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Isaiah 17-20
American Standard Version

17 The [a]burden of Damascus.

Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom [b]from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.

4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing grain, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the [c]shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel. 7 In that day shall men look unto their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. 8 And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they have respect to that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. 9 In that day shall their strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it shall be a desolation. 10 For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy [d]strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with [e]strange slips. 11 In the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom; but the harvest [f]fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Ah, the [g]uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! 13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke [h]them, and [i]they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. 14 At eventide, behold, terror; and before the morning [j]they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

18 Ah, the land [k]of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of [l]Ethiopia; 2 that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, [m]even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation [n]tall and smooth, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation [o]that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers [p]divide! 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye.

4 For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, [q]like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches will he take away and cut down. 6 They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. 7 In that time shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a people [r]tall and smooth, even from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion.

19 The [s]burden of Egypt.

Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will [t]stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall [u]fail in the midst of it; and I will [v]destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek unto the idols, and to the [w]charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And I will [x]give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry. 6 And the rivers shall become foul; the [y]streams of [z]Egypt shall be diminished and dried up; the reeds and flags shall wither away. 7 The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, shall become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8 And the fishers shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9 Moreover they that work in combed flax, and they that weave [aa]white cloth, shall be confounded. 10 And [ab]the [ac]pillars of Egypt shall be broken in pieces; all they [ad]that work for hire shall be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to go astray, that are the corner-stone of her tribes. 14 Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man [ae]staggereth in his vomit. 15 Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. 16 In that day shall the Egyptians be like unto women; and they shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shaketh over them. 17 And the land of Judah shall become a terror unto Egypt; [af]every one to whom mention is made thereof shall be afraid, because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts, which he purposeth against it. 18 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts; one shall be called The city of [ag]destruction.

19 In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah. 20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressors, and he will send them a saviour, and [ah]a defender, and he will deliver them. 21 And Jehovah shall [ai]be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and shall perform it. 22 And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing; and they shall return unto Jehovah, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them.

23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; 25 for that Jehovah of hosts hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

20 In the year that [aj]Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; 2 at that time Jehovah spake by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3 And Jehovah said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot [ak]three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning [al]Ethiopia; 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 And they shall be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 6 And the inhabitant of this coast-land shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and we, how shall we escape?

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:1 Or, oracle concerning
  2. Isaiah 17:3 Or, from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria shall etc.
  3. Isaiah 17:6 Hebrew beating.
  4. Isaiah 17:10 Or, stronghold
  5. Isaiah 17:10 Or, vine slips of a strange god
  6. Isaiah 17:11 Or, shall be a heap
  7. Isaiah 17:12 Or, multitude
  8. Isaiah 17:13 Hebrew him.
  9. Isaiah 17:13 Hebrew he.
  10. Isaiah 17:14 Hebrew he is.
  11. Isaiah 18:1 Or, shadowing with wings
  12. Isaiah 18:1 Hebrew Cush.
  13. Isaiah 18:2 Or, and
  14. Isaiah 18:2 Or, dragged away and peeled
  15. Isaiah 18:2 Or, meted out and trodden down Hebrew of line, line, and of treading down.
  16. Isaiah 18:2 Or, have despoiled
  17. Isaiah 18:4 Or, when there is
  18. Isaiah 18:7 Or, dragged away and peeled
  19. Isaiah 19:1 Or, oracle concerning
  20. Isaiah 19:2 Or, join together. Or, arm
  21. Isaiah 19:3 Hebrew be emptied.
  22. Isaiah 19:3 Hebrew swallow up.
  23. Isaiah 19:3 Or, whisperers
  24. Isaiah 19:4 Or, shut up
  25. Isaiah 19:6 Or, canals
  26. Isaiah 19:6 Hebrew Mazor.
  27. Isaiah 19:9 Or, cotton
  28. Isaiah 19:10 Hebrew her pillars.
  29. Isaiah 19:10 Or, foundations
  30. Isaiah 19:10 Or, that make dams
  31. Isaiah 19:14 Or, goeth astray
  32. Isaiah 19:17 Or, every one that maketh mention thereof, to him shall they turn in fear
  33. Isaiah 19:18 Or, Heres. Or, according to another reading, the sun
  34. Isaiah 19:20 Or, a mighty one
  35. Isaiah 19:21 Or, make himself known
  36. Isaiah 20:1 The title of the Assyrian commander-in-chief.
  37. Isaiah 20:3 Or, to be for three years a sign etc.
  38. Isaiah 20:3 Hebrew Cush.
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Isaiah 17-20
New International Version

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy(A) against Damascus:(B)

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.(C)
2 The cities of Aroer(D) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,(E) which will lie down,(F)
    with no one to make them afraid.(G)
3 The fortified(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory(I) of the Israelites,”(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.

4 “In that day(K) the glory(L) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste(M) away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(O)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.(P)
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,(Q)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,(R)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 In that day(S) people will look(T) to their Maker(U)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One(V) of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,(W)
    the work of their hands,(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a](Y)
    and the incense altars their fingers(Z) have made.

