Isaiah 20–22

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

20In the year that the supreme commander,^o sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod^p and attacked and captured it—²at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz.^q He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth^r from your body and the sandals^s from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped^t and barefoot.^u

³Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant^v Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years,^w as a sign^x and portent^y against Egypt^z and Cush,^{aa 4}so the king^b of Assyria will lead away stripped^c and barefoot the Egyptian captives^d and Cushite^e exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared^f—to Egypt’s shame.^{g 5}Those who trusted^h in Cushⁱ and boasted in Egypt^j will be dismayed and put to shame.^{k 6}In that day^l the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened^m to those we relied on,ⁿ those we fled to for help^o and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?^p’ ”

A Prophecy Against Babylon

21A prophecy^q against the Desert^r by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds^s sweeping through the southland,^t

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

²A dire^u vision has been shown to me:

The traitor betrays,^v the looter takes loot.

Elam,^w attack! Media,^x lay siege!

I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

³At this my body is racked with pain,^y

pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;^z

I am staggered by what I hear,

I am bewildered^a by what I see.

⁴My heart^b falters,

fear makes me tremble;^c

the twilight I longed for

has become a horror^d to me.

⁵They set the tables,

they spread the rugs,

they eat, they drink!^e

Get up, you officers,

oil the shields!^f

⁶This is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout^g

and have him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees chariots^h

with teams of horses,

riders on donkeys

or riders on camels,ⁱ

let him be alert,

fully alert.”

⁸And the lookout^aj shouted,

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;

every night I stay at my post.

⁹Look, here comes a man in a chariot^k

with a team of horses.

And he gives back the answer:

‘Babylon^l has fallen,^m has fallen!

All the images of its godsⁿ

lie shattered^o on the ground!’ ”

¹⁰My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,^p

I tell you what I have heard

from the Lord Almighty,

from the God of Israel.

A Prophecy Against Edom

¹¹A prophecy against Dumah^b:^q

Someone calls to me from Seir,^r

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹²The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

and come back yet again.”

A Prophecy Against Arabia

¹³A prophecy^s against Arabia:^t

You caravans of Dedanites,^u

who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

¹⁴bring water for the thirsty;

you who live in Tema,^v

bring food for the fugitives.

¹⁵They flee^w from the sword,^x

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow

and from the heat of battle.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract^y would count it, all the splendor^z of Kedar^a will come to an end. ¹⁷The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.^b” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.^c

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

22A prophecy^d against the Valley^e of Vision:^f

What troubles you now,

that you have all gone up on the roofs,^g

²you town so full of commotion,

you city of tumult^h and revelry?ⁱ

Your slain^j were not killed by the sword,^k

nor did they die in battle.

³All your leaders have fled^l together;

they have been captured^m without using the bow.

All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,

having fled while the enemy was still far away.

⁴Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;

let me weepⁿ bitterly.

Do not try to console me

over the destruction of my people.”^o

⁵The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day^p

of tumult and trampling^q and terror^r

in the Valley of Vision,^s

a day of battering down walls^t

and of crying out to the mountains.

⁶Elam^u takes up the quiver,^v

with her charioteers and horses;

Kir^w uncovers the shield.

⁷Your choicest valleys^x are full of chariots,

and horsemen are posted at the city gates.^y

⁸The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,

and you looked in that day^z

to the weapons^a in the Palace of the Forest.^b

⁹You saw that the walls of the City of David

were broken through^c in many places;

you stored up water

in the Lower Pool.^d

¹⁰You counted the buildings in Jerusalem

and tore down houses^e to strengthen the wall.^f

¹¹You built a reservoir between the two walls^g

for the water of the Old Pool,^h

but you did not look to the One who made it,

or have regardⁱ for the One who planned^j it long ago.

¹²The Lord, the Lord Almighty,

called you on that day^k

to weep^l and to wail,

to tear out your hair^m and put on sackcloth.ⁿ

¹³But see, there is joy and revelry,^o

slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine!^p

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

“for tomorrow we die!”^q

¹⁴The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:^r “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned^s for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,

to Shebna^t the palace^u administrator:^v

¹⁶What are you doing here and who gave you permission

to cut out a grave^w for yourself^x here,

hewing your grave on the height

and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷“Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you

and hurl^y you away, you mighty man.

¹⁸He will roll you up tightly like a ball

and throw^z you into a large country.

There you will die

and there the chariots^a you were so proud of

will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

¹⁹I will depose you from your office,

and you will be ousted^b from your position.^c

²⁰“In that day^d I will summon my servant,^e Eliakim^f son of Hilkiah. ²¹I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash^g around him and hand your authority^h over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. ²²I will place on his shoulderⁱ the key^j to the house of David;^k what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.^{l 23}I will drive him like a peg^m into a firm place;ⁿ he will become a seat^a of honor^o for the house of his father. ²⁴All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

²⁵“In that day,^p” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg^q driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.^r