Isaiah 21–23

21The ^aburden of ^bthe desert of ^cthe sea.

As ^dwhirlwinds in the south pass through;

So ^eit cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

²A ^†grievous vision is declared unto me;

^fgThe treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and ^fthe spoiler spoileth.

Go up, ^hO Elam: besiege, ⁱO Media;

All the sighing thereof ^khave I made to cease.

³Therefore ^lare my loins filled with pain:

^mPangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth:

I was ⁿbowed down at the hearing of it;

I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

^4||My heart panted, ^ofearfulness affrighted me:

^pThe night of my ^qpleasure hath he ^†turned into fear unto me.

^5rPrepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink:

Arise, ye princes, and ^sanoint the shield.

⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me,

Go, set a watchman,

Let him declare what he seeth.

⁷And he saw ^ta chariot with ^ua couple of horsemen,

A chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels;

And he hearkened ^vdiligently with much ^vheed:

⁸And ^||he cried, A lion:

My lord, ^wI stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime,

And ^wI am set in my ward ^||whole nights:

⁹And, behold, here cometh ^ta chariot of men, with ^ua couple of horsemen.

And he answered and said,

^xBabylon is fallen, is fallen;

And ^yall the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

¹⁰O my ^zthreshing, and the ^†corn of ^amy floor:

That which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

Have I declared unto you.

¹¹The ^bburden of ^cDumah.

He calleth to me out of ^dSeir,

Watchman, what of the night?

Watchman, what of the night?

¹²The watchman said,

The morning cometh, and also the night:

If ye will inquire, inquire ye:

Return, ^ecome.

¹³The ^bburden upon ^cfArabia.

In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge,

O ye ^gtravelling companies of ^hDedanim.

¹⁴The inhabitants of the land of ⁱTema ^||brought water to him that was thirsty,

They ^kprevented with their bread him that fled.

¹⁵For they fled ^||†from the swords,

From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,

And from the grievousness of war.

¹⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me,

Within a year, ^laccording to the years of an hireling,

And all the glory of ^mKedar shall fail:

¹⁷And the residue of the number of ^†archers,

The mighty men of the children of ^mKedar, shall be diminished:

ⁿFor the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.

22^*The ^aburden of ^bthe valley of ^cvision.

What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up ^dto the housetops?

²Thou that art full of stirs,

A tumultuous city, ^ea joyous city:

Thy slain men are not slain with the sword,

Nor dead in battle.

^3fAll thy ^grulers are fled together, they are bound ^†by the archers:

All that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.

⁴Therefore said I, ^hLook away from me; ^i†I will weep bitterly,

Labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

⁵For it is ^ka day of trouble, and of ^ltreading down, and of ^mperplexity

ⁿBy the Lord God of hosts in ^bthe valley of vision,

Breaking down the walls, and of ^ocrying to the mountains.

⁶And ^pElam bare the quiver

With ^qchariots of men and horsemen,

And ^rKir ^†suncovered the shield.

⁷And it shall come to pass, that ^†thy choicest valleys shall be full of ^qchariots,

And the horsemen shall set themselves in array ^||at the gate.

⁸And ^the discovered the covering of Judah,

And thou didst look in that day to ^uthe armour of ^vthe house of the forest.

^9wYe have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many:

And ^wxye gathered together the waters of ^ythe lower pool.

¹⁰And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem,

And the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

^11zYe made also a ditch between the two walls ^xfor the water of the old pool:

But ye have not looked unto ^athe maker thereof,

Neither had respect unto him that fashioned it ^aalong ago.

¹²And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call ^bto weeping, and ^cto mourning,

And ^dto baldness, and ^eto girding with sackcloth:

¹³And behold joy and gladness,

Slaying oxen, and killing sheep,

Eating flesh, and drinking wine:

^fLet us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

¹⁴And it was revealed ^gin mine ears by the Lord of hosts,

Surely this ^hiniquity shall not be purged from you ⁱtill ye die,

Saith the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto ^kShebna, ^lwhich is over the house, and say,

¹⁶What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here,

^mThat thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here,

^||As he ⁿthat heweth him out a sepulchre on high,

And that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

¹⁷Behold, ^||the Lord will carry thee away with ^†a mighty captivity,

^oAnd will surely cover thee.

