Bible in 90 Days
Israel’s Return
14 For the Lord will have compassion(A) on Jacob and will choose Israel again.(B) He will settle them on their own land.(C) The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.(D) 2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.(E) They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.
Downfall of the King of Babylon
3 When the Lord gives you rest from your pain,(F) torment, and the hard labor(G) you were forced to do, 4 you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon(H) and say:
How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging[a] has become quiet!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
6 It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows.
It subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
7 The whole earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
8 Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you:(I)
“Since you have been laid low,
no lumberjack has come against us.”
9 Sheol below is eager to greet your coming,
stirring up the spirits of the departed for you—
all the rulers[b] of the earth—
making all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
10 They all respond to you, saying,
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!
11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”
12 Shining morning star,[c](J)
how you have fallen from the heavens!(K)
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
13 You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to the heavens;(L)
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.(M)
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.[d](N)
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.(O)
16 Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
17 who turned the world into a wilderness,(P)
who destroyed its cities
and would not release the prisoners to return home?”
18 All the kings of the nations
lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
19 But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.
20 You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be mentioned again.(Q)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity(R) of their ancestors.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.
22 “I will rise up against them”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 23 “I will make her a swampland and a region for herons,[e] and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Assyria Will Be Destroyed
24 The Lord of Armies has sworn:
As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.(S)
25 I will break Assyria(T) in my land;
I will tread him down on my mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan(U) prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
27 The Lord of Armies himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is his hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?
A Pronouncement against Philistia
28 In the year that King Ahaz died,(V) this pronouncement came:(W)
29 Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you(X) is broken.
For a viper will come from the root[f] of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.(Y)
30 Then the firstborn(Z) of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.
31 Wail, you gates!(AA) Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear,(AB) all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,(AC)
and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.
32 What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,(AD)
and his oppressed people find refuge in her.
A Pronouncement against Moab
15 A pronouncement concerning Moab:(AE)
Ar in Moab is devastated,(AF)
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
2 Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at[g] Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is chopped short.
3 In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.(AG)
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.
5 My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,(AH)
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the Ascent of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
6 The Waters of Nimrim(AI) are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
7 So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Wadi of the Willows.(AJ)
8 For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
9 The Waters of Dibon[h] are full of blood,(AK)
but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.(AL)
16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,(AM)
from Sela in the desert(AN)
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
2 Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3 Give us counsel and make a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade that is as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;(AO)
do not betray the one who flees.
4 Let my refugees stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab[i] from the aggressor.
When the oppressor has gone,
destruction has ended,
and marauders have vanished from the land,
5 a throne will be established in love,(AP)
and one will sit on it faithfully[j]
in the tent of David,
judging and pursuing what is right,
quick to execute justice.
6 We have heard of Moab’s pride(AQ)—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
You who are completely devastated, mourn
for the raisin cakes(AR) of Kir-hareseth.(AS)
8 For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards
and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled its choice vines
that reached as far as Jazer(AT)
and spread to the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and reached the sea.(AU)
9 So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent[k]
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
10 Joy and rejoicing(AV) have been removed from the orchard;
no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.(AW)
No one tramples grapes[l] in the winepresses.
I have put an end to the shouting.
11 Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,(AX)
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
12 When Moab appears
and tires himself out on the high place(AY)
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.(AZ)
13 This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab. 14 And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years,(BA) Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”
A Pronouncement against Damascus
17 A pronouncement(BB) concerning Damascus:(BC)
Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
3 The fortress disappears from Ephraim,(BD)
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Judgment against Israel
4 On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body[m] will become emaciated.(BE)
5 It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain—
his arm harvesting the heads of grain—
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in Rephaim Valley.(BF)
6 Only gleanings will be left in Israel,(BG)
as if an olive tree had been beaten—
two or three olives at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.(BH) 8 They will not look to the altars(BI) they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines[n](BJ) they made with their fingers.
9 On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength;(BK)
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
11 On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.
Judgment against the Nations
12 Ah! The roar of many peoples—
they roar like the roaring of the seas.
The raging of the nations—
they rage like the rumble of rushing water.(BL)
13 The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent.(BM)
He rebukes them, and they flee far away,(BN)
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills(BO)
and like tumbleweeds before a gale.
14 In the evening—sudden terror!
Before morning—it is gone!
This is the fate of those who plunder us
and the lot of those who ravage us.
