Isaiah 1:1-27:2

New Catholic Bible

^2 [c]Listen, O heavens, and pay close attention, O earth,
    for the Lord is speaking.
I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
³ An ox knows its owner
    and the donkey its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.
⁴ You are a sinful nation,
    a people weighed down with iniquity,
a race of evildoers
    whose children are corrupt;
you have forsaken the Lord,
    despised the Holy One of Israel,
    and turned your backs on him.
^{5     [d]}Why do you continue to seek further beatings?
    Why do you persist in your rebellion?
Your entire head is sick
    and your whole heart is faint.
⁶ From the sole of your foot to your head
    there is not a single healthy area
nothing but bruises and welts and open sores
    that have not been drained or bandaged
    or soothed with ointment.
⁷ Your country is a desolate waste,
    and fire has destroyed your cities.
Before your very eyes
    foreigners have devoured your land
and left it as desolate
    as Sodom after it had been overthrown.
⁸ Daughter Zion^[e] is left
    like a shack in a vineyard,
like a shed in a field of cucumbers,
    like a besieged city.
⁹ If the Lord of hosts^[f]
    had not left us a few survivors,
we would have become like Sodom
    and been like Gomorrah.
^{10     [g]}Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom.
Listen to the teaching of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah.
¹¹ What do I care about your unceasing sacrifices?
    says the Lord.
I am weary of burnt offerings of rams
    and the fat of well-fed animals.
I derive no delight in the blood
    of bulls and lambs and goats.
¹² When you come into my presence,
    who has asked you to present such offerings?
    Never again trample my courts!
¹³ To bring me offerings is futile;
    I regard your incense as loathsome.
New moons and Sabbaths and sacred assemblies—
    I cannot tolerate your iniquity that accompanies them.
¹⁴ I loathe your new moons and your festivals;
    they have become a burden to me
    and I can no longer endure bearing them.
¹⁵ When you stretch out your hands,^[h]
    I will turn away my eyes from you.
Even if you pray endlessly,
    I will not listen,
    for your hands are covered with blood.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves and become clean;
    remove your evil deeds
    far from my sight.
Cease to do evil
¹⁷     and learn to do good.
Pursue justice and rescue the oppressed;
    listen to the plea of the orphan^[i]
    and defend the widow.
¹⁸ Come now and let us discuss this,
    says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be like snow.
Though they are as red as crimson,
    they shall become as white as wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing to obey,
    you will eat the best food
    that the land has to offer.
²⁰ However, if you refuse and rebel,
    the sword will devour you,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
²¹ How the faithful city
    has become an adulteress,^[j]
    she who used to be a symbol of justice.
Righteousness used to dwell in her,
    but now she is the abode of murderers.
²² Your silver has turned to dross,
    and your wine is mixed with water.
²³ Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
All of them love bribes
    and are eager to receive gifts.
They do not treat the orphan with justice,
    and they refuse to listen to the pleas of widows.
²⁴ Therefore, the Lord of hosts,
    the Mighty One of Israel, says this:
I am determined to vent my anger upon my enemies
    and wreak vengeance on my foes.
²⁵ I will turn my hand against you
    and refine your dross in the furnace,
    purging all of your impurities.
²⁶ And I will restore your judges
    as in the days of old
    and your counselors as at the beginning.
Then you will be called the city of righteousness,
    the faithful city.
²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by judgment
    and those who are repentant by righteousness.
²⁸ But rebels and sinners alike will be destroyed,
    and those who forsake the Lord will perish.
²⁹ You will be ashamed of the sacred oaks^[k]
    which offered you such delight,
and you will blush when you behold the gardens
    which you chose in their stead.
³⁰ You will be like a tree whose leaves are withered,
    like a garden without water.
³¹ The strong man will become like straw
    and his work like a spark.
Both will burn together,
    and no one will be able to quench the flames.

² In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be established as the highest mountain
    and raised high above the hills.
Then all the nations will stream toward it;
³     many peoples will come to it and say,
“Come, let us ascend the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
so that he may teach us his ways
    and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion will go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will judge between the nations
    and serve as an arbiter for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
One nation will not lift up a sword against another,
    nor will they ever again be trained for war.

⁵ Come, O house of Jacob,
    let us walk in the light of the Lord.
⁶ For you, O Lord, have abandoned your people,
    the house of Jacob.
They are surrounded by fortune tellers
    and by soothsayers like the Philistines,
    and they are allying themselves with foreigners.^[n]
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
    and their treasures are without limit.
Their land is filled with horses,
    and there is no end to their chariots.^[o]
8 Their land is full of idols;
    they bow down before the work of their hands,
    before what their own fingers have fashioned.
⁹ Therefore human nature has been humbled
    and mankind has been brought low;
    do not forgive them.
¹⁰ Let them conceal themselves among the rocks
    and hide in the dust
in their terror of the Lord
    and from the splendor of his majesty.
¹¹ The haughty looks of men will be brought low
    and human arrogance will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted
    on that day.
¹² For the Lord of hosts has ordained a day
    against all those who are proud and haughty,
    against all those who have been exalted and raised high,
¹³ against all the lofty and proud cedars of Lebanon
    and against all the oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴ against all the soaring mountains
    and all the towering hills,
¹⁵ against every high tower
    and every fortified wall,
¹⁶ against all the ships of Tarshish^[p]
    and every stately vessel.
¹⁷ Human pride will be humbled
    and human arrogance will be brought low.
On that day,
    the Lord alone will be exalted.
¹⁸ The idols will completely disappear;
¹⁹     they will crawl into the caves of the rocks
    and the holes of the ground,
fleeing from the terror of the Lord
    and the splendor of his majesty
    when he arises to strike the world with terror.
²⁰ On that day people will throw away
    to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and gold
    that they had made for themselves to worship.
²¹ They will crawl into the crevices of the rocks
    and the clefts in the cliffs
to hide from the terror of the Lord
    and the splendor of his majesty
    when he arises to terrify the earth.
²² Have nothing more to do with men
    who have only the breath in their nostrils.
    Of what value are they?

