Hear, heavens,

and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken:

“I have nourished and brought up children,

and they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows his owner,

and the donkey his master’s crib;

but Israel doesn’t know,

my people don’t consider.”

Ah sinful nation,

a people loaded with iniquity,

a seed of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken Yahweh.

They have despised the Holy One of Israel.

They are estranged and backward.

Why should you be beaten more,

that you revolt more and more?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it:

wounds, welts, and open sores.

They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

Your country is desolate.

Your cities are burned with fire.

Strangers devour your land in your presence,

and it is desolate,

as overthrown by strangers.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a hut in a field of melons,

like a besieged city.

Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant,

we would have been as Sodom;

we would have been like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?,” says Yahweh.

“I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams,

and the fat of fed animals.

I don’t delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs,

or of male goats.

When you come to appear before me,

who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings.

Incense is an abomination to me;

new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations:

I can’t bear with evil assemblies.

My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts.

They are a burden to me.

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean.

Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do well.

Seek justice.

Relieve the oppressed.

Judge the fatherless.

Plead for the widow.”

 

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh:

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

 

How the faithful city has become a prostitute!

She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

Your silver has become dross,

your wine mixed with water.

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.

They don’t judge the fatherless,

neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies,

the Mighty One of Israel, says:

“Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries,

and avenge myself of my enemies;

and I will turn my hand on you,

thoroughly purge away your dross,

and will take away all your tin.

I will restore your judges as at the first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness,

a faithful town.’

Zion shall be redeemed with justice,

and her converts with righteousness.

But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together,

and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,

and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades,

and as a garden that has no water.

The strong will be like tinder,

and his work like a spark.

They will both burn together,

and no one will quench them.”

1:10 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “Elohim.”

1:24 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”

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It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

and all nations shall flow to it.

Many peoples shall go and say,

“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

and he will teach us of his ways,

and we will walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion the law shall go forth,

and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations,

and will decide concerning many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

 

House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,

because they are filled from the east,

with those who practice divination like the Philistines,

and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

Their land is full of silver and gold,

neither is there any end of their treasures.

Their land also is full of horses,

neither is there any end of their chariots.

Their land also is full of idols.

They worship the work of their own hands,

that which their own fingers have made.

Man is brought low,

and mankind is humbled;

therefore don’t forgive them.

Enter into the rock,

and hide in the dust,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty.

The lofty looks of man will be brought low,

the haughtiness of men will be bowed down,

and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty,

and for all that is lifted up;

and it shall be brought low:

For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,

for all the oaks of Bashan,

For all the high mountains,

for all the hills that are lifted up,

For every lofty tower,

for every fortified wall,

For all the ships of Tarshish,

and for all pleasant imagery.

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,

and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;

and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.

The idols shall utterly pass away.

Men shall go into the caves of the rocks,

and into the holes of the earth,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver,

and their idols of gold,

which have been made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the bats;

To go into the caverns of the rocks,

and into the clefts of the ragged rocks,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils;

for of what account is he?

 

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For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support,

the whole supply of bread,

and the whole supply of water;

the mighty man,

the man of war,

the judge,

the prophet,

the diviner,

the elder,

the captain of fifty,

the honorable man,

the counselor,

the skilled craftsman,

and the clever enchanter.

I will give boys to be their princes,

and children shall rule over them.

The people will be oppressed,

everyone by another,

and everyone by his neighbor.

The child will behave himself proudly against the old man,

and the base against the honorable.

Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,

“You have clothing, you be our ruler,

and let this ruin be under your hand.”

In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer;

for in my house is neither bread nor clothing.

You shall not make me ruler of the people.”

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen;

because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh,

to provoke the eyes of his glory.

The look of their faces testify against them.

They parade their sin like Sodom.

They don’t hide it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

Tell the righteous “Good!”

For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

Woe to the wicked!

Disaster is upon them;

for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.

As for my people, children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

My people, those who lead you cause you to err,

and destroy the way of your paths.

Yahweh stands up to contend,

and stands to judge the peoples.

Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people,

and their leaders:

“It is you who have eaten up the vineyard.

The spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What do you mean that you crush my people,

and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,

and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes,

walking to trip as they go,

jingling ornaments on their feet;

therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion,

and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.”

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms, the signet rings, the nose rings, the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.

It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;

instead of a belt, a rope;

instead of well set hair, baldness;

instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth;

and branding instead of beauty.

Your men shall fall by the sword,

and your mighty in the war.

Her gates shall lament and mourn;

and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

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In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

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Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up,

gathered out its stones,

planted it with the choicest vine,

built a tower in its midst,

and also cut out a winepress therein.

He looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

please judge between me and my vineyard.

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?

Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.

I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.

I will lay it a wasteland.

It won’t be pruned nor hoed,

but it will grow briers and thorns.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:

and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;

for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Woe to those who join house to house,

who lay field to field, until there is no room,

and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,

even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,

and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”

 

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink;

who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;

but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,

neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.

Their honorable men are famished,

and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire,

and opened its mouth without measure;

and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

So man is brought low,

mankind is humbled,

and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,

and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

 

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

and wickedness as with cart rope;

Who say, “Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;

and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,

that we may know it!”

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

who put darkness for light,

and light for darkness;

who put bitter for sweet,

and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and prudent in their own sight!

Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,

and champions at mixing strong drink;

who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice for the innocent!

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root shall be as rottenness,

and their blossom shall go up as dust;

because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,

and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people,

and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them.

The mountains tremble,

and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets.

For all this, his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is still stretched out.

He will lift up a banner to the nations from far,

and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.

Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

None shall be weary nor stumble among them;

none shall slumber nor sleep;

neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,

nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

whose arrows are sharp,

and all their bows bent.

Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,

and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Their roaring will be like a lioness.

They will roar like young lions.

Yes, they shall roar,

and seize their prey and carry it off,

and there will be no one to deliver.

They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress.

The light is darkened in its clouds.

5:10 1 bath is about 22 litres or 5.8 U. S. gallons

5:10 1 homer is about 220 litres or 6 bushels

5:10 1 ephah is about 22 litres or 0.6 bushels or about 2 pecks)only one tenth of what was sown.

5:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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“Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies!

The whole earth is full of his glory!”

The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”

I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

He said, “Go, and tell this people,

‘You hear indeed,

but don’t understand;

and you see indeed,

but don’t perceive.’

Make the heart of this people fat.

Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and turn again, and be healed.”

Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

He answered,

“Until cities are waste without inhabitant,

and houses without man,

and the land becomes utterly waste,

And Yahweh has removed men far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

If there is a tenth left in it,

that also will in turn be consumed:

as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled;

so the holy seed is its stock.”

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Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh.”

He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken. Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures. In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard. It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land. It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns. People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns. All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.”

7:14 “Immanuel” means “God with us.”

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I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, “Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel. Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.” For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, “Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized. Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.” Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.

When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward, and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.

8:1 “Maher Shalal Hash Baz” means “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.”

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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased their joy.

They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.

The Lord sent a word into Jacob,

and it falls on Israel.

All the people will know,

including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,

“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with cut stone.

The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin,

and will stir up his enemies,

The Syrians in front,

and the Philistines behind;

and they will devour Israel with open mouth.

For all this, his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them,

neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.

Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed, in one day.

The elder and the honorable man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

For those who lead this people lead them astray;

and those who are led by them are destroyed.

Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,

neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is profane and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

For wickedness burns like a fire.

It devours the briers and thorns;

yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

Through the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, the land is burnt up;

and the people are the fuel for the fire.

No one spares his brother.

One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry;

and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied.

Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:

Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

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They will only bow down under the prisoners,

and will fall under the slain.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks. For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”

Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.

It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.” Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt. It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

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A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse,

and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him:

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.

His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh.

He will not judge by the sight of his eyes,

neither decide by the hearing of his ears;

but with righteousness he will judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the humble of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.

Righteousness will be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;

The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together;

and a little child will lead them.

The cow and the bear will graze.

