Superscription

Rebellious Judah

¹ The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Hear, heavens, and listen, earth, for Yahweh has spoken: “I reared children and I brought them up, but they rebelled against me.

³ An ox knows its owner and a donkey the manger of its master. Israel does not know; my people do not understand.

⁴ Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged and gone backward.

⁵ Why do you want to be beaten again? You continue in rebellion. The whole of the head is sick, and the whole of the heart is faint.

⁶ From the sole of the foot and up to the head there is no health in it; bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed, and they have not been bound up and not softened with the oil.

⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners.

⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged.¹

1. Or “preserved”

⁹ If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors,¹ we would have been as few as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

1. Hebrew “survivor”

¹⁰ Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah!

¹¹ What is the abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals and I do not delight in the blood of bulls and ram-lambs and goats.

¹² When you come to appear before me, who asked for this from your hand: you trampling my courts?

¹³ You must not ⌞continue⌟¹ to bring offerings² of futility, incense—it is an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation— I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly.

1. Literally “increase” or “add to”
2. Hebrew “offering”

¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like a burden, I am not able to bear them.

¹⁵ And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers,¹ I will not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

1. Hebrew “prayer”

¹⁶ Wash! Make yourselves clean! Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes! Cease to do evil!

¹⁷ Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue the oppressed! Defend the orphan! Plead for the widow!

¹⁸ “Come now, and let us argue,” says Yahweh. “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow; even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

¹⁹ If you are willing and you are obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

Purifying Jerusalem

²⁰ But if you refuse and you rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

²¹ How has a faithful city become like a whore? Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

²² Your silver has become as dross; Your wine is diluted with waters.

²³ Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan and the legal dispute of the widow does not come before them.

²⁴ Therefore, the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will be relieved of my enemies, and I will avenge myself on my foes.

²⁵ And I will turn my hand against you; I will purify your dross like lye, and I will remove all of your tin.

²⁶ And I will restore your judges, as at the first, and your counselors, as at the beginning. After this ⌞you will be called⌟¹ the city of righteousness, faithful city.

1. Literally “it will be called for you”

²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by justice, and those of her who repent, by righteousness.

²⁸ But the destruction of rebels and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh will perish.

²⁹ For you¹ will be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted, and you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.

1. Literally “they,” but a few manuscripts read “you,” which fits the context better

³⁰ For you shall be like an oak withering its leaves, and like a garden where there is no water for her.

³¹ And the strong man shall become like tinder, and his work like a spark. And both of them shall burn together, and there is not one to quench them.”

The Mountain of Yahweh

¹ The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

² And it shall happen in the future of the days the mountain of the house¹ of Yahweh shall be established; it will be among the highest² of the mountains, and it shall be raised from the hills. All of the nations shall travel to him;

1. Or “temple”
2. Literally “head”

³ many peoples shall come. And they shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house¹ of the God of Jacob, and may he teach us part of his ways, and let us walk in his paths.” For instruction shall go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

1. Or “temple”

The Day of Yahweh

⁴ He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.

⁵ House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

⁶ For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob, because they are full¹ from the east, and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and ⌞they make alliances⌟² with the offspring of foreigners.

1. Possibly “of diviners” was part of the original text here
2. Literally “they clap hands”

⁷ And its land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to its treasures; and its land is filled with horses, and there is no end to its chariots.

⁸ Its land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their¹ hands, to what they made with their² fingers.

1. Hebrew “his”
2. Hebrew “his”

⁹ So humanity is humbled; everyone is humbled, and you must not forgive them.

¹⁰ Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty.

¹¹ The ⌞haughty eyes⌟¹ of humanity will² be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

1. Literally “eyes of the haughtiness”
2. The Hebrew is singular

¹² For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,¹

1. Or “it will be humbled”

¹³ and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan,

¹⁴ and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills,

¹⁵ and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall,

¹⁶ and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the ships of desire.

¹⁷ And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

¹⁸ And the idols shall pass away entirely,

¹⁹ and they will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the ground from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty ⌞when he rises⌟¹ to terrify the earth.

1. Literally “in his rising”

²⁰ On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents¹ and to the bats—

1. Or “moles”

²¹ to enter into the crevices of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty, ⌞when he rises⌟¹ to terrify the earth.

1. Literally “in his rising”

²² Turn away from humanity, who has breath in its nostrils,¹ for by² what is it esteemed?

1. Hebrew “nostril”
2. Or “in”

Leaders of Judah and Jerusalem

¹ For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is removing ⌞every source of support⌟¹ from Jerusalem and from Judah: all of the supplies of bread and all of the supplies of water,

1. Literally “supplies and supplies”

² mighty warrior and man of war, judge and prophet, and diviner and elder,

³ captain of fifty and the honorable men of rank, and counselor and skillful magicians and skillful enchanter.

⁴ And I will make boys their princes, and children shall rule over them.

⁵ And the people will be oppressed ⌞by each other⌟¹ and a man by his neighbor. The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the dishonorable toward the honorable.

1. Literally “man by man”

⁶ Indeed, a man will seize his brother in the house of his father: “⌞You have a cloak⌟;¹ you shall be a leader for us, and this heap of ruins shall be under your hand!”

1. Literally “a cloak for you”

⁷ He will lift up his voice on that day, saying, “I will not be a healer; in my house there is no bread and there is no cloak. You shall not make me the leader of the people!”

⁸ For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen because their speech and their deeds are against Yahweh, defying the eyes of his glory.

⁹ The look on their faces testifies against them and they declare their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves.

¹⁰ Tell the innocent¹ that it is good for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

1. Singular

¹¹ Woe to the wicked!¹ It is bad! For what is done by his hands will be done to him.

1. Singular

¹² My people—children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders are misleading you, and they confuse the course of your paths.

¹³ Yahweh takes his stand to conduct a legal case and takes his stand to judge the peoples.

¹⁴ Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and its princes. “And you! You have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses!

The Pride of Jerusalem’s Women

¹⁵ ⌞Why⌟¹ do you crush my people and grind the face of the poor?” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

1. Literally “What to you”
2. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁶ And Yahweh said: “Because¹ the daughters of Zion are haughty, and they walk with outstretched neck, and they give flirting glances with their eyes, ⌞mincing along as they go⌟,² and ⌞with their feet they rattle their bangles⌟,³

1. There are two Hebrew words for “because” here
2. Literally “they go walking and mincing along”
3. Literally “they tinkle with their feet”

¹⁷ the Lord will make the heads¹ of the daughters of Zion scabby, and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare.”

1. Hebrew “head”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets and the headbands and the crescent necklaces,

¹⁹ the pendants and the bracelets and the veils,

²⁰ the headdresses and the armlets and the sashes, and the ⌞perfume boxes⌟¹ and the amulets,

1. Literally “houses of the breath”

²¹ the signet rings and the nose rings,

²² the festal robes and the mantles, and the cloaks and the handbags,

²³ and the mirrors and the linen garments, and the turbans and the wraps.

²⁴ And this shall happen: There will be a stench instead of perfume, and a rope instead of a sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo, and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe, branding instead of beauty.

