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Isaiah


  1.

ISAIAH. Jerusalem - 8th cent. BCE.

1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

God reprimands his people.

2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for Yahweh has spoken:
"Sons have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3The ox knows its owner,
and the ass its master's crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people does not understand."

4Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken Yahweh,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.

5Why will you still be smitten,
that you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds;
they are not pressed out, or bound up,
or softened with oil.

7Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
aliens devour your land;
it is desolate,
as overthrown by aliens.
8And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.

9If Yahweh of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of Yahweh,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says Yahweh;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of he-goats.

12"When you come to appear before me,
who requires of you this trampling of my courts?
13Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies -
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread forth your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves;
make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17learn to do good;
seek justice, correct oppression;
defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18"Come now, let us reason together,
says Yahweh:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20But if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

The sinful city.

21How the faithful city has become a harlot,
she that was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
22Your silver has become dross,
your wine mixed with water.
23Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves.
Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the fatherless,
and the widow's cause does not come to them.

24Therefore Yahweh says,
Yahweh of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
"Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies,
and avenge myself on my foes.
25I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city."

27Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,
and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.
29For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted;
and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen.
30For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31And the strong shall become tow,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with none to quench them.


  2.

Everlasting peace. - Mic.4.1-3

1The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of Yahweh
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3and many peoples shall come, and say:
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
4He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

5O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

Arrogance will be restored.

6For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of diviners from the east
and of soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they strike hands with foreigners.
7Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9So man is humbled, and men are brought low -
forgive them not!
10Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of Yahweh,
and from the glory of his majesty.
11The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the pride of men shall be humbled;
and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

12For Yahweh of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and high;
13against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14against all the high mountains,
and against all the lofty hills;
15against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
17And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the pride of men shall be brought low;
and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
18And the idols shall utterly pass away.
19And men shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of Yahweh,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.

20In that day men will cast forth
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the bats,
21to enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of Yahweh,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
22Turn away from man in whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?


  3.

Chaos in Jerusalem.

1For, behold, Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts,
is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
stay and staff,
the whole stay of bread,
and the whole stay of water;
2the mighty man and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
3the captain of fifty and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skilful magician
and the expert in charms.
4And I will make boys their princes,
and babes shall rule over them.
5And the people will oppress one another,
every man his fellow and every man his neighbour;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
and the base fellow to the honourable.

6When a man takes hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
"You have a mantle;
you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall be under your rule";
7in that day he will speak out, saying:
"I will not be a healer;
in my house there is neither bread nor mantle;
you shall not make me
leader of the people."
8For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen;
because their speech and their deeds are against Yahweh,
defying his glorious presence.

9Their partiality witnesses against them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom,
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
11Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have done shall be done to him.
12My people - children are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
and confuse the course of your paths.

The LORD judges his people.

13Yahweh has taken his place to contend,
he stands to judge his people.
14Yahweh enters into judgment
with the elders and princes of his people:
"It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15What do you mean by crushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?"
says Yahweh GOD of hosts.

A warning to the women of Jerusalem.

16Yahweh said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet; 17Yahweh will smite with a scab
the heads of the daughters of Zion,
and Yahweh will lay bare their secret parts.

18In that day Yahweh will take away the finery of the anklets,
the headbands, and the crescents; 19the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs; 20the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21the signet rings and nose rings; 22the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. 24Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a girdle, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
instead of beauty, shame.
25Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26And her gates shall lament and mourn;
ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground.


  4.

1And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach."

Jerusalem will be restored.

2In that day the branch of Yahweh shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, every one who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4when Yahweh shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5Then Yahweh will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy and a pavilion.5 6It will be for a shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.


  5.

The song of the vineyard.

1Let me sing for my beloved
a love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2He digged it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge, I ask you, between me and my vineyard.
4What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

7For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness, but behold, a cry!

The evil that men do!

8Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9Yahweh of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
"Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
till wine inflames them!
12They have lyre and harp,
timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of Yahweh,
or see the work of his hands.

13Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge;
their honoured men are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down,
her throng and he who exults in her.
15Man is bowed down,
and men are brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16But Yahweh of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins.

18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19who say: "Let him make haste,
let him speed his work that we may see it;
let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!"
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!

24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.

26He will raise a signal for a nation afar off,
and whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!
27None is weary,
none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistcloth is loose,
not a sandal-thong broken;
28their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
they carry it off,
and none can rescue.
30They will growl over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.


  6.

The call of ISAIAH.

1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw Yahweh sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King,
Yahweh of hosts!"

6Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven." 8And I heard the voice of Yahweh saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." 9And he said, "Go, and say to this people:

'Hear and hear, but do not understand;
see and see, but do not perceive.'
10Make the heart of this people fat,
and their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."

11Then I said, "How long, O Yahweh?"
And he said:

"Until cities lie waste without inhabitant,
and houses without men,
and the land is utterly desolate,
12and Yahweh removes men far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains standing when it is felled."
The holy seed is its stump.

  7.

A message for AHAZ, king of Judah.

1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. 2When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3And Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field, 4and say to him, 'Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6"Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it," 7thus says Yahweh GOD:

It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)

9And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you will not believe,
surely you shall not be established.' "

The sign of Emmanuel.

10Again Yahweh spoke to Ahaz, 11"Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." 12But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put Yahweh to the test." 13And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore Yahweh himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. 17Yahweh will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah - the king of Assyria."

