Isaiah 20-22

New Life Version

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?’”

Babylon to Be Destroyed

21 The special word about the place by the sea where no people live: As wind-storms in the Negev go rushing through, it comes from the desert, from a bad land. ² A hard special dream has been shown to me. The one who hurts still goes on hurting others, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam. Gather your armies around, Media. I will bring an end to all the crying she has caused. ³ For this reason my body is full of suffering. Pains have taken hold of me like the pains of a woman giving birth. I am so troubled that I cannot hear. I am so afraid that I cannot see. ⁴ My mind turns. Fear has come over me. The evening I have waited so long for has been turned into a time of shaking with fear. ⁵ They set the tables. They spread out the cloth. They eat and drink. Rise up, captains, oil the battle-coverings! ⁶ For the Lord says to me, “Go, set a man to keep watch. Let him tell what he sees. ⁷ When he sees men riding on horses, two by two, and men on donkeys, and men on camels, let him be very careful to watch.” ⁸ Then the watchman called out like a lion, “O Lord, I stand watching from the watch-tower at all times during the day. And I stand there every night. ⁹ Now see, here comes an army of men riding on horses, two by two.” One answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon. All the objects of her gods are broken to pieces on the ground.” ¹⁰ O my people of Israel, you were beaten and crushed like grain! What I have heard from the Lord of All, the God of Israel, I make known to you.

Word about Edom

¹¹ The special word about Edom: One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is the time of night? Watchman, what is the time of night?” ¹² The watchman says, “The morning comes, but also the night. If you have questions to ask, ask them, and come back again.”

Word about Arabia

¹³ The special word about Arabia: You must stay the night among the trees of Arabia, O traveling people of Dedanim. ¹⁴ Bring water for the thirsty. O people of the land of Tema, give bread to the one who is running from trouble. ¹⁵ They are running from swords, from lifted swords, from bows that are ready to shoot, and from the trouble of battle. ¹⁶ For the Lord said to me, “In a year, as the servant would count it, all the greatness of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷ And the rest of the men who use the bow, the strong men of the sons of Kedar, will be few. For the Lord God of Israel has spoken.”

Word about Jerusalem

22 The special word about the Valley of Visions: What is wrong, that you have all gone up to the house tops, ² you who were full of noise, you loud town, you joy-filled city? Your dead were not killed with the sword. They did not die in battle. ³ All your rulers have run away together, and were taken without using the bow. All of you who were found were taken away together, even though you had run far away. ⁴ So I said, “Turn your eyes away from me. Let me cry with much sorrow. Do not try to comfort me about my people being destroyed.” ⁵ For the Lord God of All has a day of fear, crushing down, and trouble in the Valley of Vision. There is a breaking down of walls and a crying out to the mountain. ⁶ Elam took up the arrows with the war-wagons, soldiers and horsemen. And Kir let the battle-covering be seen. ⁷ Your best valleys were full of war-wagons, and the horsemen took their places at the gate. ⁸ Then God took away the safe-covering of Judah. In that day you trusted in the objects you had to fight with that were stored in the house among the trees. ⁹ You saw that there were many broken places in the wall of the city of David. You stored water in the lower pool. ¹⁰ Then you numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and tore down houses to make the wall stronger. ¹¹ You made a place to store water between the two walls for the waters of the old pool. But you did not trust in God Who made it. You did not think about Him Who planned it long ago.

¹² So in that day the Lord God of All called you to cry in sorrow, to cut off the hair from your head, and to wear cloth made from hair. ¹³ But instead, there is joy and happiness, killing of cattle and sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine. You say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ¹⁴ But the Lord of All has made Himself known to me. The Lord God of All says, “For sure you will not be forgiven for this sin until you die.”

Word about Shebna

¹⁵ The Lord God of All says, “Come, go to this person in Shebna who is taking care of the king’s house. Say to him, ¹⁶ ‘What right do you have here? Who told you that you could cut out a grave for yourself here? You cut out a grave on a high place! You cut a resting place for yourself in the rock! ¹⁷ See, the Lord will throw you away without pity, O you strong man. He will take a strong hold of you ¹⁸ and roll you up like a ball to be thrown into a wide land. There you will die, and there your great war-wagons will be. You are a shame to your king’s house.’ ¹⁹ I will throw you out of your place of power. I will take you down from your place. ²⁰ In that day I will call My servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. ²¹ I will clothe him with your coat, and tie your belt around him. I will give him the power you had. He will become a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the family of Judah. ²² Then I will put on his shoulder the rule of the family of David. What he opens, no one will shut. What he shuts, no one will open. ²³ I will drive him like a nail in a hard place. He will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. ²⁴ So they will put on him all the honor of his father’s house, and of his children, and every little dish, from the cups to all the jars. ²⁵ “In that day,” says the Lord of All, “the nail driven in a hard place will give way. It will break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off. For the Lord has spoken.”