Bible in 90 Days
1 The vision(A) concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah(B) son of Amoz saw during the reigns[a][b] of Uzziah,(C) Jotham,(D) Ahaz,(E) and Hezekiah,(F) kings of Judah.(G)
Judah on Trial
2 Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,(H)
for the Lord has spoken:
“I have raised children[c] and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against Me.(I)
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
but Israel does not know;
My people do not understand.”(J)
4 Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,(K)
brood of evildoers,(L)
depraved children![d]
They have abandoned(M) the Lord;
they have despised(N) the Holy One of Israel;(O)
they have turned their backs on Him.
5 Why do you want more beatings?
Why do you keep on rebelling?
The whole head is hurt,
and the whole heart is sick.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,(P)
no spot is uninjured(Q)—
wounds, welts, and festering sores
not cleansed, bandaged,
or soothed with oil.
7 Your land is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;(R)
foreigners devour your fields
before your very eyes—
a desolation demolished by foreigners.
8 Daughter Zion(S) is abandoned
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a shack in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of Hosts(T)
had not left us a few survivors,(U)
we would be like Sodom,
we would resemble Gomorrah.(V)
10 Hear the word of the Lord,(W)
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!(X)
11 “What are all your sacrifices to Me?”
asks the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams
and the fat of well-fed cattle;
I have no desire for the blood of bulls,
lambs, or male goats.(Y)
12 When you come to appear before Me,
who requires this from you—
this trampling of My courts?
13 Stop bringing useless offerings.(Z)
Your incense is detestable to Me.
New Moons and Sabbaths,(AA)
and the calling of solemn assemblies(AB)—
I cannot stand iniquity(AC) with a festival.
14 I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am tired of putting up with them.
15 When you lift up your hands in prayer,(AD)
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.(AE)
Your hands are covered with blood.(AF)
Purification of Jerusalem
16 “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves.(AG)
Remove your evil deeds from My sight.
Stop doing evil.(AH)
17 Learn to do what is good.
Seek justice.(AI)
Correct the oppressor.[e]
Defend the rights of the fatherless.
Plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come, let us discuss this,”(AJ)
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;(AK)
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land.(AL)
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”(AM)
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(AN)
21 The faithful city—
what an adulteress[f] she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her—
but now, murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,[g]
your beer[h] is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.(AO)
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.(AP)
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.(AQ)
24 Therefore the Lord God of Hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will gain satisfaction from My foes;
I will take revenge against My enemies.(AR)
25 I will turn My hand against you(AS)
and will burn away your dross[i] completely;[j]
I will remove all your impurities.(AT)
26 I will restore your judges(AU) to what they once were,[k]
and your advisers to their former state.[l]
Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,(AV)
a Faithful City.”
27 Zion will be redeemed by justice,
her repentant ones by righteousness.(AW)
28 But both rebels and sinners will be destroyed,
and those who abandon the Lord will perish.
29 Indeed, they[m] will be ashamed of the sacred trees
you desired,(AX)
and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens
you have chosen.(AY)
30 For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.(AZ)
31 The strong one will become tinder,
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,(BA)
with no one to quench the flames.(BB)
The City of Peace
2 The vision that Isaiah(BC) son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In(BD) the last days(BE)
the mountain of the Lord’s house(BF) will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,(BG)
3 and many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.(BH)
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will settle disputes among the nations
and provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will turn their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.(BI)
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will never again train for war.(BJ)
The Day of the Lord
5 House of Jacob,
come and let us walk in the Lord’s light.(BK)
6 For You have abandoned(BL) Your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of divination from the East
and of fortune-tellers(BM) like the Philistines.(BN)
They are in league[n] with foreigners.
7 Their[o][p] land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no limit to their treasures;
their land is full of horses,
and there is no limit to their chariots.(BO)
8 Their land is full of idols;(BP)
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.(BQ)
9 So humanity is brought low,
and man is humbled.
Do not forgive them!(BR)
10 Go into the rocks(BS)
and hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord(BT)
and from His majestic splendor.(BU)
11 Human pride[q] will be humbled,(BV)
and the loftiness of men will be brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
12 For a day belonging to the Lord of Hosts is coming
against all that is proud and lofty,(BW)
against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled—
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,(BX)
lofty and lifted up,
against all the oaks of Bashan,(BY)
14 against all the high mountains,(BZ)
against all the lofty hills,
15 against every high tower,(CA)
against every fortified wall,
16 against every ship of Tarshish,(CB)
and against every splendid sea vessel.
17 So human pride will be brought low,
and the loftiness of men will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.(CC)
18 The idols will vanish completely.
19 People will go into caves in the rocks(CD)
and holes in the ground,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from His majestic splendor,
when He rises to terrify the earth.(CE)
20 On that day people will throw
their silver and gold idols,(CF)
which they made to worship,
to the moles and the bats.
