Isaiah 21–23

Chapter 21

A Message about Babylon

This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea:

Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,

like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.

²I see a terrifying vision:

I see the betrayer betraying,

the destroyer destroying.

Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,

attack and lay siege.

I will make an end

to all the groaning Babylon caused.

³My stomach aches and burns with pain.

Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,

like those of a woman in labor.

I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;

I am too afraid to look.

⁴My mind reels and my heart races.

I longed for evening to come,

but now I am terrified of the dark.

⁵Look! They are preparing a great feast.

They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.

Everyone is eating and drinking.

But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.

You are being attacked!

⁶Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,

“Put a watchman on the city wall.

Let him shout out what he sees.

⁷He should look for chariots

drawn by pairs of horses,

and for riders on donkeys and camels.

Let the watchman be fully alert.”

⁸Then the watchman called out,

“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.

Night after night I have remained at my post.

⁹Now at last—look!

Here comes a man in a chariot

with a pair of horses!”

Then the watchman said,

“Babylon is fallen, fallen!

All the idols of Babylon

lie broken on the ground!”

¹⁰O my people, threshed and winnowed,

I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,

everything the God of Israel has told me.

A Message about Edom

¹¹This message came to me concerning Edom:

Someone from Edom keeps calling to me,

“Watchman, how much longer until morning?

When will the night be over?”

¹²The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but night will soon return.

If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”

A Message about Arabia

¹³This message came to me concerning Arabia:

O caravans from Dedan,

hide in the deserts of Arabia.

¹⁴O people of Tema,

bring water to these thirsty people,

food to these weary refugees.

¹⁵They have fled from the sword,

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow

and the terrors of battle.

¹⁶The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken!”

Chapter 22

A Message about Jerusalem

This message came to me concerning Jerusalem—the Valley of Vision:

What is happening?

Why is everyone running to the rooftops?

²The whole city is in a terrible uproar.

What do I see in this reveling city?

Bodies are lying everywhere,

killed not in battle but by famine and disease.

³All your leaders have fled.

They surrendered without resistance.

The people tried to slip away,

but they were captured, too.

⁴That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;

do not try to comfort me.

Let me cry for my people

as I watch them being destroyed.”

⁵Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!

What a day of confusion and terror

brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

upon the Valley of Vision!

The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,

and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

⁶Elamites are the archers,

with their chariots and charioteers.

The men of Kir hold up the shields.

⁷Chariots fill your beautiful valleys,

and charioteers storm your gates.

⁸Judah’s defenses have been stripped away.

You run to the armory for your weapons.

⁹You inspect the breaks in the walls of Jerusalem.

You store up water in the lower pool.

¹⁰You survey the houses and tear some down

for stone to strengthen the walls.

¹¹Between the city walls, you build a reservoir

for water from the old pool.

But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.

You never considered the One who planned this long ago.

¹²At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

called you to weep and mourn.

He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins

and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.

¹³But instead, you dance and play;

you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.

You feast on meat and drink wine.

You say, “Let’s feast and drink,

for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

A Message for Shebna

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message:

¹⁶“Who do you think you are,

and what are you doing here,

building a beautiful tomb for yourself—

a monument high up in the rock?

¹⁷For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man.

He is going to grab you,

¹⁸crumple you into a ball,

and toss you away into a distant, barren land.

There you will die,

and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless.

You are a disgrace to your master!

¹⁹“Yes, I will drive you out of office,” says the Lord. “I will pull you down from your high position. ²⁰And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. ²¹I will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. ²²I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. ²³He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. ²⁴They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.”

²⁵But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies also says: “The time will come when I will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Chapter 23

A Message about Tyre

This message came to me concerning Tyre:

Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish,

for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone!

The rumors you heard in Cyprus

are all true.

²Mourn in silence, you people of the coast

and you merchants of Sidon.

Your traders crossed the sea,

³sailing over deep waters.

They brought you grain from Egypt

and harvests from along the Nile.

You were the marketplace of the world.

⁴But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon,

for Tyre, the fortress of the sea, says,

“Now I am childless;

I have no sons or daughters.”

⁵When Egypt hears the news about Tyre,

there will be great sorrow.

⁶Send word now to Tarshish!

Wail, you people who live in distant lands!

⁷Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city?

What a long history was yours!

Think of all the colonists you sent to distant places.

⁸Who has brought this disaster on Tyre,

that great creator of kingdoms?

Her traders were all princes,

her merchants were nobles.

⁹The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has done it

to destroy your pride

and bring low all earth’s nobility.

¹⁰Come, people of Tarshish,

sweep over the land like the flooding Nile,

for Tyre is defenseless.

¹¹The Lord held out his hand over the sea

and shook the kingdoms of the earth.

He has spoken out against Phoenicia,

ordering that her fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He says, “Never again will you rejoice,

O daughter of Sidon, for you have been crushed.

Even if you flee to Cyprus,

you will find no rest.”

¹³Look at the land of Babylonia—

the people of that land are gone!

The Assyrians have handed Babylon over

to the wild animals of the desert.

They have built siege ramps against its walls,

torn down its palaces,

and turned it to a heap of rubble.

¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish,

for your harbor is destroyed!

¹⁵For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:

¹⁶Take a harp and walk the streets,

you forgotten harlot.

Make sweet melody and sing your songs

so you will be remembered again.

¹⁷Yes, after seventy years the Lord will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world. ¹⁸But in the end her profits will be given to the Lord. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord’s priests.