Bible in 90 Days
The Book of Judgment[a]
Indictment of Israel and Judah[b]
Chapter 1
The Sins of Israel. 1 The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he received during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 [c]Listen, O heavens, and pay close attention, O earth,
for the Lord is speaking.
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 An ox knows its owner
and the donkey its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
4 You are a sinful nation,
a people weighed down with iniquity,
a race of evildoers
whose children are corrupt;
you have forsaken the Lord,
despised the Holy One of Israel,
and turned your backs on him.
5 [d]Why do you continue to seek further beatings?
Why do you persist in your rebellion?
Your entire head is sick
and your whole heart is faint.
6 From the sole of your foot to your head
there is not a single healthy area
nothing but bruises and welts and open sores
that have not been drained or bandaged
or soothed with ointment.
7 Your country is a desolate waste,
and fire has destroyed your cities.
Before your very eyes
foreigners have devoured your land
and left it as desolate
as Sodom after it had been overthrown.
8 Daughter Zion[e] is left
like a shack in a vineyard,
like a shed in a field of cucumbers,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of hosts[f]
had not left us a few survivors,
we would have become like Sodom
and been like Gomorrah.
10 [g]Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom.
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah.
11 What do I care about your unceasing sacrifices?
says the Lord.
I am weary of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed animals.
I derive no delight in the blood
of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come into my presence,
who has asked you to present such offerings?
Never again trample my courts!
13 To bring me offerings is futile;
I regard your incense as loathsome.
New moons and Sabbaths and sacred assemblies—
I cannot tolerate your iniquity that accompanies them.
14 I loathe your new moons and your festivals;
they have become a burden to me
and I can no longer endure bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands,[h]
I will turn away my eyes from you.
Even if you pray endlessly,
I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with blood.
16 Wash yourselves and become clean;
remove your evil deeds
far from my sight.
Cease to do evil
17 and learn to do good.
Pursue justice and rescue the oppressed;
listen to the plea of the orphan[i]
and defend the widow.
18 Come now and let us discuss this,
says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow.
Though they are as red as crimson,
they shall become as white as wool.
19 If you are willing to obey,
you will eat the best food
that the land has to offer.
20 However, if you refuse and rebel,
the sword will devour you,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 How the faithful city
has become an adulteress,[j]
she who used to be a symbol of justice.
Righteousness used to dwell in her,
but now she is the abode of murderers.
22 Your silver has turned to dross,
and your wine is mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
All of them love bribes
and are eager to receive gifts.
They do not treat the orphan with justice,
and they refuse to listen to the pleas of widows.
24 Therefore, the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, says this:
I am determined to vent my anger upon my enemies
and wreak vengeance on my foes.
25 I will turn my hand against you
and refine your dross in the furnace,
purging all of your impurities.
26 And I will restore your judges
as in the days of old
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Then you will be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
27 Zion will be redeemed by judgment
and those who are repentant by righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners alike will be destroyed,
and those who forsake the Lord will perish.
29 You will be ashamed of the sacred oaks[k]
which offered you such delight,
and you will blush when you behold the gardens
which you chose in their stead.
30 You will be like a tree whose leaves are withered,
like a garden without water.
31 The strong man will become like straw
and his work like a spark.
Both will burn together,
and no one will be able to quench the flames.
The Internal Decadence of a People
Chapter 2
Jerusalem, the Religious Center.[l] 1 This is the vision seen by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be established as the highest mountain
and raised high above the hills.
Then all the nations will stream toward it;
3 many peoples will come to it and say,
“Come, let us ascend the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
so that he may teach us his ways
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion will go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and serve as an arbiter for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
One nation will not lift up a sword against another,
nor will they ever again be trained for war.
The Lord’s Triumph Will Come[m]
5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6 For you, O Lord, have abandoned your people,
the house of Jacob.
They are surrounded by fortune tellers
and by soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they are allying themselves with foreigners.[n]
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
and their treasures are without limit.
Their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.[o]
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down before the work of their hands,
before what their own fingers have fashioned.
9 Therefore human nature has been humbled
and mankind has been brought low;
do not forgive them.
