Category: Isaiah

A Judgment on Babylon

1 An oracleagainst the desert by the sea:

Like storms that pass over the Negev,

it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

2 A troubling vision is declared to me:

“The treacherous one acts treacherously,

and the destroyer destroys.

Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all her groaning.”

3 Therefore I amfilled with anguish.

Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.

I am too perplexed to hear,

too dismayed to see.

4 My heart staggers;

horror terrifies me.

He has turned my last glimmer of hope

into sheer terror.

5 Prepare a table,and spread out a carpet!

Eat and drink!

Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

6 For the Lord has said to me,

“Go, post a lookout;

let him report what he sees.

7 When he sees riders —

pairs of horsemen,

riders on donkeys,

riders on camels —

he must pay close attention.”

8 Then the lookoutreported,

“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,

and I stay at my post all night.

9 Look, riders come —

horsemen in pairs.”

And he answered, saying,

“Babylon has fallen,has fallen.

All the images of her gods

have been shattered on the ground.”

10 My people who have been crushed

on the threshing floor,

I have declared to you

what I have heard from theLordof Hosts,

the God of Israel.

An Oracle against Dumah

11 An oracleagainst Dumah:

One calls to me from Seir,

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night? ”

12 The watchman said,

“Morning has come, and also night.

If you want to ask, ask!

Come back again.”

An Oracle against Arabia

13 An oracle against Arabia:

In the desertbrush

you will camp for the night,

you caravans of Dedanites.

14 Bring water for the thirsty.

The inhabitants of the land of Tema

meetthe refugees with food.

15 For they have fled from swords,

from the drawn sword,

from the bow that is strung,

and from the stress of battle.

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

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

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/21-fb9515c78935c0f8b0f85dbdd0154a4f.mp3?version_id=72—

An Oracle against Jerusalem

1 An oracleagainst the Valley of Vision:

What’s the matter with you?

Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?

2 The noisy city, the jubilant town,

is filled with revelry.

Your dead did not die by the sword;

they were not killed in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together,

captured without a bow.

All your fugitives were captured together;

they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I said,

“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!

Do not try to comfort me

about the destruction of my dearpeople.”

5 For the LordGodof Hosts

had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion

in the Valley of Vision —

people shoutingand crying to the mountains;

6 Elam took up a quiver

with chariots and horsemen,

and Kiruncovered the shield.

7 Your best valleys were full of chariots,

and horsemen were positioned at the gates.

8 He removed the defenses of Judah.

On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

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

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

11 You made a reservoir between the wallsfor the waters of the ancient pool,but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

12 On that day the LordGodof Hosts

called for weeping,for wailing, for shaven heads,

and for the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But look: joy and gladness,

butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep,

eating of meat, and drinking of wine —

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! ”

14 TheLordof Hosts has directly revealed to me:

“This sin of yours will neverbe wiped out.”

The LordGodof Hosts has spoken.

An Oracle against Shebna

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/22-5ad8a2944de77cfdca5501efe160db39.mp3?version_id=72—

An Oracle against Tyre

1 An oracleagainst Tyre:

Wail, ships of Tarshish,

for your haven has been destroyed.

Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,

you merchants of Sidon;

your agents have crossed the sea

3 on many waters.

Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor —

the harvest of the Nile.

She was the merchant among the nations.

4 Be ashamed Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,

for the sea has spoken:

“I have not been in labor or given birth.

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.”

5 When the news reaches Egypt,

they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.

6 Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, inhabitants of the coastland!

7 Is this your jubilant city,

whose origin was in ancient times,

whose feet have taken her

to settle far away?

8 Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose traders are princes,

whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?

9 TheLordof Hosts planned it,

to desecrate all its glorious beauty,

to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.

10 Overflowyour land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;

there is no longer anything to restrain you.

11 He stretched out His hand over the sea;

He made kingdoms tremble.

