Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own food and wear [and provide] our own clothes; only let us be called by your name; take away our shame [of being unmarried]."

²In that day the Branch of the LORD will be splendid and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be excellent and lovely to those of Israel who have survived.

³It will come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy (set apart for God)—everyone who is recorded for [eternal] life in Jerusalem.

⁴When the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion and has cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,

⁵then the LORD will create over the entire site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory and brilliance will be a canopy [a defense, a covering of His divine love and protection].

⁶And there will be a pavilion for shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain.

¹Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [LORD] A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people). My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).

²He dug it all around and cleared away its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine (the people of Judah). And He built a tower in the center of it; And also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.

³"And now, says the Lord, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).

⁴"What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?

⁵"So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away its thorn-hedge, and it will be burned up; I will break down its stone wall and it will be trampled down [by enemies].

⁶"I will turn it into a wasteland; It will not be pruned or cultivated, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds not to rain on it."

⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves]. So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness; [He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.

⁸Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others], Until there is no more room [for others], So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

⁹In my ears the LORD of hosts said, "Be assured that many houses will become desolate, Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.

¹⁰"For ten acres of vineyard will yield [only] one bath of wine, And a homer ( six bushels) of seed will produce [only] one ephah of grain."

¹¹Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink, Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!

¹²They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts; But they do not regard nor even pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge [of God]; And their honorable men are famished, And their common people are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure; And Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.

¹⁵So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance degraded, And the eyes of the proud (arrogant) will be degraded.

¹⁶But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in justice, And God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].

¹⁷Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture, And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.

¹⁸Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];

¹⁹Who say, "Let Him move speedily, let Him expedite His work [His promised vengeance], so that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel approach And come to pass, so that we may know it!"

²⁰Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

²¹Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever and shrewd in their own sight!

²²Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are heroes at drinking wine And men of strength in mixing intoxicating drinks,

²³Who justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe, And take away the rights of those who are in the right!

²⁴Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw] And the dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down. And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets. In spite of all this God's anger is not turned away, But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

²⁶He will lift up a flag to [call] the distant nations [to bring His judgment on Judah], And will whistle for them from the ends of the earth; And indeed, they will come with great speed swiftly.

²⁷No one among them is weary or stumbles, No one slumbers or sleeps; Nor is the belt at their waist undone [as if unprepared for action], Nor is the strap of their sandal broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent; Their horses' hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lioness, they roar like young lions; They growl and seize their prey And carry it off and there is no one to save it.

³⁰And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress; Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple.

²Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings: with two wings he covered his face, with two wings he covered his feet, and with two wings he flew.

³And one called out to another, saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is filled with His glory."

⁴And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke.

⁵Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am ruined, Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.

⁷He touched my mouth with it and said, "Listen carefully, this has touched your lips; your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] is taken away and your sin atoned for and forgiven."

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

⁹And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not understand; Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.'

¹⁰"Make the heart of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."

¹¹Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, And houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate,

¹²The LORD has removed [His] people far away, And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

¹³"And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land, It will again be subject to destruction [consumed and burned], Like a massive terebinth tree or like an oak Whose stump remains when it is chopped down. The holy seed [the elect remnant] is its stump [the substance of Israel]."

¹Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Aram (Syria) and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it.

²When the house of David (Judah) was told, "Aram is allied with Ephraim (Israel)," the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz [king of Judah], you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field;

⁴and say to him, 'Take care and be calm, do not fear and be weak-hearted because of these two stumps of smoldering logs, on account of the fierce anger of [King] Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah (Pekah, usurper of the throne of Israel).

⁵Because Aram, along with Ephraim (Israel) and the son of Remaliah, have planned evil against you (Judah), saying,

⁶"Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it; and let us breach its wall and tear it apart [each of us taking a portion] and set up the son of Tabeel over it as its [puppet] king,"

⁷for this is what the Lord GOD says, "It shall not stand nor shall it happen.

⁸For the head (capital) of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is [King] Rezin (now within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces and will no longer be a people).

⁹And the head (capital) of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son [King Pekah]. If you will not believe [and trust in God and His message], be assured that you will not be established."'"

¹⁰Then the LORD spoke again to [King] Ahaz, saying,

¹¹"Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven."

¹²But Ahaz said, " I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!"

¹³Then Isaiah said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too small a thing for you to try the patience of men, but will you try the patience of my God as well?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).

¹⁵He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.

¹⁶For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram].

