Isaiah 29-35
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 29
1Woe, Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped! Add year to year, keep your feasts on schedule. 2I will bring distress to Ariel, And she will be a city of grieving and mourning; And she will be like an Ariel to me. 3I will camp against you encircling you, And I will set up siegeworks against you, And I will raise up battle towers against you. 4Then you will be brought low; From the earth you will speak, And from the dust where you are prostrate Your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, And your speech will whisper from the dust. 5But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen instantly, suddenly. 6From the Lord of armies you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, Will be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8It will be as when a hungry person dreams— And behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, Or as when a thirsty person dreams— And behold, he is drinking, But when he awakens, behold, he is faint And his thirst is not quenched. So will the multitude of all the nations be Who wage war against Mount Zion. 9Be delayed and horrified, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes—the prophets; And He has covered your heads—the seers.
11The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which, when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, 'Please read this,' he will say, 'I cannot, because it is sealed.'
12Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, 'Please read this.' And he will say, 'I cannot read.'
14Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the understanding of their men who have understanding will be concealed.'
15Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, 'Who sees us?' or 'Who knows us?'
16You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?
17Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
18On that day those who are deaf will hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of those who are blind will see.
19The afflicted also will increase their joy in the Lord, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be eliminated,
21Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, And set a trap for the arbitrator at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
23But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1'Woe to the rebellious children,' declares the Lord, 'Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin; 2Who proceed down to Egypt Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation. 4For their officials are at Zoan And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes. 5Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them, Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.'
7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her 'Rahab who has been exterminated.'
8Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come As a witness forever.
9For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the Lord;
10Who say to the seers, 'You must not see visions'; And to the prophets, 'You must not prophesy the truth to us. Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!'
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: 'Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a shard will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.'
15For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: 'In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.' But you were not willing,
16And you said, 'No, for we will flee on horses!' Therefore you shall flee! 'And we will ride on swift horses!' Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top, And like a flag on a hill.
19For, you people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
20Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher.
21Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
22And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to them, 'Be gone!'
23Then He will give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful; on that day your livestock will graze in a wide pasture.
24Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned feed, which has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound He has inflicted.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; His anger is burning and dense with smoke; His lips are filled with indignation, And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28His breath is like an overflowing river, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray.
29You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard, And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod.
32And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the Lord will lay on him, Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
Chapter 31
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! 2Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of the workers of injustice.
6Return to Him against whom you have been profoundly obstinate, you sons of Israel.
7For on that day every person will reject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made for you as a sin.
8And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not wielded by a man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers.
9'His rock will pass away because of panic, And his officers will be terrified by the flag,' Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Chapter 32
1Behold, a king will reign righteously, And officials will rule justly. 2Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in an exhausted land. 3Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4The mind of the rash will discern the truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hurry to speak clearly. 5No longer will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of as generous. 6For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty. 7As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises wicked schemes To destroy the poor with slander, Even though the needy one speaks what is right. 8But the noble person devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands. 9Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Listen to my word, You complacent daughters. 10Within a year and a few days You will be troubled, you complacent daughters; For the vintage is ended, And the fruit gathering will not come. 11Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be troubled, you complacent daughters; Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist, 12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13For the land of my people in which thorns and briars will come up; Indeed, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. 14For the palace has been neglected, the populated city abandoned. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks, 15Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered as a forest. 16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness will remain in the fertile field. 17And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. 18Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement, In secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places; 19And it will hail when the forest comes down, And the city will be utterly laid low. 20How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let the ox and the donkey out freely.Chapter 33
1Woe to you, destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you. 2Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress. 3At the sound of a roar, peoples flee; At the lifting up of Yourself, nations disperse. 4Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it. 5The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure. 7Behold, their brave men cry out in the streets, The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. 8The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased, He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, He has no regard for mankind. 9The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is shamed and withers; Sharon is like a desert plain, And Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage. 10'Now I will arise,' says the Lord, 'Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up. 11You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; My breath will consume you like a fire. 12The peoples will be burned to lime, Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire. 13'You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.' 14Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. 'Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?' 15One who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, One who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; One who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking at evil; 16He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure. 17Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see a distant land. 18Your heart will meditate on terror: 'Where is one who counts? Where is one who weighs? Where is one who counts the towers?' 19You will no longer see a fierce people, A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, Of a stammering tongue which no one understands. 20Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, A tent which will not be folded; Its stakes will never be pulled up, Nor any of its ropes be torn apart. 21But there the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us A place of rivers and wide canals On which no boat with oars will go, And on which no mighty ship will pass— 22For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; He will save us— 23Your ship’s tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; Those who limp will take the plunder. 24And no resident will say, 'I am sick'; The people who live there will be forgiven their wrongdoing.Chapter 34
1Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. 2For the Lord’S anger is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them, He has turned them over to slaughter. 3So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. 4And all the heavenly lights will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All its lights will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree. 5For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven; Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction. 6The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; So their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat. 8For the Lord has a day of vengeance, A year of retribution for the cause of Zion. 9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch. 10It will not be extinguished night or day; Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be desolate; None will pass through it forever and ever. 11But pelican and hedgehog will possess it, And owl and raven will dwell in it; And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness. 12Its nobles—there is no one there Whom they may proclaim king— And all its officials will be nothing. 13Thorns will come up in its fortified towers, Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of jackals And a habitat of ostriches. 14The desert creatures will meet with the wolves, The goat also will cry to its kind. Yes, the night-bird will settle there And will find herself a resting place.Chapter 35
1The wilderness and the desert will rejoice, And the desert will shout for joy and blossom; Like the crocus 2It will blossom profusely And rejoice with joy and jubilation. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, The majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong. 4Say to those with anxious heart, 'Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The retribution of God will come, But He will save you.' 5Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened, And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped. 6Then those who limp will leap like a deer, And the tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. 8A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. 9No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious animal go up on it; They will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10And the redeemed of the Lord will return And come to Zion with joyful shouting, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.King James Version
Chapter 29
1Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
8It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
4For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
5As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
6Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
7For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
8Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
8But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.
9Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
20Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 29
1Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur. 2I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to me like an Ariel. 3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.
4You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.
5Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
6you will be punished by the Lord of Armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.
7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— all the attackers, the siege works against her, and those who oppress her— will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.
8It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So it will be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.
10For the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; he has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers).
11For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can’t read it, because it is sealed."
12And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can’t read."
14Therefore, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.
15Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. They do their works in the dark, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, "He didn’t make me"? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn’t understand what he’s doing"?
17Isn’t it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?
18On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed—
21those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.
22Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer be pale.
23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1Woe to the rebellious children! This is the Lord’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin. 2Without asking my advice they set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow. 3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation. 4For though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes, 5everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can’t help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.
7Egypt’s help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.
8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.
9They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."
12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,
13this iniquity of yours will be like a crumbling gap, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!
14Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter’s jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains— no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."
15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."
16You say, "No! We will escape on horses"— therefore you will escape!— and, "We will ride on fast horses"— but those who pursue you will be faster.
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.
19For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you.
20The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,
21and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."
22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.
23Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.
25Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.
26The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter —like the light of seven days—on the day that the Lord bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27Look there! The Lord is coming from far away, his anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
29Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard and reveal his arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord. He will strike with a rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord brings down on him will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; he will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33Indeed! Topheth has been ready for the king for a long time. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of burning sulfur, kindles it.
Chapter 31
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the abundance of chariots and in the large number of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the Lord. 2But he also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what he says; he will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers. 3Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord raises his hand to strike, the helper will stumble and the one who is helped will fall; both will perish together.
4For this is what the Lord said to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey when a band of shepherds is called out against it, and is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their noise, so the Lord of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5Like hovering birds, so the Lord of Armies will protect Jerusalem — by protecting it, he will rescue it, by sparing it, he will deliver it.