10 Let them conceal themselves among the rocks
and hide in the dust
in their terror of the Lord
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of men will be brought low
and human arrogance will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted
on that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has ordained a day
against all those who are proud and haughty,
against all those who have been exalted and raised high,
13 against all the lofty and proud cedars of Lebanon
and against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the soaring mountains
and all the towering hills,
15 against every high tower
and every fortified wall,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish[p]
and every stately vessel.
17 Human pride will be humbled
and human arrogance will be brought low.
On that day,
the Lord alone will be exalted.
18 The idols will completely disappear;
19 they will crawl into the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
fleeing from the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty
when he arises to strike the world with terror.
20 On that day people will throw away
to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and gold
that they had made for themselves to worship.
21 They will crawl into the crevices of the rocks
and the clefts in the cliffs
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty
when he arises to terrify the earth.
22 Have nothing more to do with men
who have only the breath in their nostrils.
Of what value are they?
Chapter 3
Ruling against Judah and Jerusalem
1 Now the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
is about to deprive Jerusalem and Judah
of resources and provisions—
all supplies of bread and water—
2 warriors and soldiers,
judges and prophets,
fortune tellers and elders,
3 captains and dignitaries,
counselors, skilled magicians,
and expert enchanters.
4 I will appoint young boys as their princes,
mere lads to rule over them.
5 People will oppress one another,
each one ill-treated by his neighbor.
The young will be arrogant toward their elders,
as will the lowly toward the honorable.
6 A man will take hold of his brother
in their father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak;
you will be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
will be under your rule.”
7 But on that day
the other will cry out, saying,
“I am not qualified to undertake this;
in my house there is neither bread nor clothing.
You will not make me leader of the people.”
8 Jerusalem has been brought low
and Judah has fallen
because by their words and their deeds
they turned against the Lord
and defied his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sins like Sodom
without any effort to conceal them.
Woe to them!
For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
10 Happy are the righteous,
for they will eat the fruit of their labors.
11 Woe to the wicked.
All will go ill with them.
They will be repaid
as their actions deserve.
12 O my people, children are oppressing you
and women have become your rulers.
O my people, your rulers are leading you astray
and putting you on the road to ruin.
13 The Lord has risen to argue his case;
he stands up to judge his people.
14 The Lord enters into judgment
against the elders and the princes of his people:
It is you who have ravaged the vineyard;
the spoils you have taken from the poor
are in your houses.
15 What right do you have to crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?
says the Lord God of hosts.
16 The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with their heads held high,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
moving provocatively with mincing steps
and with their anklets tinkling,
17 the Lord will cover with scabs
the scalps of the daughters of Zion,
and he will lay bare their foreheads.
18 [q]On that day the Lord will take away their finery: anklets, headbands, and crescents; 19 pendants, bracelets, and shawls; 20 headdresses, bangles, necklaces, perfume boxes, and amulets; 21 signet rings and nose rings; 22 fine dresses, wraps, cloaks, and purses; 23 mirrors, linen garments, turbans, and veils.
24 Then instead of perfume there will be a stench,
and instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of a lovely hair setting, baldness,
instead of a rich gown, a sackcloth[r] dress,
and instead of beauty, branding marks.
25 O Zion, your men will fall by the sword
and your warriors will perish in battle.
26 Your gates will lament and mourn;
ravaged, you will sit desolate on the ground.
Chapter 4
1 On that day,
seven women will take hold of one man, saying,
“We will eat our own food
and provide for our own clothing.
Just let us bear your name.
Take away our disgrace.”
The Seed of the Lord[s]
2 On that day the branch of the Lord
will be beautiful and glorious,
and the fruit of the land
will be the pride and splendor
of the survivors of Israel.
3 Whoever is left in Zion
and whoever remains in Jerusalem
will be called holy,
everyone whose survival in Jerusalem was decreed.
4 When the Lord has washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst
by a spirit of judgment and of cleansing,
5 then the Lord will create
over every house on Mount Zion,
and over those who assemble there,
a cloud of smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night.
The glory of the Lord will be a canopy over all,
6 serving as a shade by day from the heat
and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain.