¹⁷The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim (the ten northern tribes) separated from Judah—[He will call for] the king of Assyria."

¹⁸In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the mouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.

²⁰In that day [when foreign armies swarm the land] the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from the regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), [that razor will shave] the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard [leaving Judah stripped, shamed and scorned].

²¹Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep;

²²and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat [only] curds and [wild] honey.

²³And it will come to pass in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briars and thorns.

²⁴People will come there [to hunt] with arrows and with bows because all the land will be briars and thorns.

²⁵As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.

¹Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet [for public display] and write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

²And I will get faithful witnesses to attest [to this prophecy] for me, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

³So I approached [my wife] the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz [to remind the people of the prophecy];

⁴for before the boy knows how to say, 'My father' or 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus (Aram's capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel's capital) will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

⁵Again the LORD spoke to me, saying,

⁶"Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah And rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah's son [Pekah the king of Israel],

⁷Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant— The king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.

⁸"Then it will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through [the hills], Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head], And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.

⁹"Be broken [in pieces], O peoples, and be shattered! Listen, all you [our enemies from the] far countries. Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered; Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered.

¹⁰"Take counsel together [against Judah], but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us (Immanuel)."

¹¹For in this way the LORD spoke to me with His strong hand [upon me] and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people [behaving as they do], saying,

¹²"You are not to say, 'It is a conspiracy!' In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.

¹³"It is the LORD of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome. He shall be your [source of] fear, He shall be your [source of] dread [not man].

¹⁴"Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust Him]; But to both the houses of Israel [both the northern and southern kingdoms—Israel and Judah, He will be] a stone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip, A trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵"Many [among them] will stumble over them; Then they will fall and be broken, They will even be snared and trapped."

¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my (Isaiah's) disciples.

¹⁷And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him.

¹⁸Listen carefully, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, "Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰[Direct those people] to the law and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have no dawn.

²¹They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward.

²²Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.

¹But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

²The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness Will see a great Light; Those who live in the dark land, The Light will shine on them.

³You [O God] will increase the nation, You will multiply their joy; They will rejoice before You Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].

⁴For You will break the yoke of Israel's burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

⁵For every boot of the marching warrior in the battle tumult, And [every soldier's] garment rolled in blood, will be used for burning, fuel for the fire.

⁶For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given; And the government shall be upon His shoulder, And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace, [He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From that time forward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

⁸The Lord sends a word (message) against Jacob, And it falls on Israel [the ten northern tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim].

⁹And all the people know it, That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria [its capital], Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:

¹⁰"The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild [all the better] with ashlar (hewed stones); The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with [expensive] cedars."

¹¹Therefore the LORD raises against Ephraim adversaries from Rezin [king of Aram] And spurs their enemies on,

¹²The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; And they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, God's anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

¹³Yet the people do not turn back [in repentance] to Him who struck them, Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts [as their most essential need].

¹⁴Therefore the LORD cuts off head and tail [the highest and the lowest] from Israel, Both [the high] palm branch and [the low] bulrush in one day.

¹⁵The elderly and honorable man, he is the head; And the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For those who lead this people are causing them to go astray; And those who are led [astray] by them are swallowed up.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, Nor does He have compassion on their fatherless or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, God's anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

¹⁸For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns, It even sets the forest thickets ablaze; And it swirls upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹By the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother.

²⁰They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each eats the flesh of his own arm.

²¹[The tribe of] Manasseh devours [the tribe of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah (the southern kingdom, the house of David). In spite of all this, God's anger does not turn away But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

¹Woe (judgment is coming) to those [judges] who issue evil statutes, And to those [magistrates] who constantly record unjust and oppressive decisions,

²So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of rightful claims, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the fatherless.

³Now what will you do in the day of [God's] punishment, And in the storm of devastation which will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth [for safekeeping]?

⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall [dead] among the slain [on the battlefield]. In spite of all this, God's anger does not turn away, But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel], The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel's disobedience]!

⁶I send Assyria against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My wrath To take the spoil and to seize the plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

⁷Yet it is not Assyria's intention [to do My will], Nor does it plan so in its heart, But instead it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

⁸For Assyria says, "Are not my princes all kings?

⁹"Is not Calno [conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]? Is not Hamath [subdued] like Arpad [her neighbor]? Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Aram]?

¹⁰"As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images were greater and more feared than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?" [declares Assyria].

¹²So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride."

¹³For the Assyrian king has said, "I have done this by the power of my [own] hand and by my wisdom, For I have understanding and skill. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples And have plundered their treasures; Like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.

