Isaiah 21–23

A Message About Babylonia

21Here is a message the Lord gave me about Babylonia. It is known as the Desert by the Two Rivers.

An attack is coming through the desert.

It is coming from a land of terror.

It’s sweeping along like a windstorm blowing across the Negev Desert.

²I have seen a vision about something terrible that will happen.

People are turning against Babylon.

Robbers are taking its goods.

Elamites, attack the city! Medes, surround it!

The Lord will put an end to all of the suffering Babylon has caused.

³The vision fills my body with pain.

Pains take hold of me.

They are like the pains of a woman having a baby.

I am shaken by what I hear.

I’m terrified by what I see.

⁴My heart grows weak.

Fear makes me tremble.

I longed for evening to come.

But it brought me horror instead of rest.

⁵In my vision the Babylonians set the tables.

They spread the rugs out.

They eat. They drink.

Get up, you officers!

Rub your shields with oil!

⁶The Lord said to me,

“Go. Put a guard on duty on Jerusalem’s walls.

Have him report what he sees.

⁷Tell him to watch for chariots

that are pulled by teams of horses.

Tell him to watch for men riding on donkeys or camels.

Make sure he stays awake.

Make sure he stays wide awake.”

⁸“My master!” the guard shouts back.

“Day after day I stand here on the lookout tower.

Every night I stay here on duty.

⁹Look! Here comes a man in a chariot!

It’s being pulled by a team of horses.

He’s calling out the news,

‘Babylon has fallen! It has fallen!

All of the statues of its gods

lie broken in pieces on the ground!’ ”

¹⁰My people, you have been crushed

like grain on a threshing floor.

But now I’m telling you the good news I’ve heard.

It comes from the Lord who rules over all.

He is the God of Israel.

A Message About Edom

¹¹Here is a message the Lord gave me about Edom.

Someone is calling out to me from the land of Seir. He says,

“Guard, when will the night be over?

Guard, how soon will it end?”

¹²The guard answers,

“Morning is coming. But the night will return.

If you want to ask again,

come back and ask.”

A Message About Arabia

¹³Here is a message the Lord gave me about Arabia.

He told me to give orders to traders from Dedan.

They were camping in the bushes of Arabia.

¹⁴I told them to bring water for those who are thirsty.

I also gave orders to those who live in Tema.

I told them to bring food for those who are running away.

¹⁵They are running away from where the fighting is heaviest.

That’s where the swords are ready to strike.

That’s where the bows are ready to shoot.

¹⁶The Lord says to me, “In exactly one year, Kedar’s grand show of power will come to an end. ¹⁷Only a few of Kedar’s soldiers who shoot arrows will be left alive.” The Lord has spoken. He is the God of Israel.

A Message About Jerusalem

22Here is a message the Lord gave me about the Valley of Vision.

People of Jerusalem, what’s the matter with you?

Why have all of you gone up on the roofs of your houses?

²Why is your town so full of noise?

Why is your city so full of the sound of wild parties?

Those among you who died weren’t killed with swords.

They didn’t die in battle.

³All of your leaders have run away.

They’ve been captured without a single arrow being shot.

All those who were caught were taken away as prisoners.

They ran off while your enemies were still far away.

⁴So I said, “Leave me alone.

Let me sob bitter tears.

Don’t try to comfort me.

My people have been destroyed.”

⁵The Lord who rules over all sent the noise of battle against you.

The Lord brought disorder and terror

to the Valley of Vision.

The walls of the city were knocked down.

Cries for help were heard in the mountains.

⁶Soldiers from Elam came armed with bows and arrows.

They came with their chariots and horses.

Soldiers from Kir got their shields ready.

⁷Your rich valleys filled up with chariots.

Horsemen took up their battle positions at your city gates.

⁸Judah wasn’t a safe place to live in anymore.

When all of that happened, you depended

on the weapons in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

⁹You saw that the City of David

had many holes in its walls.

They needed to be repaired.

You stored up water

in the Lower Pool.

¹⁰You picked out the weaker buildings in Jerusalem.

You tore them down and used their stones

to strengthen the city walls against attack.

¹¹You built a pool between the two walls.

You used it to save the water

that was running down from the Old Pool.

But you didn’t look to the One who made it all possible.

You didn’t pay any attention to the One

who planned everything long ago.

¹²The Lord who rules over all

called out to you at that time.

The Lord told you to sob and cry.

He told you to tear your hair out.

And he told you to put black clothes on.