21 They will go into the caves of the rocks
and the crevices in the cliffs,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from His majestic splendor,(CG)
when He rises to terrify the earth.
22 Put no more trust in man,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.(CH)
What is he really worth?
Judah’s Leaders Judged
3 Observe this: The Lord God of Hosts
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
2 the hero and warrior,(CI)
the judge and prophet,
the fortune-teller and elder,
3 the commander of 50 and the dignitary,
the counselor, cunning magician,[r] and necromancer.[s]
4 “I will make youths their leaders,(CJ)
and the unstable[t] will govern them.”
5 The people will oppress one another,(CK)
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
6 A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying:
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
7 On that day he will cry out, saying:
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,(CL)
defying His glorious presence.(CM)
9 The look on their faces testifies against them,
and like Sodom,(CN) they flaunt their sin.
They do not conceal it.
Woe to them,
for they have brought evil on themselves.(CO)
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
for they will eat the fruit of their labor.
11 Woe to the wicked—it will go badly for them,
for what they have done will be done to them.
12 Youths oppress My people,(CP)
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.(CQ)
13 The Lord rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.(CR)
14 The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of His people:(CS)
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.(CT)
15 Why do you crush My people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.
Jerusalem’s Women Judged
16 The Lord also says:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,(CU)
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
going along with prancing steps,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
17 the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.
18 On that day(CV) the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,(CW) 19 pendants, bracelets, veils, 20 headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,(CX) 21 signet rings, nose rings,(CY) 22 festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, 23 garments, linen clothes, turbans, and veils.
24 Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of beautifully styled hair,(CZ) baldness;(DA)
instead of fine clothes, sackcloth;(DB)
instead of beauty, branding.[u]
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
26 Then her gates(DC) will lament and mourn;
deserted, she will sit on the ground.(DD)
4 On that day seven women
will seize one man,(DE) saying,
“We will eat our own bread
and provide our own clothing.
Just let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace.”(DF)
Zion’s Future Glory
2 On that day the Branch of[v] the Lord will be beautiful and glorious,(DG) and the fruit of the land(DH) will be the pride and glory(DI) of Israel’s survivors.(DJ) 3 Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem(DK) will be called holy(DL)—all in Jerusalem who are destined to live(DM)— 4 when the Lord has washed away the filth(DN) of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt(DO) from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment(DP) and a spirit of burning.(DQ) 5 Then the Lord will create(DR) a cloud of smoke by day(DS) and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,[w] 6 and there will be a booth for shade from heat by day, and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.(DT)
Song of the Vineyard
5 I will sing about the one I love,
a song about my loved one’s vineyard:(DU)
The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.(DV)
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected(DW) it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.(DX)
3 So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between Me
and My vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for My vineyard
than I did?(DY)
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,(DZ)
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,(EA)
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland.(EB)
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.(EC)
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the house of Israel,(ED)
and the men[x] of Judah,
the plant He delighted in.
He looked for justice
but saw injustice,
for righteousness,
but heard cries of wretchedness.
Judah’s Sins Denounced
8 Woe to those who add house to house(EE)
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land.
9 I heard the Lord of Hosts say:
Indeed, many houses(EF) will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
10 For a ten-acre[y] vineyard will yield
only six gallons,[z]
and 10 bushels[aa] of seed will yield
only one bushel.[ab]
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of beer,(EG)
who linger into the evening,
inflamed by wine.
12 At their feasts they have lyre, harp,
tambourine, flute, and wine.
They do not perceive the Lord’s actions,(EH)
and they do not see the work of His hands.(EI)
13 Therefore My people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;(EJ)
her[ac] dignitaries are starving,
and her[ad] masses are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,(EK)
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who carouse in her!
15 Humanity is brought low, man is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.(EL)
16 But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice,(EM)
and the holy God(EN) is distinguished by righteousness.(EO)
17 Lambs will graze
as if in[ae] their own pastures,(EP)
and strangers[af] will eat
among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who drag wickedness
with cords of deceit(EQ)
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19 to those who say:
“Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan(ER) of the Holy One of Israel(ES) take place
so that we can know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,(ET)
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion
and clever in their own sight.[ag](EU)
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are fearless at mixing beer,(EV)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe(EW)
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected(EX)
the instruction of the Lord of Hosts,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.(EY)
25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burns(EZ) against His people.
He raised His hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,(FA)
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.(FB)
26 He raises a signal flag for the distant nations(FC)
and whistles(FD) for them from the ends of the earth.
Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!
27 None of them grows weary or stumbles;(FE)
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.
28 Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses’ hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion’s;(FF)
they roar like young lions;(FG)
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.