¹ Now the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
    is about to deprive Jerusalem and Judah
of resources and provisions—
    all supplies of bread and water—
² warriors and soldiers,
    judges and prophets,
    fortune tellers and elders,
³ captains and dignitaries,
    counselors, skilled magicians,
    and expert enchanters.
⁴ I will appoint young boys as their princes,
    mere lads to rule over them.
⁵ People will oppress one another,
    each one ill-treated by his neighbor.
The young will be arrogant toward their elders,
    as will the lowly toward the honorable.
⁶ A man will take hold of his brother
    in their father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak;
    you will be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
    will be under your rule.”
⁷ But on that day
    the other will cry out, saying,
“I am not qualified to undertake this;
    in my house there is neither bread nor clothing.
    You will not make me leader of the people.”
⁸ Jerusalem has been brought low
    and Judah has fallen
because by their words and their deeds
    they turned against the Lord
    and defied his glorious presence.
⁹ The look on their faces bears witness against them;
    they proclaim their sins like Sodom
    without any effort to conceal them.
Woe to them!
    For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
¹⁰ Happy are the righteous,
    for they will eat the fruit of their labors.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked.
    All will go ill with them.
They will be repaid
    as their actions deserve.
¹² O my people, children are oppressing you
    and women have become your rulers.
O my people, your rulers are leading you astray
    and putting you on the road to ruin.
¹³ The Lord has risen to argue his case;
    he stands up to judge his people.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment
    against the elders and the princes of his people:
It is you who have ravaged the vineyard;
    the spoils you have taken from the poor
    are in your houses.
¹⁵ What right do you have to crush my people
    and grind the faces of the poor?
    says the Lord God of hosts.
¹⁶ The Lord said:
    Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with their heads held high,
    glancing wantonly with their eyes,
moving provocatively with mincing steps
    and with their anklets tinkling,
¹⁷ the Lord will cover with scabs
    the scalps of the daughters of Zion,
    and he will lay bare their foreheads.

²⁴ Then instead of perfume there will be a stench,
    and instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of a lovely hair setting, baldness,
    instead of a rich gown, a sackcloth^[r] dress,
    and instead of beauty, branding marks.
²⁵ O Zion, your men will fall by the sword
    and your warriors will perish in battle.
²⁶ Your gates will lament and mourn;
    ravaged, you will sit desolate on the ground.

¹ On that day,
    seven women will take hold of one man, saying,
“We will eat our own food
    and provide for our own clothing.
Just let us bear your name.
    Take away our disgrace.”

² On that day the branch of the Lord
    will be beautiful and glorious,
and the fruit of the land
    will be the pride and splendor
    of the survivors of Israel.
³ Whoever is left in Zion
    and whoever remains in Jerusalem
will be called holy,
    everyone whose survival in Jerusalem was decreed.
⁴ When the Lord has washed away
    the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst
    by a spirit of judgment and of cleansing,
⁵ then the Lord will create
    over every house on Mount Zion,
    and over those who assemble there,
a cloud of smoke by day
    and a bright flame of fire by night.
The glory of the Lord will be a canopy over all,
⁶     serving as a shade by day from the heat
    and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain.

¹ Now let me sing for my beloved
    the song of my friend concerning his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
² He dug it, cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice red vines.
In its midst he built a watchtower
    and also hewed out a winepress.
He expected it to yield a rich crop of grapes,
    but the only thing it brought forth was wild grapes.
³ And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    I ask you to judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more could I have done for my vineyard
    that I did not do?
When I expected it to yield choice grapes,
    why did it bring forth wild grapes?
⁵ Now listen to me as I tell you
    what I am planning to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge
    and use it for grazing.
I will knock down its wall
    and let it be trampled upon.
⁶ I will let it go to waste;
    it will be neither pruned nor hoed,
    but left overgrown with briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
    not to allow any rain to fall upon it.
⁷ The vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the plant he cherished.
He expected justice but found bloodshed;
    he expected righteousness but heard cries of distress.

⁸ Woe to you who add house to house
    and join field to field
until there is no further space remaining
    and you are left to dwell alone
    in the midst of the land.
⁹ The Lord of hosts in my hearing
    has sworn this solemn oath:
Many houses will be left desolate,
    large and fine mansions
    with no one to inhabit them.
¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard
    will yield only one barrel,
and ten bushels of seed
    will yield only a single bushel.
¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
    to imbibe strong drink,
and who linger far into the night
    inflamed with wine.
¹² Their feasts are marked with harps and lyres,
    tambourines and flutes and wine.
But they never give thought to the deeds of the Lord,
    or note what his hands have accomplished.
¹³ Therefore, my people shall end up in exile
    because they have no knowledge of my deeds.
Their nobles are dying of hunger
    and their masses are parched with thirst.
¹⁴ As a result, the netherworld has increased its appetite
    and opened its jaws to an immeasurable extent,
swallowing the nobility of Jerusalem and her masses,
    her throngs and all who exult in her.
¹⁵ People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
    and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
¹⁶ But the Lord of hosts is exalted by his judgment,
    and by righteousness the holy God has displayed his holiness.
¹⁷ Lambs will graze there as in their pasture,
    and yearlings will feed among the ruins.
¹⁸ Woe to those who drag iniquity along
    with the cords of perversity,
and who drag sin along
    as though with cart ropes;
¹⁹ woe to those who say, “Let the Lord make haste
    and speed up his work that we may see it;
let the Holy One of Israel
    be brought to fulfillment
    so that we may know it.”
²⁰ Woe to those who call good what is evil
    and call evil what is good,
who classify as darkness what is light
    and designate as light what is darkness,
who make sweet what is bitter
    and make bitter what is sweet.
²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and consider themselves to be prudent.
²² Woe to those who are unmatched in their consumption of wine
    and unsurpassed in mixing drinks,
²³ who accept bribes to acquit the guilty
    and deny justice to the innocent.
²⁴ As tongues of fire devour the stubble,
    and as dry grass shrivels in the flames,
so their root will decay
    and their blossoms will be scattered like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
    and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵ Therefore, the anger of the Lord
    blazed forth against his people;
he raised his hand against them
    and struck them down.
The mountains quaked,
    and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
But despite all this
    his anger has not been sated,
    and his hand is still stretched out.

²⁶ He will deliver a signal to a far-distant nation
    and summon them from the ends of the earth;
    they will respond swiftly without any delay.^[v]
27 None of them are weary, none of them stumble,
    no one slumbers or sleeps.
None of them have their belts unfastened
    or sandals with a broken strap.
²⁸ Their arrows are sharpened
    and all their bows are bent.
The hoofs of their horses seem like flint,
    and their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
²⁹ Their roar is like that of a lion;
    they growl like young lions.
They roar as they seize their prey,
    and no one can prevent them from carrying it off.
³⁰ They will roar over it on that day,
    similar to the roaring of the sea.
And if anyone looks at the land,
    he will behold only darkness and distress,
    with the light fading at the approaching clouds.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
    The entire earth is filled with his glory.”

“Woe is me! I am doomed.
    For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
    yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

“Now that this has touched your lips,
    your guilt has been removed
    and your sin has been blotted out.”

No matter how carefully you listen,
    you will not understand.
You will continue to look,
    but you will not comprehend.
¹⁰ Make the minds of this people dull;
    stop up their ears
    and close their eyes.
Otherwise their eyes will see,
    their ears will hear,
their hearts will understand,
    and they will change their ways
    and be healed.

Until the cities lie in ruins
    and become deserted,
until the houses are unoccupied
    and the land lies completely desolate,
¹² until the Lord drives the people far away
    and the country will be totally abandoned.
¹³ Even if a tenth of the people remain there,
    that area too will be destroyed,
like a terebinth or an oak
    whose stump remains when it is felled;
    the holy seed is its stump.

This will not happen,
    either now or ever.
⁸ For the head of Aram is Damascus
    and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
    and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
⁹ Within sixty-five years
    Ephraim will no longer be a people.
If you do not stand firm in your faith
    you will not stand firm at all.

¹¹ Ask the Lord, your God for a sign;
    let it be as deep as the netherworld
    or as high as the heavens.

Listen, O house of David!
    Are you not satisfied to try the patience of men?
    Must you also try the patience of my God?
¹⁴ Therefore, you will be given this sign
    by the Lord himself:
The virgin will be with child,
    and she will give birth to a son,
    and she will name him Immanuel.
¹⁵ He will feed on curds and honey
    by the time he learns to reject the bad
    and choose the good.
¹⁶ Before that child has learned
    to reject the bad and choose the good,
deserted will be the lands
    of those two kings whom you dread.
¹⁷ The Lord will inflict on you,
    and on your people and your father’s house,
days far worse than any that have been seen
    since Ephraim^[ad] broke away from Judah—
    you will become subjects of the king of Assyria.
¹⁸ When that day arrives,
    the Lord will summon flies from the distant streams of Egypt
    and bees from the land of Assyria.
¹⁹ They will all come forth and settle
    in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks,
    on all the thornbushes and in all the pastures.
²⁰ On that day the Lord will shave
    with a razor hired from across the river^[ae]
    (with the king of Assyria)
the head and the hair between the legs
    as well as the beard.
²¹ When that day comes,
    each man will keep a young cow and two sheep,
²² and because of the abundant milk they give
    he will subsist on curds.
For all those who are left in the land
    will eat curds and honey.
²³ On that day,
    wherever there used to be a thousand vines
worth a thousand pieces of silver,
    that area will then be covered
    with brambles and thornbushes.
²⁴ Men will go there with bows and arrows,
    for the entire country will be covered
    by briers and thorns.
²⁵ For fear of briers and thorns
    you will not venture upon any hills
    that used to be hoed with a hoe.
They will become a place for cattle to graze
    and where sheep may tread.

⁶ Because this people has rejected
    the waters of Shiloah that flow gently
and trembled in fear
    before Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
⁷ the Lord will therefore raise against it
    the mighty flood waters of the river
    (the king of Assyria and all his glory).
The river will rise above all its channels
    and overflow all its banks;
⁸ it will sweep on into Judah like a flood
    reaching up to the neck,
and its wings, spreading out,
    will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
⁹ Realize this, you peoples, and be afraid.
    Listen, all you far-distant nations.
Arm yourselves, but be frightened;
    arm yourselves, but be frightened.
¹⁰ No matter what plans you devise,
    they will come to naught,
    for God is with us.

^12 [ah]Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy,
    and do not fear what they fear
    or stand in awe of them.
¹³ The Lord is the one whom you should proclaim holy;
    he must be the object of your fear and awe.
¹⁴ He will become a snare, an obstacle,
    a rock over which the two houses of Israel^[ai] will stumble,
    a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵ And many of them will stumble;
    they will fall and be broken;
    they will be snared and taken captive.
¹⁶ Bind up the testimony and seal the teaching
    so that my disciples can keep it in their hearts.
¹⁷ I will wait eagerly for the Lord
    who has hidden his face from the house of Jacob;
    I will place my hope in him.
¹⁸ I stand here with the children
    whom the Lord has given me
to be signs and portents in Israel
    sent by the Lord of hosts
    who dwells on Mount Zion.
¹⁹ People may say to you,
    “Seek guidance from ghosts and mediums
    who whisper and mutter.
Should not a people consult its gods
    and the dead on behalf of the living
²⁰     while seeking instruction or a message?”
Those who offer suggestions like this
    will experience no dawn.
²¹ They will wander through the land
    greatly distressed and starving.
Once their hunger becomes acute,
    they will be enraged
    and curse their king and their gods.
They will turn their gaze upward,
²²     or downward to the earth,
but they will behold only distress and anguish,
    confusion and the gloom of darkness.

¹ The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the shadow of death
    a light has dawned.
² You have enlarged the nation
    and given them great joy;
they rejoice before you
    as those who rejoice at the harvest,
    as they exult when dividing spoils.
³ For the yoke that burdened them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
and the rod of their oppressor
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.^[al]
4 For every boot of a warrior that tramped in battle
    and every garment soaked in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁵ For a child has been born to us,
    a son has been given to us.
Upon his shoulders dominion rests,
    and this is the name he has been given:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁶ His dominion will grow continually,
    and there will be endless peace
bestowed on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom.
He will establish and sustain it
    with justice and integrity
from this time onward and forevermore;
    the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

