Isaiah 23–25

Chapter 23

¹The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, none entering in. From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. ²Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle! The merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished thee. ³And on great waters, the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the market of the nations. ⁴Be thou ashamed, Sidon, for the sea hath spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men nor brought up virgins. ⁵—When the report came into Egypt, they were sorely pained at the news of Tyre. ⁶Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast! ⁷Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. ⁸Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the distributor of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose dealers were the honourable of the earth? ⁹Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to profane the pride of all glory, to bring to nought all the honourable of the earth. ¹⁰Overflow thy land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish: there is no more restraint. ¹¹He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he shaketh the kingdoms. Jehovah hath given a commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof, ¹²and hath said, Thou shalt no more exult, thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon: get thee up, pass over to Chittim; even there shalt thou have no rest. ¹³Behold the land of the Chaldeans: this people did not exist; the Assyrian founded it for the dwellers in the desert: they set up their towers, they destroyed the palaces thereof; he brought it to ruin. ¹⁴Howl, ships of Tarshish! for your fortress is laid waste.

¹⁵And 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 it shall be for Tyre as the harlot’s song. ¹⁶Take a harp, go about the city, thou forgotten harlot! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre; and she will return to her hire, and will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground. ¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to Jehovah: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before Jehovah, to eat and be sufficed, and for excellent clothing.

Chapter 24

¹Behold, Jehovah maketh the land empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad its inhabitants. ²And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with him from whom usury is taken. ³The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for Jehovah hath spoken this word. ⁴The land mourneth, it fadeth away; the world languisheth, it fadeth away: the haughty people of the land do languish. ⁵And the land is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; for they have violated the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore doth the curse devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are consumed, and few men are left. ⁷The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all that were merry-hearted do sigh; ⁸the mirth of tambours ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. ⁹They do not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰The city of solitude is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none entereth in. ¹¹There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone; ¹²desolation remaineth in the city, and the gate is smitten, —a ruin.

¹³For so will it be in the midst of the land among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the grape-gleanings when the vintage is done. ¹⁴These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea. ¹⁵Therefore glorify Jehovah in the east, the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the west.

¹⁶From the end of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous! And I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. ¹⁷Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, inhabitant of the land. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the sound of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake. ¹⁹The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is completely dissolved, the earth is violently moved. ²⁰The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunkard, and is shaken like a night hut; and its transgression is heavy upon it; and it falleth and shall not rise again. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. ²²And they shall be brought together, as an assemblage of prisoners for the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days shall they be visited. ²³And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts shall reign on mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients in glory.

Chapter 25

¹Jehovah, thou art my God: I will exalt thee; I will celebrate thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things; counsels of old which are faithfulness and truth. ²For thou hast made of the city a heap, of the fortified town a ruin, the palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built up. ³Therefore shall the mighty people glorify thee, the city of terrible nations shall fear thee. ⁴For thou hast been a fortress to the poor, a fortress for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat: for the blast of the terrible ones has been as the storm against a wall. ⁵Thou hast subdued the tumult of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; as the heat, by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the terrible ones is brought low.

⁶And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. ⁷And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the veil which veileth all the peoples, and the covering that is spread over all the nations. ⁸He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken.

⁹And it shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. ¹⁰For in this mountain shall the hand of Jehovah rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is trodden down in the dunghill; ¹¹and he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth them forth to swim; and he shall bring down their pride together with the plots of their hands. ¹²And the fortress of the high defences of thy walls will he bring down, lay low, bring to the ground, into the dust.