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¹In the year when King Sargon of Assyria sent his commander in chief to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod,

²the LORD told Isaiah son of Amoz, “Take off the burlap you have been wearing, and remove your sandals.” Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.

³Then the LORD said, “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign — a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.

⁴For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt.

⁵Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt!

⁶They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’”

¹This message came to me concerning Babylon — the desert by the sea : Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert, like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.

²I see a terrifying vision: I see the betrayer betraying, the destroyer destroying. Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes, attack and lay siege. I will make an end to all the groaning Babylon caused.

³My stomach aches and burns with pain. Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me, like those of a woman in labor. I grow faint when I hear what God is planning; I am too afraid to look.

⁴My mind reels and my heart races. I longed for evening to come, but now I am terrified of the dark.

⁵Look! They are preparing a great feast. They are spreading rugs for people to sit on. Everyone is eating and drinking. But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle. You are being attacked!

⁶Meanwhile, the Lord said to me, “Put a watchman on the city wall. Let him shout out what he sees.

⁷He should look for chariots drawn by pairs of horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels. Let the watchman be fully alert.”

⁸Then the watchman called out, “Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post.

⁹Now at last — look! Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses!” Then the watchman said, “Babylon is fallen, fallen! All the idols of Babylon lie broken on the ground!”

¹⁰O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me.

¹¹This message came to me concerning Edom : Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, “Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?”

¹²The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”

¹³This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.

¹⁴O people of Tema, bring water to these thirsty people, food to these weary refugees.

¹⁵They have fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and the terrors of battle.

¹⁶The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.

¹⁷Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the LORD, the God of Israel, have spoken!”

¹This message came to me concerning Jerusalem — the Valley of Vision : What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops?

²The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed not in battle but by famine and disease.

³All your leaders have fled. They surrendered without resistance. The people tried to slip away, but they were captured, too.

⁴That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed.”

⁵Oh, what a day of crushing defeat! What a day of confusion and terror brought by the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, upon the Valley of Vision! The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

⁶Elamites are the archers, with their chariots and charioteers. The men of Kir hold up the shields.

⁷Chariots fill your beautiful valleys, and charioteers storm your gates.

⁸Judah’s defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons.

⁹You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem. You store up water in the lower pool.

¹⁰You survey the houses and tear some down for stone to strengthen the walls.

¹¹Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But you never ask for help from the One who did all this. You never considered the One who planned this long ago.

¹²At that time the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.

¹³But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink wine. You say, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:

¹⁶“Who do you think you are, and what are you doing here, building a beautiful tomb for yourself — a monument high up in the rock?

¹⁷For the LORD is about to hurl you away, mighty man. He is going to grab you,

¹⁸crumple you into a ball, and toss you away into a distant, barren land. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless. You are a disgrace to your master!

¹⁹“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the LORD. “I will pull you down from your high position.

²⁰And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you.

²¹I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

²²I will give him the key to the house of David — the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.

²³He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall.

²⁴They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family. ”

²⁵But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹This message came to me concerning Tyre: Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish, for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus are all true.

²Mourn in silence, you people of the coast and you merchants of Sidon. Your traders crossed the sea,

³sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the marketplace of the world.

⁴But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon, for Tyre, the fortress of the sea, says, “Now I am childless; I have no sons or daughters.”

⁵When Egypt hears the news about Tyre, there will be great sorrow.

⁶Send word now to Tarshish! Wail, you people who live in distant lands!

⁷Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city? What a long history was yours! Think of all the colonists you sent to distant places.

⁸Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, that great creator of kingdoms? Her traders were all princes, her merchants were nobles.

⁹The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has done it to destroy your pride and bring low all earth’s nobility.

¹⁰Come, people of Tarshish, sweep over the land like the flooding Nile, for Tyre is defenseless.

¹¹The LORD held out his hand over the sea and shook the kingdoms of the earth. He has spoken out against Phoenicia, ordering that her fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He says, “Never again will you rejoice, O daughter of Sidon, for you have been crushed. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find no rest.”

¹³Look at the land of Babylonia — the people of that land are gone! The Assyrians have handed Babylon over to the wild animals of the desert. They have built siege ramps against its walls, torn down its palaces, and turned it to a heap of rubble.

¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for your harbor is destroyed!

¹⁵For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:

¹⁶Take a harp and walk the streets, you forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody and sing your songs so you will be remembered again.

¹⁷Yes, after seventy years the LORD will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world.

¹⁸But in the end her profits will be given to the LORD. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the LORD’s priests.

¹Look! The LORD is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people.

²Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors — none will be spared.

³The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The LORD has spoken!

⁴The earth mourns and dries up, and the land wastes away and withers. Even the greatest people on earth waste away.

⁵The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore, a curse consumes the earth. Its people must pay the price for their sin. They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive.

⁷The grapevines waste away, and there is no new wine. All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.

⁸The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled; the happy cries of celebration are heard no more. The melodious chords of the harp are silent.

⁹Gone are the joys of wine and song; alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.

¹⁰The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out intruders.

¹¹Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine. Joy has turned to gloom. Gladness has been banished from the land.

¹²The city is left in ruins, its gates battered down.

¹³Throughout the earth the story is the same — only a remnant is left, like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.

¹⁴But all who are left shout and sing for joy. Those in the west praise the LORD’s majesty.

¹⁵In eastern lands, give glory to the LORD. In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁶We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One! But my heart is heavy with grief. Weep for me, for I wither away. Deceit still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.

¹⁷Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of the earth.

¹⁸Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will be caught in a snare. Destruction falls like rain from the heavens; the foundations of the earth shake.

¹⁹The earth has broken up. It has utterly collapsed; it is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.

²¹In that day the LORD will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.

²²They will be rounded up and put in prison. They will be shut up in prison and will finally be punished.

²³Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion. He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people.