Isaiah 23–25

Chapter 23

¹The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven!

From the land of Cyprus

it is revealed to them.

²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,

O merchants of Sidon;

your messengers passed over the sea

³and were on many waters;

your revenue was the grain of Shihor,

the harvest of the Nile;

you were the merchant of the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,

the stronghold of the sea, saying:

“I have neither travailed nor given birth,

I have neither reared young men

nor brought up virgins.”

⁵When the report comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.

⁶Pass over to Tarshish,

wail, O inhabitants of the coast!

⁷Is this your exultant city

whose origin is from days of old,

whose feet carried her

to settle afar?

⁸Who has purposed this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth?

⁹The Lord of hosts has purposed it,

to defile the pride of all glory,

to dishonor all the honored of the earth.

¹⁰Overflow your land like the Nile,

O daughter of Tarshish;

there is no restraint any more.

¹¹He has stretched out his hand over the sea,

he has shaken the kingdoms;

the Lord has given command concerning Canaan

to destroy its strongholds.

¹²And he said:

“You will no more exult,

O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;

arise, pass over to Cyprus,

even there you will have no rest.”

¹³Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild beasts. They erected their siegetowers, they razed her palaces, they made her a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your stronghold is laid waste.

¹⁵In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy 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:

¹⁶“Take a harp,

go about the city,

O forgotten harlot!

Make sweet melody,

sing many songs,

that you may be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her hire will be dedicated to the Lord; it will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

Chapter 24

¹Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

²And it shall be,

as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

as with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

³The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;

for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴The earth mourns and withers,

the world languishes and withers;

the heavens languish together with the earth.

⁵The earth lies polluted

under its inhabitants;

for they have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

⁷The wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

⁸The mirth of the timbrels is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

⁹No more do they drink wine with singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is broken down,

every house is shut up so that none can enter.

¹¹There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

all joy has reached its eventide;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

¹²Desolation is left in the city,

the gates are battered into ruins.

¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the vintage is done.

¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.

¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, “I pine away,

I pine away. Woe is me!

For the treacherous deal treacherously,

the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

¹⁷Terror, and the pit, and the snare

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

¹⁸He who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit;

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are opened,

and the foundations of the earth tremble.

¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is rent asunder,

the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunken man,

it sways like a hut;

its transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

²¹On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and the kings of the earth, on the earth.

²²They will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days they will be punished.

²³Then the moon will be confounded,

and the sun ashamed;

for the Lord of hosts will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

and before his elders he will manifest his glory.

Chapter 25

¹O Lord, thou art my God;

I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;

for thou hast done wonderful things,

plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

²For thou hast made the city a heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the palace of aliens is a city no more,

it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore strong peoples will glorify thee;

cities of ruthless nations will fear thee.

⁴For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

for the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

⁵like heat in a dry place.

Thou dost subdue the noise of the aliens;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. ⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. ⁸He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

⁹It will be said on that day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

¹⁰For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit. ¹¹And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim; but the Lord will lay low his pride together with the skill of his hands. ¹²And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, even to the dust.