A Song of Praise to God

12 At that time, you will say: “I praise you Lord! You have been angry at me. But don’t be angry with me now! Show your love to me.” ²God saves me. I trust him. I am not afraid. He saves me. The Lord Yah is my strength. He saves me. And I sing songs of praise about him.* ³Get your water from the spring of salvation. Then you will be happy. ⁴Then you will say, “Praise the Lord! Worship his name! Tell all people about the things he has done!” ⁵Sing songs of praise about the Lord! Why? Because he has done great things! Spread this news about God through the whole world. Let all people know these things. ⁶People of Zion,* shout about these things! The Holy One of Israel is with you in a powerful way. So, be happy!

The Lord Yah … him Literally, “YAH, YAHWEH is my strength and praise. And he becomes my salvation.” This comes from the victory song of Moses. (Ex. 15:2.) Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.

God’s Message to Babylon

13 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this sad message about Babylon. ²{God said:} “Raise a flag on that mountain* where nothing grows. Call out to the men. Wave your arms. Tell them to enter through the gates for important people!” ³{God said:} “I have separated those men from the people. And I myself will command them. I am angry. I gathered my best men to punish the people. I am proud of these happy men! ⁴“There is a loud noise in the mountains. Listen to the noise! It sounds like many, many people. People from many kingdoms are gathering together. The Lord All-Powerful is calling his army together. ⁵The Lord and this army are coming from a faraway land. They are coming from beyond the horizon. The Lord will use this army like a weapon to show his anger. This army will destroy the whole country.” ⁶The Lord’s special day is near. So cry and be sad for yourselves. A time is coming when the enemy will steal your wealth. God All-Powerful will make that happen.* ⁷People will lose their courage. Fear will make the people weak. ⁸Every person will be afraid. Their fear will cause their stomachs to hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby. Their faces will become red like fire. The people will be amazed because this look of fear will be on all their neighbors’ faces.

God’s Judgment Against Babylon

⁹Look, the Lord’s special day is coming! It will be a terrible day. God will become very angry, and he will destroy the country. God will force all people that sin to leave the country. ¹⁰The skies will be dark. The sun, the moon, and the stars will not shine. ¹¹{God says,} “I will cause bad things to happen to the world. I will punish the evil people for their sin. I will cause the proud people to lose their pride. I will stop the bragging of the people that are mean to others. ¹²There will be only a few people left. There will not be many, the same as gold is hard to find. And these people will be worth much more than pure gold. ¹³With my anger, I will make the sky shake. And the earth will be moved from its place.” That will happen on the day the Lord All-Powerful shows his anger. ¹⁴Then the people from Babylon will run away, like wounded deer. They will run like sheep that have no shepherd. Every person will turn and run back to his own country and people. ¹⁵{But the enemy will chase the people of Babylon. And when the enemy} catches a person, the enemy will kill that person with a sword. ¹⁶Everything in their houses will be stolen. Their wives will be raped. And their little children will be beaten to death while the people are watching. ¹⁷{God says,} “Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon. {The armies of Media will not stop attacking,} even if they are paid silver and gold. ¹⁸The soldiers will attack and kill the young men of Babylon. The soldiers will not show mercy to the babies. The soldiers will not be kind to the children. Babylon will be destroyed—it will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.* God will cause this destruction, and there will be nothing left. ¹⁹“Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms. The Babylonian* people are very proud of their city. ²⁰But Babylon will not continue to be beautiful. People will not continue to live there in the future. Arabs will not put their tents there. Shepherds will not bring their sheep to let them eat there. ²¹The only animals living there will be wild animals from the desert. People will not be living in their houses in Babylon. The houses will be full of owls and large birds. Wild goats* will play in the houses. ²²Wild dogs and wolves will howl in the great and beautiful buildings of Babylon. Babylon will be finished. The end of Babylon is near. I will not let Babylon’s destruction wait until later.”

mountain This probably means Babylon. A time … happen This is a word play in Hebrew. The word meaning “stealing things in war” is like the word meaning “God All-Powerful.” Sodom and Gomorrah Two cities that God destroyed because the people were so evil. Babylonian Literally, “Chaldean.” Wild goats The Hebrew word means “hairy,” “goat,” or “goatdemon.”