6Return to the one the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.
7For on that day, every one of you will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.
Chapter 32
1Indeed, a king will reign righteously, and rulers will rule justly. 2Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain, like flowing streams in a dry land and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land. 3Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. 4The reckless mind will gain knowledge, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently. 5A fool will no longer be called a noble, nor a scoundrel said to be important.
6For a fool speaks foolishness and his mind plots iniquity. He lives in a godless way and speaks falsely about the Lord. He leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.
7The scoundrel’s weapons are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies, even when the poor person says what is right.
8But a noble person plans noble things; he stands up for noble causes.
9Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters.
10In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the grapes will fail and the harvest will not come.
11Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists.
12Beat your breasts in mourning for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,
13for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers, indeed, for every joyous house in the jubilant city.
14For the palace will be deserted, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks,
15until the Spirit from on high is poured out on us. Then the desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.
16Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the orchard.
17The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.
18Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure dwellings.
19But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink into the depths.
20You will be happy as you sow seed beside abundant water, and as you let oxen and donkeys range freely.
Chapter 33
1Woe, you destroyer never destroyed, you traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you. 2 Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for you. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble. 3The peoples flee at the thunderous noise; the nations scatter when you rise in your majesty. 4Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts. 5The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6There will be times of security for you— a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.
7Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. An agreement has been broken, cities despised, and human life disregarded.
9The land mourns and withers; Lebanon is ashamed and wilted. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10"Now I will rise up," says the Lord. "Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.
11You will conceive chaff; you will give birth to stubble. Your breath is fire that will consume you.
12The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.
13You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, know my strength."
14The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly: "Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?"
15The one who lives righteously and speaks rightly, who refuses profit from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots and shuts his eyes against evil schemes —
16he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the rocky fortresses, his food provided, his water assured.
17Your eyes will see the King in his beauty; you will see a vast land.
18Your mind will meditate on the past terror: "Where is the accountant? Where is the tribute collector? Where is the one who spied out our defenses?"
19You will no longer see the barbarians, a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend— who stammer in a language that is not understood.
20Look at Zion, the city of our festival times. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up nor will any of its cords be loosened.
21For the majestic one, our Lord, will be there, a place of rivers and broad streams where ships that are rowed will not go, and majestic vessels will not pass.
22For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us.
23Your ropes are slack; they cannot hold the base of the mast or spread out the flag. Then abundant spoil will be divided, the lame will plunder it,
24and none there will say, "I am sick." The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Chapter 34
1You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that comes from it. 2The Lord is angry with all the nations, furious with all their armies. He will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter. 3Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood. 4All the stars in the sky will dissolve. The sky will roll up like a scroll, and its stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree. 5When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, it will then come down on Edom and on the people I have set apart for destruction. 6The Lord’s sword is covered with blood. It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7The wild oxen will be struck down with them, and young bulls with the mighty bulls. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be saturated with fat. 8For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a time of paying back Edom for its hostility against Zion. 9Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her soil into sulfur; her land will become burning pitch. 10It will never go out—day or night. Its smoke will go up forever. It will be desolate, from generation to generation; no one will pass through it forever and ever. 11Eagle owls and herons will possess it, and long-eared owls and ravens will dwell there. The Lord will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her for her destruction and chaos. 12No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing. 13Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns; her fortified cities, with thistles and briers. She will become a dwelling for jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14The desert creatures will meet hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. Indeed, the night birds will stay there and will find a resting place. 15Sand partridges will make their nests there; they will lay and hatch their eggs and will gather their broods under their shadows. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate. 16Search and read the scroll of the Lord: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because he has ordered it by my mouth, and he will gather them by his Spirit. 17He has cast the lot for them; his hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.Chapter 35
1The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower. 2It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees! 4Say to the cowardly: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you." 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the parched ground will become a pool, and the thirsty land springs. In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus. 8A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path. Fools will not wander on it. 9There will be no lion there, and no vicious beast will go up on it; they will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk on it, 10and the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.New Living Translation
Chapter 29
1'What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. 2Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means — an altar covered with blood. 3I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it. 4Then deep from the earth you will speak; from low in the dust your words will come. Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave.