¹³Instead, you are enjoying yourselves at wild parties!

You are killing cattle and sheep.

You are eating their meat and drinking wine.

You are saying, “Let’s eat and drink,

because tomorrow we’ll die.”

¹⁴I heard the Lord who rules over all speaking. “Your sin can never be paid for as long as you people live,” says the Lord.

¹⁵The Lord who rules over all speaks. The Lord says,

“Go. Speak to the head servant Shebna.

He is in charge of the palace. Tell him,

¹⁶‘What are you doing here outside the city?

Who allowed you to cut out a tomb for yourself here?

Who said you could carve out your grave on the hillside?

Who allowed you to cut out your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷“ ‘Watch out, you mighty man!

The Lord is about to grab hold of you.

He is about to throw you away.

¹⁸He will roll you up tightly like a ball.

He will throw you into a very large country.

There you will die.

And there the chariots you are so proud of will remain.

You bring shame on your master’s family!

¹⁹The Lord will remove you from your job.

You will be brought down from your high position.

²⁰“ ‘At that time he will send for his servant Eliakim. He is the son of Hilkiah. ²¹The Lord will put your robe on Eliakim. He will tie your belt around him. He will hand your authority over to him. Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

²²“ ‘The Lord will give Eliakim the key of authority in David’s royal house. No one can shut what he opens. And no one can open what he shuts. ²³The Lord will set him firmly in place like a peg that is driven into a wall. He will hold a position of honor in his family. ²⁴The good name of his whole family will depend on him. They will be like bowls and jars hanging on a peg.

²⁵“ ‘But a new day is coming,’ ” announces the Lord who rules over all. “ ‘At that time the peg that was driven into the wall will give way. It will break off and fall down. And the heavy load hanging on it will also fall.’ ” The Lord has spoken.

A Message About Tyre

23Here is a message the Lord gave me about Tyre.

Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out!

The city of Tyre is destroyed.

Its houses and harbor are gone.

That’s the message you have received

from the island of Cyprus.

²People on the island of Tyre, be silent.

Traders from the city of Sidon, be quiet.

Those who sail on the Mediterranean Sea have made you rich.

³Grain from Egypt

came across the mighty waters.

The harvest of the Nile River brought wealth to Tyre.

It became the market place of the nations.

⁴Sidon, be ashamed. Mighty Tyre out in the sea, be ashamed.

The sea has spoken. It has said,

“It’s as if I had never felt labor pains or had children.

It’s as if I had never brought up sons or daughters.

It’s as if the city of Tyre had never existed.”

⁵The Egyptians will hear about what has happened to Tyre.

They’ll be very sad and troubled.

⁶People of the island of Tyre, cry out!

Go across the sea to Tarshish.

⁷Just look at Tyre.

It’s no longer the old, old city that was known for its wild parties.

It no longer sends its people out

to settle in lands far away.

⁸Tyre was a city that produced kings.

Its traders were princes.

They were honored all over the earth.

So who planned to destroy such a city?

⁹The Lord who rules over all planned to do it.

He wanted to bring down all of its pride and glory.

He wanted to put to shame those who were honored all over the earth.

¹⁰People of Tarshish, spread out over your land

like the waters of the Nile.

There isn’t anything to hold you back anymore.

¹¹The Lord has reached his powerful hand out over the sea.

He has made its kingdoms tremble with fear.

He has given a command concerning Phoenicia.

He has ordered that its forts be destroyed.

¹²He said, “No more wild parties for you!

People of Sidon, you are now destroyed!

“Leave your city. Go across the sea to Cyprus.

Even there you will not find any rest.”

¹³Look at the land of the Babylonians.

No one lives there anymore.

The Assyrians have turned it

into a place for desert creatures.

They built their towers in order to attack it.

They took everything out of its forts.

They knocked all of its buildings down.

¹⁴Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out!

Mighty Tyre is destroyed!

¹⁵A time is coming when people will forget about Tyre for 70 years. That’s the length of a king’s life. But at the end of those 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute that people sing about. They say,

¹⁶“Forgotten prostitute, pick up a harp.

Walk through the city.

Play the harp well. Sing many songs.

Then you will be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of the 70 years, the Lord will punish Tyre. He will let it return to its way of life as a prostitute. It will earn its living with all of the kingdoms on the face of the earth. ¹⁸But the money it earns will be set apart for the Lord. The money won’t be stored up or kept for Tyre. Instead, it will go to those who live the way the Lord wants them to. It will pay for plenty of food and fine clothes for them.