TheLordhas commanded

that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

12 He said,

“You will not rejoice anymore,

ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.

Get up and cross over to Cyprus—

even there you will have no rest! ”

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans —

a people who no longer exist.

Assyria destined it for desert creatures.

They set up their siege towers

and stripped its palaces.

They made it a ruin.

14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,

because your fortress is destroyed!

15 On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years — the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

16 Pick up your lyre,

stroll through the city,

prostitute forgotten by men.

Play skillfully,

sing many a song,

and you will be thought of again.

17 And at the end of the 70 years,theLordwill restore Tyreand she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

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

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/23-48e7f3986a303a9f7f54881681e39c65.mp3?version_id=72—

The Earth Judged

1 Look, theLordis stripping the earth bare

and making it desolate.

He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

2 people and priest alike,

servant and master,

female servant and mistress,

buyer and seller,

lender and borrower,

creditor and debtor.

3 The earth will be stripped completely bare

and will be totally plundered,

for theLordhas spoken this message.

4 The earth mourns and withers;

the world wastes away and withers;

the exalted people of the earth waste away.

5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,

for they have transgressed teachings,

overstepped decrees,

and broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,

and its inhabitants have become guilty;

the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,

and only a few survive.

7 The new wine mourns;

the vine withers.

All the carousers now groan.

8 The joyful tambourineshave ceased.

The noise of the jubilant has stopped.

The joyful lyre has ceased.

9 They no longer sing and drink wine;

beer is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of chaos is shattered;

every house is closed to entry.

11 In the streets they cryfor wine.

All joy grows dark;

earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

12 Only desolation remains in the city;

its gate has collapsed in ruins.

13 For this is how it will be on earth

among the nations:

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

14 They raise their voices, they sing out;

they proclaim in the west

the majesty of theLord.

15 Therefore, in the east honor theLord!

In the islands of the west

honor the name of Yahweh,

the God of Israel.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs:

The Splendor of the Righteous One.

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!

Woe is me.”

The treacherous act treacherously;

the treacherous deal very treacherously.

17 Panic, pit, and trap await you

who dwell on the earth.

18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic

will fall into a pit,

and whoever escapes from the pit

will be caught in a trap.

For the windows are opened from heaven,

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 The earth is completely devastated;

the earth is split open;

the earth is violently shaken.

20 The earth staggers like a drunkard

and sways like a hut.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

21 On that daytheLordwill punish

the host of heaven above

and kings of the earth below.

22 They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.

They will be confined to a dungeon;

after many days they will be punished.

23 The moon will be put to shame

and the sun disgraced,

because theLordof Hosts will reign as king

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

and He will display His glory

in the presence of His elders.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/24-f0c425bf15097645ef7093e89bbfd3a8.mp3?version_id=72—

Salvation and Judgment on That Day

1 Yahweh, You are my God;

I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,

for You have accomplished wonders,

plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have turned the city into a pile of rocks,

a fortified city, into ruins;

the fortress of barbariansis no longer a city;

it will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore, a strong people will honor You.

The cities of violent nations will fear You.

4 For You have been a stronghold for the poor,

a stronghold for the needyperson in his distress,

a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat.

When the breath of the violent

is like rain against a wall,

5 like heat in a dry land,

You subdue the uproar of barbarians.

Asthe shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,

so He silences the song of the violent.

6 TheLordof Hosts will prepare a feast

for all the peoples on this mountain—

a feast of aged wine, choice meat,finely aged wine.

7 On this mountain

He will destroy the burial shroud,

the shroud over all the peoples,

the sheet covering all the nations;

8 He will destroy death forever.

The LordGodwill wipe away the tears

from every face

and remove His people’s disgrace

from the whole earth,

for theLordhas spoken.

9 On that day it will be said,

“Look, this is our God;

we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.

This is theLord; we have waited for Him.

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10 For theLord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moabwill be trampled in his place

as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

11 He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,

as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.