30 On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.[ah]
Isaiah’s Call and Mission
6 In the year that King Uzziah(FH) died, I saw the Lord(FI) seated on a high and lofty(FJ) throne,(FK) and His robe[ai] filled the temple. 2 Seraphim[aj] were standing above Him; each one had six wings:(FL) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.(FM) 3 And one called to another:
4 The foundations of the doorways shook(FP) at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said:
Woe is me(FQ) for I am ruined[ak]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,(FR)
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar(FS) with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth(FT) with it and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.(FU)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
9 And He replied:
Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;(FV)
keep looking, but do not perceive.
10 Dull the minds[al] of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.(FW)
11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”(FX) And He replied:
Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,(FY)
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
12 and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
13 Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed(FZ) is the stump.(GA)
The Message to Ahaz
7 This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:(GB) Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,(GC) but he could not succeed. 2 When it became known to the house of David(GD) that Aram had occupied Ephraim,(GE) the heart of Ahaz[am] and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub(GF) to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,(GG) by the road to the Fuller’s Field. 4 Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly(GH) because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5 For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6 ‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’”
7 This is what the Lord God says:
It will not happen; it will not occur.(GI)
8 The[an] head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
9 the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.
The Immanuel Prophecy
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a sign(GJ) from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.”
12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”
13 Isaiah(GK) said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?(GL) 14 Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you[ao] a sign: The virgin will conceive,[ap] have a son, and name him Immanuel.[aq](GM) 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,(GN) he will be eating butter[ar] and honey.(GO) 16 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah(GP)—the king of Assyria(GQ) is coming.”
18 On that day(GR)
the Lord will whistle(GS) to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,(GT)
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.
20 On that day the Lord will use a razor(GU) hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria(GV)—to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.
21 On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
22 and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.(GW)
23 And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.(GX)
24 A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25 You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment[as] and write on it with an ordinary pen:[at](GY) Maher-shalal-hash-baz.[au] 2 I have appointed[av] trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”(GZ)
3 I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother,(HA) the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”(HB)
5 The Lord spoke to me again:
6 Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with[aw] Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,(HC)
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;(HD)
and its spreading streams[ax]
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!(HE)
9 Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
10 Devise a plan; it will fail.(HF)
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.[ay](HG)
The Lord of Hosts, the Only Refuge
11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep[az] me from going the way of this people:(HH)
12 Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance.(HI)
Do not fear what they fear;(HJ)
do not be terrified.
13 You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy.(HK)
Only He should be feared;(HL)
only He should be held in awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary;(HM)
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone(HN) to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,(HO)
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over these;(HP)
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.
16 Bind up the testimony.(HQ)
Seal up the instruction(HR) among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord,(HS)
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.(HT)
I will wait for Him.
18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given me(HU) to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,”(HV) shouldn’t a people consult their God?[ba] Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?(HW) 20 To the law and to the testimony!(HX) If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.
21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earth(HY) and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Birth of the Prince of Peace
9 [bb]Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.(HZ) But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.
2 [bc]The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;(IA)
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.(IB)
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.[bd](IC)
The people have rejoiced before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.(ID)
4 For You have shattered their oppressive yoke(IE)
and the rod on their shoulders,
the staff of their oppressor,
just as You did on the day of Midian.(IF)
5 For the trampling boot of battle
and the bloodied garments of war
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,(IG)
and the government will be on His shoulders.(IH)
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor,(II) Mighty God,(IJ)
Eternal Father,(IK) Prince of Peace.(IL)
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.(IM)
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.(IN)
The Hand Raised against Israel
8 The Lord sent a message against Jacob;
it came against Israel.
9 All the people—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria(IO)—will know it.
They will say with pride and arrogance:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will rebuild with cut stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 The Lord has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him
and stirred up his enemies.
12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west
have consumed Israel with open mouths.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.(IP)
13 The people did not turn to Him who struck them;
they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,(IQ)
palm branch and reed in a single day.
15 The head is the elder, the honored one;(IR)
the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.(IS)
16 The leaders of the people mislead them,
and those they mislead are swallowed up.[be]
17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over[bf] Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,(IT)
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.
18 For wickedness burns like a fire(IU)
that consumes thorns and briers
and kindles the forest thickets
so that they go up in a column of smoke.
19 The land is scorched
by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
and the people are like fuel for the fire.(IV)
No one has compassion on his brother.(IW)
20 They carve meat on the right,
but they are still hungry;(IX)
they have eaten on the left,
but they are still not satisfied.
Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.(IY)
21 Manasseh is with Ephraim,
and Ephraim with Manasseh;
together, both are against Judah.(IZ)
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.(JA)
10 Woe to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
2 to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice,
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when devastation comes from far away?
Who will you run to for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.
Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger—
the staff in their hands is My wrath.
6 I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for My rage,
to take spoils, to plunder,
and to trample them down like clay(JB) in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
8 For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria(JC) like Damascus?[bg]
10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms,
whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 and as I did to Samaria and its idols
will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?”
