Isaiah 18-22

New American Standard Bible

Message to Ethiopia

18 Woe, land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of ^[a]^(A)Cush,
²Which sends messengers by the sea,
Even in ^(B)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation ^[b]^(C)tall and smooth,
To a people ^(D)feared ^[c]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
³^(E)All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, ^(F)you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.

⁴For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will quietly look ^[d]from My ^(G)dwelling place
Like dazzling heat in the ^[e]^(H)sunshine,
Like a cloud of ^(I)dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵For ^(J)before the harvest, as soon as the bud ^[f]blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
⁶They will be left together for mountain birds ^(K)of prey,
And for the animals of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
⁷At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies
^[g]From a ^(L)people ^[h]tall and smooth,
From a people feared ^[i]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the ^(M)place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.

Message to Egypt

19 The ^(N)pronouncement concerning ^(O)Egypt:

Behold, the Lord is ^(P)riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The ^(Q)idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the ^(R)heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
²“So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will fight, ^(S)each against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
³Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confuse their strategy,
So that ^(T)they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead,
And to ^[j]mediums and spiritists.
⁴Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a ^(U)cruel master,
And a ^[k]mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord ^[l]God of armies.

⁵^(V)The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.
⁶The ^[m]^(W)canals will emit a stench,
The ^[n]^(X)streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
^(Y)The reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷The bulrushes by the ^(Z)Nile, by the ^[o]edge of the Nile
And all the sown fields by the Nile
Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
⁸And the ^(AA)fishermen will grieve,
And all those who cast a ^[p]line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away.
⁹Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
And the weavers of white ^(AB)cloth will be ^[q]utterly dejected.
¹⁰And ^[r]the ^(AC)pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

¹¹The officials of ^[s]^(AD)Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become ^[t]stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the ^(AE)wise, a son of ancient kings”?
¹²Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them ^[u]understand what the Lord of armies
Has ^(AF)planned against Egypt.
¹³The officials of ^[v]Zoan have turned out to be fools,
The officials of ^(AG)Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the ^(AH)cornerstone of her tribes
Have ^[w]led Egypt astray.
¹⁴The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of ^(AI)distortion;
^(AJ)They have led Egypt astray in all ^[x]that it does,
As a ^(AK)drunken person ^[y]staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵There will be no work for Egypt
^(AL)Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

¹⁶On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great ^(AM)fear because of the ^(AN)waving of the hand of the Lord of armies, which He is going to wave over them. ¹⁷The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the ^(AO)plan of the Lord of armies which He is making against them.

¹⁸On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and ^(AP)swearing allegiance to the Lord of armies; one will be called the City of ^[z]Destruction.

¹⁹On that day there will be an ^(AQ)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ^(AR)memorial stone to the Lord beside its border. ²⁰And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a ^(AS)Savior and a ^(AT)Champion, and He will save them. ²¹So the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day. They will even worship with ^(AU)sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. ²²And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but ^(AV)healing; so they will ^(AW)return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.

²³On that day there will be a ^(AX)road from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will ^(AY)worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is ^(AZ)Egypt My people, and Assyria ^(BA)the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia

20 In the year that the ^[aa]^(BB)commander came to ^(BC)Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, ²at that time the Lord spoke through ^(BD)Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the ^(BE)sackcloth from your hips and take your ^(BF)sandals off your feet.” And he did so, going ^(BG)naked and barefoot. ³Then the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a ^(BH)sign and symbol against Egypt and ^[ab]^(BI)Cush, ⁴so the ^(BJ)king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, ^(BK)young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the ^[ac]shame of Egypt. ⁵Then they will be ^(BL)terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their ^(BM)pride. ⁶So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled ^(BN)for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and ^(BO)how are we ourselves to escape?’”

God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

21 The ^(BP)pronouncement concerning the ^[ad]^(BQ)wilderness of the sea:

As ^(BR)windstorms in the ^[ae]Negev come in turns,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
²A ^(BS)harsh vision has been shown to me;
The ^(BT)treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, ^(BU)Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have put an end to all ^[af]the groaning she has caused.
³For this reason my ^(BV)loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a ^(BW)woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
⁴My ^[ag]mind reels, ^[ah]horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been ^(BX)turned into trembling for me.
⁵They ^(BY)set the table, they ^[ai]spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields!”

⁶For this is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, station the lookout, have him ^(BZ)report what he sees.
⁷When he sees ^[aj]a ^(CA)column of chariots, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys, a train of camels,
He is to pay close attention, very close attention.”