18In that day Yahweh will whistle for the fly which is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria. 19And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

20In that day Yahweh will shave with a razor which is hired beyond the River - with the king of Assyria - the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

21In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; 22and because of the abundance of milk which they give, he will eat curds; for every one that is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

23In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24With bow and arrows men will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns; 25and as for all the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.


  8.

Isaiah's son - a sign to the people.

1Then Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet and write upon it in common characters, 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.' " 2And I got reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me. 3And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4for before the child knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

The king of Assyria is coming

5Yahweh spoke to me again: 6"Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 7therefore, behold, Yahweh is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks; 8and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."

9Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed;
give ear, all you far countries;
gird yourselves and be dismayed;
gird yourselves and be dismayed.
10Take counsel together, but it will come to nought;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.

11For Yahweh spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

The LORD warns Isaiah.

12"Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13But Yahweh of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14And he will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offence, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15And many shall stumble thereon; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken."

Warning against consulting fortune-tellers & mediums.

16Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. 17I will wait for Yahweh, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

19And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn.

A time of trouble.

21They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward; 22and they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.


  9.

The future king.

1But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
3You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest,
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
7Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom,
to establish it, and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and for evermore.
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

8The Yahweh has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will light upon Israel;
9and all the people will know,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

The LORD will punish ISRAEL.

10"The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place."
11So Yahweh raises adversaries against them,
and stirs up their enemies.
12The Syrians on the east
and the Philistines on the west
devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.

13The people did not turn to him who smote them,
nor seek Yahweh of hosts.
14So Yahweh cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day -
15the elder and honoured man is the head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16for those who lead this people lead them astray,
and those who are led by them are swallowed up.
17Therefore Yahweh does not rejoice over their young men,
and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for every one is godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.

18For wickedness burns like a fire,
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19Through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts the land is burned,
and the people are like fuel for the fire;
no man spares his brother.
20They snatch on the right,
but are still hungry,
and they devour on the left,
but are not satisfied;
each devours his neighbour's flesh,
21Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
and together they are against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.


  10. 1Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
2to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the storm which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.

Assyria as the instrument of God.

5Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger,
the staff of my fury!
6Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7But he does not so intend,
and his mind does not so think;
but it is in his mind to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8for he says:
"Are not my commanders all kings?
9Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as I have done to Samaria and her images?"

12When Yahweh has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. 13For he says:

"By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples,
and have plundered their treasures;
like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.
14My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples;
and as men gather eggs that have been forsaken
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing,
or opened the mouth, or chirped."

15Shall the axe vaunt itself over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16Therefore Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame;
and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
18The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
Yahweh will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

A remnant will return.

20In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23For Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts, will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

The LORD will punish Assyria.

24Therefore thus says Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26And Yahweh of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck."

He has gone up from Rimmon,
28he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron,
at Michmash he stores his baggage;
29they have crossed over the pass,
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Hearken, O Laishah!
Answer her, O Anathoth!
31Madmenah is in flight,
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32This very day he will halt at Nob,
he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.

33Behold, Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.


  11.

The peaceful kingdom.

1There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge
and the fear of Yahweh.
3And his delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,
and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.

6The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall feed;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.

The exiled people will return.

10In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.

11In that day Yahweh will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

12He will raise an ensign for the nations,
and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15And Yahweh will utterly destroy
the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
and will wave his hand over the River
with his scorching wind,
and smite it into seven channels
that men may cross dryshod.
16And there will be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant which is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.


  12.

Hymn of thanksgiving.

1You will say in that day:
"I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.

2"Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for Yahweh GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation."
3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4And you will say in that day:
"Give thanks to Yahweh,
call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the nations,
proclaim that his name is exalted.

5"Sing praises to Yahweh,
for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
6Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."


  13.

God will punish Babylon.

1The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2On a bare hill raise a signal,
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.

4Hark, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Hark, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
Yahweh of hosts is mustering a host for battle.
5They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole earth.

6Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
7Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every man's heart will melt,
8and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in travail.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.

9Behold, the day of Yahweh comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising
and the moon will not shed its light.
11I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12I will make men more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of Yahweh of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
every man will turn to his own people,
and every man will flee to his own land.
15Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

17Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18Their bows will slaughter the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendour and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20It will never be inhabited
or dwelt in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21But wild beasts will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will dwell,
and there satyrs will dance.
22Hyenas will cry in its towers,
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.


  14.

Israel - The exiled will return.

1Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and aliens will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob. 2And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh's land as male and female slaves; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

3When Yahweh has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

The king of Babylonia in the world of the dead.

4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
"How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!
5Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6that smote the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.
7The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon,
saying, 'Since you were laid low,
no hewer comes up against us.'
9Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come,
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10All of them will speak and say to you:
'You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!
11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.

12"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north;
14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.'
15But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.
16Those who see you will stare at you,
and ponder over you:
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?
18All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
19but you are cast out,
away from your sepulchre,
like a loathed untimely birth,
clothed with the slain,
those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit,
like a dead body trodden under foot.
20You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
"May the descendants of evildoers nevermore be named!
21Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities."

God will destroy Babylon.

22"I will rise up against them," says Yahweh of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says Yahweh. 23And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Yahweh of hosts."

God will destroy the Assyrians.

24Yahweh of hosts has sworn:
"As I have planned, so shall it be,
and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,
25that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and upon my mountains trample him under foot;
and his yoke shall depart from them,
and his burden from their shoulder."
26This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27For Yahweh of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

God will destroy the Philistines.

28In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle: