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Isaiah 21-24
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 21-24
Holman Christian Standard Bible
A Judgment on Babylon
21 An oracle(A) against the desert by the sea:(B)
Like storms that pass over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.
2 A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,(C)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”
3 Therefore I am[a] filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.(D)
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.
4 My heart staggers;
horror terrifies me.
He has turned my last glimmer of hope[b]
into sheer terror.(E)
5 Prepare a table,(F) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!
6 For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
7 When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”
8 Then the lookout[c] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,(G)
and I stay at my post all night.
9 Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,(H) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”(I)
10 My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,(J)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel.
An Oracle against Dumah
11 An oracle(K) against Dumah:[d](L)
One calls to me from Seir,(M)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“Morning has come, and also night.
If you want to ask, ask!
Come back again.”
An Oracle against Arabia
13 An oracle against Arabia:(N)
In the desert[e] brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.(O)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema(P)
meet[f] the refugees with food.
15 For they have fled from swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bow that is strung,
and from the stress of battle.
16 For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year,(Q) as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar(R) will be gone. 17 The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number.” For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
An Oracle against Jerusalem
22 An oracle(S) against the Valley of Vision:(T)
What’s the matter with you?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?(U)
2 The noisy city, the jubilant town,(V)
is filled with revelry.
Your dead did not die by the sword;
they were not killed in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together;
they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said,
“Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!(W)
Do not try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dear[g] people.”
5 For the Lord God of Hosts
had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion(X)
in the Valley of Vision—
people shouting[h] and crying to the mountains;
6 Elam took up a quiver
with chariots and horsemen,[i]
and Kir(Y) uncovered the shield.
7 Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the gates.
8 He removed the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.(Z) 9 You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David.(AA) You collected water from the lower pool.(AB) 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the walls(AC) for the waters of the ancient pool,(AD) but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord God of Hosts
called for weeping,(AE) for wailing, for shaven heads,
and for the wearing of sackcloth.
13 But look: joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat, and drinking of wine—
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”(AF)
14 The Lord of Hosts has directly revealed to me:(AG)
“This sin of yours will never[j] be wiped out.”(AH)
The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.
An Oracle against Shebna
15 The Lord God of Hosts said: “Go to Shebna,(AI) that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him: 16 What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a crypt for yourself out of rock?(AJ) 17 Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18 wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land.[k] There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be—a disgrace to the house of your lord. 19 I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.
20 “On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.(AK) 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.(AL) 22 I will place the key(AM) of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.(AN) 23 I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s house. 24 They will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. 25 On that day”—the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
An Oracle against Tyre
23 An oracle(AO) against Tyre:(AP)
Wail, ships of Tarshish,(AQ)
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.[l](AR)
2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;(AS)
your agents have crossed the sea[m]
3 on many waters.
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.(AT)
4 Be ashamed Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have not been in labor or given birth.
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.(AU)
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
7 Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts planned it,
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
10 Overflow[n] your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer anything to restrain you.[o]
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea;(AV)
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said,
“You will not rejoice anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus(AW)—
even there you will have no rest!”
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans—
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
because your fortress is destroyed!
15 On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:
16 Pick up your lyre,
stroll through the city,
prostitute forgotten by men.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song,
and you will be thought of again.
17 And at the end of the 70 years,(AX) the Lord will restore Tyre(AY) and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.
The Earth Judged
24 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare
and making it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:
2 people and priest alike,
servant and master,
female servant and mistress,
buyer and seller,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.(AZ)
4 The earth mourns and withers;
the world wastes away and withers;
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,(BA)
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.(BB)
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,(BC)
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine mourns;(BD)
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
8 The joyful tambourines(BE) have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered;(BF)
every house is closed to entry.(BG)
11 In the streets they cry[p] for wine.
All joy grows dark;
earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
13 For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.(BH)
14 They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!
In the islands of the west
honor the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.(BI)
But I said, “I waste away! I waste away![q]
Woe is me.”
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.(BJ)
17 Panic, pit, and trap await you(BK)
who dwell on the earth.(BL)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the windows are opened from heaven,(BM)
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.(BN)
19 The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard(BO)
and sways like a hut.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
21 On that day(BP) the Lord will punish
the host of heaven above
and kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.(BQ)
They will be confined to a dungeon;(BR)
after many days they will be punished.
