Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹In that day so few men will be left that seven women will fight for each man, saying, “Let us all marry you! We will provide our own food and clothing. Only let us take your name so we won’t be mocked as old maids.”

²But in that day, the branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of all who survive in Israel.

³All who remain in Zion will be a holy people — those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living.

⁴The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment.

⁵Then the LORD will provide shade for Mount Zion and all who assemble there. He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land.

⁶It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain.

¹Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.

²He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.

³Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

⁵Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.

⁶I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.

⁷The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.

⁸What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.

⁹But I have heard the LORD of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty.

¹⁰Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”

¹¹What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk.

¹²They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties — lyre and harp, tambourine and flute — but they never think about the LORD or notice what he is doing.

¹³So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst.

¹⁴The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.

¹⁵Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.

¹⁶But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.

¹⁷In that day lambs will find good pastures, and fattened sheep and young goats will feed among the ruins.

¹⁸What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

¹⁹They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”

²⁰What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

²¹What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.

²²What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.

²³They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.

²⁴Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵That is why the LORD’s anger burns against his people, and why he has raised his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble, and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then the LORD’s anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike!

²⁶He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem.

²⁷They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

²⁹They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them.

³⁰They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds.

¹It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.

²Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

³They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

⁴Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

⁵Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.

⁷He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

⁸Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

⁹And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’

¹⁰Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.”

¹¹Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?” And he replied, “Until their towns are empty, their houses are deserted, and the whole country is a wasteland;

¹²until the LORD has sent everyone away, and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.

¹³If even a tenth — a remnant — survive, it will be invaded again and burned. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”

¹When Ahaz, son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, set out to attack Jerusalem. However, they were unable to carry out their plan.

²The news had come to the royal court of Judah: “Syria is allied with Israel against us!” So the hearts of the king and his people trembled with fear, like trees shaking in a storm.

³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear-jashub and go out to meet King Ahaz. You will find him at the end of the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.

⁴Tell him to stop worrying. Tell him he doesn’t need to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah.

⁵Yes, the kings of Syria and Israel are plotting against him, saying,

⁶‘We will attack Judah and capture it for ourselves. Then we will install the son of Tabeel as Judah’s king.’

⁷But this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “This invasion will never happen; it will never take place;

⁸for Syria is no stronger than its capital, Damascus, and Damascus is no stronger than its king, Rezin. As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be crushed and completely destroyed.

⁹Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria, and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah. Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.”

¹⁰Later, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz:

¹¹“Ask the LORD your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want — as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead. ”

¹²But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the LORD like that.”

¹³Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?

¹⁴All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

¹⁵By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey.

¹⁶For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.

¹⁷“Then the LORD will bring things on you, your nation, and your family unlike anything since Israel broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you!”

¹⁸In that day the LORD will whistle for the army of southern Egypt and for the army of Assyria. They will swarm around you like flies and bees.

¹⁹They will come in vast hordes and settle in the fertile areas and also in the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny places.

²⁰In that day the Lord will hire a “razor” from beyond the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria — and use it to shave off everything: your land, your crops, and your people.

²¹In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left.

²²Nevertheless, there will be enough milk for everyone because so few people will be left in the land. They will eat their fill of yogurt and honey.

²³In that day the lush vineyards, now worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become patches of briers and thorns.

²⁴The entire land will become a vast expanse of briers and thorns, a hunting ground overrun by wildlife.

²⁵No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will graze there.

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ”

²I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this.

³Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

⁴For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”

⁵Then the LORD spoke to me again and said,

⁶“My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to King Rezin and King Pekah.

⁷Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels

⁸and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.

⁹“Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified. Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed! Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!

¹⁰Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless. Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed. For God is with us! ”

¹¹The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

¹²“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.

¹³Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.

¹⁴He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

¹⁵Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me.

¹⁷I will wait for the LORD, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.

¹⁸I and the children the LORD has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

¹⁹Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

²⁰Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.

²¹They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven

²²and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

¹Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

²The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

³You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder.

⁴For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

⁵The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.

⁶For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

⁸The Lord has spoken out against Jacob; his judgment has fallen upon Israel.

⁹And the people of Israel and Samaria, who spoke with such pride and arrogance, will soon know it.

¹⁰They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone, and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.”

¹¹But the LORD will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel and stir up all their foes.

¹²The Syrians from the east and the Philistines from the west will bare their fangs and devour Israel. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.

¹³For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent. They will not seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁴Therefore, in a single day the LORD will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.

