NAS - Isaiah Chapter 20 to 23

20 Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia

¹In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, ²at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet." And he did so, going naked and barefoot. ³And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, ⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵"Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast. ⁶"So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, `Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?'"

21 God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

¹The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. ² A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused. ³ For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. ⁴ My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. ⁵ They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; "Rise up, captains, oil the shields," ⁶For thus the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees. ⁷ "When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention." ⁸Then the lookout called, "O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post. ⁹ "Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs." And one said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground." ¹⁰ O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you.

Oracles about Edom and Arabia

¹¹The oracle concerning Edom. One keeps calling to me from Seir, "Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?" ¹²The watchman says, "Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again."

¹³The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites. ¹⁴ Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet the fugitive with bread. ¹⁵For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the press of battle.

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, "In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate; ¹⁷and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken."

22 The Valley of Vision

¹The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops? ²You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle. ³ All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away. ⁴ Therefore I say, "Turn your eyes away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people." ⁵ For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain. ⁶Elam took up the quiver With the chariots, infantry and horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷ Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate. ⁸ And He removed the defense of Judah. In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest, ⁹ And you saw that the breaches In the wall of the city of David were many; And you collected the waters of the lower pool. ¹⁰ Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem And tore down houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹ And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

¹²Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. ¹³ Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die." ¹⁴ But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, "Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household, ¹⁶ `What right do you have here, And whom do you have here, That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here, You who hew a tomb on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷ `Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly ¹⁸ And roll you tightly like a ball, To be cast into a vast country; There you will die And there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master's house.' ¹⁹ "I will depose you from your office, And I will pull you down from your station. ²⁰ "Then it will come about in that day, That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹ And I will clothe him with your tunic And tie your sash securely about him. I will entrust him with your authority, And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²² "Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open. ²³"I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father's house. ²⁴"So they will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. ²⁵"In that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."

23 The Fall of Tyre

¹The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus. ² Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea ³And were on many waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; And she was the market of nations. ⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins." ⁵ When the report reaches Egypt, They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. ⁶ Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland. ⁷Is this your jubilant city, Whose origin is from antiquity, Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?

⁸Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? ⁹The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty, To despise all the honored of the earth. ¹⁰ Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, There is no more restraint. ¹¹ He has stretched His hand out over the sea, He has made the kingdoms tremble; The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.

¹²He has said, "You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest."

¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans--this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures--they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin. ¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed. ¹⁵Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: ¹⁶ Take your harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered. ¹⁷It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot's wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her gain and her harlot's wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.