²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.

²⁶ And her¹ gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be banished; she shall sit upon the ground.

1. That is, Jerusalem’s

The Glory of the Branch of Yahweh

¹ And seven women shall grasp at one man on that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and we will wear our own clothing; only ⌞let us be called by your name⌟!¹ Take away our disgrace!”

1. Literally “let your name be called upon us”

² On that day the branch of Yahweh shall become beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall become the pride and glory of the survivors¹ of Israel.

1. Hebrew “survivor”

³ And this shall happen: He who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone written for life in Jerusalem,

⁴ when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

⁵ Then Yahweh will create over all of the site¹ of ⌞Mount Zion⌟² and over her assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the brightness of flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy,

1. Or “place”
2. Literally “the mountain of Zion”

⁶ and it will be a shelter for shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and a hiding place from rainstorm and from rain.

The Song of the Vineyard

¹ Let me sing for my beloved a song of my love concerning his vineyard: ⌞My beloved had a vineyard⌟¹ on ⌞a fertile hill⌟.²

1. Literally “A vineyard was for my beloved”
2. Literally “a horn of a son of olive oil.” The Hebrew for horn, qeren, sounds like the Hebrew for vineyard, kerem

² And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it with choice vines,¹ and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for it to yield grapes— but it yielded wild grapes.

1. Hebrew “vine”

³ And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men¹ of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

1. Hebrew “man”

⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?

⁵ And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.

⁶ And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers¹ and thornbushes.² And concerning the clouds, I will command ⌞them not to send⌟³ rain down upon it.

1. Hebrew “brier”
2. Hebrew “thornbush”
3. Literally “from sending”

Woes on the Wicked

⁷ For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man¹ of Judah is the plantation of his delight. And he waited for justice,² but look! Bloodshed!³ For righteousness,⁴ but look! A cry of distress!⁵

1. Or “people”
2. The Hebrew word, mishpat, sounds like mishpakh in the next line
3. The Hebrew word, mishpakh, sounds like mishpat in the previous line
4. The Hebrew word, tsedaqah, sounds like tsa`aqah in the next line
5. The Hebrew word, tsa`aqah, sounds like tsedaqah in the previous line

⁸ Ah! Those who ⌞join⌟¹ house with house, they join field together with field until ⌞there is no place⌟² and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

1. Literally “touch”
2. Literally “an end of place”

⁹ Yahweh of hosts said in my ears: ⌞Surely⌟¹ many houses shall become a desolation, large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.

1. Literally “If not”

¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,¹ and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.²

1. A bath is a liquid measure
2. An ephah is a dry measure equal to one-tenth of a homer

¹¹ Ah! Those who rise early in the morning, they pursue strong drink. Those who linger in the evening, wine inflames them.

¹² And there will be lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts, but they do not look at the deeds¹ of Yahweh, and they do not see the work of his hands.

1. Hebrew “deed”

¹³ Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, and their¹ nobles² will be men of hunger, and their³ multitude is parched with thirst.

1. Hebrew “its”
2. Hebrew “noble”
3. Hebrew “its”

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat, and it has opened wide its mouth without limit, and her¹ nobles² will go down, and her multitude, her tumult and those who revel in her.

1. That is, Jerusalem’s
2. Hebrew “noble”

¹⁵ And humankind is bowed down, and man is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.

¹⁶ But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice, and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

¹⁷ And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and ⌞fatlings, kids¹ will eat among the sites of ruins.⌟²

1. Following the Septuagint, which reads the Hebrew grym (resident aliens) as gdym (young goats/sheep)
2. Literally “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat”

¹⁸ Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood and sin as with rope of the cart,

¹⁹ those who say, “Let him make haste; let him hurry his work so that we may see it and let it draw near and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come so that we may know it!”

²⁰ Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil, those who put darkness for light and light for darkness, those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes and have understanding ⌞in their view⌟!¹

1. Literally “before their faces”

²² Ah! Heroes at drinking wine, and men of capability at mixing strong drink!

²³ Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe and remove the justice of the innocent from him.

²⁴ Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will become like the stench, and their blossom will go up like the dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

Yahweh’s Outstretched Hand

²⁵ Therefore ⌞Yahweh’s wrath was kindled⌟¹ against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them² and struck them,³ and the mountains quaked, and their corpses⁴ were like refuse in the middle of the streets. In all of this his anger has not turned back, and still his hand is stretched out.

1. Literally “the anger of Yahweh became hot”
2. Hebrew “it”
3. Hebrew “it”
4. Hebrew “corpse”

²⁶ And he will raise a signal for a nation¹ from afar, and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth. And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!

1. The Hebrew is plural, but the following verses refer to the nation as singular

²⁷ None is weary, and none among him stumbles; none slumbers and none sleeps. And no loincloth on his waist is opened, and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.

²⁸ Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.

²⁹ His roaring is like the lion, and he roars like young lions. And he growls and seizes his prey, and he carries it off, and not one can rescue it.

³⁰ And he will roar over him on that day like the roaring of the sea, and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress! And the light grows dark with its¹ clouds.

1. Presumably the land’s

Isaiah’s Commission

¹ In the year of the death of Uzziah the king, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and raised throne, and the hem of his robe was filling the temple.

² Seraphs were standing above him. ⌞Each had six wings⌟:¹ with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

1. Literally “six wings six wings for one”

³ And the one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts! The ⌞whole earth is full of his glory⌟.”¹

1. Literally “fullness of all of the earth glory him”

⁴ And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house¹ was filled with smoke.

1. Or “temple”

⁵ And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed!¹ For I am a man ⌞of unclean lips⌟,² and I am living among³ a people ⌞of unclean lips⌟,⁴ for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!”

1. Or “silenced”
2. Literally “unclean of lips”
3. With an emphatic sense: “in the very heart and midst of”
4. Literally “unclean of lips”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

⁷ And he touched my mouth, and he said, “Look! This has touched your lips and has removed your guilt, and your sin is annulled.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “I am here! Send me!”

⁹ And he said, “Go and say to this people, ‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend! And keep on looking and do not understand!’

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people insensitive, and make its ears unresponsive, and shut its eyes so that it may not look with its eyes and listen with its ears and comprehend with its mind and turn back, and it may be healed for him.”

¹¹ Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he said, “Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and a waste,

¹² and Yahweh sends the people far away, and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land.

¹³ And ⌞even if only a tenth part remain⌟,¹ ⌞again she will be destroyed⌟² like a terebinth or like an oak, which although felled, a tree stump remains in them. The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”

1. Literally “still in her a tenth”
2. Literally “and she will again and she will be to burn”

The Sign to Ahaz

¹ This happened in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went¹ up to Jerusalem for warfare against it,² but he was not able to fight against it.³

1. The Hebrew is singular
2. Literally “her”
3. Literally “her”

² When it was reported to the house of David, saying “Aram stands by Ephraim,” his heart and the heart of his people shook like the shaking of the trees of the forest because of the wind.

³ Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the washer’s field.