23 The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and He will display His glory
in the presence of His elders.(BS)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 21:3 Lit Therefore my loins are
- Isaiah 21:4 Lit my twilight
- Isaiah 21:8 DSS, Syr; MT reads Then a lion
- Isaiah 21:11 Some Hb mss, LXX read Edom
- Isaiah 21:13 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read desert at evening
- Isaiah 21:14 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read meet as a command
- Isaiah 22:4 Lit of the daughter of my
- Isaiah 22:5 Or Vision—a tearing down of a wall, or Vision—Kir raged; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 22:6 Lit chariots of man
- Isaiah 22:14 Lit will not until you die
- Isaiah 22:18 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 23:1 Hb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:2 DSS; MT reads Sidon, whom the seafarers have filled
- Isaiah 23:10 DSS, LXX read Work
- Isaiah 23:10 Or longer any harbor
- Isaiah 24:11 Lit streets she cries
- Isaiah 24:16 Hb obscure
Isaiah 21-24
New International Version
Isaiah 21-24
New International Version
A Prophecy Against Babylon
21 A prophecy(A) against the Desert(B) by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds(C) sweeping through the southland,(D)
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.
2 A dire(E) vision has been shown to me:
The traitor betrays,(F) the looter takes loot.
Elam,(G) attack! Media,(H) lay siege!
I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.
3 At this my body is racked with pain,(I)
pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;(J)
I am staggered by what I hear,
I am bewildered(K) by what I see.
4 My heart(L) falters,
fear makes me tremble;(M)
the twilight I longed for
has become a horror(N) to me.
5 They set the tables,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink!(O)
Get up, you officers,
oil the shields!(P)
6 This is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout(Q)
and have him report what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots(R)
with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
or riders on camels,(S)
let him be alert,
fully alert.”
8 And the lookout[a](T) shouted,
“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
every night I stay at my post.
9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot(U)
with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
‘Babylon(V) has fallen,(W) has fallen!
All the images of its gods(X)
lie shattered(Y) on the ground!’”
10 My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,(Z)
I tell you what I have heard
from the Lord Almighty,
from the God of Israel.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11 A prophecy against Dumah[b]:(AA)
Someone calls to me from Seir,(AB)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back yet again.”
A Prophecy Against Arabia
13 A prophecy(AC) against Arabia:(AD)
You caravans of Dedanites,(AE)
who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
14 bring water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,(AF)
bring food for the fugitives.
15 They flee(AG) from the sword,(AH)
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
and from the heat of battle.
16 This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract(AI) would count it, all the splendor(AJ) of Kedar(AK) will come to an end. 17 The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.(AL)” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.(AM)
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 A prophecy(AN) against the Valley(AO) of Vision:(AP)
What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,(AQ)
2 you town so full of commotion,
you city of tumult(AR) and revelry?(AS)
Your slain(AT) were not killed by the sword,(AU)
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled(AV) together;
they have been captured(AW) without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
let me weep(AX) bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people.”(AY)
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day(AZ)
of tumult and trampling(BA) and terror(BB)
in the Valley of Vision,(BC)
a day of battering down walls(BD)
and of crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam(BE) takes up the quiver,(BF)
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir(BG) uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys(BH) are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates.(BI)
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and you looked in that day(BJ)
to the weapons(BK) in the Palace of the Forest.(BL)
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
were broken through(BM) in many places;
you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.(BN)
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
and tore down houses(BO) to strengthen the wall.(BP)
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls(BQ)
for the water of the Old Pool,(BR)
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or have regard(BS) for the One who planned(BT) it long ago.
12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called you on that day(BU)
to weep(BV) and to wail,
to tear out your hair(BW) and put on sackcloth.(BX)
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,(BY)
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!(BZ)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”(CA)
14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:(CB) “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned(CC) for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna(CD) the palace(CE) administrator:(CF)
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a grave(CG) for yourself(CH) here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl(CI) you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball
and throw(CJ) you into a large country.
There you will die
and there the chariots(CK) you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted(CL) from your position.(CM)
20 “In that day(CN) I will summon my servant,(CO) Eliakim(CP) son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash(CQ) around him and hand your authority(CR) over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder(CS) the key(CT) to the house of David;(CU) what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.(CV) 23 I will drive him like a peg(CW) into a firm place;(CX) he will become a seat[c] of honor(CY) for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,(CZ)” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg(DA) driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.(DB)
A Prophecy Against Tyre
23 A prophecy against Tyre:(DC)
Wail,(DD) you ships(DE) of Tarshish!(DF)
For Tyre is destroyed(DG)
and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
word has come to them.