Their young ones will lie down together.

The lion will eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,

and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh,

as the waters cover the sea.

It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim. They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them. Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

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How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”

All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house. But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot. You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evildoers will not be named forever. Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities. “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh. “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies. Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders. This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died. Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent. The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.

Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.

14:9 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing. Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken. For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea. Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen. Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop. Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres. It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail. This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past. But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”

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The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”

The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites. They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread. For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle. For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail, and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

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Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, ‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!” Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly. He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord’s house. I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.

It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open. I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers. “In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it.”

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Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin. Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste! It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute. Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered. It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth. Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

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Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill. He will spread out his hands in its midst, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands. He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

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Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

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In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor. It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

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Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? For his God instructs him in right judgment, and teaches him. For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it. This also comes forth from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

28:15 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?”

Isn’t it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest? In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off— who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony. Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale. But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”

29:2 or, Ariel

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The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still. Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh; who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and to the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it; therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken piece a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, “You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence.” You refused, but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses;” therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift;” therefore those who pursue you will be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill. Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won’t be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers; and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, “Go away!” He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. There shall be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.

Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire. His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock. Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. For through the voice of Yahweh the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod. Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons. For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

and rely on horses,

and trust in chariots because they are many,

and in horsemen because they are very strong,

but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel,

and they don’t seek Yahweh!

Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster,

and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers,

and against the help of those who work iniquity.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;

and their horses flesh, and not spirit.

When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble,

and he who is helped shall fall,

and they all shall be consumed together.

For thus says Yahweh to me,

“As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey,

if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,

will not be dismayed at their voice,

nor abase himself for the noise of them,

so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.

As birds hovering, so Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem.

He will protect and deliver it.

He will pass over and preserve it.”

Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel. For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin which your own hands have made for you.

“The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man;

and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him.

He will flee from the sword,

and his young men will become subject to forced labor.

His rock will pass away by reason of terror,

and his princes will be afraid of the banner,”

says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion,

and his furnace in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,

and princes shall rule in justice.

A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind,

and a covert from the storm,

as streams of water in a dry place,

as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.

The eyes of those who see will not be dim,

and the ears of those who hear will listen.

The heart of the rash will understand knowledge,

and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.

The fool will no longer be called noble,

nor the scoundrel be highly respected.

For the fool will speak folly,

and his heart will work iniquity,

to practice profanity,

and to utter error against Yahweh,

To make empty the soul of the hungry,

and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

The ways of the scoundrel are evil.

He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words,

even when the needy speaks right.

But the noble devises noble things;

and he will continue in noble things.

Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice!

You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!

For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women;

for the vintage shall fail.

The harvest won’t come.

Tremble, you women who are at ease!

Be troubled, you careless ones!

Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked,

and put sackcloth on your waist.

Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vine.

Thorns and briars will come up on my people’s land;

yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

For the palace will be forsaken.

The populous city will be deserted.

The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever,

a delight for wild donkeys,

a pasture of flocks;

Until the Spirit is poured on us from on high,

and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is considered a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness;

and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.

The work of righteousness will be peace;

and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

My people will live in a peaceful habitation,

in safe dwellings,

and in quiet resting places.

Though hail flattens the forest,

and the city is leveled completely.

Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,

who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.

 

 

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Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed;

and who betray, but nobody betrayed you!

When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;

and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed.

 

Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you.

Be our strength every morning,

our salvation also in the time of trouble.

At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled.

When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.

Your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers.

Men will leap on it as locusts leap.

Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high.

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.

Behold, their valiant ones cry outside;

the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

The highways are desolate.

The traveling man ceases.

The covenant is broken.

He has despised the cities.

He doesn’t respect man.

The land mourns and languishes.

Lebanon is confounded and withers away.

Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

“Now I will arise,” says Yahweh;

“Now I will lift myself up.

Now I will be exalted.

You will conceive chaff.

You will bring forth stubble.

Your breath is a fire that will devour you.

The peoples will be like the burning of lime,

like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.

Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;

and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”

The sinners in Zion are afraid.