⁴ And you must say to him, ‘Take heed and be quiet! You must not fear, and your heart must not be faint because of these two stumps of smoldering firebrands, ⌞because of the fierce anger of⌟¹ Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.

1. Literally “because of the fierceness of the anger of”

⁵ Because Aram has plotted evil against you with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying,

⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and let us tear her apart, ⌞and let us lay it open and so bring it unto ourselves⌟,¹ and let us install the son of Tabeel as king in her midst.”

1. Literally “and let us break through her to us”

⁷ Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

⁸ For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

⁹ And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe then you will not endure.” ’ ”

¹⁰ And Yahweh continued to speak to Ahaz, saying,

¹¹ “Ask for a sign for yourself from Yahweh God; make it deep as Sheol or make it high as above.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put Yahweh to the test.”

¹³ Then he said, “Hear, house of David! Is it too little for you to make men weary, that you should also make my God weary?

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you¹ a sign. Look! the virgin² is with child and she is about to give birth to a son, and she shall call his name ‘God with us.’

1. The Hebrew is plural
2. Or “young woman”

¹⁵ He shall eat curds and honey until he knows to reject the evil and to choose the good.

¹⁶ For before the boy knows to reject the evil and to choose the good, ⌞the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.⌟¹

1. Literally “the land which you dread will be abandoned because of the face of her two kings”

That Day

¹⁷ “Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor¹ days that have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria.”

1. Or “father”

¹⁸ And this shall happen: On that day, Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹ And all of them will come and settle in the rivers of the cliffs and in the clefts of the rocks and on all of the thornbushes and watering places.

²⁰ On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond the river—with the king of Assyria—and it will even take off the beard.

²¹ And this shall happen: on that day, a young man will keep a young cow of the herd and two sheep alive.

²² And this shall happen: because of the abundance of milk production, he will eat curds, for every one that is left in the midst of the land will eat curds and honey.

²³ And this shall happen on that day: Every place where there are a thousand vines¹ for a thousand silver pieces will become briers,² and it will be thornbushes.³

1. Hebrew “vine”
2. Hebrew “brier”
3. Hebrew “thornbush”

²⁴ One will go there with arrows and bow, for all of the land will be briers¹ and thornbushes.²

1. Hebrew “brier”
2. Hebrew “thornbush”

²⁵ And as for all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, for fear of briers¹ and thornbushes.² And it will become like pastureland for cattle and overtrodden land for sheep.

1. Hebrew “brier”
2. Hebrew “thornbush”

Signs of the Assyrian Invasion

¹ Then Yahweh said to me, “Take yourself a large tablet and write on it with a common stylus pen: Maher-Halal-Hash-Baz.

² And I will require reliable witnesses as a witness for me: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

³ And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived, and she gave birth to a son. And Yahweh said to me, “Call his name Maher-Halal-Hash-Baz.

⁴ For before the boy knows to call ‘my father’ and ‘my mother,’ one will carry away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria.”

Shiloah Waters and Euphrates Flood

⁵ And Yahweh continued to speak to me again, saying,

⁶ “Because this people has refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

⁷ therefore look! The Lord is bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And he will rise above all his channels, and he will flow over all his banks.

⁸ And he will sweep into Judah; he will overflow and he will flood up to the neck. He will reach, and ⌞he will spread his wings out over your entire land⌟,¹ God with us.”

1. Literally “the outspreading of his wings will be the fullness of the breadth of your land”

⁹ Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed. And listen, all distant parts of the earth; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed!

Wait for Yahweh

¹⁰ ⌞Make a plan⌟,¹ but it will be frustrated! Speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us!

1. Literally “Plan counsel”

¹¹ For Yahweh said this to me ⌞while his hand weighed heavily on me⌟,¹ and he ⌞warned me not to walk⌟² in the way of this people, saying,

1. Literally “with the strength of the hand”
2. Literally “instructed me from walking”

¹² “You must not call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and you must not ⌞share its fear⌟,¹ and you must not be in dread.

1. Literally “fear its fear”

¹³ You shall regard Yahweh of hosts as holy, and he is your¹ fear, and he is your dread.

1. The Hebrew is plural

¹⁴ And he will become like a sanctuary and a stumbling-stone, and like a stumbling-rock for the two houses of Israel, like a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And many shall stumble among them, and they shall fall and they shall be broken, and they shall be ensnared and they shall be caught.”

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

¹⁷ And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him.

¹⁸ Look! I and the children whom Yahweh has given to me are like signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, the one who dwells on the mountain of Zion.

¹⁹ Now if they tell you, “Consult the ghosts and the spirits, those who chirp and those who mutter. Should not a people consult its gods, the dead on behalf of the living,

²⁰ for teaching and for testimony?” ⌞surely they who speak like this have no dawn⌟.¹

1. Literally “if not, they say like this word that there is no dawn for him,” which could also mean “if not, let them say a word like this: that there is no dawn for him”

²¹ And it¹ will pass through it² distressed and hungry, and this shall happen: when it is hungry, it will be enraged, and it will curse its king and its gods,³ and it will face upwar

1. That is, the nation
2. That is, the land
3. Or “God”

²² or look to the earth. But look! Distress and darkness, the gloom of affliction! And it will be thrust into darkness!

New Light: The Birth of a King

^{1 1} ⌞But there will be no gloom for those who were in distress⌟.² In former times he³ treated the land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt, but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

1. Isaiah 9:1–21 in the English Bible is 8:23–9:20 in the Hebrew Bible
2. Literally “Indeed there is no gloom for the one to whom there was anxiety for her”
3. That is, Yahweh

² The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; light has shined on those who lived in a land of darkness.

³ You have made the nation numerous; you have not¹ made the joy great. They rejoice in your presence as with joy at the harvest, as they rejoice when they divide plunder.

1. The written text (Kethib) is “not,” but the reading tradition (Qere) is “for it”

⁴ For you have shattered the yoke of its burden and the stick of its shoulder, the rod of its oppressor, on¹ the day of Midian.

1. Hebrew “like”; the Hebrew letters for “like” and “on” look alike

⁵ For every boot ⌞that marches and shakes the earth⌟¹ and garment rolled in blood ⌞will⌟² be for burning—fire fuel.

1. Literally “marching with shaking,” which might mean “marching is with shaking”
2. Literally “and it will”

⁶ For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Yahweh’s Anger against Arrogance

⁷ ⌞His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end⌟¹ on² the throne of David and over³ his kingdom, to establish it⁴ and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

1. Literally “There is no end to the increase of the dominion and to peace”
2. Or “for”
3. Or “for”
4. That is, the kingdom

⁸ The Lord has sent out a word against Jacob, and it fell on Israel.

⁹ And all of the people knew it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria in pride and arrogance of heart, saying,

¹⁰ “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stone. The sycamore-fig trees were felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹ So Yahweh strengthened ⌞the adversaries of Rezin⌟¹ against him, and he provoked his enemies—

1. Or “his adversaries” if a copyist added “of Rezin” in error

¹² Aram from the east and Philistines¹ from the west— and they devoured Israel with the whole mouth. He has not turned away his anger in all of this, and his hand is still stretched out.