⁷ The Lord has sent forth his word against Jacob,
    and it has fallen on Israel.
^{8     [am]}All the people were aware of this,
    Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
    but they said in their arrogance and pride of heart,
⁹ “The bricks have fallen down,
    but we will rebuild with dressed stones.
The sycamores have been cut down,
    but we will replace them with cedars.”
¹⁰ In response the Lord raised up foes against them
    and spurred on their enemies,
¹¹ the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
    and they devoured Israel with gaping jaws.
Yet after all this his anger has not abated
    and his hand is still outstretched.
¹² But the people did not turn to him who struck them,
    nor did they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹³ Therefore, the Lord cut off from Israel
    head and tail, palm branch and reed,
    in a single day.
¹⁴ [The elders and the nobles are the head;
    the prophets who teach lies are the tail.]
¹⁵ For those who were leaders of the people led them astray,
    and those who were led by them were swallowed up.
¹⁶ For this reason
    the Lord did not show pity to their young people
    or have compassion on their orphans and widows,
since all of them were godless evildoers
    and every word they spoke was impious.
Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
    and his hand is still outstretched.
¹⁷ For wickedness continued to burn like a fire,
    consuming briers and thorns,
and setting ablaze the thickets of the forest
    which rose upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁸ The land was set ablaze
    by the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
    no one spared his brother.
¹⁹ They gorged on the right but were still hungry;
    they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
    many ate the flesh of their own offspring.
²⁰ Manasseh devoured Ephraim,
    and Ephraim devoured Manasseh;
    together they turned against Judah.
²¹ Yet after all this, his anger has not abated
    and his hand is still outstretched.

¹ Woe to those who enact unjust laws
    and enforce oppressive statutes,
² thereby depriving the needy of justice,
    and making it impossible for the poorest of my people
    to have their rights upheld,
as they plunder the widow
    and make the orphans their prey.
³ What will you do on the day of punishment
    when disaster befalls you from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your riches,
⁴ so that you can avoid cowering among the captives
    or falling among the slain?
Yet after all this, his wrath has not abated;
    his hand is still outstretched.

^{5     [an]}Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
    the club in their hands is my fury.
⁶ Against a godless people I send him forth,
    against a nation who aroused my wrath,
commanding him to pillage and plunder
    and to trample on them like mud in the street.
⁷ But this is not his intention,
    nor does he have this in mind.
His only thought is complete destruction
    and to liquidate as many nations as possible.
⁸ For he says,
    “Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish?
    Is not Hamath like Arpad?
    Is not Samaria like Damascus?^[ao]
10 My hand has overcome idolatrous kingdoms
    that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria.
¹¹ As I did to Samaria and her idols,
    shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her images?”

“By my own power I have accomplished all this,
    and also by my wisdom, for I have great intelligence.
I have wiped out the boundaries of nations
    and have plundered their treasures;
    like a giant I have subjugated their inhabitants.
¹⁴ My hand has discovered a nest
    in which the riches of the nation have been stored.
And as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned,
    so I have collected the entire world;
not one fluttered a wing
    or opened a beak to chirp.”
¹⁵ Does the ax consider itself more important
    than the man who swings it,
or does the saw claim greater credit
    than the man who uses it?
No sword can control the man who yields it,
    nor can a club have power over the one who raises it.
¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
    will afflict a debilitating illness on his sturdy warriors,
and beneath his glory a fever will be kindled
    like the burning of fire.
¹⁷ The Light of Israel will become a fire
    and its Holy One a flame
that in a single day
    will burn up and consume
    his thorns and his briers.
¹⁸ His splendid forests and orchards
    will be totally destroyed, both body and soul,
    as when an invalid wastes away.
¹⁹ What remains of the trees of the forest
    will be so few
that any young child
    will be able to record their number.
^20 [ap]When that day arrives,
    the remnant of Israel
    and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will cease to rely upon the one who struck them^[aq]
    and will rather place their trust in the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel.
²¹ A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
    to the mighty God.
²² Although your people, O Israel,
    may be as numerous as the sands of the sea,
    only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed
    as righteousness and justice demand.
²³ For throughout the entire land
    the Lord God of hosts will enforce
    the final destruction that has been decreed.

O my people who dwell in Zion,
    do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
even when they beat you with a rod
    and raise their staff against you
    as the Egyptians did.
²⁵ For it will be only a short time
    until my wrath will subside
    and I will direct my anger to their destruction.
²⁶ Then the Lord of hosts will inflict his retribution
    as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb,
and he will raise his staff over the sea
    as he did against Egypt.
²⁷ On that day
    his burden will be removed from your shoulder
and his yoke will be broken
    and fall from your neck.

Sennacherib and his army have come up from Rimmon,
²⁸     and they have come to Aiath.
They have passed through Migron
    and stored their supplies at Michmash.
²⁹ Once they crossed the ravine,
    they camped for the night at Geba.
Ramah is terrified,
    Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰ Cry out loudly, Bath-gallim!
    Listen carefully, Laishah!
    Answer her, Anathoth!
³¹ Madmenah is in flight;
    the inhabitants of Gebim have sought cover.
³² This day Sennacherib will halt at Nob
    and shake his fist
at the mount of daughter Zion,
    the hill of Jerusalem.
³³ Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    will sever the boughs with frightening power.
The tallest trees will be cut down
    and the lofty ones will be laid low.
³⁴ The thickets of the forest he will demolish with an ax,
    and Lebanon will fall at the onslaught of the Mighty One.

¹ A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch will grow from his roots.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him:
    a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and power,
    a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord,
³     and his delight will be the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by outward appearances
    or reach a verdict based on hearsay.
⁴ Rather, he will judge the poor with justice
    and render fair decisions for the weak and the poor.
He will strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around his waist
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
⁶ Then the wolf will live alongside the lamb,
    and the leopard will lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion will browse together,
    with a little child to guide them.
⁷ The cow and the bear will graze side by side;
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat hay like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play by the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will lay his hand
    on the viper’s nest.
⁹ No injury or harm will occur
    on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord
    just as water covers the sea.

¹⁰ On that day the root of Jesse
    will be established as a signal to the nations.
They will come forth to unite under him,
    and his dwelling will be glorious.
¹¹ When that day comes,
    the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to recover the remnant of his people
    from Assyria and Egypt,
from Patmos,^[at] Ethiopia, and Elam,
    from Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
¹² He will raise a signal to the nations
    and assemble the outcasts of Israel.
He will also gather the dispersed of Judah
    from the four corners of the earth.
¹³ The jealousy of Ephraim will cease
    and the hostility of Judah will end.
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
    nor will Judah have any hostility toward Ephraim.
¹⁴ Together they will swoop down
    on the foothills of the Philistines to the west
    and plunder the people of the east.
Edom and Moab will become subject to their rule,
    and the Ammonites will obey them.^[au]
15 The Lord will dry up a pathway
    through the Sea of Egypt,
and he will wave his hand over the Euphrates
    in his fierce anger,
splitting it into seven streams
    so that it can be crossed on foot.
¹⁶ Thus there will be a highway
    for the remnant of his people from Assyria,
as there was for the Israelites
    when they came up from the land of Egypt.