Chapter 5
The Song of the Vineyard[t]
1 Now let me sing for my beloved
the song of my friend concerning his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice red vines.
In its midst he built a watchtower
and also hewed out a winepress.
He expected it to yield a rich crop of grapes,
but the only thing it brought forth was wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
I ask you to judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I did not do?
When I expected it to yield choice grapes,
why did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 Now listen to me as I tell you
what I am planning to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge
and use it for grazing.
I will knock down its wall
and let it be trampled upon.
6 I will let it go to waste;
it will be neither pruned nor hoed,
but left overgrown with briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
not to allow any rain to fall upon it.
7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the plant he cherished.
He expected justice but found bloodshed;
he expected righteousness but heard cries of distress.
The Doom of Sinners
8 Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no further space remaining
and you are left to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts in my hearing
has sworn this solemn oath:
Many houses will be left desolate,
large and fine mansions
with no one to inhabit them.
10 For ten acres of vineyard
will yield only one barrel,
and ten bushels of seed
will yield only a single bushel.
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to imbibe strong drink,
and who linger far into the night
inflamed with wine.
12 Their feasts are marked with harps and lyres,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
But they never give thought to the deeds of the Lord,
or note what his hands have accomplished.
13 Therefore, my people shall end up in exile
because they have no knowledge of my deeds.
Their nobles are dying of hunger
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14 As a result, the netherworld has increased its appetite
and opened its jaws to an immeasurable extent,
swallowing the nobility of Jerusalem and her masses,
her throngs and all who exult in her.
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by his judgment,
and by righteousness the holy God has displayed his holiness.
17 Lambs will graze there as in their pasture,
and yearlings will feed among the ruins.
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity along
with the cords of perversity,
and who drag sin along
as though with cart ropes;
19 woe to those who say, “Let the Lord make haste
and speed up his work that we may see it;
let the Holy One of Israel
be brought to fulfillment
so that we may know it.”
20 Woe to those who call good what is evil
and call evil what is good,
who classify as darkness what is light
and designate as light what is darkness,
who make sweet what is bitter
and make bitter what is sweet.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and consider themselves to be prudent.
22 Woe to those who are unmatched in their consumption of wine
and unsurpassed in mixing drinks,
23 who accept bribes to acquit the guilty
and deny justice to the innocent.
24 As tongues of fire devour the stubble,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flames,
so their root will decay
and their blossoms will be scattered like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the anger of the Lord
blazed forth against his people;
he raised his hand against them
and struck them down.
The mountains quaked,
and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
But despite all this
his anger has not been sated,
and his hand is still stretched out.
Deliverance[u]
26 He will deliver a signal to a far-distant nation
and summon them from the ends of the earth;
they will respond swiftly without any delay.[v]
27 None of them are weary, none of them stumble,
no one slumbers or sleeps.
None of them have their belts unfastened
or sandals with a broken strap.
28 Their arrows are sharpened
and all their bows are bent.
The hoofs of their horses seem like flint,
and their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of a lion;
they growl like young lions.
They roar as they seize their prey,
and no one can prevent them from carrying it off.
30 They will roar over it on that day,
similar to the roaring of the sea.
And if anyone looks at the land,
he will behold only darkness and distress,
with the light fading at the approaching clouds.
The Book of Immanuel
Chapter 6
Isaiah’s Call.[w] 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 In attendance above him were seraphim.[x] Each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the third pair they flew. 3 And they called out to one another,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The entire earth is filled with his glory.”
4 The voices of those who called out shook the thresholds, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! I am doomed.
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding in his hand a burning coal that he had removed from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said,
“Now that this has touched your lips,
your guilt has been removed
and your sin has been blotted out.”
8 I then heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me!” 9 Then he replied: Go forth and tell this people:
No matter how carefully you listen,
you will not understand.
You will continue to look,
but you will not comprehend.
10 Make the minds of this people dull;
stop up their ears
and close their eyes.
Otherwise their eyes will see,
their ears will hear,
their hearts will understand,
and they will change their ways
and be healed.
11 Then I asked, “How long, O Lord?” He replied:
Until the cities lie in ruins
and become deserted,
until the houses are unoccupied
and the land lies completely desolate,
12 until the Lord drives the people far away
and the country will be totally abandoned.