1. Hebrew “Philistine”

¹³ And the people did not turn to the one who struck it,¹ and they did not seek Yahweh of hosts.

1. That is, the people

¹⁴ So Yahweh cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and reed in one day.

¹⁵ Elders¹ and ⌞the respectable⌟² are the head, and prophets³ who teach lies⁴ are the tail.

1. Hebrew “Elder”
2. Literally “one lifted up of face”
3. Hebrew “prophet”
4. Hebrew “lie”

¹⁶ And the leaders of this people were misleading them, and those who were led were confused.

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord did not rejoice over its young men, and he did not have compassion on its orphans and widows, for everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth was speaking folly. In all of this his anger did not turn away, and still his hand is stretched out.

¹⁸ For wickedness burned like fire; it consumed brier and thorn. And it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹ The land was burned through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and the people became like fire fuel. ⌞People had no compassion toward each other⌟.¹

1. Literally “A man does not have compassion toward his brother”

²⁰ They devoured on the right but still were hungry and devoured on the left but they were not satisfied. Each one devoured the flesh of his arm,

²¹ Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they were against Judah. In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand is stretched out.

Woes on the Wicked

¹ Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm,

² to guide the needy away from legal claims,¹ and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans.

1. Hebrew “claim”

³ And what will you do at the day of punishment, and at calamity? It comes from afar! To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

Judgment on Assyria’s Arrogance

⁴ ⌞save that they bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain⌟?¹ In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand is stretched out.

1. Literally “except he will bow down under a prisoner and under slain they will fall”; “under” could also mean “in the place of”

⁵ Ah! Assyria, the rod of my anger, and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!

⁶ I send him against a godless nation, and I command him against the people of my wrath, to capture spoil and to carry off plunder, and to make them¹ a trampling place, like the clay of the streets.

1. Hebrew “him”

⁷ But he does not think this,¹ and his heart does not plan this. For it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

1. Or “so”

⁸ For he says, “Are not my commanders altogether kings?

⁹ Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols¹ —and their images were ⌞greater than those of⌟² Jerusalem and Samaria—

1. Hebrew “idol”
2. Literally “from”

¹¹ shall I not do to Jerusalem and its idols what I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against ⌞Mount Zion⌟¹ and Jerusalem, “I will punish the ⌞arrogance⌟² of the king of Assyria and ⌞his haughtiness⌟.”³

1. Literally “the mountain of Zion”
2. Literally “fruit of the greatness of the heart”
3. Literally “the pride of the height of his eyes”

¹³ For he says, “I have done it by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down ⌞the inhabitants⌟.¹

1. Or, “those sitting,” that is, rulers sitting on thrones

¹⁴ And my hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples, and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth. And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp.”

¹⁵ Does the ax boast against the one who cuts with it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who moves it to and fro? ⌞As if a rod should move the one who lifts it⌟!¹ ⌞As if a staff should lift up that which is not wood⌟!²

1. Literally “As a rod waving even the one who lifts it up”
2. Literally “As a staff lifting up not wood”

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors, and a burning like the burning of fire will burn under his glory.

¹⁷ And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns¹ and briers² in one day.

1. Hebrew “thorn”
2. Hebrew “brier”

¹⁸ And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard ⌞completely⌟,¹ and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

1. Literally “from soul and to body”

The Return of the Remnant

¹⁹ And the rest of the trees¹ of his forest will be a small number, and a boy can write them down.

1. Hebrew “tree”

²⁰ And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors¹ of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on the one who struck it but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.

1. Hebrew “survivor”

²¹ A remnant will return— the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.

²² For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will return. Annihilation is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

²³ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to make a complete destruction and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: “My people who live in Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you ⌞as the Egyptians did⌟.¹

1. Literally “in the way of Egypt”

²⁵ My indignation will come to an end ⌞in just a very little while⌟,¹ and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”

1. Literally “for still a little a trifle”

²⁶ And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him, as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb; and his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift him up ⌞as he did in Egypt⌟.¹

1. Literally “in the way of Egypt”

²⁷ And this shall happen: on that day, he will remove his burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, ⌞and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat⌟.¹

1. The meaning of this phrase is uncertain, leading to the conjecture that it belongs with the next verse and by a different word division could mean “he has gone up from Jeshimon”; alternatively, “fat” could be a metaphor for prosperity

²⁸ He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he deposited his baggage.

²⁹ They crossed over the pass; Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

³⁰ Daughter of Gallim, cry out with your voice; Laishah, listen! ⌞Anathoth is poor⌟.¹

1. Or with different vocalization, “Answer her, Anathoth!” which fits the parallelism better

³¹ Madmenah flees! The inhabitants of Gebim bring themselves into safety!

³² ⌞This day⌟¹ ⌞taking a stand⌟² at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter³ of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

1. Literally “Yet today”
2. Literally “to stand”
3. Following the reading tradition (Qere); the consonantal text has “house”

³³ Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches¹ with great power, and ⌞the towering trees⌟² will be felled, and the ⌞tall trees⌟³ will be brought low.

1. Hebrew “branch”
2. Literally “the haughty of the height”
3. Literally “height”

³⁴ And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.

The Branch’s Righteous Reign

¹ And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.

² And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him— a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

³ And his ⌞breath⌟¹ is in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by ⌞what he hears with⌟² his ears.

1. Hebrew “smelling,” perhaps metaphorically as “delight” as in Amos 5:14; perhaps this line was accidentally copied twice from the preceding line
2. Literally “the rumors of”

⁴ But he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips.

⁵ And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

⁶ And a wolf shall ⌞stay⌟¹ with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together ⌞as a small boy leads⌟² them.

1. Literally “dwell as an alien”
2. Literally “and a small boy leading”

⁷ And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.

⁸ And ⌞an infant⌟¹ shall play over a serpent’s hole, and ⌞a toddler⌟² shall put his hand on a viper’s hole.

1. Literally “one nursing”
2. Literally “one who is weaned”

⁹ They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my ⌞holy mountain⌟,¹ for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

1. Literally “mountain of holiness”

¹⁰ And this shall happen on that day: the nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse, which shall be standing as a signal to the peoples, and his resting place shall be glorious.

The Regathered Remnant

¹¹ And this shall happen on that day: The Lord will again extend his hand a second time to acquire the remnant of his people that is left, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the sea,

¹² and he will raise a signal for the nations. And he will gather the outcasts of Israel, and he will gather the scattered ones of Judah together from the four ⌞corners⌟¹ of the earth.

1. Literally “wings”

¹³ And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be an enemy of Ephraim.

¹⁴ But they shall ⌞swoop⌟¹ upon the Philistine shoulder,² ⌞westward⌟.³ Together they shall plunder the sons of the east. Edom and Moab ⌞will be under their command⌟,⁴ and the sons of Ammon will be their subjugated people.