¹⁴"My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest, And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped."

¹⁵Is the axe able to lift itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw able to magnify itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club moving those who lift it, Or like a staff raising him who is not [made of] wood [like itself]!

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

¹⁷And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour Assyria's thorns and briars in a single day.

¹⁸The Lord will consume the glory of Assyria's forest and of its fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

¹⁹And the remaining trees of Assyria's forest will be so few in number That a child could write them down.

²⁰Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

²²For though your people, O Israel, may be as the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; The destruction is determined [it is decided and destined for completion], overflowing with justice (righteous punishment).

²³For the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.

²⁴Therefore, the Lord GOD of hosts says this, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.

²⁵For yet a very little while and My indignation [against you] will be fulfilled and My anger will be directed toward the destruction of the Assyrian."

²⁶The LORD of hosts will brandish a whip against them like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the [Red] Sea and He will lift it up the way He did in [the flight from] Egypt.

²⁷So it will be in that day, that the burden of the Assyrian will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of the fat.

²⁸The Assyrian has come against Aiath [in Judah], He has passed through Migron [with his army]; At Michmash he stored his equipment.

²⁹They have gone through the pass, saying, "Geba will be our lodging place for the night." Ramah trembles, and Gibeah [the city] of Saul has fled.

³⁰Cry aloud with your voice [in consternation], O Daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!

³¹Madmenah has fled; The inhabitants of Gebim have fled [with their belongings] to safety.

³²Yet today the Assyrian will halt at Nob [the city of priests]; He shakes his fist at the mountain of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Listen carefully, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force; The tall in stature will be cut down And the lofty will be abased and humiliated.

³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon (the Assyrian) will fall by the Mighty One.

¹Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David's father], And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

²And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him— The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and strength, The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the LORD—

³And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;

⁴But with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth; And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

⁵And righteousness will be the belt around His loins, And faithfulness the belt around His waist.

⁶And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatted steer together; And a little child will lead them.

⁷And the cow and the bear will graze [together], Their young will lie down together, And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸And the nursing child will [safely] play over the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den [and not be hurt].

⁹They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰Then in that day The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.

¹¹Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again acquire with His hand a second time The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, from [Lower] Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush (Ethiopia), from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Aram], And from the coastlands bordering the [Mediterranean] Sea.

¹²And He will lift up a signal for the nations And assemble the outcasts of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

¹³Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, And those who harass Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, And Judah will not harass Ephraim.

¹⁴Ephraim and Judah will [unite and] swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines toward the west; Together they will plunder the sons (Arabs) of the east. They will possess Edom and Moab, And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.

¹⁵And the LORD will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And with His scorching wind He will wave His hand over the River; He will strike and divide it into seven channels And make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.

¹⁶And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt.

¹And on that day you will say, "I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, And You comfort me.

²"Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, For the Lord God is my strength and song; Yes, He has become my salvation."

³Therefore with joy you will draw water From the springs of salvation.

⁴And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name [in prayer]. Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth]; Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!"

⁵Sing praises to the LORD, for He has done excellent and glorious things; Let this be known throughout the earth.

⁶Rejoice and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw [in a prophetic vision]:

²Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain, Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice, Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.

³I [the LORD] have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My great warriors, My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]— To execute My anger.

⁴A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

⁵They are coming from a distant country, From the end of heaven [the farthest horizon]— The LORD and the weapons of His indignation— To destroy the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!

⁷Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man's heart will melt.

⁸They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified, Pains and anguish will grip them; They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth. They will stare aghast and horrified at one another, Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].

⁹Listen carefully, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with wrath and raging anger, To make the land a horror [of devastation]; And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.

¹⁰For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash with their light; The sun will be dark when it rises, And the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹In this way I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing]; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.

¹²I will make mortal man more rare than fine gold, And mankind [scarcer] than the pure gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; And the earth will be shaken from its place At the wrath of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.

¹⁴And like the hunted gazelle, Or like sheep that no man gathers, Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people, And each one flee to his own land.

¹⁵Anyone who is found will be pierced through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their children also will be smashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be looted And their wives ravished.

¹⁷Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them, Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].

¹⁸Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon]; They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb, Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

²⁰Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will the shepherds let their sheep lie down there.

²¹But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and wild goats will dance there.

²²Hyenas will howl in their castles, And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Babylon's time has nearly come, And her days will not be prolonged.

¹For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them [as proselytes] and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel).

²The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.