His pride will be brought low,

along with the trickery of his hands.

12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,

thrown to the ground, to the dust.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/25-061ed217d011714d7700d6db456c9380.mp3?version_id=72—

The Song of Judah

1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city.

Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.

2 Open the gates

so a righteous nation can come in —

one that remains faithful.

3 You will keep the mind that is dependent on You

in perfect peace,

for it is trusting in You.

4 Trust in theLordforever,

because in Yah, theLord, is an everlasting rock!

5 For He has humbled those who live in lofty places —

an inaccessible city.

He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground;

He throws it to the dust.

6 Feet trample it,

the feet of the humble,

the steps of the poor.

God’s People Vindicated

7 The path of the righteous is level;

You clear a straight path for the righteous.

8 Yes, Yahweh, we wait for You

in the path of Your judgments.

Our desire is for Your name and renown.

9 I long for You in the night;

yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You,

for when Your judgments are in the land,

the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 But if the wicked man is shown favor,

he does not learn righteousness.

In a righteous land he acts unjustly

and does not see the majesty of theLord.

11 Lord, Your hand is lifted up to take action,

but they do not see it.

They will see Your zeal for Your people,

and they will be put to shame.

The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!

12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,

for You have also done all our work for us.

13 Yahweh our God, lords other than You have ruled over us,

but we remember Your name alone.

14 The dead do not live;

departed spirits do not rise up.

Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them;

You have wiped out all memory of them.

15 You have added to the nation,Lord.

You have added to the nation; You are honored.

You have expanded all the borders of the land.

16 Lord, they went to You in their distress;

they poured out whispered prayers

because Your discipline fell on them.

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pains,

so we were before You,Lord.

18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;

we gave birth to wind.

We have won no victories on earth,

and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

19 Your dead will live; their bodieswill rise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!

For you will be covered with the morning dew,

and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and close your doors behind you.

Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.

21 For look, theLordis coming from His place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The earth will reveal the blood shed on it

and will no longer conceal her slain.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/26-9580104c25133bb77d378ce39de9835c.mp3?version_id=72—

Leviathan Slain

1 On that day theLordwith His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan,the fleeing serpent — Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.

The Lord’s Vineyard

2 On that day

sing about a desirable vineyard:

3 I, Yahweh, watch over it;

I water it regularly.

I guard it night and day

so that no one disturbs it.

4 I am not angry,

but if it produces thorns and briersfor Me,

I will fight against it, trample it,

and burn it to the ground.

5 Or let it take hold of My strength;

let it make peace with Me —

make peace with Me.

6 In days to come, Jacob will take root.

Israel will blossom and bloom

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Did theLordstrike Israel

as He struck the one who struck Israel?

Was he killed like those killed by Him?

8 You disputed with her

by banishing and driving her away.

He removed her with His severe storm

on the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore Jacob’s iniquitywill be purged in this way,

and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:

when he makes all the altar stones

like crushed bits of chalk,

no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

10 For the fortified city will be deserted,

pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness.

Calves will graze there,

and there they will spread out and strip its branches.

11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.

Women will come and make fires with them,

for they are not a people with understanding.

Therefore their Makerwill not have compassion on them,

and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 On that day

theLordwill thresh grain from the Euphrates River

as far as the Wadi of Egypt,

and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.

13 On that day

a great trumpetwill be blown,

and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,

as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;

and they will worship theLord

at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/27-a1796b3467f2a964053009e5a3991f2d.mp3?version_id=72—

Woe to Samaria

1 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,

and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,

which is on the summit above the rich valley.

Woe to those overcome with wine.

2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one—

like a devastating hail storm,

like a storm with strong flooding waters.

He will bring it across the land with His hand.

3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards

will be trampled underfoot.

4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,

which is on the summit above the rich valley,

will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.

Whoever sees it will swallow it

while it is still in his hand.