¹⁸He will surely ^pviolently turn and toss thee like ^qa ball

Into a ^†large country:

There shalt thou die,

And there the chariots of thy glory

Shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.

¹⁹And I will drive thee from thy station,

And from thy ^rstate shall he ^rrpull thee down.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day,

That I will call my servant ^klEliakim the son of Hilkiah:

²¹And ^sI will clothe him with thy robe,

And strengthen him with thy girdle,

And ^sI will commit thy government into his hand:

And he shall be ^ta father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

And to the house of Judah.

²²And ^uthe key of the house of David will I lay ^vupon his shoulder;

So ^whe shall open, and none shall shut;

And ^whe shall shut, and none shall open.

²³And I will fasten him as ^xa nail in a sure place;

And he shall be ^yfor a glorious throne to his father’s house.

²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house,

^zThe offspring and the issue,

All vessels of small quantity,

From the vessels of ^acups, even to all the ^||vessels of ^bflagons.

²⁵In that day, saith the Lord of hosts,

Shall ^cthe nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed,

And be ^dcut down, and fall;

And the ^eburden that was upon it shall be cut off:

^fFor the Lord hath spoken it.

23^*The ^aburden of ^bTyre.

^cHowl, ye ships of Tarshish;

For it is laid waste, ^dso that there is no house, ^dno entering in:

From the land of ^eChittim it is revealed to them.

²Be ^†fstill, ^gye inhabitants of the isle;

Thou whom the merchants of ^hZidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

³And by great waters the seed of ⁱSihor,

The harvest of the river, is her revenue;

And ^kshe is a mart of nations.

⁴Be thou ashamed, O ^hZidon: for the sea hath spoken,

Even the strength of the sea, saying,

I travail not, nor bring forth children,

Neither do I ^lnourish up young men, nor ^lbring up virgins.

⁵As at the report concerning Egypt,

So shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

⁶Pass ye over to ^cTarshish; howl, ^gye inhabitants of the isle.

⁷Is this your ^mjoyous city, whose antiquity is of ⁿancient days?

Her own feet shall carry her ^†afar off to sojourn.

⁸Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city,

Whose merchants are princes, whose ⁿⁿtraffickers are the honourable of the earth?

⁹The Lord of hosts hath purposed it,

^†To stain the pride of all ^oglory,

And to ^pbring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

¹⁰Pass through thy land as ^qa river, O daughter of ^cTarshish:

There is no more ^†rstrength.

¹¹He stretched out his hand over the sea, ^she shook the kingdoms:

The Lord hath given a commandment ^||against ^†the merchant city, to destroy the ^||strong holds thereof.

¹²And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice,

O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon:

Arise, pass over to ^eChittim;

There also shalt thou have no rest.

¹³Behold the land of ^tthe Chaldeans;

This people was not,

Till the Assyrian founded it for ^uthem that dwell in the wilderness:

They set up the ^vtowers thereof,

They raised up the palaces thereof;

And he brought it ^wto ruin.

^14cHowl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.

¹⁵And it shall come to pass in that day,

That Tyre shall be forgotten ^xseventy years,

According to the days of ^xxone king:

^yAfter the end of seventy years ^†yshall Tyre sing as an harlot.

^16zTake an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten;

^aMake sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

¹⁷And it shall come to pass ^yafter the end of seventy years,

That the Lord will ^aavisit Tyre,

And ^yshe shall turn to her hire,

And ^bshall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world

Upon the face of the earth.

¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be ^choliness to the Lord:

It shall not be treasured nor laid up;

For ^dher merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord,

To eat ^esufficiently, and for ^†durable clothing.