Trembling has seized the godless ones.

Who among us can live with the devouring fire?

Who among us can live with everlasting burning?

He who walks righteously,

and speaks blamelessly;

He who despises the gain of oppressions,

who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe,

who stops his ears from hearing of blood,

and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—

he will dwell on high.

His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks.

His bread will be supplied.

His waters will be sure.

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.

They will see a distant land.

Your heart will meditate on the terror.

Where is he who counted?

Where is he who weighed?

Where is he who counted the towers?

You will no longer see the fierce people,

a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend,

with a strange language that you can’t understand.

Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals.

Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation,

a tent that won’t be removed.

Its stakes will never be plucked up,

nor will any of its cords be broken.

But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty,

a place of broad rivers and streams,

in which no galley with oars will go,

neither will any gallant ship pass by there.

For Yahweh is our judge.

Yahweh is our lawgiver.

Yahweh is our king.

He will save us.

 

Your rigging is untied.

They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast.

They couldn’t spread the sail.

Then the prey of a great spoil was divided.

The lame took the prey.

 

The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.”

The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.

 

 

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Come near, you nations, to hear!

Listen, you peoples.

Let the earth and all it contains hear;

the world, and everything that comes from it.

For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations,

and angry with all their armies.

He has utterly destroyed them.

He has given them over for slaughter.

Their slain will also be cast out,

and the stench of their dead bodies will come up;

and the mountains will melt in their blood.

All of the army of the sky will be dissolved.

The sky will be rolled up like a scroll,

and all its armies will fade away,

as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.

For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky.

Behold, it will come down on Edom,

and on the people of my curse, for judgment.

Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood.

It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams;

for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The wild oxen will come down with them,

and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;

and their land will be drunken with blood,

and their dust made greasy with fat.

For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,

a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Its streams will be turned into pitch,

its dust into sulfur,

And its land will become burning pitch.

It won’t be quenched night nor day.

Its smoke will go up forever.

From generation to generation, it will lie waste.

No one will pass through it forever and ever.

But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it.

The owl and the raven will dwell in it.

He will stretch the line of confusion over it,

and the plumb line of emptiness.

They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there;

and all its princes shall be nothing.

Thorns will come up in its palaces,

nettles and thistles in its fortresses;

and it will be a habitation of jackals,

a court for ostriches.

The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves,

and the wild goat will cry to his fellow.

Yes, the night creature shall settle there,

and shall find herself a place of rest.

The arrow snake will make her nest there,

and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade.

Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.

Search in the book of Yahweh, and read:

not one of these will be missing.

none will lack her mate.

For my mouth has commanded,

and his Spirit has gathered them.

He has cast the lot for them,

and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line.

They shall possess it forever.

From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

 

34:14 literally, lilith, which could also be a night demon or night monster

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The wilderness and the dry land will be glad.

The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

It will blossom abundantly,

and rejoice even with joy and singing.

Lebanon’s glory Lebanon will be given to it,

the excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see Yahweh’s glory,

the excellence of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong.

Don’t be afraid.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution.

He will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame man will leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute will sing;

for waters will break out in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water.

Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.

A highway will be there, a road,

and it will be called The Holy Way.

The unclean shall not pass over it,

but it will be for those who walk in the Way.

Wicked fools will not go there.

No lion will be there,

nor will any ravenous animal go up on it.

They will not be found there;

but the redeemed will walk there.

The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return,

and come with singing to Zion;

and everlasting joy will be on their heads.

They will obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

 

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Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you. Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

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Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh. Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God. Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.” Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.’ Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,’ says Yahweh. ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’”

The angel of Yahweh went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there. It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

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Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying, “Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken. Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.”’”

The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.

38:10 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of Armies: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh. ‘They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon’s palace.’”

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Yahweh’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”

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The voice of one who calls out,

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Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,

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Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

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53:11 So read the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint. Masoretic Text omits “the light”.

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57:9 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from henceforth and forever.”

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“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh.

“For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh. Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites,” says Yahweh.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your seed and your name shall remain. It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. “They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

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