I will give you thanks, O Lord.
    Even though you were angry with me,
your anger has abated
    and you have consoled me.
² God truly is my salvation;
    I will trust in him and be unafraid.
For the Lord is my strength and my source of courage;
    he has been my salvation.
³ With joy you will draw water
    from the fountain of salvation,
⁴     and you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
    invoke his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
    proclaim that his name is exalted.
⁵ Sing praise to the Lord for his mighty deeds;
    let this be known throughout the entire world.
⁶ Cry out and shout for joy,
    all of you who dwell on Zion,
for great in your midst
    is the Holy One of Israel.

² Upon a barren hill raise a banner;
    cry aloud to them.
Wave your hand to them
    to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded my consecrated soldiers
    and summoned my dedicated warriors
    to carry out my vengeance.
⁴ Listen to the great tumult on the mountains
    like that of an immense gathering.
Listen to the uproar of the kingdoms,
    of nations assembling;
the Lord of hosts is mustering
    an army for battle.
⁵ From a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his wrath
    are coming to destroy the entire earth.
⁶ Cry out in anguish,
    for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like devastation from the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore, every hand will hang limp
    and every man’s courage will fade;
⁸ they will all be panic-stricken,
    overcome with pangs and agony
    and writhing like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
    with their faces aflame with fear.
⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
    a cruel day of wrath and burning anger,
to reduce the land to a desert waste
    and to destroy all the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will no longer give forth their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
    and the moon will not provide its light.
¹¹ By taking this course
    I will punish the world for its wickedness
    and those who are evil for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
    and humble the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
    far more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore, I am determined to make the heavens tremble
    and the earth will be shaken to its very foundations,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
    on the day of his blazing anger.
¹⁴ Like a gazelle fleeing from a hunter,
    or like a flock of sheep that no one gathers,
everyone will return to his own people
    and flee to his native land.
¹⁵ Any who are found will be slaughtered;
    without exception they will be slain by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be smashed to pieces before their eyes;
    their houses will be plundered
    and their wives will be ravished.
¹⁷ Behold, I am stirring up against them the Medes
    who have no interest in silver
    and are not tempted by gold.^[ax]
18 With their bows they will slaughter the young men,
    and they will show no pity for young children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
    the splendor and jewel of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when they were overthrown by God.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited;
    no future generations will ever reside there.
No Arab will ever again pitch his tent there,
    nor will shepherds rest their flocks in that land.
²¹ However, wild animals of the desert will dwell there,
    and its houses will be filled with jackals.
There ostriches will reside,
    and there wild goats^[ay] will dance.
²² Hyenas will howl in her castles
    and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time draws near,
    and her days will not be prolonged.

Behold how the oppressor has come to an end!
    Behold how his arrogance has ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
⁶ that struck down the peoples in wrath,
    inflicting continuous blows,
and that furiously crushed the nations
    with relentless persecution.
⁷ The entire world is at rest and peaceful;
    shouts of joy resound.
⁸ The cypresses exult over you,
    as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Now that you have been laid low,
    no one approaches to cut us down.”^[ba]
9 The netherworld below is all astir
    to greet you upon your arrival.
To welcome you it aroused the departed spirits,
    all the rulers of the earth.
It raised from their thrones
    all those who were kings of the nations.
¹⁰ All of them will speak out
    and greet you with these words,
“You too have become as weak as we are.
    You have become like us.”
¹¹ Your pomp has descended to the netherworld
    along with the music of your harps.
Maggots compose the mattress upon which you lie,
    and worms serve as your blanket.
¹² To what depths have you fallen from the heavens,
    O morning star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
¹³ You used to say in your heart,
    “I will scale the heavens.
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God.
I will sit on the Mountain of Assembly,
    in the far recesses of the north.
¹⁴ I will ascend above the highest clouds;
    I will be like the Most High.”
¹⁵ Instead you have been hurled down to the netherworld,
    to the depths of the abyss.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you,
    and as they do so they will wonder,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble
    and overthrew kingdoms,
¹⁷ who turned the world into a desert,
    laid its cities in ruins,
    and refused to let his prisoners return home?”
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in honor,
    each one in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you have been cast out without burial,
    like some loathsome piece of flesh;
you are covered with the dead,
    with those pierced by the sword
    who descend to the rocks of the abyss.
²⁰ You will never be buried with those kings
    because you have destroyed your land
    and brought death to your people.
The offspring of the wicked
    will never again be mentioned.
²¹ Make ready to slaughter his sons
    because of the guilt of their father.
Let them never again rise to possess the earth
    and cover the face of the earth with their cities.

²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn:
    As I have resolved, so will it be;
    as I have planned, so will it come to pass.
²⁵ I will break the Assyrian in my land
    and trample him underfoot on my mountains;
his yoke will be lifted from my people,
    and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
²⁶ This is the plan that the Lord has prepared
    for the entire world,
and this is the hand that he has outstretched
    over all the nations.
²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has devised this plan;
    who can thwart it?
His hand is outstretched;
    who can turn it back?

²⁹ Let not a single one of you rejoice, O Philistia,
    that the rod that struck you is broken.
For from the root of a snake will be born a viper,
    and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
³⁰ The poor of my people will eat in my pasture,
    and the destitute will lie down in safety.
But I will make your offspring die of hunger,
    and I will then slay the remnant.
³¹ Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city!
    Let all Philistia be stricken with fear!
For a mighty foe is coming from the north,
    without a single straggler in its ranks.
³² What reply will then be given
    to the envoys of that nation?
“The Lord has established Zion,
    and the afflicted of his people
    will find refuge in her.”

Having been laid waste in a single night,
    Ar of Moab is destroyed.
Having been laid waste in a single night,
    Kir of Moab is destroyed.
² The daughter of Dibon goes up
    to the high places to weep.
Moab wails unceasingly
    over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head has been shaved,
    every beard has been cut off.
³ In the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the roofs and in the public squares
    everyone wails and collapses in tears.
⁴ Hesbon and Elealeh cry out in distress;
    their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
As a result, the bravest of Moab’s warriors cry out
    and their hearts grow faint.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives have arrived close to Zoar,
    at Eglath-shelishiyah.
They climb the slope of Luhith,
    weeping as they make their ascent;
on the road to Horonaim
    they emit heart-rending cries.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim
    have become a desolate waste.
The grass is parched,
    the plants have withered away,
    and nothing green can be seen.
⁷ Therefore, the people carry away
    across the Ravine of the Willows
whatever possessions they can manage
    and the savings they have accumulated.
⁸ Their cry of distress has echoed
    around the land of Moab.
Their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim;
    it can be heard even to the land of Beer-elim.
⁹ The waters of Dimon are filled with blood,
    but I have far worse in store for Dimon:
a lion for those who are fleeing from Moab,
    as well as for those who are left on its soil.