2 Be silent,(DH) you people of the island
and you merchants(DI) of Sidon,(DJ)
whom the seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
came the grain of the Shihor;(DK)
the harvest of the Nile[d](DL) was the revenue of Tyre,(DM)
and she became the marketplace of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon,(DN) and you fortress of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;(DO)
I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
5 When word comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish(DP) at the report from Tyre.(DQ)
6 Cross over to Tarshish;(DR)
wail, you people of the island.
7 Is this your city of revelry,(DS)
the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants(DT) are princes,
whose traders(DU) are renowned in the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty planned(DV) it,
to bring down(DW) her pride in all her splendor
and to humble(DX) all who are renowned(DY) on the earth.
10 Till[e] your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter Tarshish,
for you no longer have a harbor.
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand(DZ) over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.(EA)
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
that her fortresses be destroyed.(EB)
12 He said, “No more of your reveling,(EC)
Virgin Daughter(ED) Sidon, now crushed!
“Up, cross over to Cyprus;(EE)
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians,[f](EF)
this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians(EG) have made it
a place for desert creatures;(EH)
they raised up their siege towers,(EI)
they stripped its fortresses bare
and turned it into a ruin.(EJ)
15 At that time Tyre(EN) will be forgotten for seventy years,(EO) the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city,
you forgotten prostitute;(EP)
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years,(EQ) the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution(ER) and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.(ES) 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord;(ET) they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord,(EU) for abundant food and fine clothes.(EV)
The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth
24 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth(EW)
and devastate(EX) it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter(EY) its inhabitants—
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,(EZ)
for the master as for his servant,
for the mistress as for her servant,
for seller as for buyer,(FA)
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.(FB)
3 The earth will be completely laid waste(FC)
and totally plundered.(FD)
The Lord has spoken(FE) this word.
4 The earth dries up(FF) and withers,(FG)
the world languishes and withers,
the heavens(FH) languish with the earth.(FI)
5 The earth is defiled(FJ) by its people;
they have disobeyed(FK) the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.(FL)
6 Therefore a curse(FM) consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,(FN)
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up(FO) and the vine withers;(FP)
all the merrymakers groan.(FQ)
8 The joyful timbrels(FR) are stilled,
the noise(FS) of the revelers(FT) has stopped,
the joyful harp(FU) is silent.(FV)
9 No longer do they drink wine(FW) with a song;
the beer is bitter(FX) to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city(FY) lies desolate;(FZ)
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out(GA) for wine;(GB)
all joy turns to gloom,(GC)
all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,(GD)
its gate(GE) is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,(GF)
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.(GG)
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;(GH)
from the west(GI) they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east(GJ) give glory(GK) to the Lord;
exalt(GL) the name(GM) of the Lord, the God of Israel,
in the islands(GN) of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth(GO) we hear singing:(GP)
“Glory(GQ) to the Righteous One.”(GR)
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!(GS)
Woe(GT) to me!
The treacherous(GU) betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!(GV)”
17 Terror(GW) and pit and snare(GX) await you,
people of the earth.(GY)
18 Whoever flees(GZ) at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;(HA)
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.(HB)
The floodgates of the heavens(HC) are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.(HD)
19 The earth is broken up,(HE)
the earth is split asunder,(HF)
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,(HG)
it sways like a hut(HH) in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion(HI)
that it falls(HJ)—never to rise again.(HK)
21 In that day(HL) the Lord will punish(HM)
the powers(HN) in the heavens above
and the kings(HO) on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners(HP) bound in a dungeon;(HQ)
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished[g] after many days.(HR)
23 The moon will be dismayed,
the sun(HS) ashamed;
for the Lord Almighty will reign(HT)
on Mount Zion(HU) and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.(HV)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac; Masoretic Text A lion
- Isaiah 21:11 Dumah, a wordplay on Edom, means silence or stillness.
- Isaiah 22:23 Or throne
- Isaiah 23:3 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls Sidon, / who cross over the sea; / your envoys 3 are on the great waters. / The grain of the Shihor, / the harvest of the Nile,
- Isaiah 23:10 Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts; Masoretic Text Go through
- Isaiah 23:13 Or Chaldeans
- Isaiah 24:22 Or released
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