Isaiah 17-20

New Life Version

God Will Destroy Damascus

17 The special word about Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city. It will be destroyed and laid waste. ² The cities of Aroer are left empty. They will be for the flocks to lie down in, and no one will make them afraid. ³ The strong city will be gone from Ephraim. Damascus will no longer rule. And those of Syria who are left alive will be like the shining-greatness of the sons of Israel,” says the Lord of All.

⁴ In that day Jacob will lose his shining-greatness. And he will lose the fat of his flesh. ⁵ It will be like one who gathers the standing grain, taking the ears of grain with his arm or like one who gathers the ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim. ⁶ Yet some good will be left in it, as when an olive tree is shaken. There will still be two or three olives on the highest branch, and four or five on the branches of a tree that gives much fruit, says the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ In that day man will turn to his Maker. His eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. ⁸ He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands. He will not look to what his fingers have made, or to the false goddess Asherah and the altars of special perfume.

⁹ In that day their strong cities will be like places left empty among the trees, or like high branches which they left behind because of the sons of Israel. The land will be laid waste. ¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God Who saves you. You have not remembered the rock where you are safe. So you plant beautiful plants, and put them with the vine-cuttings of a strange god. ¹¹ In the day that you plant it you fence it in, and in the morning your seed is growing. But its fruit will waste away in a day of sickness and pain which cannot be healed.

Other Nations Are Like Grain Worth Nothing

¹² Listen to the cry of sorrow of many people. They sound like the noise of the seas and the noise of nations! They sound like the rushing of powerful waters. ¹³ The nations move on like the noise of many waters. But God will speak sharp words to them and they will run far away. They will be blown away like the part of grain that is of no worth by the wind in the mountains. They will be like dust blown around in a storm. ¹⁴ At evening time there is much fear! Before morning, they are gone. This will be what will come to those who take what belongs to us. It will be what happens to those who rob us.

Word about Cush

18 Trouble will come to the land on the other side of the rivers of Cush where the sound of wings is heard. ² From that land men are sent by the sea in boats made from tall river-grass. Go, you fast men, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people who fill others with fear both near and far. Go to the powerful nation that rules over those who hate it, whose land is divided by rivers. ³ All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, as soon as a flag is raised on the mountain, you will see it. As soon as the horn is sounded, you will hear it. ⁴ For the Lord has said to me, “I will be quiet and watch from the place where I live, like shining heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of fog in the heat of gathering time.” ⁵ For before the gathering time, as soon as the bud blossoms and the grape is ready to eat, He will cut off the new branches with knives and will cut away the spreading branches. ⁶ They will be left for the birds of the mountains and for the wild animals of the earth. The birds will spend the summer eating them. And all the wild animals of the earth will eat them during the winter. ⁷ At that time tall people with smooth skin will bring gifts to the Lord of All. These people make others afraid both near and far. They are a strong and powerful nation who rule over others, whose land is divided by rivers. And they will go to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord of All.

Word about Egypt

19 The special word about Egypt: See, the Lord is traveling on a fast cloud and is coming to Egypt. The false gods of Egypt shake in fear before Him. The hearts of the Egyptians become weak. ² “I will make Egyptians go against Egyptians. Each of them will fight against his brother, and each against his neighbor. City will fight against city, and nation against nation. ³ Then the spirit of the Egyptians will become weak within them. And I will bring their plans to nothing. They will go to false gods and spirits of the dead for help, and to those who speak with spirits of the dead and use their secret ways. ⁴ Then I will give the Egyptians into the hand of a bad ruler. An angry king will rule over them,” says the Lord God of All.

⁵ The waters of the sea will dry up. The river will become dry. ⁶ Manmade rivers will smell bad. The small rivers of Egypt will dry up. And the plants by the rivers will waste away. ⁷ The grass by the side of the Nile and all that is planted by the Nile will become dry, will be driven away, and be no more. ⁸ The fishermen will cry in sorrow. All those who fish for a living in the Nile River will be filled with sorrow. And those who put out nets on its waters will become weak. ⁹ Those who make linen and white cloth will be very troubled. ¹⁰ The pillars of Egypt will be crushed. All the able workmen will be filled with sorrow.

¹¹ The king’s sons of Zoan are very foolish. The words of Pharaoh’s wisest men are foolish words. How can you men say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of early kings”? ¹² Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you. And let them understand what the Lord of All has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The king’s sons of Zoan have become fools. The king’s sons of Memphis have been fooled. The heads of her family groups have led Egypt from the right way. ¹⁴ The Lord has mixed a troubled spirit within her. They have led Egypt the wrong way in all that it does, as a drunk man walks from side to side in what he has spit up. ¹⁵ And there will be no work in Egypt and nothing can be done by anyone, its head or tail, its palm branch or river-grass.

Good Will Come to Egypt, Assyria and Israel

¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shake with fear because of the hand which the Lord of All is going to wave over them. ¹⁷ The land of Judah will fill Egypt with fear. Whoever hears its name will be afraid of it, because of the plan which the Lord of All is making against them.

¹⁸ In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and promising to follow the Lord of All. One will be called the City of Destruction.

¹⁹ In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt, and an altar to the Lord by the side of its land. ²⁰ It will be something special to see, to make the Lord of All known in the land of Egypt. For they will cry to the Lord because of those who make it hard for them. And He will send a Powerful One to save them, and He will take them out of trouble. ²¹ The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and in that day the Egyptians will know the Lord. They will even worship with gifts on the altar. They will make promises to the Lord and keep them. ²² And the Lord will punish Egypt, but then He will heal them. So they will return to the Lord, and He will answer their prayers and heal them.

²³ In that day there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians will go to Assyria. The Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third country with Egypt and Assyria, a good and respected nation on the earth, ²⁵ to whom the Lord of All has brought good, saying, “Good will come to Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My chosen people.”

Word about Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that Sargon the king of Assyria sent his head captain to fight against Ashdod, he took it in battle. ² At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and take off the clothes made from hair, and take your shoes off your feet.” And he did so, going without clothes and shoes. ³ The Lord said, “My servant Isaiah has gone without clothing and shoes for three years as something special to be seen against Egypt and Cush. ⁴ So the king of Assyria will take away the people of Egypt and Cush, young and old, without clothes or shoes. Their bodies will not be covered, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵ Then they will be ashamed and troubled because of Cush their hope and Egypt their pride. ⁶ The people living on this island will say in that day, ‘See, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped, and to whom we ran for help to be saved from the king of Assyria. Now how can we get away?’”