The Lord’s Message to Cush
18 Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings[o]
beyond the rivers of Cush,(BP)
2 which sends envoys by sea,
in reed vessels over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and near,
a powerful nation with a strange language,[p]
whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you inhabitants of the world
and you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!
When a ram’s horn sounds, listen!
4 For the Lord said to me:
I will quietly look out from my place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
5 For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.
6 They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
and all the wild animals the winter.
7 At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Armies from[q] a people tall and smooth-skinned,(BQ) a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Armies.
A Pronouncement against Egypt
19 A pronouncement(BR) concerning Egypt:(BS)
Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud(BT)
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s worthless idols will tremble before him,(BU)
and Egypt will lose heart.(BV)
2 I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians;
each will fight against his brother(BW)
and each against his friend,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.(BX)
3 Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,
and I will frustrate its plans.
Then they will inquire of worthless idols, ghosts,
mediums, and spiritists.(BY)
4 I will hand over Egypt to harsh masters,(BZ)
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
5 The water of the sea will dry up,
and the river will be parched and dry.
6 The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will wilt.
7 The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,
and all the cultivated areas of the Nile
will wither, blow away, and vanish.
8 Then the fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will give up.
9 Those who work with flax will be dismayed;(CA)
those combing it and weaving linen will turn pale.[r]
10 Egypt’s weavers[s] will be dejected;
all her wage earners will be demoralized.
11 The princes of Zoan are complete fools;(CB)
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one[t] of the wise,
a student of eastern[u] kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the Lord of Armies has planned against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have been fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.(CC)
Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion.
The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15 No head or tail, palm or reed,(CD)
will be able to do anything for Egypt.
Egypt Will Know the Lord
16 On that day Egypt will be like women and will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Armies when he raises it against them. 17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the Lord of Armies has planned(CE) against it.
18 On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the Lord of Armies. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.[v][w]
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near her border.(CF) 20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord of Armies in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.(CG) 21 The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings;(CH) they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will turn to the Lord, and he will be receptive to their prayers and heal them.
23 On that day there will be a highway(CI) from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.
24 On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing within the land. 25 The Lord of Armies will bless them, saying, “Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork,(CJ) and Israel my inheritance are blessed.”(CK)
No Help from Cush or Egypt
20 In the year that the chief commander,(CL) sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod(CM) and attacked and captured it— 2 during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah(CN) son of Amoz, saying, “Go, take off your sackcloth from your waist and remove the sandals from your feet,” and he did that, going stripped and barefoot(CO)— 3 the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,(CP) 4 so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt(CQ) and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame. 5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.(CR) 6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”
A Judgment on Babylon
21 A pronouncement(CS) concerning the desert by the sea:(CT)
Like storms that pass over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.
2 A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,(CU)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all the groaning.”
3 Therefore I am[x] filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.(CV)
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.
4 My heart staggers;
horror terrifies me.
He has turned my last glimmer of hope[y]
into sheer terror.(CW)
5 Prepare a table,(CX) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!
6 For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
7 When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”
8 Then the lookout[z] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,(CY)
and I stay at my post all night.
9 Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,(CZ) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”(DA)
10 My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,(DB)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Armies,
the God of Israel.
A Pronouncement against Dumah
11 A pronouncement(DC) concerning Dumah:[aa](DD)
One calls to me from Seir,(DE)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“Morning has come, and also night.
If you want to ask, ask!
Come back again.”
A Pronouncement against Arabia
13 A pronouncement concerning Arabia:(DF)
In the desert[ab] brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.(DG)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema(DH)
meet[ac] the refugees with food.
15 For they have fled from swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bow that is strung,
and from the stress of battle.
16 For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year,(DI) as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar(DJ) will be gone. 17 The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number.” For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
A Pronouncement against Jerusalem
22 A pronouncement(DK) concerning the Valley of Vision:(DL)
What’s the matter with you?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?(DM)
2 The noisy city, the jubilant town,(DN)
is filled with celebration.
Your dead did not die by the sword;
they were not killed in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together;
they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said,
“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!(DO)
Do not try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dear[ad] people.”
5 For the Lord God of Armies
had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion(DP)
in the Valley of Vision—
people shouting[ae] and crying to the mountains;
6 Elam took up a quiver
with chariots and horsemen,[af]
and Kir(DQ) uncovered the shield.
7 Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.
