows of heaven are opened,
    and ^(CN)the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,
    the earth is split apart,
    the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰The earth ^(CO)staggers like a drunken man;
    it sways like a hut;
^(CP)its transgression lies heavy upon it,
    and it falls, and will not rise again.

²¹On that day the Lord will punish
    the host of heaven, in heaven,
    and ^(CQ)the kings of the earth, on the earth.
²²^(CR)They will be gathered together
    as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
    and after many days ^(CS)they will be punished.
²³^(CT)Then the moon will be confounded
    and the sun ashamed,
for ^(CU)the Lord of hosts reigns
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.