³And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

⁴that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased [his insolence], And how the fury has ceased!

⁵"The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the [tyrant] rulers

⁶Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows, Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.

⁷"The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; They break into shouts of joy.

⁸"Even the cypress trees rejoice over you [kings of Babylon], even the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

⁹" Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come [you tyrant of Babylon]; It stirs up the spirits of the dead [to greet you], all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones [in astonishment at your fall].

¹⁰"All of them will respond [tauntingly] and say to you, 'You have become as weak as we are. You have become like us.

¹¹'Your pomp and magnificence have been brought down to Sheol, Along with the music of your harps; The maggots [which prey on the dead] are spread out under you [as a bed] And worms are your covering [Babylonian rulers].'

¹²"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!

¹³"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly In the remote parts of the north.

¹⁴'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

¹⁵"But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol, To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

¹⁶"Those who see you will gaze at you, They will consider you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not permit his prisoners to return home?'

¹⁸"All the kings of the nations, all of them lie [dead] in glorious array, Each one in his own sepulcher.

¹⁹"But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial) Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown], Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].

²⁰"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have destroyed your land, You have slain your people. May the descendants of evildoers never be named!

²¹"Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons Because of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers. They must not rise and take possession of the earth, And fill the face of the world with cities."

²²"I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, and son and grandson," declares the LORD.

²³"I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

²⁴The LORD of hosts has sworn [an oath], saying, "Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand—

²⁵to break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him underfoot. Then the Assyrian's yoke will be removed from them (the people of Judah) and his burden removed from their shoulder.

²⁶This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷For the LORD of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz [of Judah] died this [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) came:

²⁹"Do not rejoice, O Philistia, any of you, Because the rod [of Judah] that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent's root will come a viper [King Hezekiah of Judah], And its offspring will be a flying serpent.

³⁰"The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows], And the needy will lie down in safety; But I will kill your root with famine, And your survivors will be put to death.

³¹"Howl, O gate; cry, O city! Melt away, O Philistia, all of you; For smoke comes out of the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks and no one stands detached [in Hezekiah's battalions].

³²"Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it."

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Moab: Because in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Because in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

²They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; Everyone's head is shaved, and every beard is cut off [in mourning].

³In their streets they have wrapped themselves with sackcloth; On their [flat] housetops and in their open squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh [cities claimed by Moab] cry out; Their voice is heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out; Moab's soul trembles within him.

⁵My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are [fleeing] as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah. For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; For on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their destruction.

⁶For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Indeed the grass is withered, the new growth dies; There is no green thing.

⁷Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored away They carry off over the Brook of the Willows.

⁸For the cry of distress has echoed around the territory of Moab; The wailing goes as far as Eglaim and the mournful cry to Beer-elim.

⁹For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Yet I will bring even more woes on Dimon— A lion upon those of Moab who escape and upon the remnant of the land.

¹Send lambs to the ruler of the land [ you Moabites], From Sela [that is, Petra in Edom] through the wilderness to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).

²For like wandering birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the [river] Arnon.

³[Say to the ruler] "Give us advice, make a decision [for Moab, king of Judah]; Cast your shadow [over us] like night in the midst of noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive [to his pursuer].

⁴"Let our outcasts of Moab live among you; Be a [sheltered] hiding place to them from the destroyer." For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors [who trample men] have completely disappeared from the land,

⁵A throne will be established in lovingkindness, And One will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent (dynasty, family) of David; Judging and seeking justice And being prompt to do righteousness.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride— Even of his arrogance, his conceit, his rage, His untruthful boasting.

⁷Therefore Moab will wail for Moab; everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, As those who are utterly stricken and discouraged.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon have languished and withered, and the vines of Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down [Moab's] choice vine branches, Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered into the wilderness; Its tendrils stretched out, they passed over [the shores of] the [Dead] Sea.

⁹Therefore I (Isaiah) will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vines of Sibmah. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the war-cry [of the enemy] has fallen on your summer fruits and your harvest.

¹⁰Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound; No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting.

¹¹Therefore my heart sounds like a harp [in mournful compassion] for Moab, And my inner being mourns for Kir-hareseth.

¹²So it will come to pass when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself [worshiping] on his high place [of idolatry] And comes to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab] to pray, That he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab [when Moab's pride and resistance to God were first known].

¹⁴But now the LORD speaks, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hired man [who will not serve longer than the agreed time], the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all the great population, and the remnant [that survives] will be very small and of no account."