13 Even if a tenth of the people remain there,
that area too will be destroyed,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains when it is felled;
the holy seed is its stump.
Chapter 7[y]
The Coming of Immanuel.[z] 1 During the period when Ahaz, the son of Jotham and the grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel, the son of Remaliah, went forth to conquer Jerusalem, but they were unable to mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was informed that Aram had pitched camp in Ephraim, the heart of King Ahaz and the hearts of his people began to tremble just as trees of the forest shake in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah: Go forth with your son Shear-jashub[aa] to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him, Pay close attention to me. Remain calm and be unafraid. Do not let your courage fail because of these two smoldering stumps of firewood. Do not yield to the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah, 5 or become fearful because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have been plotting against you and saying, 6 “Let us go forth and attack Judah. Let us tear it apart, force it to surrender to us, and appoint the son of Tabeel[ab] there as king.”
7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
This will not happen,
either now or ever.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
9 Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will no longer be a people.
If you do not stand firm in your faith
you will not stand firm at all.
10 [ac]Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying:
11 Ask the Lord, your God for a sign;
let it be as deep as the netherworld
or as high as the heavens.
12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Are you not satisfied to try the patience of men?
Must you also try the patience of my God?
14 Therefore, you will be given this sign
by the Lord himself:
The virgin will be with child,
and she will give birth to a son,
and she will name him Immanuel.
15 He will feed on curds and honey
by the time he learns to reject the bad
and choose the good.
16 Before that child has learned
to reject the bad and choose the good,
deserted will be the lands
of those two kings whom you dread.
17 The Lord will inflict on you,
and on your people and your father’s house,
days far worse than any that have been seen
since Ephraim[ad] broke away from Judah—
you will become subjects of the king of Assyria.
18 When that day arrives,
the Lord will summon flies from the distant streams of Egypt
and bees from the land of Assyria.
19 They will all come forth and settle
in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks,
on all the thornbushes and in all the pastures.
20 On that day the Lord will shave
with a razor hired from across the river[ae]
(with the king of Assyria)
the head and the hair between the legs
as well as the beard.
21 When that day comes,
each man will keep a young cow and two sheep,
22 and because of the abundant milk they give
he will subsist on curds.
For all those who are left in the land
will eat curds and honey.
23 On that day,
wherever there used to be a thousand vines
worth a thousand pieces of silver,
that area will then be covered
with brambles and thornbushes.
24 Men will go there with bows and arrows,
for the entire country will be covered
by briers and thorns.
25 For fear of briers and thorns
you will not venture upon any hills
that used to be hoed with a hoe.
They will become a place for cattle to graze
and where sheep may tread.
Chapter 8
Isaiah’s Son.[af] 1 The Lord said to me: Take a large scroll and write on it in ordinary letters: “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” 2 I had it attested for me by reliable witnesses, Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The Lord said to me: Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for, before the child knows how to say “father” or “mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.
5 [ag]Once again the Lord spoke to me and said:
6 Because this people has rejected
the waters of Shiloah that flow gently
and trembled in fear
before Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
7 the Lord will therefore raise against it
the mighty flood waters of the river
(the king of Assyria and all his glory).
The river will rise above all its channels
and overflow all its banks;
8 it will sweep on into Judah like a flood
reaching up to the neck,
and its wings, spreading out,
will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
9 Realize this, you peoples, and be afraid.
Listen, all you far-distant nations.
Arm yourselves, but be frightened;
arm yourselves, but be frightened.
10 No matter what plans you devise,
they will come to naught,
for God is with us.
11 Isaiah’s Followers. This is what the Lord said to me when he held me firmly with his hand and warned me not to follow the ways of this people:
12 [ah]Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy,
and do not fear what they fear
or stand in awe of them.
13 The Lord is the one whom you should proclaim holy;
he must be the object of your fear and awe.
14 He will become a snare, an obstacle,
a rock over which the two houses of Israel[ai] will stumble,
a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and taken captive.
16 Bind up the testimony and seal the teaching
so that my disciples can keep it in their hearts.
17 I will wait eagerly for the Lord
who has hidden his face from the house of Jacob;
I will place my hope in him.