1. Literally “fly”
2. That is, the hill country west of Judah
3. Literally “sea”
4. Literally “the stretching of their hand”

¹⁵ And Yahweh will divide¹ the tongue² of the sea of Egypt,³ and he will wave his hand over the river⁴ with his scorching wind; and he will strike it into seven streams, and he will ⌞make it passable by foot⌟.⁵

1. Or “utterly destroy”
2. Probably the “gulf”
3. That is, the Red Sea
4. That is, the Euphrates River
5. Literally “cause to walk with the sandal”

¹⁶ So there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people that remains, as there was for Israel ⌞when⌟¹ it went up from the land of Egypt.

1. Literally “in the day”

A Song of Thanksgiving

¹ And you will say on that day, “I will give you thanks, Yahweh, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me.

² Look! God is my salvation; I will trust, and I will not be afraid, for my strength and might is Yah, Yahweh; and he has become salvation for me.”

³ And you will draw water from the wells of salvation in joy.

⁴ And you will say on that day, “Give thanks to Yahweh; call on his name. Make his deeds known among the peoples; bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.

⁵ Sing praises to Yahweh, for he has done a glorious thing; this is known in all the earth.

⁶ Inhabitant of Zion, shout out and sing for joy, for the holy one of Israel is great in your midst.”

An Oracle against Babylon

¹ The oracle of Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

² Raise a signal on a bare hill, lift up your voice to them; wave the hand and may they enter the gateways of the noblemen.

³ I myself I have commanded my consecrated ones, I have also summoned my mighty warriors concerning my anger, the ⌞ones who exalt over⌟¹ my majesty.

1. Literally “exultant of”

⁴ A sound, a noise is on the mountains, the likeness of many people! A sound of the roar of the kingdoms, of nations gathering! Yahweh of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

⁵ They are coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy ⌞the whole earth⌟.¹

1. Literally “all of the land/earth”

⁶ Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai!¹

1. Often translated “the Almighty”

⁷ Therefore all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will melt,

⁸ and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize them; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. ⌞They will stare at one another⌟,¹ ⌞their faces flushing⌟.²

1. Literally “A man will stare at his neighbor”
2. Literally “faces of flames”

⁹ Look! The day of Yahweh is coming, cruel and wrath and the burning of anger, to make the earth a desolation, and he will destroy its sinners from it.

¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will keep back when it comes out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹ And I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and I will bring the haughtiness of tyrants low.

¹² I will make humanity more rare than gold and humankind more than the gold of Ophir.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will quake from its place because of the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day his anger burns.

¹⁴ And this shall happen: like a hunted gazelle or sheep ⌞with none to gather them⌟,¹ they will each turn to his own people, and they will each flee to his own land.

1. Literally “and without one who gathers”

¹⁵ Everyone who is found will be pierced through, and everyone who is carried away will fall by the sword.

¹⁶ And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped.¹

1. The reading tradition (Qere) softens this to “slept with”

¹⁷ Look! I am stirring the Medes up against them, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold.

¹⁸ And their bows will shatter young men. And they will not show mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not look compassionately on children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like ⌞when God overthrew⌟¹ Sodom and Gomorrah.

1. Literally “the overthrow by God of”

²⁰ It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be dwelled in ⌞forever⌟;¹ and no Arab will pitch a tent there, and shepherds will not allow their flocks to lie down there.

1. Literally “until generation and generation”

²¹ But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures, and the daughters of ostriches¹ will live there, and goats will dance there.

1. Hebrew “ostrich”

²² And hyenas will answer in its palaces, and jackals in the pleasure palaces; and its time ⌞is coming soon⌟,¹ and its days will not be prolonged.

1. Literally “close to come”

The Restoration of Israel

¹ But Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and he will again choose Israel and set them on their land, and the immigrant will join himself to them, and they will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

² And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will take possession of them¹ in the land of Yahweh as slaves and female slaves. And this will happen: they will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors.

1. That is, the nations

The Downfall of the King of Babylon

³ And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which ⌞you had to perform⌟,¹

1. Literally “was worked by you”

⁴ that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How the oppressor has ceased! his insolence¹ has ceased.

1. The meaning of the word is uncertain; others translate it as “fury,” “hostility,” or even “golden city”

⁵ Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,

⁶ that struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing, that ruled the nations in anger ⌞with unrestrained persecution⌟.¹

1. Literally “persecution without withholding”

⁷ All of the earth rests and is quiet; they break forth into singing.

⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you, the cedars of Lebanon: ‘Since you were laid down, no wood cutter comes up against us.’

⁹ Sheol below is getting excited over you, to meet ⌞you when you come⌟;¹ it arouses the dead spirits for you, all of the leaders of the earth. It raises all of the kings of the nations from their thrones.

1. Literally “your entrance”

¹⁰ All of them will respond and say to you, ‘You yourself also were made weak like us! You have become the same as us!’

¹¹ Your pride is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your harps; maggots¹ are spread out beneath you like a bed, and your covering is worms.²

1. Hebrew “maggot”
2. Hebrew “worm”

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!

¹³ And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;¹

1. Or “of the north”

¹⁴ I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,¹ I will make myself like the Most High.’

1. Hebrew “cloud”

¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you, they will look closely at you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who caused kingdoms to shake,

¹⁷ who made the world like the desert and destroyed its cities, who would not let his prisoners go home?’

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each one in his house.

¹⁹ But as for you, you are thrown away from your grave, like an abhorrent shoot, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, those who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse that is trodden down.

²⁰ You will not be united with them in burial because you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. The descendants¹ of evildoers will not be mentioned for eternity!

1. Hebrew “descendant”

²¹ Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons because of the sin of their ancestors.¹ Let them not rise and take possession of the earth or fill up the face of the world with cities.”

1. Or “fathers”

²² “And I will rise up against them,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts, “and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon, and offspring and posterity,” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Literally “declaration of”

²³ “And I will make her a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts.

1. Literally “declaration of”

Oracle of Judgment on Assyria

²⁴ Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, “⌞Surely⌟¹ just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, it shall stand:

1. The oath formula begins literally “If not”

²⁵ to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him down on my mountains; and he shall remove his yoke from them, and he shall remove his burden from his¹ shoulders.”²

1. That is, their
2. Hebrew “shoulder”

²⁶ This is the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations.

²⁷ For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Oracle of Judgment on Philistia

²⁸ In the year of the death of king Ahaz there was this oracle:

²⁹ You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from the root of the snake, and its fruit will be a flying serpent.

³⁰ And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy will lie down in security; but I will cause your root to die in famine, and it will kill your remnant.

³¹ Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt,¹ Philistia, all of you! For smoke is coming from the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

1. With fear or despair

³² And what will one answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in it.

Oracle of Judgment on Moab

¹ An oracle of Moab: Because Ar is devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed; because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.

² It has gone up to the house,¹ and Dibon to the high places for weeping over Nebo, and Moab wails over Medeba. ⌞Every head is bald⌟,² every beard is shaved.

1. Or “temple”
2. Literally “On all its heads baldness”

³ They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails, going down in weeping.

⁴ And Heshbon and Elealeh cry¹ out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out; its soul quivers² for him.

1. The Hebrew is singular
2. The Hebrew words for “cry out” and “quiver” are similar

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives flee up to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.