¹⁵The leaders of Israel are the head, and the lying prophets are the tail.

¹⁶For the leaders of the people have misled them. They have led them down the path of destruction.

¹⁷That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans. For they are all wicked hypocrites, and they all speak foolishness. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.

¹⁸This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke.

¹⁹The land will be blackened by the fury of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people will be fuel for the fire, and no one will spare even his own brother.

²⁰They will attack their neighbor on the right but will still be hungry. They will devour their neighbor on the left but will not be satisfied. In the end they will even eat their own children.

²¹Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.

¹What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.

²They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans.

³What will you do when I punish you, when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe?

⁴You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.

⁵“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger. I use it as a club to express my anger.

⁶I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.

⁷But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.

⁸He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.

⁹We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.

¹⁰Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.

¹¹So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”

¹²After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him — for he is proud and arrogant.

¹³He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull.

¹⁴I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest.”

¹⁵But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?

¹⁶Therefore, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory.

¹⁷The LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night.

¹⁸The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague.

¹⁹Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive — so few that a child could count them!

²⁰In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A remnant will return; yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.

²²But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The LORD has rightly decided to destroy his people.

²³Yes, the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, has already decided to destroy the entire land.

²⁴So this is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago.

²⁵In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.”

²⁶The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the LORD’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea.

²⁷In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.

²⁸Look, the Assyrians are now at Aiath. They are passing through Migron and are storing their equipment at Micmash.

²⁹They are crossing the pass and are camping at Geba. Fear strikes the town of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, are running for their lives.

³⁰Scream in terror, you people of Gallim! Shout out a warning to Laishah. Oh, poor Anathoth!

³¹There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing. The citizens of Gebim are trying to hide.

³²The enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at beautiful Mount Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem.

³³But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! He will cut down the proud. That lofty tree will be brought down.

³⁴He will cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One.

¹Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot — yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

²And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

³He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay.

⁴He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.

⁵He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.

⁶In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.

⁷The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow.

⁸The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

⁹Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.

¹⁰In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.

¹¹In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people — those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands.

¹²He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.

¹³Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not be rivals anymore.

¹⁴They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west. Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east. They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab, and Ammon will obey them.

¹⁵The LORD will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot.

¹⁶He will make a highway for the remnant of his people, the remnant coming from Assyria, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.

¹In that day you will sing: “I will praise you, O LORD! You were angry with me, but not any more. Now you comfort me.

²See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The LORD GOD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.”

³With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

⁴In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the LORD! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is!

⁵Sing to the LORD, for he has done wonderful things. Make known his praise around the world.

⁶Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy! For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”

¹Isaiah son of Amoz received this message concerning the destruction of Babylon:

²“Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop. Call up an army against Babylon. Wave your hand to encourage them as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.

³I, the LORD, have dedicated these soldiers for this task. Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger, and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”

⁴Hear the noise on the mountains! Listen, as the vast armies march! It is the noise and shouting of many nations. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together.

⁵They come from distant countries, from beyond the farthest horizons. They are the LORD’s weapons to carry out his anger. With them he will destroy the whole land.

⁶Scream in terror, for the day of the LORD has arrived — the time for the Almighty to destroy.

⁷Every arm is paralyzed with fear. Every heart melts,

⁸and people are terrified. Pangs of anguish grip them, like those of a woman in labor. They look helplessly at one another, their faces aflame with fear.

⁹For see, the day of the LORD is coming — the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it.

¹⁰The heavens will be black above them; the stars will give no light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will provide no light.

¹¹“I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty.

¹²I will make people scarcer than gold — more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.

¹³For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the LORD of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”

¹⁴Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd. They will try to find their own people and flee to their own land.

¹⁵Anyone who is captured will be cut down — run through with a sword.

¹⁶Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

¹⁷“Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon. They cannot be tempted by silver or bribed with gold.

¹⁸The attacking armies will shoot down the young men with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for children.”

¹⁹Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.

²⁰Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.

²¹Desert animals will move into the ruined city, and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Owls will live among the ruins, and wild goats will go there to dance.

²²Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces. Babylon’s days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.

¹But the LORD will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land. And people from many different nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel.

²The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to return, and those who come to live in the LORD’s land will serve them. Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its enemies.

³In that wonderful day when the LORD gives his people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery and chains,

⁴you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say, “The mighty man has been destroyed. Yes, your insolence is ended.

⁵For the LORD has crushed your wicked power and broken your evil rule.

⁶You struck the people with endless blows of rage and held the nations in your angry grip with unrelenting tyranny.