^1 [be]Send forth lambs to the ruler of the land,
    from Sela across the desert
    to the mount of daughter Zion.
² Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
are the women of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.
³ Offer your counsel,
    grant us your justice.
At high noon
    let your shadow be like night.
Hide those who are outcasts
    and do not betray the fugitives.
⁴ Allow the outcasts of Moab
    to settle among you,
    and be their refuge from the destroyer.
When the oppression has ceased
    and the devastation is at an end,
and the marauders who have trampled the land
    have finally departed,
⁵ a throne established in faithful love
    will be established in the tent of David,
and on it will sit in fidelity
    a judge who offers fair judgment
    and is prompt to ensure justice.
⁶ We have heard about the pride of Moab,
    about how truly intense that pride is,
with its arrogance, its pride, and its insolence,
    as well as its boasts which have little basis.
⁷ Therefore, let Moab wail,
    every one of its inhabitants.
In their grief they will long
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
⁸ The vineyards of Heshbon have withered,
    the vines of Sibmah.
The lords of the nations
    have destroyed the choicest vines
that once reached as far as Jazer
    and spread out toward the desert,
and whose shoots with their spreading branches
    spread across the sea.
⁹ Therefore, I weep with Jazer
    for the vines of Sibmah.
I drench you with tears,
    Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the cries of battle have fallen
    over your harvest and vintage.
¹⁰ Joy and gladness
    have been taken away from the fields.
In the vineyards no songs are sung,
    no joyful shouts are raised.
No one treads out wine in the wine-presses
    no cheers of happiness are heard.
¹¹ That is the reason why
    my heart throbs like a harp for Moab
    and my soul for Kir-hareseth.
¹² When the Moabites approach
    and exhaust themselves on the high places,
they will flock to their sanctuaries to pray,
    but it will avail them nothing.

Before long Damascus will cease to be a city,
    and she will be reduced to a heap of ruins.
² Her towns will be abandoned forever;
    they will serve as pastures for flocks
    who will lie there undisturbed.
³ No longer will Ephraim have a fortress
    or Damascus a kingdom.
The glory of the remnant of Aram
    will be like that of the children of Israel,
    says the Lord of hosts.
⁴ On that day
    the glory of Jacob will grow dim
    and the flesh of his body will grow lean,
⁵ as when the reaper gathers the standing grain,
    harvesting the ears with his arms,
or as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in the Valley of Rephaim.^[bf]
6 Nothing will remain except the scattered remnant,
    as when an olive tree is beaten:
two or three olives on the highest bough,
    four or five on each of its fruitful branches,
    says the Lord, the God of Israel.
⁷ On that day,
    men will look to their Creator,
and they will turn their eyes
    to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will not gaze upon the altars, their handiwork,
    nor shall they regard what their fingers have made
    the sacred poles and the altars of incense.
⁹ On that day their strong cities will be
    like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites
which they deserted because of the Israelites’ advance;
    their cities will be left desolate.
¹⁰ You have forgotten the God of your salvation
    and have not kept in mind the Rock, your refuge.
Therefore, you plant your pagan gardens
    and sow exotic seeds for a foreign god.
¹¹ Even though you cause them to sprout
    on the day that you plant them,
and make them sprout blossoms
    on the following morning,
yet the harvest will disappear
    when struck by a wasting disease and incurable blight.
¹² Listen to the thunder of vast hordes,
    its volume like that of the roaring sea.
Listen to the roar of nations,
    its volume like that of mighty waves.
¹³ But when God rebukes them
    they flee far away,
driven like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and like whirling dust before the storm.
¹⁴ In the evening terror has spread,
    but by the morning it has disappeared.
    Such is the fate of those who plunder us,
    the lot of those who despoil us.

¹ Woe to the land of buzzing locusts
    beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,^[bg]
2 sending ambassadors by sea
    in papyrus vessels across the waters.
Go forth, you swift messengers,
    to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people dreaded near and far,
    a mighty and conquering nation
    whose land is crossed by many rivers.
³ All you who inhabit the world,
    you who dwell on the earth,
you will see when the signal is raised on the mountains
    and hear when the trumpet is sounded.
⁴ For this is what the Lord said to me:
    I will quietly look down from my dwelling
like the shimmering heat of the summer sun,
    like a cloud of dew during the harvest heat.
⁵ For prior to the harvest, when the flowering is over
    and the blooms become ripening grapes
the shoots will be cut off with pruning hooks,
    and the branches will be cut away and discarded.
⁶ They will all be left
    to the birds of prey on the mountains
    and to the wild beasts of the earth.
In summer the birds of prey will dwell there,
    while the wild animals will winter on them.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud,
    and he is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
    and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
² I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and they will fight against one another,
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
³ The spirit of the Egyptians will ebb away within them,
    and I will throw their deliberations into disarray.
They will then resort to consulting idols
    and the spirits of the dead,
    as well as ghosts and sorcerers.
⁴ I will deliver the Egyptians
    into the power of a harsh master,
a cruel king who will rule over them—
    says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
⁵ The waters of the Nile will ebb away,
    and the river will become parched and dry.
⁶ Its canals will emit a terrible stench,
    and its branches will diminish and dry up;
    reeds and rushes will wither away.
⁷ All the plants on the banks of the Nile
    and all the vegetation of the Nile
    will dry up, blow away, and vanish.
⁸ The fishermen will groan and mourn,
    all those who cast their hooks into the Nile,
while those who spread their nets on the water
    will lose heart.
⁹ The linen-workers will despair,
    as will the combers and weavers.
¹⁰ The spinners will be dismayed,
    and all who work for wages will be crushed.
¹¹ The princes of Zoan^[bh] are utter fools;
    the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors offer stupid advice.
How can you dare to say to Pharaoh,
    “I am descended from sages;
    I spring from ancient kings”?
¹² Where then are your sages?
    Let them tell you,
so that all may know
    what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools.
    and the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of her tribes
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has infused them
    with a spirit of confusion;
they have made Egypt stagger in everything she does,
    just as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
¹⁵ Neither head nor tail,
    neither palm branch nor reed,
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.

