Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹A pronouncement concerning Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city. It has become a ruined heap.

²The cities of Aroer are abandoned; they will be places for flocks. They will lie down without fear.

³The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁴On that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and his healthy body will become emaciated.

⁵It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain — his arm harvesting the heads of grain — and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

⁶Only gleanings will be left in Israel, as if an olive tree had been beaten — two or three olives at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches. This is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁷On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines they made with their fingers.

⁹On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines.

¹¹On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, but the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

¹²Ah! The roar of many peoples — they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations — they rage like the rumble of rushing water.

¹³The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like tumbleweeds before a gale.

¹⁴In the evening — sudden terror! Before morning — it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.

¹Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush,

²which sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!

⁴For the LORD said to me: I will quietly look out from my place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.

⁶They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, and all the wild animals the winter.

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of Armies from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers — to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of Armies.

¹A pronouncement concerning Egypt: Look, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt’s idols will tremble before him, and Egypt will lose heart.

²I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians; each will fight against his brother and each against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it, and I will frustrate its plans. Then they will inquire of idols, ghosts, and spiritists.

⁴I will hand over Egypt to harsh masters, and a strong king will rule it. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies.

⁵The water of the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.

⁶The channels will stink; they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched. Reed and rush will wilt.

⁷The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the cultivated areas of the Nile will wither, blow away, and vanish.

⁸Then the fishermen will mourn. All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will give up.

⁹Those who work with flax will be dismayed; those combing it and weaving linen will turn pale.

¹⁰Egypt’s weavers will be dejected; all her wage earners will be demoralized.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice! How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a student of eastern kings”?

¹²Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Armies has planned against Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have been fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of confusion. The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵No head or tail, palm or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.

¹⁶On that day Egypt will be like women and will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the LORD of Armies when he raises it against them.

¹⁷The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the LORD of Armies has planned against it.

¹⁸On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the LORD of Armies. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the LORD near her border.

²⁰It will be a sign and witness to the LORD of Armies in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.

²¹The LORD will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the LORD on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.

²²The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will turn to the LORD and he will be receptive to their prayers and heal them.

²³On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.

²⁴On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria — a blessing within the land.

²⁵The LORD of Armies will bless them, saying, “Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance are blessed.”

¹In the year that the chief commander, sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it —

²during that time the LORD had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet,” and he did that, going stripped and barefoot  —

³the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks — to Egypt’s shame.

⁵Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

⁶And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape? ’”

¹A pronouncement concerning the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

²A troubling vision is declared to me: “The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning.”

³Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.

⁴My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror.

⁵Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

⁶For the Lord has said to me, “Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders — pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels — he must pay close attention.”

⁸Then the lookout reported, “Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.

⁹Look, riders come — horsemen in pairs.” And he answered, saying, “Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the images of her gods have been shattered on the ground.”

¹⁰My people who have been crushed on the threshing floor, I have declared to you what I have heard from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel.

¹¹A pronouncement concerning Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹²The watchman said, “Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again.”

¹³A pronouncement concerning Arabia: In the desert brush you will camp for the night, you caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴Bring water for the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the refugees with food.

¹⁵For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bow that is strung, and from the stress of battle.

¹⁶For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

¹⁷The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

¹A pronouncement concerning the Valley of Vision: What’s the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?

²The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with celebration. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.

³All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away.

⁴Therefore I said, “Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people.”

⁵For the Lord GOD of Armies had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion in the Valley of Vision — people shouting and crying to the mountains;

⁶Elam took up a quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷Your best valleys were full of chariots, and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.

⁸He removed the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

⁹You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

¹⁰You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.

¹¹You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.

¹²On that day the Lord GOD of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.

¹³But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats, eating of meat, and drinking of wine — “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The LORD of Armies has directly revealed to me: “This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live.” The Lord GOD of Armies has spoken.

¹⁵The Lord GOD of Armies said: “Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him:

¹⁶What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?

¹⁷Look, you strong man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

¹⁸wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be — a disgrace to the house of your lord.

¹⁹I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰“On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

²¹I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

²²I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

²³I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family.

²⁴They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots — all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

²⁵On that day” — the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

¹A pronouncement concerning Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your haven has been destroyed. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

²Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon; your agents have crossed the sea

³over deep water. Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor — the harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”

⁵When the news reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish; wail, inhabitants of the coastland!

⁷Is this your jubilant city, whose origin was in ancient times, whose feet have taken her to reside far away?

⁸Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?

⁹The LORD of Armies planned it, to desecrate all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.

¹⁰Overflow your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer anything to restrain you.

¹¹He stretched out his hand over the sea; he made kingdoms tremble. The LORD has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He said, “You will not celebrate anymore, ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus  — even there you will have no rest!”

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans — a people who no longer exist. Assyria destined it for desert creatures. They set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, ships of Tarshish, because your fortress is destroyed!

¹⁵On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years — the life span of one king. At the end of seventy years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

¹⁶Pick up your lyre, stroll through the city, you forgotten prostitute. Play skillfully, sing many a song so that you will be remembered.

¹⁷And at the end of the seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world throughout the earth.

¹⁸But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the LORD. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the LORD’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.

¹Look, the LORD is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

²people and priest alike, servant and master, female servant and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

³The earth will be stripped completely bare and will be totally plundered, for the LORD has spoken this message.

⁴The earth mourns and withers; the world wastes away and withers; the exalted people of the earth waste away.

⁵The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the permanent covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty; the earth’s inhabitants have been burned, and only a few survive.

⁷The new wine mourns; the vine withers. All the carousers now groan.

⁸The joyful tambourines have ceased. The noise of the jubilant has stopped. The joyful lyre has ceased.