18 I stand here with the children
whom the Lord has given me
to be signs and portents in Israel
sent by the Lord of hosts
who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 People may say to you,
“Seek guidance from ghosts and mediums
who whisper and mutter.
Should not a people consult its gods
and the dead on behalf of the living
20 while seeking instruction or a message?”
Those who offer suggestions like this
will experience no dawn.
21 They will wander through the land
greatly distressed and starving.
Once their hunger becomes acute,
they will be enraged
and curse their king and their gods.
They will turn their gaze upward,
22 or downward to the earth,
but they will behold only distress and anguish,
confusion and the gloom of darkness.
23 As the land of Zebulun[aj] and the land of Naphtali were humbled in the past by the Lord, so in the future he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, the district of the Gentiles.
Chapter 9
The Prince of Peace[ak]
1 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
2 You have enlarged the nation
and given them great joy;
they rejoice before you
as those who rejoice at the harvest,
as they exult when dividing spoils.
3 For the yoke that burdened them,
the bar across their shoulders,
and the rod of their oppressor
you have broken as on the day of Midian.[al]
4 For every boot of a warrior that tramped in battle
and every garment soaked in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
5 For a child has been born to us,
a son has been given to us.
Upon his shoulders dominion rests,
and this is the name he has been given:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
6 His dominion will grow continually,
and there will be endless peace
bestowed on David’s throne
and over his kingdom.
He will establish and sustain it
with justice and integrity
from this time onward and forevermore;
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Fall of the Northern Kingdom
7 The Lord has sent forth his word against Jacob,
and it has fallen on Israel.
8 [am]All the people were aware of this,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
but they said in their arrogance and pride of heart,
9 “The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stones.
The sycamores have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
10 In response the Lord raised up foes against them
and spurred on their enemies,
11 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
and they devoured Israel with gaping jaws.
Yet after all this his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
12 But the people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor did they seek the Lord of hosts.
13 Therefore, the Lord cut off from Israel
head and tail, palm branch and reed,
in a single day.
14 [The elders and the nobles are the head;
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.]
15 For those who were leaders of the people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were swallowed up.
16 For this reason
the Lord did not show pity to their young people
or have compassion on their orphans and widows,
since all of them were godless evildoers
and every word they spoke was impious.
Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
17 For wickedness continued to burn like a fire,
consuming briers and thorns,
and setting ablaze the thickets of the forest
which rose upward in a column of smoke.
18 The land was set ablaze
by the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
no one spared his brother.
19 They gorged on the right but were still hungry;
they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
many ate the flesh of their own offspring.
20 Manasseh devoured Ephraim,
and Ephraim devoured Manasseh;
together they turned against Judah.
21 Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
and his hand is still outstretched.
Chapter 10
Social Injustice
1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and enforce oppressive statutes,
2 thereby depriving the needy of justice,
and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
and make the orphans their prey.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your riches,
4 so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
his hand is still outstretched.
The Lord Punishes the King of Assyria
5 [an]Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the club in their hands is my fury.
6 Against a godless people I send him forth,
against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
and to trample on them like mud in the street.
7 But this is not his intention,
nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
8 For he says,
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?[ao]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 As I did to Samaria and her idols,
shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”
12 When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant boasts and his haughty demeanor, 13 because that king had said,
“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
and have plundered their treasures;
like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
14 My hand has discovered a nest
in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
or opened a beak to chirp.”
15 Does the ax consider itself more important
than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
like the burning of fire.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire
and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
will burn up and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 His splendid forests and orchards
will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
as when an invalid wastes away.
19 What remains of the trees of the forest
will be so few
that any young child
will be able to record their number.
20 [ap]When that day arrives,
the remnant of Israel
and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them[aq]
and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the mighty God.
22 Although your people, O Israel,
may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
as righteousness and justice demand.
23 For throughout the entire land
the Lord God of hosts will enforce
the final destruction that has been decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this:
O my people who dwell in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
and raise their staff against you
as the Egyptians did.
25 For it will be only a short time
until my wrath will subside
and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
26 Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
as he did against Egypt.
27 On that day
his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
and fall from your neck.