⁶ For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands; for the grass has withered, the vegetation has vanished, there is no greenness.

⁷ Therefore they carry the abundance it has made and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.

⁸ For a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab, her wailing is heard as far as Eglaim, and her wailing as far as Beer Elim.

⁹ For the waters of Dimon¹ are full of blood; but I will place added things upon Dimon: a lion for the survivors² of Moab and for the remnant of the land.

1. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads “Dibon” here
2. Hebrew “survivor”

¹ Send a ram¹ to the ruler of the land, from Sela across the desert to the mountain of ⌞daughter Zion⌟.²

1. Possibly “rams” if a scribe accidentally omitted the Hebrew plural ending because the next word begins with that same letter
2. Literally “the daughter of Zion”

² And this shall be: like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.

³ “Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the middle of noonday. Hide the outcasts; you must not betray the fugitive.

⁴ Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you; be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer.” When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped, the ⌞one who tramples has⌟¹ disappeared from the land,

1. Literally “one who tramples have,” with mismatched singular and plural

⁵ then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud— of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; ⌞his boasting is not true⌟.¹

1. Literally “not so his boasting”

⁷ Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, ⌞utterly devastated⌟.¹

1. Literally “surely destroyed”

⁸ For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah; rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils, they reached up to Jazer, they wandered to the desert; her shoots spread abroad, they crossed over the sea.

⁹ Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears,¹ Heshbon and Elealeh, for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.

1. Hebrew “tear”

¹⁰ And joy and gladness are¹ taken away from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards no one exults, no one shouts for joy; no treader treads wine in the presses; I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.

1. The Hebrew is singular

¹¹ Therefore my ⌞heart moans⌟¹ like a harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

1. Literally “intestines moan,”; in Hebrew, the “intestines” are the seat of the emotions, which would correspond to the “heart” in English

¹² And this shall happen: when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.

¹³ This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab ⌞in the past⌟.¹

1. Literally “from then”

¹⁴ But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.

Oracle of Judgment on Damascus

¹ An oracle of Damascus: “Look! Damascus will cease being a city and will become a heap of ruins.

² The cities of Aroer will be deserted;¹ they will be for the flocks, and they will lie down and ⌞no one will frighten⌟² them.

1. These words in Hebrew (and “flocks” in the next line) all begin with the same letter, Ayin
2. Literally “there is not one who frightens”

³ And the fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts.

1. Literally “declaration of”

⁴ “And this shall happen: On that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will become lean.

⁵ And it shall be as ⌞when a reaper gathers⌟¹ standing grain and he reaps grain with his arm, and it shall be like one who gathers ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim.

1. Literally “a gathering of a reaper of”

⁶ And gleanings will be left over in it, as ⌞when an olive tree is beaten⌟,¹ two or three ripe olive berries in the top of a branch, four or five on its fruitful branches,” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh, the God of Israel.

1. Literally “beating of an olive tree”
2. Literally “declaration of”

⁷ On that day, mankind will look to its maker, and its eyes will look to the holy one of Israel;

⁸ it will not look to the altars, the work of its hands, and it will not see what its fingers made and the poles of Asherah worship and the incense altars.

⁹ On that day, ⌞its fortified cities⌟¹ will be like the ⌞abandonment of the wooded place and the summit⌟,² which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.

1. Literally “the cities of his fortress”
2. Perhaps this difficult phrase originally read “abandonment of the wooded heights of the Amorites”

¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge; therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, and you ⌞plant⌟¹ a vine of a foreigner.

1. Literally “plant it”

The Roar of the Peoples

¹¹ On your planting day you make them grow, and in the morning of your sowing you bring them into bloom, yet the harvest will flee¹ in a day of sickness and incurable pain.

1. Reading the same consonants as a verb, nad, rather than the noun ned, which would mean “a heap ofthe harvest”

¹² Ah! The noise of many peoples, they make a noise like the noise of the seas! And the roar of nations, they roar like the roar of mighty waters!

¹³ The nations roar like the roar of many waters, but he will rebuke him, and he will flee far away. And they are chased like chaff of the mountains before the wind and like tumbleweed before the storm.

¹⁴ At the time of evening, and look, terror! Before morning he is no more. This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who plunder us.

Oracle of Judgment on Cush

¹ Ah! land of the whirring of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,

² that sends messengers by the sea and in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a ⌞tall⌟¹ and ⌞smooth⌟² nation, to a people feared ⌞near and far⌟,³ a ⌞mighty, mighty⌟⁴ and trampling⁵ nation, whose land rivers divide.

1. Literally “stretched out”
2. Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”
3. Literally “from this and beyond”
4. Perhaps this is a gibberish phrase in Hebrew, qaw-qaw
5. Meaning uncertain

³ All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, ⌞when a signal is raised on the⌟¹ mountains, you must look, and ⌞when a trumpet is blown⌟,² you must listen!

1. Literally “as a raising of a signal”
2. Literally “as a blowing of a trumpet”

⁴ For Yahweh said this to me: “I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like ⌞clear heat because of light⌟,¹ like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

1. The meaning of this phrase is uncertain; perhaps the “light” is sunlight

⁵ For before the harvest, ⌞when the blossom is complete⌟¹ and a blossom becomes ripening fruit, and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and one removes, tears away the tendrils.

1. Literally “as a completion of a blossom”

⁶ They shall ⌞all be left⌟¹ for birds² of prey of the mountains and for the animals³ of the earth. And the birds⁴ of prey will pass the summer on it, and every animal of the earth will winter on it.

1. Literally “be left together”
2. Hebrew “bird”
3. Hebrew “animal”
4. Hebrew “bird”

⁷ At that time, a gift¹ will be brought to Yahweh of hosts from a ⌞tall⌟² and ⌞smooth⌟³ people, and from a people feared near and far, a mighty, mighty and trampling nation, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, the mountain of Zion.

1. Perhaps tribute is meant
2. Literally “stretched out”
3. Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”

Oracle of Judgment on Egypt

¹ An oracle of Egypt: Look! Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble in front of him, and the heart of Egypt melts in his inner parts.

² “And I will stir up ⌞Egyptians⌟¹ against ⌞Egyptians⌟,² and each one will fight against his brother and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

1. Literally “Egypt”
2. Literally “Egypt”

³ And the spirit of ⌞the Egyptians⌟¹ will be disturbed in his midst, and I will ⌞confuse⌟² his plans,³ and they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, and the ghosts and the spiritists.

1. Literally “Egypt”
2. Literally “engulf”
3. Hebrew “plan”

⁴ And I will hand over ⌞the Egyptians⌟¹ into the hand of a hard master, and a powerful king will rule over them,” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

1. Literally “Egypt”
2. Literally “declaration of”

⁵ And the waters will be dried up from the sea, and the river will be parched and dry.

⁶ And the rivers will become foul-smelling; the branches of the Nile of Egypt will become little and dry up; reed and rush will wither.

