Chapters 17-32

Chapters 17-32

CHAPTERS 17—32

CHAPTER 17

1 The burden of Damascus.
Behold, Damascus is taken away, that it be not a city;
For it shall be a heap of ruins.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They shall be changed into sheepfolds;
They shall lie down,
And there shall be none to terrify them.

3 And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim,
And the kingdom from Damascus;
And the remnant of Syria shall be
As the glory of the children of Israel,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

4 And it shall be in that day,
The glory of Jacob shall be diminished,
And the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

5 And it shall be as he who gathereth the harvest of the corn,
Who reapeth the ears with his arm,
Like as one gleaneth grapes in the valley of Rephaim.

6 And in thee shall be left a gleaning, as the shaking of an olive-tree;
There two or three berries remain on the top of the highest branch,
Four or five on the spreading branches of its fruit,
Saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.

7 In that day shall a man look to his Maker,
And his eyes shall be fixed on the Holy One of Israel.

8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his own hands.
Nor view the things which his fingers have made,
Nor the groves,
Nor the graven images.

9 In that day the cities of his strength shall be
As the forsaking of a thicket and of a branch,
In like manner as they left before the children of Israel;
And there shall be desolation.

10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation,
And hast not been mindful of the God of thy strength;
Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants,
And thou shalt ingraft a foreign shoot.

11 In the day of thy plantation shalt thou make it to grow,
And in the morning thou shalt make thy seed to sprout;
But in the day of enjoying shall the harvest fail,
And the grief shall be desperate.

12 Alas! the multitude of many peoples;
Like the sound of many peoples shall they sound,
And like the noise of nations;
Like the noise of mighty waters shall they rush.

13 Like the noise of mighty waters
Shall the peoples make a noise,
And he will rebuke them,
And will drive them far away;
They shall be chased
As the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
And as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14 In the evening time, behold! trouble:
Ere it be morning, it shall not at all be.
This is the portion of them that tread us down,
And the lot of them that plunder us.

CHAPTER 18

1 Alas! the land shadowing with wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.

2 Sending ambassadors by the sea,
In ships of reeds on the waters.
Go, ye swift messengers,
To a nation scattered and plundered,
To a people terrible from that time and till now,
To a nation trodden down on every side,
Whose land the rivers have plundered.

3 All ye inhabitants of the world,
And dwellers on the earth,
When he shall set up a standard on the mountains, you shall see it;
When he shall sound a trumpet, you shall hear it.

4 Thus also hath Jehovah said to me,
I will rest, and will look in my tabernacle,
As the heat that drieth up the rain,
And as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For when the harvest shall be at hand,
The bud shall be perfect,
And the ripening fruit shall go out of the flower;
Then will he prune the twigs with pruning-hooks,
And cut down and take away the branches.

6 They shall be left together to the fowls of the mountains,
And to the beasts of the earth.
The fowls shall spend the summer upon them,
And all the beasts of the earth shall spend the winter upon them.

7 At that time shall a present be brought to Jehovah of hosts,
A people torn and plundered,
And from a people terrible from the beginning hitherto;
From a nation trodden down on every side,
Whose land the rivers have plundered,
To the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts,
To Mount Zion.

CHAPTER 19

1 The burden of Egypt.
Behold, Jehovah rideth on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
And the idols of Egypt shall be moved before his face,
And the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her.

2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians;
Then shall they fight every one against his brother,
Every one against his neighbour;
City against city,
And kingdom against kingdom.

3 And the spoil of Egypt shall be emptied in the midst of her,
And I will destroy her counsel,
Even though they seek to the idols, to the magicians,
To the soothsayers, to the diviners.

4 And I will deliver the Egyptians, into the hand of a cruel master,
And a powerful king shall rule over them,
Saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

5 Then shall the waters fail from the sea,
And the flood shall be wasted and dried up.

6 The rivers shall be turned aside;
The brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up;
The reed and the flag shall wither.

7 The herbs at the brook, and on the mouth of the brook,
And all the seed of the river,
Shall wither, and be driven away, that it may be no more.

8 And the fishers shall mourn,
And all who cast a hook into the brook shall lament;
They who spread a net on the face of the waters shall anguish.

9 They who work in the finest flax shall blush,
And they who weave perforated meshes.

Note 376. Or, Transparent.

10 For their nets shall be broken,
And all that make a net shall be sad in their heart.

11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
The counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is foolish.
How say ye to Pharaoh,
I am the son of the wise,
And the son of ancient kings?