5'But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust. Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind. Suddenly, in an instant,
6I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.
7All the nations fighting against Jerusalem will vanish like a dream! Those who are attacking her walls will vanish like a vision in the night.
8A hungry person dreams of eating but wakes up still hungry. A thirsty person dreams of drinking but is still faint from thirst when morning comes. So it will be with your enemies, with those who attack Mount Zion.'
9Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor!
10For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
11All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, 'We can’t read it because it is sealed.'
12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, 'We don’t know how to read.'
13And so the Lord says, 'These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
14Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.'
15What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! 'The Lord can’t see us,' they say. 'He doesn’t know what’s going on!'
16How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, 'He didn’t make me'? Does a jar ever say, 'The potter who made me is stupid'?
17Soon — and it will not be very long — the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed.
21Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
22That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel, 'My people will no longer be ashamed or turn pale with fear.
23For when they see their many children and all the blessings I have given them, they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward will gain understanding, and complainers will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1'What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,' says the Lord. 'You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. 2For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade. 3But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced. 4For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes, 5all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.'
6This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev: The caravan moves slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt — donkeys weighed down with riches and camels loaded with treasure — all to pay for Egypt’s protection. They travel through the wilderness, a place of lionesses and lions, a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live. All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
7Egypt’s promises are worthless! Therefore, I call her Rahab — the Harmless Dragon.
8Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness
9that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.
10They tell the seers, 'Stop seeing visions!' They tell the prophets, 'Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.
11Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’'
12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: 'Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13calamity will come upon you suddenly — like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.
14You will be smashed like a piece of pottery — shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.'
15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
17One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.'
19O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
20Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left.
22Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, 'Good riddance!'
23Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock.
24The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind.
25In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill.
26The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter — like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
27Look! The Lord is coming from far away, burning with anger, surrounded by thick, rising smoke. His lips are filled with fury; his words consume like fire.
28His hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies. He will sift out the proud nations for destruction. He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
29But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord — to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard. He will display the strength of his mighty arm. It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
31At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
32And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment, his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps. Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
33Topheth — the place of burning — has long been ready for the Assyrian king; the pyre is piled high with wood. The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze.
Chapter 31
1What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help, trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers and depending on the strength of human armies instead of looking to the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 2In his wisdom, the Lord will send great disaster; he will not change his mind. He will rise against the wicked and against their helpers. 3For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits! When the Lord raises his fist against them, those who help will stumble, and those being helped will fall. They will all fall down and die together.
4But this is what the Lord has told me: 'When a strong young lion stands growling over a sheep it has killed, it is not frightened by the shouts and noise of a whole crowd of shepherds. In the same way, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will come down and fight on Mount Zion.
5The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hover over Jerusalem and protect it like a bird protecting its nest. He will defend and save the city; he will pass over it and rescue it.'
6Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord.
7I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.
8'The Assyrians will be destroyed, but not by the swords of men. The sword of God will strike them, and they will panic and flee. The strong young Assyrians will be taken away as captives.
9Even the strongest will quake with terror, and princes will flee when they see your battle flags,' says the Lord, whose fire burns in Zion, whose flame blazes from Jerusalem.
Chapter 32
1Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. 2Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
4Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
5In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected.
6For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the Lord. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.
7The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil. They plot crooked schemes. They lie to convict the poor, even when the cause of the poor is just.
8But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.
9Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.
10In a short time — just a little more than a year — you careless ones will suddenly begin to care. For your fruit crops will fail, and the harvest will never take place.
11Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief.
12Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.
13For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
14The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers
15until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
16Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.
17And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
18My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.
19Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,
20the Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
Chapter 33
1What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed yourselves. You betray others, but you have never been betrayed. When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed. When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed. 2But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble. 3The enemy runs at the sound of your voice. When you stand up, the nations flee! 4Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
5Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven, he will make Jerusalem his home of justice and righteousness.
6In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.
7But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
8Your roads are deserted; no one travels them anymore. The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses. They have no respect for anyone.
9The land of Israel wilts in mourning. Lebanon withers with shame. The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.
10But the Lord says: 'Now I will stand up. Now I will show my power and might.
11You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble. Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
12Your people will be burned up completely, like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.
13Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!'
14The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. Terror seizes the godless. 'Who can live with this devouring fire?' they cry. 'Who can survive this all-consuming fire?'
15Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong —
16these are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.
17Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.
18You will think back to this time of terror, asking, 'Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?'
19You will no longer see these fierce, violent people with their strange, unknown language.
20Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut and whose stakes are firmly fixed.
21The Lord will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, that no enemy ship can sail upon.
22For the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us.
23The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will take their share!
24The people of Israel will no longer say, 'We are sick and helpless,' for the Lord will forgive their sins.
Chapter 34
1Come here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words. 2For the Lord is enraged against the nations. His fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them, dooming them to slaughter. 3Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood. 4The heavens above will melt away and disappear like a rolled-up scroll. The stars will fall from the sky like withered leaves from a grapevine, or shriveled figs from a fig tree.
5And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, it will fall upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction.
6The sword of the Lord is drenched with blood and covered with fat — with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice. Yes, the Lord will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah. He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.
7Even men as strong as wild oxen will die — the young men alongside the veterans. The land will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat.
8For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.
9The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.
10This judgment on Edom will never end; the smoke of its burning will rise forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation. No one will live there anymore.
11It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl, the great owl and the raven. For God will measure that land carefully; he will measure it for chaos and destruction.
12It will be called the Land of Nothing, and all its nobles will soon be gone.
13Thorns will overrun its palaces; nettles and thistles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become a haunt for jackals and a home for owls.
14Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas, their howls filling the night. Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins, and night creatures will come there to rest.
15There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs. She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings. And the buzzards will come, each one with its mate.
16Search the book of the Lord, and see what he will do. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate, for the Lord has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true.
17He has surveyed and divided the land and deeded it over to those creatures. They will possess it forever, from generation to generation.
Chapter 35
1Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 2Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God. 3With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. 4Say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.'
5And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.
7The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.
8And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there.
9Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
English Standard Version
Chapter 29
1Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. 2Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. 3 And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. 4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper. 5But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, 6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8 As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. 9Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! 10 For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). 11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."
13And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."
15Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
17Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."
Chapter 30
1"Ah, stubborn children," declares the Lord, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 4For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, 5everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace." 6An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.
7Egypt 's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her "Rahab who sits still."
8And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord;
10 who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,
11leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,
13therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14and its breaking is like that of a potter 's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern."
15For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling,
16and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
19For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.
20And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
21And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
22Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"
23And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,
24and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
29You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.
31The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.
33For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
Chapter 31
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord! 2And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. 3The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together. 4For thus the Lord said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. 5 Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it." 6Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8 "And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
9 His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic," declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Chapter 32
1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. 2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. 3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. 4The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly. 5 The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. 6For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. 7As for the scoundrel — his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. 8But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands. 9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. 10In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. 11Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist. 12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13 for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. 14For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; 15until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. 16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. 18My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. 19 And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low. 20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.Chapter 33
1 Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you. 2O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. 3 At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered, 4and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon. 5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, 6 and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion 's treasure. 7Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man. 9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. 10 "Now I will arise," says the Lord, "now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted. 11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you. 12And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire." 13Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. 14The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?" 15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, 16he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. 17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar. 18 Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?" 19 You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. 20Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. 21But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass. 22For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us. 23Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey. 24And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.Chapter 34
1Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it. 2For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter. 3Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree. 5For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat. 8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. 10Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness. 12Its nobles — there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place. 15There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. 16Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.Chapter 35
1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.New International Version
Chapter 29
1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. 2Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth. 3I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.
4Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff. Suddenly, in an instant,
6the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
8as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
10The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, "Read this, please," they will answer, "I can’t; it is sealed."
12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this, please," they will answer, "I don’t know how to read."
13The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
15Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"
16You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, "You did not make me"? Can the pot say to the potter, "You know nothing"?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction."
Chapter 30
1"Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; 2who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. 3But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace. 4Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, 5everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
7to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
9For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
13this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
18Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
20Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
22Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
23He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
25In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
26The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
29And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.
32Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Chapter 31
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. 2Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers. 3But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.
4This is what the Lord says to me: "As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey— and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor— so the Lord Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it."
6Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against.
7For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
8"Assyria will fall by no human sword; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor.
9Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic," declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
2Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
3Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
5No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water.
7Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
8But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.
9You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
10In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come.
11Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags.
12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines
13and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers— yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.
14The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
15till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field.
17The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
18My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
19Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely,
20how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
Chapter 33
1Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed. 2 Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. 3At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
5The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
6He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
7Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected.
9The land dries up and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
10"Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.
11You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
12The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze."
13You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
15Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
16they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.
17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
18In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: "Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?"
19You will see those arrogant people no more, people whose speech is obscure, whose language is strange and incomprehensible.
20Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.
21There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.
22For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
23Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24No one living in Zion will say, "I am ill"; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
Chapter 34
1Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! 2The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. 3Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed.
6The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat— the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat.
8For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
9Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
10It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.
11The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation.
12Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away.
13Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls.
14Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest.
15The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.
16Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.
17He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation.
2it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
3Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
5Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
7The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.
9No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
10and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
New King James Version
Chapter 29
1“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around. 2Yet I will distress Ariel; There shall be heaviness and sorrow, And it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, And I will raise siegeworks against you. 4You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5“Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. 7 The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision. 8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, And look—he eats; But he awakes, and his soul is still empty; Or as when a thirsty man dreams, And look—he drinks; But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, And his soul still craves: So the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who fight against Mount Zion.” 9Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
13Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.
20For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off—
21Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale;
23But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel.
24These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
Chapter 30
1“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin; 2 Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh Shall be your shame, And trust in the shadow of Egypt Shall be your humiliation. 4For his princes were at Zoan, And his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, Or be help or benefit, But a shame and also a reproach.”
6The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent, They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys, And their treasures on the humps of camels, To a people who shall not profit;
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.
8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever:
9That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
11Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,
13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.
14And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern.”
15For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not,
16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”— Therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift horses”— Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!
17 One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
19For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
20And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers.
21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
22 You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, “Get away!”
23 Then He will give the rain for your seed With which you sow the ground, And bread of the increase of the earth; It will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed In large pastures.
24Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground Will eat cured fodder, Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
25There will be on every high mountain And on every high hill Rivers and streams of waters, In the day of the great slaughter, When the towers fall.
26Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people And heals the stroke of their wound.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, Burning with His anger, And His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, And His tongue like a devouring fire.
28 His breath is like an overflowing stream, Which reaches up to the neck, To sift the nations with the sieve of futility; And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, Causing them to err.
29You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the Lord, To the Mighty One of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones.
31For through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod.
32And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it.
33 For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.
Chapter 31
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the Lord! 2Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And will not call back His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of those who work iniquity. 3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out His hand, Both he who helps will fall, And he who is helped will fall down; They all will perish together.
4For thus the Lord has spoken to me: “As a lion roars, And a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, He will not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise), So the Lord of hosts will come down To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.
5 Like birds flying about, So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over, He will preserve it.”
6Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
7For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold— sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.
8“Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, And his young men shall become forced labor.
9 He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, And his princes shall be afraid of the banner,” Says the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