Like whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb,^[bk]
    there comes from the desert,
    from a land that inspires terror,
² a harsh vision that is shown to me:
    the traitor betrays
    and the despoiler despoils.
Go forth, O Elam;^[bl]
    lay siege, O Media.
I will bring to an end
    all the pain she has inflicted.
³ Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish;
    pangs have seized me
    like those of a woman in labor.
I am so distraught that I cannot hear;
    I am too frightened even to look.
⁴ My mind reels,
    and I am overcome with dread;
the twilight I yearned for
    has become horrifying to me.
⁵ They set the table;
    they spread out the rugs;
    they eat and they drink.
Rise up, O princes;
    oil your shields.
⁶ For this is what the Lord has said to me:
    Go forth and post a lookout;
    let him report what he sees.
⁷ If he should see cavalry,
    horsemen riding in pairs,
men mounted on donkeys,
    men mounted on camels,
instruct him to watch closely
    and to listen diligently.
⁸ Then the lookout shouted,
    “I stand on the watchtower, O Lord,
    all day long,
and I remain stationed at my post
    throughout the night.
⁹ Behold, here come the cavalry now,
    horsemen riding in pairs.”
Then the Lord responded:
    Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
    have been smashed to the ground.
¹⁰ O my people,
    you who have been trodden
    upon the threshing floor,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    from the God of Israel,
    I have proclaimed to you.

Someone is calling to me from Seir,
    “Watchman, when will the night end?
    Watchman, when will it end?”
¹² The watchman replies,
    “Morning will come, and so will the night.
If you wish to ask, do so;
    come back again.”

In the thickets of the desert you will encamp,
    you caravans of Dedanites.
¹⁴ Bring water to the thirsty
    and greet the fugitives with bread,
    you inhabitants of the land of Tema.^[bm]
15 For they have fled from the sword,
    from the sharp edge of the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
    and from the stress of battles.

What possible reason can there be
    for all of you to have gone up on the housetops,
² dwellers in a city full of commotion,
    a city exultant and filled with tumult?
Your slain did not fall by the sword,
    nor did they perish in battle.
³ All your leaders fled away together,
    only to be captured
    without a weapon to defend themselves.
All of them who were found were captured
    even though they had fled in all directions.
⁴ That is the reason why I said:
    Turn your eyes away from me;
    let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
    about the destruction of my people.
⁵ For this is a day ordained by the Lord of hosts,
a day of rout, tumult, and confusion
    in the Valley of Vision,
a day on which walls will be battered down
    and cries for help echo through the mountains.
⁶ Elam has taken up his quiver,
    the chariots of Aram have their horses prepared,
    and Kir has bared his shield.
⁷ Your fairest valleys are filled with chariots,
    and the cavalry stands ready at the gates;
⁸ the Lord has removed his sheltering hand from Judah.

¹² On that day the Lord,
    the Lord of hosts,
called on you to eat and mourn,
    to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
¹³ But instead you indulged in joy and merriment,
    the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep,
    the eating of meat and the drinking of wine,
saying, “Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

This wickedness will not be forgiven you
    until you die,
    says the Lord God of hosts.

Go forth and find that official,
    Shebna, the master of the palace, and say:
¹⁶ What are you doing here,
    and who gave you permission
    to hew a tomb for yourself here?
By what right have you hewn your grave on a height
    and chiseled out your tomb in the rock?
¹⁷ The Lord is about to hurl you away violently;
    he will grasp you firmly
¹⁸ and roll you up and throw you like a ball
    into a vast expanse.
There you will die,
    and there your splendid chariots will lie;
    you are a disgrace to your master’s household.
¹⁹ I will remove you from your office,
    and you will be pulled down from your post.
²⁰ On that day I will summon
    my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
²¹ I will clothe him with your robe
    and place your sash around his waist,
    and I will bestow upon him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and to the house of Judah.
²² I will place on his shoulder
    the key of the house of David.
When he opens,
    no one will close;
when he closes,
    no one will open.^[br]
23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place,
    and he will become a throne of honor for his family.
²⁴ Upon him will depend all the glory of his family,
    his descendants, and his offspring,
    and even the smallest vessels, from cups to pitchers.
²⁵ On that day, says the Lord of hosts,
    the peg that was securely fastened
    will give way, break loose, and fall,
and whatever had been hanging on it will be lost.
    For the Lord has spoken.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
    the news has reached them.
² Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
    you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
³     to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
    provided your revenue;
    you were the merchant for the nations.
⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
    for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
    nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
    or brought up young women.”
⁵ When the news reaches Egypt,
    they will writhe in anguish
    upon hearing the fate of Tyre.
⁶ Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
⁷ Is this your vibrant city
    founded in the days of old,
and whose feet have led her away
    to settle in distant lands?
⁸ Who has devised this plan
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes
    and whose traders were held in the highest esteem
    throughout the earth?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has devised this plan
    to deflate the glory of the proud
    and to humiliate the honored men of the earth.
¹⁰ Cross over to your own land,
    you ships of Tarshish,
    for your harbors no longer exist.^[bt]
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
    and brought kingdoms to their knees;
he has commanded the destruction
    of the fortresses of Canaan.
¹² He has said:
    You will exult no more,
    O greatly oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise and cross over to Cyprus,
    but even there you will find no rest.
¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
    it was this people, not Assyria,
who erected siege-towers,
    tore down its palaces,
    and left it in ruins.
¹⁴ Cry out in anguish, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress has been destroyed.

¹⁶ Take your harp
    and walk throughout the city,
    you long-forgotten prostitute.
Pluck your strings sweetly
    and sing many songs
    so that they may remember you.

