Isaiah 21-24

Holman Christian Standard Bible

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,^(C)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”

³ Therefore I am^[a] filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.^(D)
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^[b]
into sheer terror.^(E)
5 Prepare a table,^(F) 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 lookout^[c] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,^(G)
and I stay at my post all night.
⁹ Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,^(H) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”^(I)

¹⁰ My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,^(J)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel.

One calls to me from Seir,^(M)
“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.”

In the desert^[e] brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.^(O)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema^(P)
meet^[f] the 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.

What’s the matter with you?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?^(U)
2 The noisy city, the jubilant town,^(V)
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!^(W)
Do not try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dear^[g] people.”
⁵ For the Lord God of Hosts
had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion^(X)
in the Valley of Vision—
people shouting^[h] and crying to the mountains;
⁶ Elam took up a quiver
with chariots and horsemen,^[i]
and Kir^(Y) uncovered the shield.
⁷ Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the gates.
⁸ He removed the defenses of Judah.

¹² On that day the Lord God of Hosts
called for weeping,^(AE) 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!”^(AF)
14 The Lord of Hosts has directly revealed to me:^(AG)
“This sin of yours will never^[j] be wiped out.”^(AH)
The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

Wail, ships of Tarshish,^(AQ)
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.^[l](AR)
2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;^(AS)
your agents have crossed the sea^[m]
3 on many waters.
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.^(AT)
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.^(AU)
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 The Lord of Hosts planned it,
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
¹⁰ Overflow^[n] your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer anything to restrain you.^[o]
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea;^(AV)
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has 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^(AW)—
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!

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.

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,^(BA)
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.^(BB)
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,^(BC)
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
⁷ The new wine mourns;^(BD)
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
⁸ The joyful tambourines^(BE) have 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;^(BF)
every house is closed to entry.^(BG)
11 In the streets they cry^[p] for 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.^(BH)

¹⁴ They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord.
¹⁵ Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!
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.^(BI)

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!^[q]
Woe is me.”
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.^(BJ)

¹⁷ Panic, pit, and trap await you^(BK)
who dwell on the earth.^(BL)
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,^(BM)
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.^(BN)
19 The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunkard^(BO)
and sways like a hut.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹ On that day^(BP) the Lord will punish
the host of heaven above
and kings of the earth below.
²² They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.^(BQ)
They will be confined to a dungeon;^(BR)
after many days they will be punished.
²³ The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and He will display His glory
in the presence of His elders.^(BS)