⁷ Bare places by the Nile will be dried up, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown land of the Nile; it will be driven about, and ⌞it will be no more⌟.¹

1. Literally “there is none of it”

⁸ And the fishers will mourn, and all of those who cast fishhooks¹ in the Nile will lament, and those who spread out fishing nets² on the ⌞surface⌟³ of the water will languish.

1. Hebrew “fishhook”
2. Hebrew “net”
3. Literally “face”

⁹ And the workers of combed flax will be ashamed, and those who weave white linen.

¹⁰ And her weavers will be crushed; all the ⌞hired workers⌟¹ will be grieved of heart.

1. Literally “workers of wage”

¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are foolish; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh give senseless counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I myself am a son of sages, a ⌞descendant⌟¹ of ancient kings”?

1. Literally “son”

¹² Where are your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt.

¹³ The princes of Zoan have become foolish; the princes of Memphis are deceived; the leaders of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴ Yahweh has mixed a spirit of confusion into her midst, and they have caused Egypt to stagger in all of its doings, as ⌞when a drunkard staggers⌟¹ in his vomit.

1. Literally “the staggering of a drunkard”

¹⁵ And ⌞there will be nothing for Egypt to do⌟,¹ head or tail, palm branch or reed.

1. Literally “not it will be for Egypt a deed which he can do”

The Future Blessing of Egypt, Assyria, and Egypt

¹⁶ On that day, Egypt will be like women, and will tremble and be afraid before the waving hand of Yahweh of hosts that he is waving against it.

¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it will be afraid in himself because of the plan of Yahweh of hosts that he is planning against him.

¹⁸ On that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the ⌞language⌟¹ of Canaan and swear an oath to Yahweh of hosts. One will be called “City of the Sun.”

1. Literally “lip”

¹⁹ On that day, there will be an altar for Yahweh in in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a stone pillar for Yahweh at her border.

²⁰ And it will be a sign and a witness to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to Yahweh because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and a ⌞defender⌟,¹ and he will deliver them.

1. Literally “contender”

²¹ And Yahweh will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know Yahweh on that day, and they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows¹ to Yahweh, and they will fulfill them.

1. Hebrew “vow”

²² And Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing; and they will return to Yahweh, and he will respond to their prayer, and he will heal them.

²³ On that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt will worship together with Assyria.

²⁴ On that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

²⁵ whom Yahweh of hosts blessed, saying, “May Egypt my people be blessed, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and my inheritance, Israel.”

A Sign regarding Egypt and Cush

¹ In the year ⌞the commander-in-chief came⌟¹ to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and he took it,

1. Literally “of the coming of the commander in chief”

² at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals¹ from your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.

1. Hebrew “sandal”

³ Then¹ Yahweh said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

1. Or “And”

⁴ so shall the king of Assyria lead the captives¹ of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, ⌞with bared buttocks⌟,² the shame of Egypt.

1. Hebrew “captive”
2. Literally “and bare of buttocks”

⁵ And they shall be dismayed, and they shall be ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and because of Egypt, their pride.

⁶ And the inhabitant¹ of the coastland will say this on that day: ‘Look! This is our hope to whom we fled for help, to be delivered ⌞from⌟² the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?’ ”

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”
2. Literally “from the face of”

The Fall of Babylon

¹ The oracle of the wilderness of the sea: As storm winds passing over in the Negev, ⌞it comes⌟¹ from the desert, from a frightful land.

1. Literally “to come”

² A hard revelation is told to me; the treacherous deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Media! I put an end to all of her sighing.

³ Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman giving birth. I am ⌞too bent to hear⌟,¹ I am ⌞too dismayed to see⌟.²

1. Literally “bent from hearing,” which could also mean “bent because of what I heard”
2. Literally “dismayed from seeing,” which could also mean “dismayed because of what I saw”

⁴ My ⌞mind⌟¹ staggers; fear terrifies me; the twilight ⌞I desired⌟² ⌞brought⌟³ me fear.

1. Literally “heart”
2. Literally “of my desire”
3. Literally “put”

⁵ Set out the table in order! Spread out the rugs!¹ Eat! drink! Rise up, commanders; smear² the shield!

1. Hebrew “rug”
2. That is, prepare with oil

⁶ For the Lord said this to me: “Go, set a watchman in position. He must announce what he sees.

⁷ When¹ he sees riders,² a pair of horsemen, riders³ of donkeys,⁴ riders⁵ of camels,⁶ ⌞then⌟⁷ he must listen attentively, paying attention, paying ⌞special⌟⁸ attention.”

1. Or “And”
2. Hebrew “rider”
3. Hebrew “rider”
4. Hebrew “donkey”
5. Hebrew “rider”
6. Hebrew “camel”
7. Or “and”
8. Literally “much”

⁸ Then¹ the ⌞watchman⌟² called, “Lord, I am standing on the watchtower continually by day, and I am standing at my post ⌞throughout⌟³ the night.

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “lion”
3. Literally “all of”

⁹ And look at this! A man’s a chariot is coming, a pair of horsemen!” Then¹ he responded and said, “It has fallen! Babylon has fallen! And all the images of her gods are² smashed on the ground!”

1. Or “and”
2. Hebrew “is”

¹⁰ My downtrodden people and the son of my threshing floor, I will announce to you what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel.

Oracle regarding Dumah

¹¹ The oracle of Dumah: One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what ⌞of⌟¹ the night? Watchman, what ⌞of⌟² the night?”

1. Literally “from”
2. Literally “from”

¹² The watchman says, “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; ⌞come back again⌟.”¹

1. Literally “return come”

Oracle against Arabia

¹³ An oracle ⌞concerning⌟¹ Arabia: You will spend the night in the thicket in a desert-plateau,² caravans of Dedanites.

1. Literally “in”
2. The Hebrew for “in a desert-plateau” is the same as for “concerning Arabia” in the preceding line

¹⁴ ⌞When you happen to meet⌟¹ the thirsty, bring water. Inhabitants of the land of Tema came to meet the fugitive with his bread.

1. Literally “Toward encountering”

¹⁵ For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword and the bent bow, and from the heaviness of the battle.

¹⁶ For the Lord said this to me: “⌞In one more year⌟,¹ like the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.

1. Literally “In yet a year”

¹⁷ And the remainder of the number of the bows¹ of the warriors of the sons of Kedar will be few.” For Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.

1. Hebrew “bow”

Oracle against Jerusalem

¹ The oracle of the valley of vision: ⌞What business do you have going⌟¹ up, all of you, to the roofs,

1. Literally “What to you then that you have gone”

² ⌞noisy⌟,¹ tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain by the sword, nor are they dead from battle.

1. Literally “full of noises”

³ All of your rulers have fled together without a bow; all of ⌞you who were found⌟¹ were captured. They were captured together; they had fled far away.

1. Literally “your found ones”

⁴ Therefore I said, “Look away from me, let me ⌞weep bitterly⌟;¹ you must not insist on comforting me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

1. Literally “be bitter in weeping”

⁵ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion¹ in the valley of vision, a tearing down of walls² and a cry for help to the mountains.³

1. These three Hebrew words are alliterative: mehûmâûmeḇûsâûmeḇûḵâ
2. Hebrew “wall”
3. Hebrew “mountain”

⁶ And Elam lifted up the quiver, with chariots¹ of men² and cavalry. And Kir uncovered the shield.