12 Where are now thy wise men?
That they may declare to thee,
Or that they may even know,
What Jehovah of hosts hath decreed concerning Egypt.

13 The princes of Zoan are become infatuated,
The princes of Noph are deceived;
Egypt hath been led astray
By a corner of her tribes.

14 Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her;
And they have misled Egypt in all her work,
As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

15 Neither shall Egypt have any work to do,
The head or the tail,
The branch or the rush.

16 In that day shall Egypt be like women;
For it shall shudder and tremble,
From before the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts,
Which he shall shake over it.

17 And to the Egyptians shall the land of Judah be a terror.
Every one that shall mention it
Shall tremble on account of her,
Because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts,
Which he hath decreed concerning her.

18 In that day shall there be five cities in the land of Egypt,
Speaking with the lip of Canaan,
And swearing by Jehovah of hosts.
One shall be called, The city of desolation.

19 In that day shall there be
An altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt,
And a statue to Jehovah near its border.

20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness
To Jehovah of hosts, in the land of Egypt;
For they shall cry to Jehovah because of the oppressors,
And he will send to them a saviour,
And a ruler, that he may deliver them.

21 And Jehovah shall be known by the Egyptians;
The Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day,
And shall make sacrifice and oblation,
And shall vow vows to Jehovah, and perform them.

22 Therefore will the Lord smite Egypt,
Smiting and healing;
For they shall be turned to Jehovah,
And he will be entreated by them,
And will heal them.

23 In that day shall there be a way from Egypt into Assyria;
The Assyrians shall go into Egypt,
And the Egyptians into Assyria;
And the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians.

Note 377. Or, Shall serve with the Assyrians.

24 In that day shall Israel be,
With Egypt and with Assyria,
The third blessing in the midst of the land.

25 For Jehovah of hosts will bless him, saying,
Blessed be the Egyptian, my people,
And the Assyrian, the work of my hands,
And Israel, my inheritance.

CHAPTER 20

1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him,) and attacked Ashdod, and took it.

2 At that time Jehovah spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying,
Go and loose the sackcloth from thy loins,
And put off thy shoe from thy foot.

3 And he did so, walking naked and barefooted. And Jehovah said:
As my servant Isaiah for three years
Hath walked naked and barefooted,
A sign and a wonder
Concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia;

4 So will the king of Assyria lead away the captivity of Egypt,
And the removal of Ethiopia,
Of the young and of the old,
Naked and barefooted,
And with their hinder parts uncovered,
To the disgrace of Egypt.

5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed
Of Ethiopia their expectation,
And of Egypt their glory.

Note 378. Or, Their beauty.

6 And in that day shall the inhabitant of this island say,
Behold! what is become of our expectation,
To which we fled for aid,
That we might be delivered from the face of the king of Assyria;
And how shall we escape?

CHAPTER 21

1 The burden of the desert of the sea.
As storms that pass from a southerly direction,
It will come from the wilderness,
From a terrible land.

2 A harsh vision hath been declared to me,
The transgressor to the transgressor,
And the plunderer to the plunderer.
Go up, O Persian! Besiege, O Mede!
All his groaning have I made to cease.

3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain;
Pangs have seized me, as the pangs of a woman in labour;
I am bowed down at hearing,
And am dismayed at seeing.

4 My heart is shaken;
Terror hath overwhelmed me;
The night of my pleasures
He hath changed to terror.

5 Prepare the table;
Watch in the watch-tower;
Eat, drink;
Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

6 For thus hath the Lord said to me:
Go, appoint a watchman,
That he may declare what he seeth.

7 And he saw a chariot of a couple of horsemen,
A chariot of an ass, and a chariot of a camel;
Next, he looked attentively,
And watched eagerly.

8 Then he cried, A lion.
On my watch-tower, my lord, I continually stand by day,
And in my ward am I stationed whole nights.

9 And behold, here cometh a chariot of a man,
A couple of horsemen.
And he spake, and said,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And all the graven images of her gods
Hath he broken to the ground.

10 O my thrashing, and the corn of my floor!
I have related to you what I have heard
From Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel.

11 The burden of Dumah.
He calleth to me out of Seir:
Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?

12 The watchman said:
The morning cometh, afterwards the night.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye.
Return, come.