⁸Then ^[ak]the lookout called,

“^(CB)Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
⁹Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “^(CC)Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the ^(CD)images of her gods ^[al]are shattered on the ground.”
¹⁰My ^(CE)downtrodden people, and my ^[am]afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the Lord of armies,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.

Pronouncements about Edom and Arabia

¹¹The pronouncement concerning ^[an]^(CF)Edom:

One keeps calling to me from ^(CG)Seir,
“Watchman, ^[ao]how far gone is the night?
Watchman, ^[ap]how far gone is the night?”
¹²The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”

¹³The pronouncement about ^(CH)Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you ^[aq]must spend the night,
You caravans of ^(CI)Dedanites.
¹⁴Bring water ^[ar]for the thirsty,
You inhabitants of the land of ^(CJ)Tema;
Meet the fugitive with bread.
¹⁵For they have ^(CK)fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the press of battle.

¹⁶For this is what the Lord said to me: “In a ^(CL)year, as ^[as]a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of ^(CM)Kedar will come to an end; ¹⁷and the ^(CN)remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel ^(CO)has spoken.”

The Valley of Vision

22 The pronouncement concerning the ^(CP)valley of vision:

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the ^(CQ)housetops?
²You who were full of noise,
You tumultuous town, you ^(CR)jubilant city;
Your dead were ^(CS)not killed with the sword,
Nor ^[at]did they die in battle.
³^(CT)All your rulers have fled together,
And have been captured ^[au]without the bow;
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
^[av]Though they had fled far away.
⁴Therefore I say, “Look away from me,
Let me ^(CU)weep bitterly,
Do not ^[aw]try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
⁵^(CV)For the Lord ^[ax]God of armies has a ^(CW)day of panic, ^(CX)subjugation, and confusion
^(CY)In the valley of vision,
A breaking down of walls
And a crying ^[ay]to the mountain.
⁶^(CZ)Elam picked up the quiver,
With the chariots, ^[az]infantry, and horsemen;
And ^(DA)Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
And the horsemen took positions at the gate.
⁸And He removed the ^[ba]defense of Judah.
On that day you ^[bb]depended on the weapons of the ^(DB)house of the forest,
⁹And you saw that the breaches
In the wall of the city of David were many;
And you ^(DC)collected the waters of the lower pool.
¹⁰Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And tore down houses to fortify the wall.
¹¹And you made a reservoir ^(DD)between the two walls
For the waters of the ^(DE)old pool.
But you did not ^[bc]depend on Him who made it,
Nor did you ^[bd]take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

¹²Therefore on that day the Lord ^[be]God of armies called you to ^(DF)weeping, to wailing,
To ^(DG)shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
¹³Instead, there is ^(DH)joy and jubilation,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“^(DI)Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
¹⁴But the Lord of armies revealed Himself ^[bf]to me:
“Certainly this ^(DJ)wrongdoing ^(DK)will not be ^[bg]forgiven you
^(DL)Until you die,” says the Lord ^[bh]God of armies.

¹⁵This is what the Lord ^[bi]God of armies says:

“Come, go to this steward,
To ^(DM)Shebna who is in charge of the royal household,
¹⁶‘What right do you have here,
And whom do you have here,
That you have ^(DN)cut out a tomb for yourself here,
You who cut out a tomb on the height,
You who carve a resting place for ^[bj]yourself in the rock?
¹⁷Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you violently, you strong man.
And He is about to grasp you firmly
¹⁸And wrap you up tightly like a ball,
To be ^(DO)driven into a vast country;
There you will die,
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house!’
¹⁹I will ^(DP)depose you from your office,
And ^[bk]I will pull you down from your position.
²⁰Then it will come about on that day,
That I will summon My servant ^(DQ)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
²¹And I will clothe him with your tunic
And tie your sash securely around him.
I will hand your ^[bl]authority over to him,
And he will become a ^(DR)father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
²²Then I will put ^(DS)the key of the ^(DT)house of David on his shoulder;
When he opens, no one will shut,
When he shuts, no one will ^(DU)open.
²³I will drive him like a ^(DV)peg in a firm place,
And he will become a ^(DW)throne of glory to his father’s house.

²⁴So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the ^[bm]descendants, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. ²⁵On that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “the ^(DX)peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will even ^(DY)break off and fall, and the load that is hanging on it will be cut off, for the ^(DZ)Lord has spoken.”