⁹They no longer sing and drink wine; beer is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.

¹¹In the streets they cry for wine. All joy grows dark; earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

¹²Only desolation remains in the city; its gate has collapsed in ruins.

¹³For this is how it will be on earth among the nations: like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

¹⁴They raise their voices, they sing out; they proclaim in the west the majesty of the LORD.

¹⁵Therefore, in the east honor the LORD! In the coasts and islands of the west honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs: The Splendor of the Righteous One. But I said, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me.” The treacherous act treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.

¹⁷Panic, pit, and trap await you who dwell on the earth.

¹⁸Whoever flees at the sound of panic will fall into a pit, and whoever escapes from the pit will be caught in a trap. For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹⁹The earth is completely devastated; the earth is split open; the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹On that day the LORD will punish the army of the heights in the heights and the kings of the ground on the ground.

²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished.

²³The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the LORD of Armies will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and he will display his glory in the presence of his elders.

¹LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

²For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks, a fortified city, into ruins; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore, a strong people will honor you. The cities of violent nations will fear you.

⁴For you have been a stronghold for the poor person, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, a refuge from storms and a shade from heat. When the breath of the violent is like a storm against a wall,

⁵like heat in a dry land, you will subdue the uproar of barbarians. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day, so he will silence the song of the violent.

⁶On this mountain, the LORD of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.

⁷On this mountain he will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations;

⁸he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the LORD has spoken.

⁹On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

¹⁰For the LORD’s power will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

¹¹He will spread out his arms in the middle of it, as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim. His pride will be brought low, along with the trickery of his hands.

¹²The high-walled fortress will be brought down, thrown to the ground, to the dust.

¹On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.

²Open the gates so a righteous nation can come in — one that remains faithful.

³You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

⁴Trust in the LORD forever, because in the LORD, the LORD himself, is an everlasting rock!

⁵For he has humbled those who live in lofty places — an inaccessible city. He brings it down; he brings it down to the ground; he throws it to the dust.

⁶Feet trample it, the feet of the humble, the steps of the poor.

⁷The path of the righteous is level; you clear a straight path for the righteous.

⁸Yes, LORD, we wait for you in the path of your judgments. Our desire is for your name and renown.

⁹I long for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks you, for when your judgments are in the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

¹⁰But if the wicked man is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness. In a righteous land he acts unjustly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.

¹¹LORD, your hand is lifted up to take action, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame. Let fire consume your adversaries.

¹²LORD, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.

¹³LORD our God, lords other than you have owned us, but we remember your name alone.

¹⁴The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them; you have wiped out all memory of them.

¹⁵You have added to the nation, LORD. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land.

¹⁶LORD, they went to you in their distress; they poured out whispered prayers because your discipline fell on them.

¹⁷As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before you, LORD.

¹⁸We became pregnant, we writhed in pain; we gave birth to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

¹⁹Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

²⁰Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.

²¹For look, the LORD is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.

¹On that day the LORD with his relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent — Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.

²On that day sing about a desirable vineyard:

³I am the LORD, who watches over it to water it regularly. So that no one disturbs it, I watch over it night and day.

⁴I am not angry. If only there were thorns and briers for me to battle, I would trample them and burn them to the ground.

⁵Or let it take hold of my strength; let it make peace with me — make peace with me.

⁶In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷Did the LORD strike Israel as he struck the one who struck Israel? Was Israel killed like those killed by the LORD?

⁸You disputed with Israel by banishing and driving her away. He removed her with his severe storm on the day of the east wind.

⁹Therefore Jacob’s iniquity will be atoned for in this way, and the result of the removal of his sin will be this: when he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

¹⁰For the fortified city will be desolate, pastures deserted and abandoned like a wilderness. Calves will graze there, and there they will spread out and strip its branches.

¹¹When its branches dry out, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for they are not a people with understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹²On that day the LORD will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.

¹³On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the LORD at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

¹Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. Woe to those overcome with wine.

²Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one  — like a devastating hail storm, like a storm with strong flooding water. He will bring it across the land with his hand.

³The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

⁴The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.

⁵On that day the LORD of Armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of his people,

⁶a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.

⁷Even these stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in their visions, they stumble in their judgments.

⁸Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.

⁹Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants just weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?

¹⁰“Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there.”

¹¹For he will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

¹²He had said to them: “This is the place of rest; let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.

¹³The word of the LORD will come to them: “Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there,” so they go stumbling backward, to be broken, trapped, and captured.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

¹⁵For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death, and we have an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery.”

¹⁶Therefore the Lord GOD said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.

¹⁷And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.” Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.

¹⁸Your covenant with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, you will be trampled.

¹⁹Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning — every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message.

²⁰Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and its cover too small to wrap up in.

²¹For the LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim. He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his unexpected work, and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.

²²So now, do not scoff, or your shackles will become stronger. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Armies a decree of destruction for the whole land.

²³Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

²⁴Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border.

²⁶His God teaches him order; he instructs him.

²⁷Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the LORD of Armies. He gives wondrous advice; he gives great wisdom.

¹Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur.

²I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to me like an Ariel.

³I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.

⁴You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁶you will be punished by the LORD of Armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.

⁷All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel — all the attackers, the siege works against her, and those who oppress her — will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.

⁸It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So it will be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.

¹⁰For the LORD has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; he has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.”

¹²And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

¹³The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service  — yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

¹⁴Therefore, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

¹⁵Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in the dark, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

¹⁶You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

¹⁷Isn’t it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed —

²¹those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.

²²Therefore, the LORD who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer be pale.

²³For when he sees his children, the work of my hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.