Israel Will Return Home

14 {In the future,} the Lord will again show his love to Jacob. The Lord will again choose the people of Israel. {At that time,} the Lord will give those people their land. Then non-Jewish people* will join themselves to the Jewish people. Both people will join and become one family—Jacob’s family. ²Those nations will take the people of Israel back to Israel’s land. Those men and women from the other nations will become slaves to Israel. {In the past,} those people forced the people of Israel to become their slaves. But {at this time,} the people of Israel will defeat those nations and Israel will then rule over them. ³The Lord will take away your hard work, and he will comfort you. {In the past,} you were slaves. Men forced you to do very hard work. But the Lord will end this hard work for you.

A Song About the King of Babylon

⁴At that time, you will begin to sing this song about the king of Babylon: The king was mean when he ruled us. But now his rule is finished. ⁵The Lord breaks the scepter* of evil rulers. The Lord takes away their power. ⁶In anger, the king of Babylon beat people. He never stopped beating people. That evil ruler ruled the people in anger. He never stopped hurting people. ⁷But now, the whole country rests. The country is quiet. Now the people begin to celebrate. ⁸You were an evil king, and now you are finished. Even the pine trees are happy. The cedar trees of Lebanon are happy. The trees say, “The king chopped us down. But now the king has fallen, and he will never stand again.” ⁹Sheol,* {the place of death} is excited because you are coming. Sheol is waking the spirits of all the leaders of the earth for you. Sheol is making the kings stand from their thrones. They will be ready for your coming. ¹⁰All these leaders will make fun of you. They will say, “Now you are a dead body like us. Now you are just like us.” ¹¹Your pride has been sent down to Sheol.* The music from your harps announces the coming of your proud spirit. Maggots (flies) will eat your body. You will lie on them like a bed. Worms will cover your body like a blanket. ¹²You were like the morning star, but you have fallen from the sky. In the past, all the nations on earth bowed down before you. But now you have been cut down. ¹³You always told yourself, “{I will be like God Most-High}. I will go to the skies above. I will put my throne above God’s stars. I will sit on holy mountain, Zaphon.* I will meet {with the gods} on that mountain. ¹⁴I will go up to the altar in the clouds. I will be like God Most-High.” ¹⁵But that did not happen. You did not go to the sky with God. You were brought down to the deep pit—Sheol,* the place of death. ¹⁶The people look at you and think about you. {They see that you are only a dead body,} and the people say, “Is this the same man that caused great fear in all the kingdoms on earth? ¹⁷Is this the same man that destroyed cities and changed the land into a desert? Is this the same man that captured people in war and would not let them go home?” ¹⁸Every king on earth has died with glory. Every king has his own grave.¹⁹But you, evil king, have been thrown from your grave. You are like a branch cut from a tree. That branch is cut and thrown away. You are like a dead man that fell in battle, and other soldiers walked on him. Now, you look like any other dead person. You are wrapped in burial clothes. ²⁰Many other kings have died. And they all have their own graves. But you will not join them. Why? Because you ruined your own country. You killed your own people. Your children will not continue to destroy like you did. Your children will be stopped. ²¹Prepare to kill his children. Kill them because their father is guilty. His children will never again take control of the land. They will never again fill the world with their cities. ²²The Lord All-Powerful said, “I will stand and fight against those people. I will destroy the famous city, Babylon. I will destroy all the people of Babylon. I will destroy their children, their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren.” The Lord himself said those things. ²³The Lord said, “I will change Babylon. That place will be for animals,* {not people}. That place will be a swamp. I will use the ‘broom of destruction’ to sweep Babylon away.” The Lord All-Powerful said those things.

