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Isaiah 1-12

Isaiah

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

The Wickedness of Judah


2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
   for the Lord has spoken:
I reared children and brought them up,
   but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
   and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know,
   my people do not understand.


4 Ah, sinful nation,
   people laden with iniquity,
offspring who do evil,
   children who deal corruptly,
who have forsaken the Lord,
   who have despised the Holy One of Israel,
   who are utterly estranged!


5 Why do you seek further beatings?
   Why do you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
   and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
   there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
   and bleeding wounds;
they have not been drained, or bound up,
   or softened with oil.


7 Your country lies desolate,
   your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
   aliens devour your land;
   it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And daughter Zion is left
   like a booth in a vineyard,
like a shelter in a cucumber field,
   like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of hosts
   had not left us a few survivors,
we would have been like Sodom,
   and become like Gomorrah.


10 Hear the word of the Lord,
   you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
   you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
   says the Lord;
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 goats.


12 When you come to appear before me,*
   who asked this from your hand?
   Trample my courts no more;
13 bringing offerings is futile;
   incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
   I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
   my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
   I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out 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.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
   remove the evil of your doings
   from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17   learn to do good;
seek justice,
   rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
   plead for the widow.


18 Come now, let us argue it out,
   says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
   they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
   they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
   you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
   you shall be devoured by the sword;
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The Degenerate City


21 How the faithful city
   has become a whore!
   She that was full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her—
   but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,
   your wine is mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
   and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
   and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan,
   and the widow’s cause does not come before them.


24 Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,
   and avenge myself on my foes!
25 I will turn my hand against you;
   I will smelt away your dross as with lye
   and remove all your alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges as at the first,
   and your counsellors as at the beginning.
Afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness,
   the faithful city.


27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
   and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,
   and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 For you shall be ashamed of the oaks
   in which you delighted;
and you shall blush for the gardens
   that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be like an oak
   whose leaf withers,
   and like a garden without water.
31 The strong shall become like tinder,
   and their work* like a spark;
they and their work shall burn together,
   with no one to quench them.

The Future House of God

2The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.


2 In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3   Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   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 instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

Judgement Pronounced on Arrogance


5 O house of Jacob,
   come, let us walk
   in the light of the Lord!
6 For you have forsaken the ways of* your people,
   O house of Jacob.
Indeed they are full of diviners* from the east
   and of soothsayers like the Philistines,
   and they clasp hands with foreigners.
7 Their 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.
8 Their land is filled with idols;
   they bow down to the work of their hands,
   to what their own fingers have made.
9 And so people are humbled,
   and everyone is brought low—
   do not forgive them!
10 Enter into the rock,
   and hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord,
   and from the glory of his majesty.
11 The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,
   and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;
and the Lord alone will be exalted
   on that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has a day
   against all that is proud and lofty,
   against all that is lifted up and high;*
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,
   lofty and lifted up;
   and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14 against all the high mountains,
   and against all the lofty hills;
15 against every high tower,
   and against every fortified wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
   and against all the beautiful craft.*
17 The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,
   and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;
   and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18 The idols shall utterly pass away.
19 Enter the caves of the rocks
   and the holes of the ground,
from the terror of the Lord,
   and from the glory of his majesty,
   when he rises to terrify the earth.
20 On that day people will throw away
   to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
   which they made for themselves to worship,
21 to enter the caverns of the rocks
   and the clefts in the crags,
from the terror of the Lord,
   and from the glory of his majesty,
   when he rises to terrify the earth.
22 Turn away from mortals,
   who have only breath in their nostrils,
   for of what account are they?

3For now the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
   is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and staff—
   all support of bread,
   and all support of water—
2 warrior and soldier,
   judge and prophet,
   diviner and elder,
3 captain of fifty
   and dignitary,
counsellor and skilful magician
   and expert enchanter.
4 And I will make boys their princes,
   and babes shall rule over them.
5 The people will be oppressed,
   everyone by another
   and everyone by a neighbour;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
   and the base to the honourable.


6 Someone will even seize a relative,
   a member of the clan, saying,
‘You have a cloak;
   you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
   shall be under your rule.’
7 But the other will cry out on that day, saying,
‘I will not be a healer;
   in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
   leader of the people.’
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled
   and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
   defying his glorious presence.


9 The look on their faces bears witness against them;
   they proclaim their sin like Sodom,
   they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
   For they have brought evil on themselves.
10 Tell the innocent how fortunate they are,
   for they shall eat the fruit of their labours.
11 Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,
   for what their hands have done shall be done to them.
12 My people—children are their oppressors,
   and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
   and confuse the course of your paths.


13 The Lord rises to argue his case;
   he stands to judge the peoples.
14 The Lord enters into judgement
   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.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people,
   by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.


16 The Lord 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;
17 the Lord will afflict with scabs
   the heads of the daughters of Zion,
   and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

18 On that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; 19the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20the head-dresses, 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.
24 Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
   and instead of a sash, a rope;
and instead of well-arranged hair, baldness;
   and instead of a rich robe, a binding of sackcloth;
   instead of beauty, shame.*
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
   and your warriors in battle.
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn;
   ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground.

4Seven women shall take hold of one man on that day, saying,
‘We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes;
just let us be called by your name;
   take away our disgrace.’

The Future Glory of the Survivors in Zion

On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. 5Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard

5Let me sing for my beloved
   my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes.


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


5 And 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.
6 I will make it a waste;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed,
   and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
   that they rain no rain upon it.


7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
   is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
   are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
   but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
   but heard a cry!

