Isaiah 5:22–30

²²Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

and valiant at mixing drink,^*

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe

and deprive the innocent of their rights!^*

Foreign Invasion Predicted

²⁴Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will become rotten,

and their blossom go up like dust,

for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts

and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.^*

²⁵Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;

the mountains quaked,

and their corpses were like refuse

in the streets.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.^*

²⁶He will raise a signal for a nation far away

and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth.

Here they come, swiftly, speedily!^*

²⁷None of them is weary; none stumbles;

none slumbers or sleeps;

not a loincloth is loose;

not a sandal strap broken;^*

²⁸their arrows are sharp;

all their bows strung;

their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels like the whirlwind.^*

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion;

like young lions they roar;

they growl and seize their prey;

they carry it off, and no one can rescue.^*

³⁰They will roar over it on that day,

like the roaring of the sea.

And if one look to the land—

only darkness and distress;

and the light grows dark with its clouds.^*