God Will also Punish Assyria

²⁴The Lord All-Powerful has made a promise. The Lord said, “I promise, these things will happen exactly like I thought. These things will happen exactly the way I planned. ²⁵I will destroy the king of Assyria in my country. I will trample (walk on) that king on my mountains. That king made my people be his slaves; he put a yoke* on their necks. That pole will be taken off Judah’s neck. That burden will be removed. ²⁶That is the thing I plan to do for my people. And I will use my arm (power) to punish all nations.” ²⁷When the Lord makes a plan, no person can stop that plan. When the Lord raises his arm to punish people, no person can stop him.

God’s Message to Philistia

²⁸This sad message was given the year King Ahaz died.* ²⁹Country of Philistia, you are very happy because the king that beat you is now dead. But you should not be really happy. It is true that his rule has ended. But the king’s son will come and rule. And it will be like one snake giving birth to a more dangerous snake. This new king will be like a very quick and dangerous snake to you. ³⁰But my poor people will be able to eat safely. Their children will be safe. My poor people will be able to lie down and feel safe. But I will kill your family with hunger. And all your people that are left will die. ³¹You people near the city gates, cry! You people in the city, cry out! All of you people in Philistia will be frightened. Your courage will melt like hot wax. Look to the north! There is a cloud of dust! {An army from Assyria is coming!} All the men in that army are strong!* ³²{That army will send messengers to their country.} What will those messengers tell their people? They will announce: {Philistia was defeated,} but the Lord made Zion* strong. And his poor people went there for safety.

non-Jewish people Usually this means “People that live in a country, but are not yet citizens of that country.” Here it is the non-Jewish people that decided to follow God. scepter A special stick. Kings and leaders carried scepters to show they were rulers. Sheol This is the place where all people go when they die. Usually this means the grave, but it can mean the place where our spirits go. holy mountain, Zaphon Literally, “Zaphon.” This Hebrew word means “north, hidden” or “the heavenly mountain where the Canaanite people believed their gods met together.” animals Literally, “porcupines.” yoke A pole that was put on the shoulders of men or animals to help them carry or pull things. This often showed that a person was a slave. year King Ahaz died About 727 B.C. All the men … strong Or, “There are no stragglers in that group.” Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.

God’s Message to Moab

15 This is a sad message about Moab:* One night, armies took the wealth from Ar, Moab. That night, the city was destroyed. One night, armies took the wealth from Kir, Moab. That night, the city was destroyed. ²The king’s family and the people of Dibon* are going to the places of worship* to cry. The people of Moab are crying for Nebo* and Medeba.* The people shaved their heads and beards {to show they are sad}. ³Everywhere in Moab, on the housetops and in the streets, people are wearing black clothes, people are crying. ⁴People in the cities Heshbon and Elealeh are crying very loudly. You can hear their voices far away in the city Jahaz. Even the soldiers are scared. The soldiers are shaking from fear. ⁵My heart cries with sorrow for Moab. People are running for safety. They run far away to Zoar. They run to Eglath Shelishiyah. The people are crying as they go up the mountain road to Luhith. The people are crying very loudly as they walk on the road to Horonaim. ⁶But Nimrim Brook is dry like a desert. All the plants are dead. Nothing is green. ⁷So the people gather the things they own, {and they leave Moab}. They carry those things, and cross {the border} at Poplar Creek.* ⁸Crying can be heard everywhere in Moab. The people are crying far away in the city Eglaim. And the people are crying in the city Beer Elim.* ⁹The water of Dimon* is full of blood. And I (the Lord) will bring even more troubles to Dimon. A few people living in Moab have escaped the enemy. But I will send lions to eat those people.

Moab A country east of Israel. Dibon A city in the country Moab. This name is like a Hebrew word meaning “to be very sad.” places of worship Or “high places,” places for worshiping God or false gods. These places were usually on the hills and mountains. Nebo A city in the country Moab and the name of a false god. Medeba A city in the country Moab. This name is like a Hebrew word meaning “to be very sad.” Poplar Creek A small stream in the country Moab, also called “Arabah Stream.” Beer Elim A city in the country Moab. Dimon This is probably the city Dibon. Dimon is like the Hebrew word meaning “blood.”