Social Injustice Denounced


8 Ah, you who join house to house,
   who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
   and you are left to live alone
   in the midst of the land!
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
   large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
   and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.*


11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning
   in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
   to be inflamed by wine,
12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
   tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
   or see the work of his hands!
13 Therefore my people go into exile without knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
   and their multitude is parched with thirst.


14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
   and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem* and her multitude go down,
   her throng and all who exult in her.
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
   and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
   and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,
   fatlings and kids* shall feed among the ruins.


18 Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,
   who drag sin along as with cart-ropes,
19 who say, ‘Let him make haste,
   let him speed his work
   that we may see it;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfilment,
   that we may know it!’
20 Ah, you 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!
21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,
   and shrewd in your own sight!
22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine
   and valiant at mixing drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
   and deprive the innocent of their rights!

Foreign Invasion Predicted


24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
   and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will become rotten,
   and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts,
   and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.


25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
   and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;
   the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
   in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
   and his hand is stretched out still.


26 He will raise a signal for a nation far away,
   and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth;
Here they come, swiftly, speedily!
27 None of them is weary, none stumbles,
   none slumbers or sleeps,
not a loincloth is loose,
   not a sandal-thong broken;
28 their arrows are sharp,
   all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
   and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
   like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
   they carry it off, and no one can rescue.
30 They will roar over it on that day,
   like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks to the land—
   only darkness and distress;
and the light grows dark with clouds.

A Vision of God in the Temple

6In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
4The pivots* on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph* touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ 9And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.”
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
   and stop their ears,
   and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
   and turn and be healed.’
11 Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:
‘Until cities lie waste
   without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
   and the land is utterly desolate;
12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,
   and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
13 Even if a tenth part remains 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.

Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz

7In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. 2When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz* and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,* 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 smouldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem* and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; 7therefore thus says the Lord God:
It shall not stand,
   and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus,
   and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
   and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in faith,
   you shall not stand at all.

Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then Isaiah* said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman* is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.* 15He shall eat curds and honey by the time 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. 17The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.’

18 On that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that 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 thorn bushes, and on all the pastures.

20 On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.

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

23 On 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 one will go there, for all the land will be briers and thorns; 25and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Isaiah’s Son a Sign of the Assyrian Invasion

8Then the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz’,* 2and have it attested* for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. 3And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4for before the child knows how to call ‘My father’ or ‘My mother’, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.

The Lord spoke to me again: 6Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before* Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 7therefore, the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; 8it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.


9 Band together, you peoples, and be dismayed;
   listen, all you far countries;
gird yourselves and be dismayed;
   gird yourselves and be dismayed!
10 Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught;
   speak a word, but it will not stand,
   for God is with us.*

11 For the Lord spoke thus to me while his hand was strong upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. 13But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over—a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.

Disciples of Isaiah

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. 17I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19Now if people say to you, ‘Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living, 20for teaching and for instruction?’ surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn! 21They will pass through the land,* greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse* their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upwards, 22or they will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.*

The Righteous Reign of the Coming King

9*But there will be no gloom for those who were 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.
2 *The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
   on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Judgement on Arrogance and Oppression


8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
   and it fell on Israel;
9 and all the people knew it—
   Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
   but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:
10 ‘The bricks have fallen,
   but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycomores have been cut down,
   but we will put cedars in their place.’
11 So the Lord raised adversaries* against them,
   and stirred up their enemies,
12 the Arameans in the east and the Philistines in the west,
   and they devoured Israel with open mouth.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.


13 The people did not turn to him who struck them,
   or seek the Lord of hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
   palm branch and reed in one day—
15 elders and dignitaries are the head,
   and prophets who teach lies are the tail;
16 for those who led this people led them astray,
   and those who were led by them were left in confusion.
17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on* their young people,
   or compassion on their orphans and widows;
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
   and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.


18 For wickedness burned like a fire,
   consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
   and they swirled upwards in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
   the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
   no one spared another.
20 They gorged on the right, but still were hungry,
   and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;*
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
   and together they were against Judah.
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

10Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
   who write oppressive statutes,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
   and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
   and that you may make the orphans your prey!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment,
   in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
   and where will you leave your wealth,
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners
   or fall among the slain?
For all this, his anger has not turned away;
   his hand is stretched out still.

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged


5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger—
   the club in their hands is my fury!
6 Against 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.
7 But this is not what he intends,
   nor does he have this in mind;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
   and to cut off nations not a few.
8 For he says:
‘Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
   Is not Hamath like Arpad?
   Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
   whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
   what I have done to Samaria and her images?’

12 When the Lord 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.
14 My hand has found, like a nest,
   the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
   so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing,
   or opened its mouth, or chirped.’


15 Shall the axe vaunt itself over the one who wields it,
   or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
   or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
   will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
   like the burning of fire.
17 The 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.
18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land
   the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
   and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
   that a child can write them down.

The Repentant Remnant of Israel

20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.*

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a 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. 26The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.


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


33 Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
   will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the tallest trees will be cut down,
   and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
   and Lebanon with its majestic trees* will fall.

The Peaceful Kingdom

11A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.


He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins.


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

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

11 On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that 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.
12 He will raise a signal for the nations,
   and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
   from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
   the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
   and Judah shall not be hostile towards Ephraim.
14 But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;
   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.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy
   the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
and will wave his hand over the River
   with his scorching wind;
and will split it into seven channels,
   and make a way to cross on foot;
16 so there shall be a highway from Assyria
   for the remnant that is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
   when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Thanksgiving and Praise

12You will say on that day:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
   for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
   and you comforted me.


2 Surely God is my salvation;
   I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God * is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.


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

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30 June 2021

From the oremus Bible Browser https://bible.oremus.org v2.9.2 30 June 2021.