9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.(AA) And all will be desolation.

10 You have forgotten(AB) God your Savior;(AC)
    you have not remembered the Rock,(AD) your fortress.(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,(AF)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(AH) will be as nothing(AI)
    in the day of disease and incurable(AJ) pain.(AK)

12 Woe to the many nations that rage(AL)—
    they rage like the raging sea!(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar(AN)—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!(AO)
13 Although the peoples roar(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes(AQ) them they flee(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(AS) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.(AT)
14 In the evening, sudden(AU) terror!(AV)
    Before the morning, they are gone!(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

A Prophecy Against Cush

18 Woe(AX) to the land of whirring wings[b]
    along the rivers of Cush,[c](AY)
2 which sends envoys(AZ) by sea
    in papyrus(BA) boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(BB)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(BC) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.(BD)

3 All you people of the world,(BE)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner(BF) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet(BG) sounds,
    you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet(BH) and will look on from my dwelling place,(BI)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(BJ)
    like a cloud of dew(BK) in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off(BL) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.(BM)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey(BN)
    and to the wild animals;(BO)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

7 At that time gifts(BP) will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,(BQ)
    from a people feared(BR) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers(BS)—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.(BT)

A Prophecy Against Egypt

19 A prophecy(BU) against Egypt:(BV)

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud(BW)
    and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
    and the hearts of the Egyptians melt(BX) with fear.

2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
    brother will fight against brother,(BY)
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    kingdom against kingdom.(BZ)
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,(CA)
    and I will bring their plans(CB) to nothing;(CC)
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
    the mediums and the spiritists.(CD)
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
    to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king(CE) will rule over them,”
    declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

5 The waters of the river will dry up,(CF)
    and the riverbed will be parched and dry.(CG)
6 The canals will stink;(CH)
    the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.(CI)
The reeds(CJ) and rushes will wither,(CK)
7     also the plants(CL) along the Nile,
    at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field(CM) along the Nile
    will become parched, will blow away and be no more.(CN)
8 The fishermen(CO) will groan and lament,
    all who cast hooks(CP) into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
    will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax(CQ) will despair,
    the weavers of fine linen(CR) will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,
    and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

11 The officials of Zoan(CS) are nothing but fools;
    the wise counselors(CT) of Pharaoh give senseless advice.(CU)
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am one of the wise men,(CV)
    a disciple of the ancient kings”?

12 Where are your wise men(CW) now?
    Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
    has planned(CX) against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan(CY) have become fools,
    the leaders of Memphis(CZ) are deceived;
the cornerstones(DA) of her peoples
    have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has poured into them
    a spirit of dizziness;(DB)
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
    as a drunkard staggers(DC) around in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do—
    head or tail, palm branch or reed.(DD)

16 In that day(DE) the Egyptians will become weaklings.(DF) They will shudder with fear(DG) at the uplifted hand(DH) that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified,(DI) because of what the Lord Almighty is planning(DJ) against them.

18 In that day(DK) five cities(DL) in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance(DM) to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[d](DN)

19 In that day(DO) there will be an altar(DP) to the Lord in the heart of Egypt,(DQ) and a monument(DR) to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witness(DS) to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior(DT) and defender, and he will rescue(DU) them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge(DV) the Lord. They will worship(DW) with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.(DX) 22 The Lord will strike(DY) Egypt with a plague;(DZ) he will strike them and heal them. They will turn(EA) to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal(EB) them.

23 In that day(EC) there will be a highway(ED) from Egypt to Assyria.(EE) The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship(EF) together. 24 In that day(EG) Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria,(EH) a blessing[e](EI) on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless(EJ) them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people,(EK) Assyria my handiwork,(EL) and Israel my inheritance.(EM)”

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that the supreme commander,(EN) sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod(EO) and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz.(EP) He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth(EQ) from your body and the sandals(ER) from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped(ES) and barefoot.(ET)

3 Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant(EU) Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years,(EV) as a sign(EW) and portent(EX) against Egypt(EY) and Cush,[f](EZ) 4 so the king(FA) of Assyria will lead away stripped(FB) and barefoot the Egyptian captives(FC) and Cushite(FD) exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared(FE)—to Egypt’s shame.(FF) 5 Those who trusted(FG) in Cush(FH) and boasted in Egypt(FI) will be dismayed and put to shame.(FJ) 6 In that day(FK) the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened(FL) to those we relied on,(FM) those we fled to for help(FN) and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?(FO)’”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
  2. Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
  3. Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
  4. Isaiah 19:18 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls, Symmachus and Vulgate; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text City of Destruction
  5. Isaiah 19:24 Or Assyria, whose names will be used in blessings (see Gen. 48:20); or Assyria, who will be seen by others as blessed
  6. Isaiah 20:3 That is, the upper Nile region; also in verse 5
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