¹ Behold how the Lord is preparing
    to lay waste the earth;
he will turn it into a desert
    and scatter its inhabitants,
² with the same fate afflicting both priest and people,
    slave and master,
maid and mistress,
    seller and buyer,
lender and borrower,
    creditor and debtor.
³ The earth will be totally ravaged
    and completely despoiled;
    this has the Lord decreed.
⁴ The earth mourns and fades away;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the exalted of the earth are brought low.
⁵ The earth is defiled
    by those who dwell in it;
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated statutes,
    and broken the everlasting covenant.^[bv]
6 Therefore, a curse has consumed the earth,
    and its inhabitants pay the penalty of their guilt;
as a result, the number of its inhabitants dwindles,
    and only a few survive.
⁷ The new wine dries up
    and the vine withers away
    as the revelers groan in their sorrow.
⁸ The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
    the shouts of the revelers fade away;
    the lyre’s joyful melodies are no longer heard.
⁹ The people drink wine but without any singing;
    strong liquor tastes bitter to those who consume it.
¹⁰ The city is shattered and in a state of chaos;
    every house has its entrance barred.^[bw]
11 In the streets the people cry out for wine;
    no joy can be observed;
    happiness seems to have been banished from the land.
¹² Only desolation remains in the city;
    its gates have been smashed so badly
    that they are beyond hope of repair.
¹³ This condition will hold true
    among all the nations throughout the world;
as happens to an olive tree after it is beaten
    or to the gleanings that remain
    after the grape harvest.
¹⁴ The people raise their voices in joyful praise,
    proclaiming from the west the majesty of the Lord,
¹⁵ “Let the Lord be glorified in the east;
    in the coastlands of the sea
glorify the name of the Lord,
    the God of Israel.”
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs
    that praise the glory of the Righteous One.
But I said, “I am wasting away.
    I am wasting away. Woe is me!
For the traitors continue to betray;
    the traitors have acted with great treachery.
¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare
    threaten all of you inhabitants of the earth.
¹⁸ Anyone who flees from the sound of terror
    will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
    will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven will be opened
    and the foundations of the earth will shake.
¹⁹ The earth will be totally shattered,
    the earth will be torn apart
    the earth will be violently convulsed.
²⁰ The earth will stagger like a drunkard
    and sway like a fragile hut;
its transgressions will weigh heavily upon it,
    and it will fall, never to rise again.”
²¹ On that day the Lord will punish
    in the heavens the host of the heavens,^[bx]
    and on the earth the kings of the earth.
²² They will be herded together,
    jammed in like prisoners in a dungeon.
They will be shut up in a pit
    and punished after many years.
²³ Then the moon will seem to fade away
    and the sun will hide in shame.
For the Lord of hosts will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and he will manifest his glory
    to the elders of his people.

¹ O Lord, you are my God.
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonderful things,
    formulated in ages past, faithful and sure.
² You have made the city a heap of ruins,
    the fortified city a mass of rubble.
The citadel of foreigners is a city no more,
    and it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore, mighty peoples will honor you,
    and the cities of ruthless nations
    will regard you with awe.
⁴ For you have been a refuge for the poor,
    a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat.
⁵ The blast of the ruthless
    is like a winter storm or a scorching drought,
but you subdue the roar of the foe,
    and the song of the ruthless fades away.
⁶ On this mountain^[by] the Lord of hosts
    will prepare for all peoples
a feast of rich food and vintage wines,
    of succulent foods and well-aged wines.
⁷ On this mountain the Lord will destroy
    the veil that shrouds^[bz] all the peoples,
the path spread over all the nations;
⁸     he will destroy death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away
    the tears from every face,
and from the entire earth he will remove
    the shame of all his people;
    for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God;
    in him we place our hope for deliverance.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
    let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us.”
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will not rest on this mountain,
    but Moab will be trodden under his feet
    as straw is trodden into the dung-heap.
¹¹ The Lord will stretch forth his hands in Moab
    as a swimmer stretches out his hands to swim,
and he will humble their pride
    as his hands sweep over them.
¹² He will overthrow the high fortifications of their walls,
    casting them down to the ground
    and making them level with the dust.

We have a strongly fortified city,
    with walls and ramparts established to protect us.
² Open the gates
    to allow the upright nation to enter,
    the nation that keeps faith.
³ O Lord, you grant peace to those who are steadfast
    because of their trust in you.
⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord is an eternal rock.
⁵ He has brought low those in high places
    and leveled their citadel,
casting it down to the ground
    and flinging it down to the dust,
⁶ to be trampled underfoot
    by the feet of the poor and the oppressed.
⁷ The path of the righteous is smooth,
    for you make level the way of the just.
⁸ As we proceed in the path of your judgments,
    we wait for you, O Lord;
your name and your renown
    are all that our heart desires.
⁹ My soul longs for you throughout the night,
    and my spirit within me seeks your presence.
For when your judgments are revealed to the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn to practice justice.
¹⁰ If favor is granted to the wicked,
    they will never learn justice.
In the presence of the upright they will act perversely
    and fail to behold the majesty of the Lord.
¹¹ O Lord, your hand is raised high
    but they fail to see it.
Let them be ashamed
    when they behold your zeal for your people;
    let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
¹² O Lord, you will grant us peace;
    everything we have accomplished you have done for us.
¹³ O Lord, our God,
    other lords besides you have ruled us,
    but we acknowledge only your name.
¹⁴ The dead will not come back to life;
    their departed spirits will not rise again.
For you have punished and destroyed them
    and eradicated all memory of them.
¹⁵ O Lord, you have enlarged the nation,
    and in enlarging it you have been glorified;
    you have extended all the frontiers of the country.
¹⁶ O Lord, in our distress we cried out to you,
    pouring forth our prayers
    as we suffered your chastisement.
¹⁷ As a woman who is pregnant
    writhes and cries out in her agony
when her time of delivery is near,
    so were we because of you, O Lord.
¹⁸ We were with child and writhed with pain,
    but we gave birth only to wind.
We have achieved no salvation for the earth,
    and no one has been born to inhabit the world.
¹⁹ But your dead will live
    and their bodies will rise again.
Awake and sing for joy,
    you who sleep in the dust.
For your dew will be radiant,
    and the earth will give birth again
    to those who have long been dead.

²⁰ Go forth, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you.
Withdraw for a short while
    until the wrath has subsided.
²¹ For the Lord emerges from his dwelling place
    to punish the inhabitants of the earth
    for their wickedness.
The earth will reveal the blood shed upon it
    and will no longer hide its slain.

¹ On that day,
    the Lord will use his sword
    that is cruel and great and strong
to punish Leviathan^[ca] the fleeing serpent,
    Leviathan the writhing serpent,
and he will slay that dragon
    that resides in the sea.
^2 [cb]On that day,
    sing of the pleasant vineyard.