5 On that day

theLordof Hosts will become a crown of beauty

and a diadem of splendor

to the remnant of His people,

6 a spirit of justice

to the one who sits in judgment,

and strength

to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 These also stagger because of wine

and stumble under the influence of beer:

priest and prophet stagger because of beer,

they are confused by wine.

They stumble because of beer,

they are muddled in their visions,

they stumble in their judgments.

8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;

there is no place without a stench.

9 Who is hetrying to teach?

Who is hetrying to instruct?

Infantsjust weaned from milk?

Babiesremoved from the breast?

10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there.”

11 So He will speak to this people

with stammering speech

and in a foreign language.

12 He had said to them:

“This is the place of rest,

let the weary rest;

this is the place of repose.”

But they would not listen.

13 Then the word of theLordcame to them:

“Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there,”

so they go stumbling backward,

to be broken, trapped, and captured.

A Deal with Death

14 Therefore hear the word of theLord,you mockers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15 For you said, “We have cut a deal with Death,

and we have made an agreement with Sheol;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

it will not touch us,

because we have made falsehood our refuge

and have hidden behind treachery.”

16 Therefore the LordGodsaid:

“Look, I have laid a stonein Zion,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;

the one who believes will be unshakable.

17 And I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the mason’s level.”

Hail will sweep away the false refuge,

and water will flood your hiding place.

18 Your deal with Death will be dissolved,

and your agreement with Sheol will not last.

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be trampled.

19 Every time it passes through,

it will carry you away;

it will pass through every morning —

every day and every night.

Only terrorwill cause you

to understand the message.

20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and its cover too small to wrap up in.

21 For theLordwill rise up as He did at Mount Perazim.

He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,

to do His work, His strange work,

and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

22 So now, do not mock,

or your shackles will become stronger.

Indeed, I have heard from the LordGodof Hosts

a decree of destruction for the whole land.

God’s Wonderful Advice

23 Listen and hear my voice.

Pay attention and hear what I say.

24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?

Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

25 When he has leveled its surface,

does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?

He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,

with spelt as their border.

26 His God teaches him order;

He instructs him.

27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed

with a threshing board,

and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.

But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

28 Bread grain is crushed,

but is not threshed endlessly.

Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,

his horses do not crush it.

29 This also comes from theLordof Hosts.

He gives wonderful advice;

He gives great wisdom.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/28-f44accfcbac9c252414fffc0673fbd71.mp3?version_id=72—

Woe to Jerusalem

1 Woe to Ariel,Ariel,

the city where David camped!

Continue year after year;

let the festivals recur.

2 I will oppress Ariel,

and there will be mourning and crying,

and she will be to Me like an Ariel.

3 I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with earth ramps,

and I will set up my siege towers against you.

4 You will be brought down;

you will speak from the ground,

and your words will come from low in the dust.

Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;

your speech will whisper from the dust.

5 Your many foeswill be like fine dust,

and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,

6 you will be visited by theLordof Hosts

with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise,

storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.

7 All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel —

all the attackers, the siege works against her,

and those who oppress her —

will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.

8 It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating,

then wakes and is still hungry;

and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking,

then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water.

So it will be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

9 Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

They are drunk,but not with wine;

they stagger,but not with beer.

10 For theLordhas poured out on you

an overwhelming urge tosleep;

He has shut your eyes — the prophets,

and covered your heads — the seers.

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

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

13 The Lord said:

Because these people approach Me with their mouths

to honor Me with lip-service—

yet their hearts are far from Me,

and their worship consists of man-made rules

learned by rote —

14 therefore I will again confound these people

with wonder after wonder.

The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,

and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

15 Woe to those who go to great lengths

to hide their plans from theLord.

They do their works in darkness,

and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us? ”

16 You have turned things around,

as if the potter were the same as the clay.

How can what is made say about its maker,

“He didn’t make me”?

