23
Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
24
The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.
25
Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.
26
The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter — like the light of seven days — on the day that the
Lord
bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.
Annihilation of the Assyrians
27
Look,
•Yahweh
comes from far away,
His anger burning and heavy with smoke.
His lips are full of fury,
and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
28
His breath is like an overflowing torrent
that rises to the neck.
He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction
and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples
to lead them astray.
29
Your singing will be like that
on the night of a holy festival,
and your heart will rejoice
like one who walks to the music of a flute,
going up to the mountain of the
Lord
,
to the Rock of Israel.
30
And the
Lord
will make the splendor of His voice heard
and reveal His arm striking in angry wrath
and a flame of consuming fire,
in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31
Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the
Lord
.
He will strike with a rod.
32
And every stroke of the appointed staff
that the
Lord
brings down on him
will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;
He will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33
Indeed!
•Topheth
has been ready
for the king for a long time now.
Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,
with plenty of fire and wood.
The breath of the
Lord
, like a torrent of brimstone,
kindles it.
Isaiah
The
Lord
, the Only Help
31
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and who depend on horses!
They trust in the abundance of chariots
and in the large number of horsemen.
They do not look to the Holy One of Israel
and they do not seek the
Lord
's help.
2
But He also is wise and brings disaster.
He does not go back on what He says;
He will rise up against the house of wicked men
and against the allies of evildoers.
3
Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the
Lord
raises His hand to strike,
the helper will stumble
and the one who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.
4
For this is what the
Lord
said to me:
As a lion or young lion growls over its prey
when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
and is not terrified by their shouting
or subdued by their noise,
so the
Lord
of
•Hosts
will come down
to fight on Mount
•Zion
and on its hill.
5
Like hovering birds,
so the
Lord
of Hosts will protect Jerusalem —
by protecting it, He will rescue it,
by sparing it, He will deliver it.
6
Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.
7
For on that day, every one of you will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.
8
Then Assyria will fall,
but not by human sword;
a sword will devour him,
but not one made by man.
He will flee from the sword;
his young men will be put to forced labor.
9
His rock will pass away because of fear,
and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag.
This is the
Lord
's declaration — whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah
The Righteous Kingdom Announced
32
Indeed, a king will reign righteously,
and rulers will rule justly.
2
Each will be like a shelter from the wind,
a refuge from the rain,
like streams of water in a dry land
and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land.
3
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4
The reckless mind will gain knowledge,
and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.
5
A fool will no longer be called a noble,
nor a scoundrel said to be important.
6
For a fool speaks foolishness
and his mind plots iniquity.
He lives in a godless way
and speaks falsely about the
Lord
.
He leaves the hungry empty
and deprives the thirsty of drink.
7
The scoundrel's weapons are destructive;
he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies,
even when the poor says what is right.
8
But a noble person plans noble things;
he stands up for noble causes.
9
Stand up, you complacent women;
listen to me.
Pay attention to what I say,
you overconfident daughters.
10
In a little more than a year
you overconfident ones will shudder,
for the vintage will fail
and the harvest will not come.
11
Shudder, you complacent ones;
tremble, you overconfident ones!
Strip yourselves bare
and put
•sackcloth
around your waists.
12
Beat your breasts in mourning
for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,
13
for the ground of my people
growing thorns and briers,
indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city.
14
For the palace will be forsaken,
the busy city abandoned.
The hill and the watchtower will become
barren places forever,
the joy of wild donkeys,
and a pasture for flocks,
15
until the Spirit from heaven is poured out on us.
Then the desert will become an orchard,
and the orchard will seem like a forest.
16
Then justice will inhabit the wilderness,
and righteousness will dwell in the orchard.
17
The result of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness
will be quiet confidence forever.
18
Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place,
in safe and secure dwellings.
19
But hail will level the forest,
and the city will sink into the depths.
20
Those who sow seed are happy
beside abundant waters;
they let ox and donkey range freely.
Isaiah
The
Lord
Rises Up
33
Woe, you destroyer never destroyed,
you traitor never betrayed!
When you have finished destroying,
you will be destroyed.
When you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2
Lord
, be gracious to us! We wait for You.
Be our strength every morning
and our salvation in time of trouble.
3
The peoples flee at the thunderous noise;
the nations scatter when You rise in Your majesty.
4
Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered;
people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.
5
The
Lord
is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled
•Zion
with justice and righteousness.
6
There will be times of security for you —
a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The
•fear
of the
Lord
is Zion's treasure.
7
Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets;
the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8
The highways are deserted;
travel has ceased.
An agreement has been broken,
cities despised,
and human life disregarded.
9
The land mourns and withers;
Lebanon is ashamed and decayed.
Sharon is like a desert;
Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10
“Now I will rise up,” says the
Lord
.
“Now I will lift Myself up.
Now I will be exalted.
11
You will conceive chaff;
you will give birth to stubble.
Your breath is fire that will consume you.
12
The peoples will be burned to ashes,
like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.
13
You who are far off, hear what I have done;
you who are near, know My strength.”
14
The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling seizes the ungodly:
“Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames? ”
15
The one who lives righteously
and speaks rightly,
who refuses gain from extortion,
whose hand never takes a bribe,
who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots
and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil —
16
he will dwell on the heights;
his refuge will be the rocky fortresses,
his food provided, his water assured.
17
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
you will see a vast land.
18
Your mind will meditate on the past terror:
“Where is the accountant?
Where is the tribute collector?
Where is the one who spied out our defenses? ”
19
You will no longer see the barbarians,
a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend —
who stammer in a language that is not understood.
20
Look at Zion, the city of our festival times.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander;
its tent pegs will not be pulled up
nor will any of its cords be loosened.
21
For the majestic One, our
Lord
, will be there,
a place of rivers and broad streams
where ships that are rowed will not go,
and majestic vessels will not pass.
22
For the
Lord
is our Judge,
the
Lord
is our lawgiver,
the
Lord
is our King.
He will save us.
23
Your ropes are slack;
they cannot hold the base of the mast
or spread out the flag.
Then abundant spoil will be divided,
the lame will plunder it,
24
and none there will say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell there
will be forgiven their iniquity.
Isaiah
The Judgment of the Nations
34
You nations, come here and listen;
you peoples, pay attention!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,
the world and all that comes from it.
2
The
Lord
is angry with all the nations —
furious with all their armies.
He will set them apart for destruction,
giving them over to slaughter.
3
Their slain will be thrown out,
and the stench of their corpses will rise;
the mountains will flow with their blood.
4
All the heavenly bodies will dissolve.
The skies will roll up like a scroll,
and their stars will all wither
as leaves wither on the vine,
and foliage on the fig tree.