13 The burden in Arabia.
In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge,
In the ways of Dedanim.

14 To meet the thirsty bring waters,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema!
Relieve the fugitive with thy bread.

15 For they flee from the face of the swords,
From the face of the drawn sword,
From the face of the bent bow,
From the face of the grievousness of war.

16 For thus hath the Lord said to me:
Yet a year, according to the years of a hireling,
Then shall all the glory of Kedar fail;

17 And then shall be diminished the number of the archers,
Which shall be reckoned among the mighty sons of Kedar;
For Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.

CHAPTER 22

1 The burden of the valley of vision.
What hast thou here,
That thou art entirely gone up upon the roofs?

Note 379. Or, What hast thou now?

2 Full of miseries,
Tumultuous city, joyful city;
Thy slain men are not slain by the sword,
And are not dead in battle.

3 All thy rulers have fled;
Together have they been made prisoners by the archers;
All that were found in thee have been made prisoners together,
Who have fled from afar.

4 Therefore I said, Let me alone;
I will be bitter in my weeping;
Labour not to comfort me
Because of the plundering of the daughters of my people.

5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity,
From the Lord Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision,
Demolishing the city,
And crying to the mountain.

6 Yet Elam beareth the quiver
In a chariot of men and horsemen,
And Kir uncovereth the shield.

7 And the choice of thy valleys was filled with chariots,
And horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.

8 And he took away the covering of Judah;
And thou didst look in that day
To the armory of the house of the forest.

9 And ye have seen the breaches of the city of David, which were many;
And ye collected the waters of the lower pool.

10 And the houses of Jerusalem have ye numbered,
And ye have thrown down houses to fortify the wall.

11 For the waters of the old pool
Have ye also made a ditch between the walls;
And ye have not looked to him that made it,
And have not seen him that formed it in ancient times.

Note 380. Or, From a distance.

12 And in that day the Lord, Jehovah of hosts,
Called to weeping and to lamentation,
To baldness and girding with sackcloth;

13 And, behold! joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen, killing sheep,
Eating flesh, and drinking wine,
Eating and drinking;
For tomorrow we shall die!

14 It was revealed in my ears by Jehovah of hosts,
If this iniquity shall be forgiven you till ye die,
Saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts.

15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts,
Go, approach to that abettor,
To Shebna, the ruler of the house.

16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here?
That thou hast hewed out here for thyself a sepulchre,
As he who heweth out his sepulchre on high,
Or who cutteth out a habitation for himself in the rock.

17 Behold, Jehovah will carry thee away with a remarkable carrying away,
And covering will cover thee.

18 Whirling he will turn thee with whirling,
As a ball with the hands, into a distant country;
There shalt thou die;
And there the chariot of thy glory
Shall be the disgrace of the house of thy lord.

19 And I will drive thee from thy post,
And from thy abode shall he east thee out.

20 And it shall be in that day, I will call my servant,
Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

21 And I will clothe him with thy raiment,
And will strengthen him with thy girdle,
And will deliver thy power into his hand;
And he shall be a father of the inhabitant of Jerusalem,
And of the house of Judah.

22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder;
He will open, and none shall shut;
He will shut, and none shall open.

23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place,
And to the house of his father he shall become a throne of glory.

24 And all the glory of his fathers house,
Grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
All smaller vessels,
From vessels of cups to all vessels of musical instruments,
They shall hang upon him.

25 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts,
The nail fixed in a sure place shall be removed,
And shall be cut down, and shall fall;
And the burden which was upon it shall be cut off;
For Jehovah hath spoken it.

CHAPTER 23

1 The burden of Tyre.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish;
For desolation has been made,
So that there is no house,
That there is no entering in from the land of Chittim.
This was revealed to them.

2 Be silent, ye inhabitants of the islands,
The merchant of Sidon; they that crossed the sea;
Who supplied thee.

3 By great waters was the seed of the Nile;
Her fruits were the harvest of the river;
And she was a mart of nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon;
For the sea hath spoken,
The strength of the sea, saying,
I have not conceived nor brought forth,
And I have not brought up young men,
And have not reared virgins.

5 As soon as the report shall reach the Egyptians,
They shall be grieved according to the report of Tyre.

6 Pass ye over to Tarshish;
Howl, ye inhabitants of the islands.

7 Is this your exulting city?
From ancient days is her antiquity.
Her feet shall carry her,
To travel into a distant country.