How can what is formed

say about the one who formed it,

“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

17 Isn’t it true that in just a little while

Lebanon will become an orchard,

and the orchard will seem like a forest?

18 On that day the deaf will hear

the words of a document,

and out of a deep darkness

the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The humble will have joy

after joy in theLord,

and the poor people will rejoice

in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the ruthless one will vanish,

the scorner will disappear,

and all those who lie in wait with evil intent

will be killed —

21 those who, with their speech,

accuse a person of wrongdoing,

who set a trap at the gate for the mediator,

and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.

22 Therefore, theLordwho redeemed Abrahamsays this about the house of Jacob:

Jacob will no longer be ashamed

and his face will no longer be pale.

23 For when he sees his children,

the work of My hands within his nation,

they will honor My name,

they will honor the Holy One of Jacob

and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24 Those who are confused will gain understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/29-f27072b0b023e530f35aec2383426ace.mp3?version_id=72—

Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance

1 Woe to the rebellious children!

This is theLord’s declaration.

They carry out a plan,but not Mine;

they make an alliance,

but against My will,

piling sin on top of sin.

2 They set out to go down to Egypt

without asking My advice,

in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.

3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your disgrace.

4 For though hisprinces are at Zoan

and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

5 everyone will be ashamed

because of a people who can’t help.

They are of no benefit, they are no help;

they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

6 An oracleabout the animals of the Negev:

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people who will not help them.

7 Egypt’s help is completely worthless;

therefore, I call her:

Rahab Who Just Sits.

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the future,

forever and ever.

9 They are a rebellious people,

deceptive children,

children who do not want to obey theLord’s instruction.

10 They say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy the truth to us.

Tell us flattering things.

Prophesy illusions.

11 Get out of the way!

Leave the pathway.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message

and have trusted in oppression and deceit,

and have depended on them,

13 this iniquityof yours will be

like a spreading breach,

a bulge in a high wall

whose collapse will come in an instant — suddenly!

14 Its collapse will be like the shattering

of a potter’s jar,crushed to pieces,

so that not even a fragment of pottery

will be found among its shattered remains —

no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth

or scoop water from a cistern.”

15 For the LordGod, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“You will be delivered by returning and resting;

your strength will lie in quiet confidence.

But you are not willing.”

16 You say, “No!

We will escape on horses” —

therefore you will escape! —

and, “We will ride on fast horses” —

but those who pursue you will be faster.

17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one,

at the threat of five you will flee,

until you alone remain

like a solitary pole on a mountaintop

or a banner on a hill.

The Lord’s Mercy to Israel

18 Therefore theLordis waiting to show you mercy,

and is rising up to show you compassion,

for theLordis a just God.

All who wait patiently for Him are happy.

19 For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.

20 The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,but your Teacherwill not hide Himselfany longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,

21 and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

22 Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

23 Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shoveland fork.

25 Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.

26 The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter— like the light of seven days — on the daythat theLordbandages His people’s injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.

Annihilation of the Assyrians

27 Look, Yahwehcomes from far away,

His anger burning and heavy with smoke.

His lips are full of fury,

and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent

that rises to the neck.

He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction

and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples

to lead them astray.

29 Your singing will be like that

on the night of a holy festival,

and your heart will rejoice

like one who walks to the music of a flute,

going up to the mountain of theLord,

to the Rock of Israel.

30 And theLordwill make the splendor of His voice heard

and reveal His armstriking in angry wrath

and a flame of consuming fire,

in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.

31 Assyria will be shattered by the voice of theLord.

He will strike with a rod.

32 And every stroke of the appointedstaff

that theLordbrings down on him

will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;

He will fight against him with brandished weapons.

33 Indeed! Topheth has been ready

for the king for a long time now.

Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,

with plenty of fire and wood.

The breath of theLord,like a torrent of brimstone,

kindles it.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/ISA/30-e3939c5d47dde2f9807182edf9e3041c.mp3?version_id=72—