⁷But finally the earth is at rest and quiet. Now it can sing again!

⁸Even the trees of the forest — the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon — sing out this joyous song: ‘Since you have been cut down, no one will come now to cut us down!’

⁹“In the place of the dead there is excitement over your arrival. The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead stand up to see you.

¹⁰With one voice they all cry out, ‘Now you are as weak as we are!

¹¹Your might and power were buried with you. The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased. Now maggots are your sheet, and worms your blanket.’

¹²“How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.

¹³For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.

¹⁴I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’

¹⁵Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.

¹⁶Everyone there will stare at you and ask, ‘Can this be the one who shook the earth and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?

¹⁷Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wasteland? Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

¹⁸“The kings of the nations lie in stately glory, each in his own tomb,

¹⁹but you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle. You will descend to the pit.

²⁰You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed your nation and slaughtered your people. The descendants of such an evil person will never again receive honor.

²¹Kill this man’s children! Let them die because of their father’s sins! They must not rise and conquer the earth, filling the world with their cities.”

²²This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I, myself, have risen against Babylon! I will destroy its children and its children’s children,” says the LORD.

²³“I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls, filled with swamps and marshes. I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

²⁴The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.

²⁵I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel; I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer be their slaves nor bow down under their heavy loads.

²⁶I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon all the nations.

²⁷The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken — who can change his plans? When his hand is raised, who can stop him?”

²⁸This message came to me the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹Do not rejoice, you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken — that the king who attacked you is dead. For from that snake a more poisonous snake will be born, a fiery serpent to destroy you!

³⁰I will feed the poor in my pasture; the needy will lie down in peace. But as for you, I will wipe you out with famine and destroy the few who remain.

³¹Wail at the gates! Weep in the cities! Melt with fear, you Philistines! A powerful army comes like smoke from the north. Each soldier rushes forward eager to fight.

³²What should we tell the Philistine messengers? Tell them, “The LORD has built Jerusalem ; its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.”

¹This message came to me concerning Moab: In one night the town of Ar will be leveled, and the city of Kir will be destroyed.

²Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn. They will go to their sacred shrines to weep. They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba, shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.

³They will wear burlap as they wander the streets. From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.

⁴The people of Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out; their voices will be heard as far away as Jahaz! The bravest warriors of Moab will cry out in utter terror. They will be helpless with fear.

⁵My heart weeps for Moab. Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah. Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith. Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.

⁶Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up! The grassy banks are scorched. The tender plants are gone; nothing green remains.

⁷The people grab their possessions and carry them across the Ravine of Willows.

⁸A cry of distress echoes through the land of Moab from one end to the other — from Eglaim to Beer-elim.

⁹The stream near Dibon runs red with blood, but I am still not finished with Dibon! Lions will hunt down the survivors — both those who try to escape and those who remain behind.

¹Send lambs from Sela as tribute to the ruler of the land. Send them through the desert to the mountain of beautiful Zion.

²The women of Moab are left like homeless birds at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.

³“Help us,” they cry. “Defend us against our enemies. Protect us from their relentless attack. Do not betray us now that we have escaped.

⁴Let our refugees stay among you. Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.” When oppression and destruction have ended and enemy raiders have disappeared,

⁵then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king. He will rule with mercy and truth. He will always do what is just and be eager to do what is right.

⁶We have heard about proud Moab — about its pride and arrogance and rage. But all that boasting has disappeared.

⁷The entire land of Moab weeps. Yes, everyone in Moab mourns for the cakes of raisins from Kir-hareseth. They are all gone now.

⁸The farms of Heshbon are abandoned; the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted. The rulers of the nations have broken down Moab — that beautiful grapevine. Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer and trailed eastward into the wilderness. Its shoots reached so far west that they crossed over the Dead Sea.

⁹So now I weep for Jazer and the vineyards of Sibmah; my tears will flow for Heshbon and Elealeh. There are no more shouts of joy over your summer fruits and harvest.

¹⁰Gone now is the gladness, gone the joy of harvest. There will be no singing in the vineyards, no more happy shouts, no treading of grapes in the winepresses. I have ended all their harvest joys.

¹¹My heart’s cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp. I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.

¹²The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines, but it will do them no good. They will cry to the gods in their temples, but no one will be able to save them.

¹³The LORD has already said these things about Moab in the past.

¹⁴But now the LORD says, “Within three years, counting each day, the glory of Moab will be ended. From its great population, only a feeble few will be left alive.”