Chronological Plan

¹Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of whirring wings Which is beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia),

²Which sends ambassadors by the sea, Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven), To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.

³All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it! When a trumpet is blown, you will hear it!

⁴For this is what the LORD has said to me, "I will be quiet and I will look on from My dwelling place, Like shimmering heat above the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is over And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs [without buds] with pruning knives, And [He will] remove and cut away the spreading branches.

⁶They (warriors) will be left together for the mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will [spend the] summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

⁷At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts From a people tall and smooth (clean shaven), From a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place [of worship] of the name of the LORD of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Egypt: Listen carefully, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

²"So I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each one against his brother and each one against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³"Then the spirit of the Egyptians will become exhausted within them and emptied out; And I will confuse their strategy, So that they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, And mediums and soothsayers.

⁴"And I will hand over the Egyptians to a hard and cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

⁵The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.

⁶The canals will become foul-smelling, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up, The reeds and the rushes will rot away.

⁷The meadows by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile, And all the sown fields of the Nile Will become dry, be blown away, and be no more.

⁸The fishermen will lament (cry out in grief), And all those who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets upon the waters will languish.

⁹Moreover, those who make linen from combed flax And those who weave white cloth will be ashamed.

¹⁰[Those who are] the pillars and foundations of Egypt will be crushed; And all those who work for wages will be grieved in soul.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are complete fools; The counsel of the Pharaoh's wisest advisors has become stupid. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings?"

¹²Where then are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the LORD of hosts Has purposed against Egypt [if they can].

¹³The princes of Zoan have acted like fools, The princes of Memphis are deluded [and entertain false hope]; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The LORD has mixed a spirit of distortion within her; Her leaders have caused Egypt to stagger in all that she does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵There will be no work for Egypt Which head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will become like [helpless] women, and they will tremble and be frightened because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

¹⁷The land of Judah [Assyria's ally] will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is planning against Egypt.

¹⁸In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of [the Hebrews of] Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One [of them] will be called the City of Destruction.

¹⁹In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the LORD near its border.

²⁰It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior, a [Great] Defender, and He will rescue them.

²¹And so the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know [heed, honor, and cherish] the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifices [of animals] and offerings [of produce]; they will make a vow to the LORD and fulfill it.

²²The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing it; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship and serve [the LORD] with the Assyrians.

²⁴In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the earth,

²⁵whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage."

¹In the year that the Tartan [the Assyrian commander in chief] came to Ashdod [in Philistia], when Sargon king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it,

²at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, untie the sackcloth from your hips and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking around stripped [to his loincloth] and barefoot.

³And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has walked stripped and barefoot for three years as a sign and forewarning concerning Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia),

⁴in the same way the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, young and old, stripped and barefoot, even with buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

⁵Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.

⁶So the inhabitants of this coastland [the Israelites and their neighbors] will say in that day, 'Look what has happened to those in whom we hoped and trusted and to whom we fled for help to be spared from the king of Assyria! But we, how will we escape [captivity and exile]?'"

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon): As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through, So it (God's judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

²A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All the groaning [caused by Babylon's ruthless oppressions] I [the LORD] have brought to an end.

³Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth; I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.

⁴My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into fear and trembling for me.

⁵They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; "Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar's court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!"

⁶This is what the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

⁷"When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys and a train of camels, Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely."

⁸And the lookout called like a lion, "O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

⁹"Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs." And one said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground."

¹⁰O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

¹¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom): Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom), "Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]? Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]"

¹²The watchman says, "The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression]. If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know]; Come back again."

¹³The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, Caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴Bring water for the thirsty [Dedanites], O inhabitants of the land of Tema [in Arabia]; Meet the fugitive with bread.

¹⁵For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, from the bent bow And from the press of battle and grief of war.

¹⁶For the Lord has said this to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end;

¹⁷and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken."

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle ( a burden to be carried) concerning the Valley of Vision: What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,

²You [Jerusalem] who were full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous and exuberant city; Your slain were not slain [in a glorious death] with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.

³All your leaders have fled together [with your king], And have been captured without the bow [which they had thrown away]; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away.

⁴Therefore I say, "Look away from me; Let me weep bitterly. Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people."

⁵For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic and of tumult, of trampling, of confusion In the Valley of Vision, A [day of] breaking down walls And a crying [for help] to the mountain.

⁶Elam took up the quiver With the chariots, infantry and horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷And it came to pass that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took their fixed positions [in an offensive array] at the gate [of Jerusalem].

⁸Then God removed the [protective] covering of Judah; And in that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest (Solomon's armory).

⁹You saw that the breaches In the wall of the City of David [the citadel of Zion] were many; You collected [within the city's walls] the waters of the Lower Pool (Siloam).

¹⁰Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem And you tore down the houses [to get materials] to fortify the city wall [by extending it].

¹¹You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the Old Pool, But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you recognize Him who planned it long ago.

¹²Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].

¹³Instead, there is joy and jubilation, Killing of oxen and slaughtering of sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die."

¹⁴But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself in my ears, "This sin absolutely will not be forgiven you Until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.

¹⁵For the Lord GOD of hosts says this, "Go to this [contemptible] steward, To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him],

¹⁶'What business do you have here? And whom do you have here, That you have hewn out a tomb here for yourself, You who hew a sepulcher on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

¹⁷'Listen carefully, the LORD is about to hurl you away violently, O man; And He is about to grasp you firmly

¹⁸And roll you up tightly like a ball And toss you into a vast country; There you will die And there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master's house.'

¹⁹"I will depose you from your office, And you will be pulled down from your position [of importance].

²⁰"Then it will come to pass in that day That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.

²¹"And I will clothe him with your tunic [of distinction] And tie your sash securely around him. I will entrust him with your authority; He will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

²²"Then I will set on his shoulder the key of the house of David; When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open.

²³"I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of honor and glory to his father's house.

²⁴"So they will hang on him all the honor and glory [the complete responsibility] of his father's house, offspring and issue [of the family, high and low], all the least of the articles, from the bowls to all the jars.

²⁵In that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "the peg (Eliakim) that was driven into the firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the burden hanging on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."