Isaiah 23-25

Complete Jewish Bible

Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because the harbor is destroyed!
On returning from Kittim,
they discover they cannot enter it.
² Silence, you who live on the coast,
you who have been enriched
by the merchants of Tzidon crossing the sea.
³ By the great water the grain of Shichor,
the harvest of the Nile, brought you profits.
She was marketplace for the nations.
⁴ Shame, Tzidon, for the sea speaks;
the fortress of the sea says,
“I no longer have labor pains or bear children,
yet I have raised neither boys nor girls.”
⁵ When the report reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish at the fate of Tzor.

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish!
Howl, you who live on the coast!
⁷ Is this your boisterous city,
whose feet long ago in antiquity
carried her off to found distant colonies?
⁸ Who planned this against Tzor,
the city that once bestowed crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are honored throughout the earth?
⁹ Adonai-Tzva’ot planned it
to break the pride of all the arrogant,
to humiliate all those who are honored
everywhere on earth.
¹⁰ People of Tarshish!
Nothing restricts you now.
You can flow freely over your land
just like the Nile River.

¹¹ He has stretched out his hand against the sea,
he has shaken kingdoms;
Adonai has ordered that Kena‘an’s
fortresses be destroyed.
¹² He has said, “Exult no more,
oppressed virgin daughter of Tzidon.
Arise, cross to Kittim;
even there you will find no rest.”

¹³ Look at the land of the Kasdim!
This was the people who did not exist
when Ashur destined it for desert creatures.
They erected their siege towers
and tore down her palaces,
so that it has been made a ruin.
¹⁴ Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because your fortress is destroyed.

¹⁶ “Take a lyre, walk the city,
you poor, forgotten whore!
Play sweetly, sing all your songs,
so that they will remember you!”

24 Look! Adonai is stripping
and destroying the land,
turning it upside down
and scattering its inhabitants —
² cohen and commoner, slave and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
³ The land will be completely stripped,
completely plundered,
for Adonai has spoken this word.
⁴ The land fades and withers,
the world wilts and withers,
the exalted of the land languish.
⁵ The land lies defiled under its inhabitants;
because they have transgressed the teachings,
changed the law
and broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse is devouring the land,
and its inhabitants are punished for their guilt.
It is why those living there waste away,
and the people left are few.
⁷ The new wine fails, the vines wilt,
all the revelers sigh,
⁸ the happy sound of tambourines ceases,
the shouts of merrymakers are stilled,
the joy of the lyre ends.
⁹ They no longer sing as they drink their wine,
strong liquor tastes bitter to those drinking it.
¹⁰ The city of chaos is shattered,
every house closed up; no one can enter.
¹¹ In the streets they are crying over the wine;
all joy has faded, cheer has left the land.
¹² In the city, only desolation,
its gates are battered beyond repair.

¹³ Around the earth, among the peoples,
it will be as when beating an olive tree,
as when gleaning the grapes at the end of the harvest.
¹⁴ They lift their voices, singing for joy,
shouting from the west to honor Adonai.
¹⁵ So in the east, honor Adonai ;
in the coastlands, honor the name of Adonai,
the God of Isra’el.
¹⁶ From the farthest part of the earth
we have heard them sing,
“Glory to the Righteous One!”

But, I say, I’m wasting away,
I am wasting away!
Woe to me! Traitors betray!
Oh, how the traitors betray and betray!
¹⁷ Terror, pit and trap are upon you,
you who are living on earth.
¹⁸ He who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into the pit.
He who climbs up out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For the windows above have been opened,
and the earth’s foundations shake.
¹⁹ The earth cracks and breaks open,
the earth crumbles to pieces,
the earth trembles and totters.
²⁰ The earth staggers to and fro like a drunk,
sways back and forth like a watchman’s shelter;
its transgression weighs heavy upon it;
it will fall and not rise again.
²¹ When that day comes, Adonai will punish
the armies of the high heaven on high,
and the kings of the earth here on earth.
²² They will be assembled like prisoners in a dungeon
and shut up in prison to be punished many years.
²³ Then the moon will be confused and the sun ashamed,
for Adonai-Tzva’ot will rule on Mount Tziyon
and in Yerushalayim,
with his glory manifest to the rulers of his people.

² For you have made a city a heap of stones,
turned a fortified city into rubble,
made the foreigners’ fortress
a city that will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore mighty peoples glorify you,
the city of ruthless nations fears you.
⁴ For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in distress,
shelter from the storm,
shade from the heat —
for the blast from the ruthless
was like a storm that could destroy a wall.
⁵ Like desert heat, you subdue
the foreigners’ uproar;
like heat subdued by a cloud’s shadow,
the song of the ruthless dies away.

⁶ On this mountain Adonai-Tzva’ot
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food and superb wines,
delicious, rich food and superb, elegant wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.
⁸ He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and he will remove from all the earth
the disgrace his people suffer.
For Adonai has spoken.

⁹ On that day they will say,
“See! This is our God!
We waited for him to save us.
This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him.
We are full of joy, so glad he saved us!”
¹⁰ For on this mountain
the hand of Adonai will rest.

But Mo’av will be trampled down where they are,
like straw trampled into a pile of manure.
¹¹ They will spread out their hands in Mo’av,
like a swimmer using his hands to tread water;
but their pride will be humbled and sunk,
no matter how clever the strokes of their hands.
¹² Your high, fortified walls he will level,
strike to the ground, lay in the dust.