Aug 2 - Isaiah 16-21
Isaiah
1Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.2Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.3"Give us counsel, render a decision. Make your shadow like night- at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.4Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer." The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.5In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it- one from the house of David- one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.6We have heard of Moab's pride- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and her insolence- but her boasts are empty.7Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the men of Kir Hareseth.8The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.9So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. O Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.10Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.11My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.12When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail.13This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab.14But now the LORD says: "Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab's splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble."
1An oracle concerning Damascus: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.2The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.3The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the LORD Almighty.4"In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.5It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm- as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.6Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs," declares the LORD, the God of Israel.7In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.8They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.9In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.10You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,11though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.12Oh, the raging of many nations- they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples- they roar like the roaring of great waters!13Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale.14In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.
1Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush,2which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.3All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.4This is what the LORD says to me: "I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."5For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.6They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.7At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers- the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.
1An oracle concerning Egypt: See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.2"I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian- brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.3The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.4I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.5The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,7also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more.8The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away.9Those who work with combed flax will despair, the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.10The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings"?12Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what the LORD Almighty has planned against Egypt.13The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.14The LORD has poured into them a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.15There is nothing Egypt can do- head or tail, palm branch or reed.16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them.17And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LORD Almighty is planning against them.18In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of Destruction.19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border.20It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.21So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them.22The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.24In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.25The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."
1In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it-2at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.3Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,4so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared-to Egypt's shame.5Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame.6In that day the people who live on this coast will say, 'See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'"
1An oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.2A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.3At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.4My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.5They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!6This is what the Lord says to me: "Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.7When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert."8And the lookout 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 with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: 'Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!'"10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.11An oracle concerning Dumah: Someone calls to me from Seir, "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."13An oracle concerning Arabia: You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,14bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives.15They flee from the sword, 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 would count it, all the pomp of Kedar will come to an end.17The survivors of the bowmen, the warriors of Kedar, will be few." The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.