Isaiah 19-22

1This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

3Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

4I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of a harsh master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

5The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.

6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.

7The bulrushes by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the fields sown along the Nile, will wither, blow away, and be no more.

8Then the fishermen will mourn, all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

9The workers in flax will be dismayed, and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.

10The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.

11The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?

12Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

13The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

14The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

15There is nothing Egypt can do— head or tail, palm or reed.

16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.

17The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.

18In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near her border.

20It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

21The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.

22And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

24In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth.

25The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

1Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it,

2the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

3Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

5Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

6And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, ‘See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’”

1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.

2A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”

3Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.

4My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

5They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

6For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

7When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”

8Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

9Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.

11This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

12The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”

13This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.

14Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food.

15For they flee from the sword— the sword that is drawn— from the bow that is bent, and from the stress of battle.

16For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

1This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,

2O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

3All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.

4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision— of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.

6Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.

7Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.

8He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

9You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

10You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.

11You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.

12On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

13But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

15This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:

16What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

17Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

18roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master.

19I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.

20On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

23I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.

24So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

25In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.