8 He removed the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.(DR) 9 You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David.(DS) You collected water from the lower pool.(DT) 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the walls(DU) for the water of the ancient pool,(DV) but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord God of Armies
called for weeping,(DW) for wailing, for shaven heads,
and for the wearing of sackcloth.
13 But look: joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats,
eating of meat, and drinking of wine—
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (DX)
14 The Lord of Armies has directly revealed to me:(DY)
“This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live.”[ag](DZ)
The Lord God of Armies has spoken.
A Pronouncement against Shebna
15 The Lord God of Armies said, “Go to Shebna,(EA) that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him: 16 What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?(EB) 17 Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18 wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land.[ah] There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be—a disgrace to the house of your lord. 19 I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.
20 “On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.(EC) 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.(ED) 22 I will place the key(EE) of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.(EF) 23 I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family. 24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots—all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. 25 On that day”—the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
A Pronouncement against Tyre
23 A pronouncement(EG) concerning Tyre:(EH)
Wail, ships of Tarshish,(EI)
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.[ai](EJ)
2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;(EK)
your agents have crossed the sea[aj]
3 over deep water.
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.(EL)
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have not been in labor or given birth.
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.(EM)
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
7 Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to reside far away?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
9 The Lord of Armies planned it,
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
10 Overflow[ak] your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer anything to restrain you.[al]
11 He stretched out his hand over the sea;(EN)
he made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said,
“You will not celebrate anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus(EO)—
even there you will have no rest!”
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans—
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
because your fortress is destroyed!
15 On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the life span of one king. At the end of seventy years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:
16 Pick up your lyre,
stroll through the city,
you forgotten prostitute.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song
so that you will be remembered.
17 And at the end of the seventy years,(EP) the Lord will restore Tyre(EQ) and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world throughout the earth. 18 But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.
The Earth Judged
24 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare
and making it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:
2 people and priest alike,
servant and master,
female servant and mistress,
buyer and seller,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.(ER)
4 The earth mourns and withers;
the world wastes away and withers;
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,(ES)
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the permanent covenant.(ET)
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,(EU)
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine mourns;(EV)
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
8 The joyful tambourines(EW) have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered;(EX)
every house is closed to entry.(EY)
11 In the streets they cry[am] for wine.
All joy grows dark;
earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
13 For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.(EZ)
14 They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!
In the coasts and islands of the west
honor the name of the Lord,
the God of Israel.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.(FA)
But I said, “I waste away! I waste away![an]
Woe is me.”
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.(FB)
17 Panic, pit, and trap await you(FC)
who dwell on the earth.(FD)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the floodgates on high are opened,(FE)
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.(FF)
19 The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard(FG)
and sways like a hut.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
21 On that day(FH) the Lord will punish
the army of the heights in the heights
and the kings of the ground on the ground.
22 They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.(FI)
They will be confined to a dungeon;(FJ)
after many days they will be punished.
23 The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Armies will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and he will display his glory
in the presence of his elders.(FK)
Salvation and Judgment on That Day
25 Lord, you are my God;(FL)
I will exalt you. I will praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks,(FM)
a fortified city, into ruins;
the fortress of barbarians(FN) is no longer a city;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, a strong people will honor you.
The cities of violent nations will fear you.
4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor person,
a stronghold for the needy(FO) in his distress,
a refuge from storms and a shade from heat.(FP)
When the breath of the violent
is like a storm against a wall,
5 like heat in a dry land,
you will subdue the uproar of barbarians.
As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,
so he will silence the song of the violent.
6 On this mountain,[ao](FQ)
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat,(FR)
a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat,[ap] fine vintage wine.
7 On this mountain
he will swallow up the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations.(FS)
8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all,(FT)
the Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face(FU)
and remove his people’s disgrace(FV)
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for him, and he has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”(FW)
10 For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.
But Moab(FX) will be trampled in his place[aq]
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.
11 He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
along with the trickery of his hands.(FY)
12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.(FZ)
The Song of Judah
26 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city.
Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.(GA)
2 Open the gates
so a righteous nation can come in—
one that remains faithful.
3 You will keep the mind that is dependent on you
in perfect peace,(GB)
for it is trusting in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
because in the Lord, the Lord himself, is an everlasting rock!(GC)
5 For he has humbled those who live in lofty places—
an inaccessible city.(GD)
He brings it down; he brings it down to the ground;
he throws it to the dust.