Judgment on Assyria
12 But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I[bh] will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.” 13 For he said:
I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.[bi]
14 My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,
to seize the wealth of the nations.
Like one gathering abandoned eggs,
I gathered the whole earth.
No wing fluttered;
no beak opened or chirped.
15 Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts[bj] it!
It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn’t wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of Hosts
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and He will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
17 Israel’s Light will become a fire,
and its Holy One, a flame.
In one day it will burn up Assyria’s thorns and thistles.
18 He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19 The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
The Remnant Will Return
20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.(JD)
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.
22 Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.(JE)
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.
23 For throughout the land
the Lord God of Hosts
is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did. 25 In just a little while My wrath will be spent and My anger will turn to their destruction.” 26 And the Lord of Hosts will brandish a whip against him as He did when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;(JF) and He will raise His staff over the sea as He did in Egypt.
God Will Judge Assyria
27 On that day
his burden will fall from your shoulders,
and his yoke from your neck.
The yoke will be broken because of fatness.[bk]
28 Assyria has come to Aiath
and has gone through Migron,
storing his equipment at Michmash.
29 They crossed over at the ford, saying,
“We will spend the night at Geba.”
The people of Ramah are trembling;
those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.
30 Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Anathoth is miserable.
31 Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32 Today he will stand at Nob,
shaking his fist at the mountain of Daughter Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look, the Lord God of Hosts
will chop off the branches with terrifying power,
and the tall trees will be cut down,
the high trees felled.
34 He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax,
and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.
Reign of the Davidic King
11 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,(JG)
and a branch(JH) from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him(JI)—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,(JJ)
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
4 but He will judge the poor righteously(JK)
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline[bl] from His mouth,(JL)
and He will kill the wicked(JM)
with a command[bm] from His lips.(JN)
5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;(JO)
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.(JP)
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,(JQ)
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together,
and a child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
9 None will harm or destroy another
on My entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the Lord
as the sea is filled with water.(JR)
Israel Regathered
10 On that day the root of Jesse(JS)
will stand as a banner for the peoples.(JT)
The nations will seek Him,(JU)
and His resting place will be glorious.(JV)
11 On that day(JW) the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west—the remnant of His people who survive.(JX)
12 He will lift up a banner for the nations
and gather the dispersed of Israel;(JY)
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.(JZ)
13 Ephraim’s envy will cease;(KA)
Judah’s harassment will end.
Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 But they will swoop down
on the Philistine flank to the west.
Together they will plunder the people of the east.(KB)
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.(KC)
15 The Lord will divide[bn][bo] the Gulf of Suez.[bp]
He will wave His hand over the Euphrates
with His mighty wind(KD)
and will split it into seven streams,
letting people walk through on foot.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who will survive from Assyria,(KE)
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.(KF)
A Song of Praise
12 On that day you will say:
“I will praise You, Lord,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion(KG) on me.
2 Indeed, God is my salvation;
I will trust Him and not be afraid,
for Yah, the Lord,
is my strength and my song.
He has become my salvation.”(KH)
3 You will joyfully draw water(KI)
from the springs of salvation,
4 and on that day you will say:
“Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim His name!
Celebrate His works among the peoples.(KJ)
Declare that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to Yahweh, for He has done glorious things.(KK)
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel(KL) is among you
in His greatness.”
An Oracle against Babylon
13 An oracle(KM) against Babylon(KN) that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.(KO)
Call out to them.
Wave your hand, and they will go
through the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My chosen ones;
I have also called My warriors,
who exult in My triumph,
to execute My wrath.(KP)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a mighty people!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations being gathered together!
The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
5 They are coming from a far land,
from the distant horizon—
the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.[bq]
6 Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.(KQ)
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.(KR)
7 Therefore everyone’s hands will become weak,
and every man’s heart will melt.
8 They will be horrified;
pain and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.(KS)
They will look at each other,
their faces flushed with fear.
9 Look, the day(KT) of the Lord is coming—
cruel, with rage and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners on it.(KU)
10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations[br]
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not shine.(KV)
11 I will bring disaster on the world,
and their own iniquity,(KW) on the wicked.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant(KX)
and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make man scarcer than gold,
and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.(KY)
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will shake from its foundations(KZ)
at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,
on the day of His burning anger.
14 Like wandering gazelles
and like sheep without a shepherd,(LA)
each one will turn to his own people,
each one will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.
16 Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes;(LB)
their houses will be looted,
and their wives raped.
17 Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,(LC)
who cannot be bought off with[bs] silver
and who have no desire for gold.
18 Their bows will cut young men to pieces.
They will have no compassion on little ones;
they will not look with pity on children.
19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.(LD)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;(LE)
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.
21 But desert creatures will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.(LF)
22 Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.
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