Isaiah 21–23

Chapter 21

God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

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

As ^cwindstorms in the ³Negev sweep on,

It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

²A ^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.

³For 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.

⁴My ¹mind reels, ²horror overwhelms me;

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

⁵They ^aset the table, they ¹spread 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 ^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.”

⁸Then 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.”

¹⁰O 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

¹¹The ¹oracle concerning ^2aEdom.

One keeps calling to me from ^bSeir,

“Watchman, ³how 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 ¹oracle about ^aArabia.

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

O caravans of ^bDedanites.

¹⁴Bring water ¹for the thirsty,

O inhabitants of the land of ^aTema,

Meet the fugitive with bread.

¹⁵For they have ^afled 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 ^ayear, as ¹a hired man would count it, all the splendor of ^bKedar will terminate;

¹⁷and 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

¹The ¹oracle concerning the ^avalley of vision.

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

²You 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.

^3aAll 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.

⁴Therefore 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.”

^5aFor 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.

^6aElam took up the quiver

With the chariots, ¹infantry and horsemen;

And ^bKir uncovered the shield.

⁷Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.

⁸And He removed the ¹defense of Judah.

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

⁹And you saw that the breaches

In the wall of the city of David were many;

And you ^acollected the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem

And tore down houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹And 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.

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

To ^bshaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.

¹³Instead, 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.”

¹⁴But 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.

¹⁵Thus 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

¹⁸And 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,

²¹And 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“Then I will set ^athe key of the ^bhouse of David on his shoulder,

When he opens no one will shut,

When he shuts no one will ^copen.

²³“I will drive him like a ^apeg in a firm place,

And he will become a ^bthrone of glory to his father’s house.

²⁴“So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and ¹issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.

²⁵“In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “the ^apeg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even ^bbreak off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off, for the ^cLord has spoken.”

Chapter 23

The Fall of Tyre

¹The ¹oracle concerning ^aTyre.

Wail, O ^bships of ^cTarshish,

For Tyre is destroyed, without house or ^2dharbor;

It is reported to them from the land of ^3eCyprus.

^2aBe silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon;

¹Your messengers crossed the sea

³And were on many waters.

^aThe grain of the ^1bNile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;

And she was the ^cmarket of nations.

⁴Be ashamed, O ^aSidon;

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.”

⁵When the report reaches Egypt,

They will be in ^aanguish at the report of Tyre.

⁶Pass over to ^aTarshish;

Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

⁷Is this your ^ajubilant city,

Whose origin is from antiquity,

Whose feet used to carry her to ¹colonize distant places?

⁸Who has planned this against Tyre, ^athe bestower of crowns,

Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?

^9aThe Lord of hosts has planned it, to ^bdefile the pride of all beauty,

To despise all the ^chonored of the earth.

¹⁰¹Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish,

There is no more ²restraint.

¹¹He has ^astretched His hand out ^bover the sea,

He has ^cmade the kingdoms tremble;

The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to ^ddemolish its strongholds.

¹²He has said, “^aYou shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.

Arise, pass over to ^1bCyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; ^aAssyria appointed it for ^bdesert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, ^cthey made it a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, O ^aships of Tarshish,

For your stronghold is destroyed.

¹⁵Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for ^aseventy 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:

¹⁶Take 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 ^athe end of seventy years that the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will ^bplay the harlot with all the kingdoms ¹on the face of the earth.

¹⁸Her ^again and her harlot’s wages will be ^bset 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.