6 Feet trample it,
the feet of the humble,
the steps of the poor.
God’s People Vindicated
7 The path of the righteous is level;(GE)
you clear a straight path for the righteous.
8 Yes, Lord, we wait for you
in the path of your judgments.
Our desire is for your name and renown.(GF)
9 I long for you in the night;(GG)
yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks you,
for when your judgments are in the land,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 But if the wicked man is shown favor,
he does not learn righteousness.
In a righteous land he acts unjustly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted up to take action,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people
and be put to shame.
Let fire consume your adversaries.
12 Lord, you will establish peace for us,
for you have also done all our work for us.
13 Lord our God, lords other than you have owned[ar] us,
but we remember your name alone.(GH)
14 The dead do not live;
departed spirits do not rise up.
Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them;
you have wiped out all memory of them.(GI)
15 You have added to the nation, Lord.(GJ)
You have added to the nation; you are honored.
You have expanded all the borders of the land.(GK)
16 Lord, they went to you in their distress;(GL)
they poured out whispered prayers
because your discipline fell on them.[as]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,(GM)
so we were before you, Lord.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;
we gave birth to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.
19 Your dead will live; their bodies[at] will rise.(GN)
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,[au]
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and close your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.(GO)
21 For look, the Lord is coming from his place(GP)
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.(GQ)
The earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and will no longer conceal her slain.
Leviathan Slain
27 On that day the Lord with his relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgment on Leviathan,(GR) the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.(GS)
The Lord’s Vineyard
2 On that day
sing about a desirable vineyard:(GT)
3 I am the Lord, who watches over it
to water it regularly.
So that no one disturbs it,
I watch over it night and day.
4 I am not angry.
If only there were thorns and briers(GU) for me to battle,
I would trample them
and burn them to the ground.
5 Or let it take hold of my strength;
let it make peace with me—
make peace with me.
6 In days to come, Jacob will take root.(GV)
Israel will blossom and bloom(GW)
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Did the Lord strike Israel
as he struck the one who struck Israel?(GX)
Was Israel killed like those killed by the Lord?
8 You disputed with Israel
by banishing and driving her away.[av]
He removed her with his severe storm
on the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore Jacob’s iniquity(GY) will be atoned for in this way,
and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:(GZ)
when he makes all the altar stones
like crushed bits of chalk,
no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 For the fortified city will be desolate,
pastures deserted and abandoned like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there,
and there they will spread out and strip its branches.
11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.(HA)
Therefore their Maker(HB) will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day(HC)
the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River
as far as the Wadi of Egypt,(HD)
and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.
13 On that day
a great ram’s horn(HE) will be blown,
and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,
as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;
and they will worship the Lord
at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.
Woe to Samaria
28 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,(HF)
and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley.
Woe to those overcome with wine.
2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one(HG)—
like a devastating hail storm,
like a storm with strong flooding water.
He will bring it across the land with his hand.
3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley,
will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.(HH)
Whoever sees it will swallow it
while it is still in his hand.
5 On that day
the Lord of Armies will become a crown of beauty
and a diadem of splendor(HI)
to the remnant of his people,
6 a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,(HJ)
and strength
to those who repel attacks at the city gate.
7 Even these stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
Priest and prophet stagger because of beer.
They are confused by wine.(HK)
They stumble because of beer.
They are muddled in their visions.
They stumble in their judgments.
8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
9 Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he trying to instruct?
Infants[aw] just weaned from milk?
Babies[ax] removed from the breast?
10 “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”[ay]
11 For he will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.(HL)
12 He had said to them,
“This is the place of rest;
let the weary rest;(HM)
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.
13 The word of the Lord will come to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.(HN)
A Deal with Death
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,(HO) you scoffers(HP)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death,
and we have an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming catastrophe[az] passes through,(HQ)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”
16 Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone(HR) in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;(HS)
the one who believes will be unshakable.[ba](HT)
17 And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”(HU)
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,
you will be trampled.
19 Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror(HV) will cause you
to understand the message.[bb]
20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim.(HW)
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,(HX)
to do his work, his unexpected work,
and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.
22 So now, do not scoff,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Armies
a decree of destruction for the whole land.(HY)
God’s Wonderful Advice
23 Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
26 His God teaches him order;
he instructs him.
27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of Armies.
He gives wondrous advice;
he gives great wisdom.(HZ)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.