8 Who hath consulted this concerning crowning Tyre,
Whose merchants are princes,
Whose traders are the nobles of the land?

9 Thus hath Jehovah of hosts decreed,
To profane the pride of all that are illustrious,
To bring into contempt all the renowned of the land.

10 Cross over from thy land, like a river,
To the daughter of Tarshish;
For there is no longer any girdle.

11 He laid his hand upon the sea,
He shook kingdoms.
Jehovah hath commanded concerning Canaan,
To weaken her strength.

12 And he saith, O virgin daughter of Sidon,
When thou shalt be oppressed,
Thou shalt not add any more to rejoice.
Arise, that thou mayest pass over into Chittim;
Yet even there thou shalt not have rest.

13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans;
This was not a people;
Assyria founded it for the inhabitants of the wilderness;
They have reared its fortresses;
They have built its palaces;
He hath reduced it to desolation.

14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish;
For your strength is laid waste.

15 It shall come to pass in that day,
That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
According to the days of one king;
At the end of seventy years
Shall Tyre have a song like that of a harlot.

16 Take a harp, go about the city,
O harlot, devoted to forgetfulness!
Make sweet melody, multiply song,
That thou mayest be kept in remembrance.

17 It shall then be at the end of seventy years,
That Jehovah will visit Tyre;
And then shall she return to her hire,
And shall commit fornication
With all the kingdoms of the earth
Which are upon the earth.

18 Yet her merchandise and her hire
Shall be holy to Jehovah;
It shall not be treasured nor laid up;
But her merchandise shall be
For them that dwell before Jehovah,
That they may eat sufficiently,
And may have a thick covering.

CHAPTER 24

1 Behold, Jehovah emptieth the earth,
Maketh it bare,
Overturneth its face,
And scattereth its inhabitants.

2 And it shall be, as the people, so the priest;
As the servant, so his master;
As the maid, so her mistress;
As the buyer, so the seller;
As the lender, so the borrower;
As the usurer, so he that giveth usury.

Note 381. Or, As the creditor, so the debtor.

3 By emptying shall the earth be emptied,
And by plundering shall it be plundered;
For Jehovah hath spoken this word.

4 The earth hath lamented, and hath fallen;
The world hath languished, and hath fallen;
They who were the lofty people of the earth have languished.

5 And the earth hath been deceitful under its inhabitants;
Because they have transgressed the laws,
They have changed the ordinance,
They have broken the covenant of eternity.

6 Therefore hath the curse consumed the earth,
And its inhabitants are made desolate;
Therefore are the inhabitants of the earth burned,
And few men have been left.

7 The wine hath failed;
The vine hath languished;
All who were of joyful heart have groaned.

8 The joy of tabrets hath ceased,
The noise of them that exult is ended,
The mirth of the harp is silent.

9 They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

10 The city of vanity is broken down;
Every house is shut up, that none may enter.

11 There is a cry about wine in the streets;
All joy is darkened;
The mirth of the land hath departed.

12 Desolation is left in the city,
And the gate is smitten with desolation.

13 For in the midst of the land,
In the midst of the peoples,
Thus shall it be as the shaking of an olive-tree,
And as the shaking of the grapes, when the vintage is ended.

14 They shall lift up their voice;
They shall shout for the majesty of the Lord;
They shall cry aloud from the sea.

15 Therefore glorify ye Jehovah in the valleys,
The name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea.

16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs,
Glory to the Righteous One!

And I said, I have leanness! I have leanness! Wo to me!
The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously;
With treachery have the treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare,
Are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth!

18 And it shall come to pass,
That he who fleeth from the voice of fear,
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who goeth up out of the midst of the pit
Shall be taken in the snare;
For the windows from on high are opened,
And the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 By bruising is the earth bruised;
By breaking down is the earth broken down;
By shaking is the earth shaken.

20 With reeling doth the earth reel, like a drunkard;
And it shall be removed, like a tabernacle;
And its transgression shall be heavy upon it;
And it shall fall, and shall not add to rise again.

21 And it shall be in that day,
Jehovah will visit
Upon the high army on high,
And upon the kings of the earth on the earth.

22 And with gathering together shall they be gathered together
Like prisoners in a dungeon;
And they shall be shut up in a prison;
Afterwards at the end of many days shall they be visited.

23 The moon shall be confounded,
And the sun shall be ashamed,
When Jehovah of hosts shall reign
In Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem;
And before his elders glory.