Message to Egypt

1 The 1aoracle concerning bEgypt.

Behold, the Lord is criding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;

The didols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,

And the eheart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;

And they will aeach fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,

City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

3 “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;

And I will confound their strategy,

So that athey will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead

And to 1mediums and spiritists.

4 “Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a acruel master,

And a 1mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord 2God of hosts.

5 aThe waters from the sea will dry up,

And the river will be parched and dry.

6 The 1acanals will emit a stench,

The 2bstreams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;

cThe reeds and rushes will rot away.

7 The bulrushes by the aNile, by the 1edge of the Nile

And all the sown fields by the Nile

Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

8 And the afishermen will lament,

And all those who cast a 1line into the Nile will mourn,

And those who spread nets on the waters will 2pine away.

9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax

And the weavers of white acloth will be 1utterly dejected.

10 And 1the apillars of Egypt will be crushed;

All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of 1aZoan are mere fools;

The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become 2stupid.

How can you men say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the bwise, a son of ancient kings”?

12 Well then, where are your wise men?

Please let them tell you,

And let them 1understand what the Lord of hosts

Has apurposed against Egypt.

13 The princes of 1Zoan have acted foolishly,

The princes of aMemphis are deluded;

Those who are the bcornerstone of her tribes

Have 2led Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of adistortion;

bThey have led Egypt astray in all 1that it does,

As a cdrunken man 2staggers in his vomit.

15 There will be no work for Egypt

aWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in adread because of the bwaving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

17 The land of Judah will become a 1terror to Egypt; everyone 2to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the apurpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against them.

18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and aswearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of 1Destruction.

19 In that day there will be an aaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a bpillar to the Lord near its border.

20 It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a aSavior and a 1bChampion, and He will deliver them.

21 Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with asacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.

22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but ahealing; so they will breturn to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

23 In that day there will be a ahighway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will bworship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is aEgypt My people, and Assyria bthe work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Chapter 20

Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia

1 In the year that the 1acommander came to bAshdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it,

2 at that time the Lord spoke through aIsaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the bsackcloth from your hips and take your cshoes off your feet.” And he did so, going dnaked and barefoot.

3 And the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a 1asign and token against Egypt and 2bCush,

4 so the aking of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, byoung and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the 1shame of Egypt.

5 “Then they will be adismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their bboast.

6 “So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled afor help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, bhow shall we escape?’ ”

Chapter 21

God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

1 The 1aoracle concerning the 2bwilderness of the sea.

As cwindstorms in the 3Negev sweep on,

It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

2 A aharsh vision has been shown to me;

The btreacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up, cElam, lay siege, Media;

I have made an end of all 1the groaning she has caused.

3 For this reason my aloins are full of anguish;

Pains have seized me like the pains of a bwoman in labor.

I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

4 My 1mind reels, 2horror overwhelms me;

The twilight I longed for has been aturned for me into trembling.

5 They aset the table, they 1spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;

“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

6 For thus the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him areport what he sees.

7 “When he sees ariders, horsemen in pairs,

A train of donkeys, a train of camels,

Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

8 Then 1the lookout called,

“aO 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, “aFallen, fallen is Babylon;

And all the bimages of her gods 1are shattered on the ground.”

10 O my athreshed people, and my 1afflicted 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

11 The 1oracle concerning 2aEdom.

One keeps calling to me from bSeir,

“Watchman, 3how far gone is the night?

Watchman, 3how far gone is the night?”

12 The watchman says,

“Morning comes but also night.

If you would inquire, inquire;

Come back again.”

13 The 1oracle about aArabia.

In the thickets of Arabia you 2must spend the night,

O caravans of bDedanites.

14 Bring water 1for the thirsty,

O inhabitants of the land of aTema,

Meet the fugitive with bread.

15 For they have afled from the swords,

From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow

And from the press of battle.

16 For thus the Lord said to me, “In a ayear, as 1a hired man would count it, all the splendor of bKedar will terminate;

17 and the aremainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel bhas spoken.”

Chapter 22

The Valley of Vision

1 The 1oracle concerning the avalley of vision.

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the bhousetops?

2 You who were full of noise,

You boisterous town, you aexultant city;

Your slain were bnot slain with the sword,

Nor 1did they die in battle.

3 aAll your rulers have fled together,

And have been captured 1without the bow;

All of you who were found were taken captive together,

2Though they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me,

Let me aweep bitterly,

Do not 1try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5 aFor the Lord 1God of hosts has a bday of panic, csubjugation and confusion

dIn the valley of vision,

A breaking down of walls

And a crying 2to the mountain.

6 aElam took up the quiver

With the chariots, 1infantry and horsemen;

And bKir 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 1defense of Judah.

In that day you 2depended on the weapons of the ahouse of the forest,

9 And you saw that the breaches

In the wall of the city of David were many;

And you acollected 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 abetween the two walls

For the waters of the bold pool.

But you did not 1depend on Him who made it,

Nor did you 2take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

12 Therefore in that day the Lord 1God of hosts called you to aweeping, to wailing,

To bshaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.

13 Instead, there is agaiety and gladness,

Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,

Eating of meat and drinking of wine:

“bLet us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

14 But the Lord of hosts revealed Himself 1to me,

“Surely this ainiquity bshall not be 2forgiven you

cUntil you die,” says the Lord 3God of hosts.

15 Thus says the Lord 1God of hosts,

“Come, go to this steward,

To aShebna, who is in charge of the royal household,

16 ‘What right do you have here,

And whom do you have here,

That you have ahewn a tomb for yourself here,

You who hew a tomb on the height,

You who carve a resting place for 1yourself 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 acast 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 adepose you from your office,

And 1I will pull you down from your station.

20 “Then it will come about in that day,

That I will summon My servant aEliakim 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 1authority,

And he will become a afather to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 “…