Sennacherib’s Assault[ar]
Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
28 and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
and stored their supplies at Michmash.
29 Once they crossed the ravine,
they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
Listen carefully, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
32 This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
and the lofty ones will be laid low.
34 The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.
Chapter 11
A Reign of Justice and Peace[as]
1 A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch will grow from his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and power,
a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord,
3 and his delight will be the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by outward appearances
or reach a verdict based on hearsay.
4 Rather, he will judge the poor with justice
and render fair decisions for the weak and the poor.
He will strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 Then the wolf will live alongside the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion will browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze side by side;
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat hay like the ox.
8 The infant will play by the cobra’s den,
and the young child will lay his hand
on the viper’s nest.
9 No injury or harm will occur
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord
just as water covers the sea.
Ephraim and Judah United
10 On that day the root of Jesse
will be established as a signal to the nations.
They will come forth to unite under him,
and his dwelling will be glorious.
11 When that day comes,
the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to recover the remnant of his people
from Assyria and Egypt,
from Patmos,[at] Ethiopia, and Elam,
from Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal to the nations
and assemble the outcasts of Israel.
He will also gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim will cease
and the hostility of Judah will end.
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor will Judah have any hostility toward Ephraim.
14 Together they will swoop down
on the foothills of the Philistines to the west
and plunder the people of the east.
Edom and Moab will become subject to their rule,
and the Ammonites will obey them.[au]
15 The Lord will dry up a pathway
through the Sea of Egypt,
and he will wave his hand over the Euphrates
in his fierce anger,
splitting it into seven streams
so that it can be crossed on foot.
16 Thus there will be a highway
for the remnant of his people from Assyria,
as there was for the Israelites
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
Thanksgiving for Salvation
1 On that day you will say:
I will give you thanks, O Lord.
Even though you were angry with me,
your anger has abated
and you have consoled me.
2 God truly is my salvation;
I will trust in him and be unafraid.
For the Lord is my strength and my source of courage;
he has been my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water
from the fountain of salvation,
4 and you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
invoke his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praise to the Lord for his mighty deeds;
let this be known throughout the entire world.
6 Cry out and shout for joy,
all of you who dwell on Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel.
Oracles among the Pagan Nations[av]
Chapter 13
Babylon.[aw] 1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, received in a vision:
2 Upon a barren hill raise a banner;
cry aloud to them.
Wave your hand to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my consecrated soldiers
and summoned my dedicated warriors
to carry out my vengeance.
4 Listen to the great tumult on the mountains
like that of an immense gathering.
Listen to the uproar of the kingdoms,
of nations assembling;
the Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.
5 From a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his wrath
are coming to destroy the entire earth.
6 Cry out in anguish,
for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like devastation from the Almighty.
7 Therefore, every hand will hang limp
and every man’s courage will fade;
8 they will all be panic-stricken,
overcome with pangs and agony
and writhing like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
with their faces aflame with fear.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
a cruel day of wrath and burning anger,
to reduce the land to a desert waste
and to destroy all the sinners within it.
10 The stars of the heavens and their constellations
will no longer give forth their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not provide its light.
11 By taking this course
I will punish the world for its wickedness
and those who are evil for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and humble the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
far more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore, I am determined to make the heavens tremble
and the earth will be shaken to its very foundations,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
on the day of his blazing anger.
14 Like a gazelle fleeing from a hunter,
or like a flock of sheep that no one gathers,
everyone will return to his own people
and flee to his native land.
15 Any who are found will be slaughtered;
without exception they will be slain by the sword.
16 Their infants will be smashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives will be ravished.
17 Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes
who have no interest in silver
and are not tempted by gold.[ax]
18 With their bows they will slaughter the young men,
and they will show no pity for young children.
19 And Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
the splendor and jewel of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when they were overthrown by God.
20 It will never be inhabited;
no future generations will ever reside there.
No Arab will ever again pitch his tent there,
nor will shepherds rest their flocks in that land.
21 However, wild animals of the desert will dwell there,
and its houses will be filled with jackals.
There ostriches will reside,
and there wild goats[ay] will dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in her castles
and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time draws near,
and her days will not be prolonged.
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