1. Hebrew “chariot”
2. Hebrew “man”

⁷ And this happened: the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots,¹ and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.

1. Hebrew “chariot”

⁸ And he uncovered the covering of Judah. And you looked, on that day, to the weapons¹ of the House of the Forest,

1. Hebrew “weapon”

⁹ and you saw that the breaches in the walls of the city of David were many, and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰ And you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹ And you made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the old pool, but you did not look to its maker, and you did not see ⌞the one who created it long ago⌟.¹

1. Literally “its creator from far away”

¹² And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day for weeping and mourning, and for baldness and girding ⌞with⌟¹ sackcloth.

1. Literally “of”

¹³ But look! Joy and gladness, the killing of oxen¹ and the slaughtering of sheep, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

1. Hebrew “ox”

¹⁴ And it was revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts: “Surely this sin will not be atoned for you until you die!” says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

Oracle regarding Shebna

¹⁵ The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, says this: “Go! Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house:

¹⁶ ‘What ⌞business do you have⌟¹ here, and who ⌞do you have⌟² here, that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself, carving his grave on the height, a dwelling place for him in the rock?

1. Literally “to you”
2. Literally “to you”

¹⁷ Look! Yahweh is about to ⌞really hurl⌟¹ you, man! And he is about to grasp you firmly;

1. Literally “hurl a hurling”

¹⁸ he will wind a winding tightly around you like a ball, to a ⌞wide land⌟.¹ There you shall die, and there the chariots of your splendor will be, disgrace to your master’s house!

1. Literally “land broad of sides”

¹⁹ And I will push you from your office, and he will throw you down from your position.

²⁰ And this shall happen: On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah,

²¹ and I will clothe him with your tunic, and I will bind your sash firmly about him, and I will put your authority into his hand, and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants¹ of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”

²² And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he shall open and no one will be able to shut; and he shall shut and no one will be able to open.

²³ And I will drive him in like a peg into a secure place, and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father.

²⁴ And they will hang all of the heaviness of his father’s house on him, the offspring and the offshoot, all of the small vessels, from the ⌞bowls to the jars⌟.¹

1. Literally “vessels of the bowls to all of the vessels of the jars”

²⁵ On that day, ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.’ ”

1. Literally “declaration of”

Oracle against Tyre

¹ The oracle of Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for ⌞the house is destroyed so that no one can enter⌟;¹ it is announced to them from the land of Cyprus.

1. Literally “it is destroyed from a house from entering”

² Be still, inhabitants of the coast, merchant of Sidon, who travels over the sea, they filled you.

³ And on the great waters is the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile is its produce, and she was the merchandise of the nations.

⁴ Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea, the fortress of the sea said, saying, “I was not in labor, and I have not given birth, and I have not reared young men, brought¹ up young women.”

1. Or “I have brought”

⁵ When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report ⌞about⌟¹ Tyre.

1. Literally “of”

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish! Wail, inhabitants of the coast!

⁷ ⌞Is this your exultant one⌟,¹ her origin from the days of long ago? Her feet brought her to dwell afar as an alien.

1. Literally “this to you, exultant”

⁸ Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,¹ whose merchants were princes, her traders the honored ones of the earth?

1. Hebrew “crown”

⁹ Yahweh of hosts has planned it: to defile the pride of all glory, to humble all the honored ones of the earth.

¹⁰ Cross over your own land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.¹

1. Hebrew “waistband” is emended to “harbor” by transposing two consonants

¹¹ He has stretched his hand out over the sea; he has made kingdoms shake. Yahweh has commanded concerning Canaan to destroy her fortresses.

¹² And he said, “You will not ⌞continue⌟¹ to exult, crushed one, ⌞virgin⌟² daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over to Cyprus! There will be no rest for you even there.”

1. Literally “do again longer”
2. Literally “virgin of the”

¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans! ⌞This people no longer exists. Assyria destined⌟¹ it for wild animals. They erected its siege towers; they demolished its citadel fortresses. It made her like a ruin.

1. Literally “this people was not Assyria destined,” which could be translated “It was this people! It was not Assyria. They destined”

¹⁴ Wail, ships of Tarshish! For your fortress is destroyed.

¹⁵ And this will happen on that day: And Tyre will be forgotten seventy years,¹ like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years,² it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute:

1. Hebrew “year”
2. Hebrew “year”

¹⁶ “Take a harp, go around the city, forgotten prostitute! Do it well, playing a stringed instrument! Make numerous songs,¹ that you may be remembered.”

1. Hebrew “song”

¹⁷ And this shall happen: at the end of seventy years,¹ Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she will return to her harlot’s wages, and she will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

1. Hebrew “year”

¹⁸ And this shall happen: her merchandise and her harlot’s wages will be set apart for Yahweh; it will not be stored up, and it will not be hoarded, but her merchandise will be for those who live before the ⌞presence⌟¹ of Yahweh, for eating to satiation and for fine clothing.

1. Literally “face”

The Judgment on the Earth

¹ Look! Yahweh is about to lay the earth waste and is about to devastate it, and he will twist her surface, and he will scatter her inhabitants.

² And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the female slave, 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 one to whom he lends.

³ The earth shall be utterly laid waste, and it shall be utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word.

⁴ The earth dries up, it withers; the world languishes, it withers. The elevated of the people of the earth languish,

⁵ and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants. For they have transgressed laws; they have passed by statutes;¹ they have broken the everlasting covenant.

1. Hebrew “statute”

⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth, and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burn, and ⌞few men are left⌟.¹

1. Literally “he is left a man of smallness”

⁷ The new wine dries up; the vine languishes. All the merry of heart sigh;

⁸ the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased; the joy of the lyre has stopped.

⁹ They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰ The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut ⌞so that no one can enter⌟;¹

1. Literally “from entering”

¹¹ there is an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into ⌞darkness⌟;¹ the joy of the earth disappears.

1. Literally “evening”

¹² Desolation is left in the city; the gate is crushed into a state of ruin.

¹³ For it shall be like this in the midst of the earth, among the nations, like the beating of an olive tree, like gleanings when a grape harvest is at an end.

¹⁴ They lift up their voices;¹ they sing for joy; they shout out from the west over the majesty of Yahweh.

1. Hebrew “voice”

¹⁵ Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, the name of Yahweh the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.

¹⁶ We hear songs from the ⌞edge⌟¹ of the earth: “Glory to the righteous one!” But I say, “Ruin to me! Ruin to me! Woe to me! The treacherous ones deal treacherously, and the treacherous ones deal treacherously with treachery!”

1. Literally “wing”

¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, inhabitants¹ of the earth!

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”

¹⁸ And this shall happen: The one who flees from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and the one who goes up from ⌞inside the pit⌟¹ shall be caught in the snare, for the windows from heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

1. Literally “the middle of the pit”

¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken; the earth is torn asunder; the earth is shaken violently.

²⁰ The earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard, and it sways like a hut, and its transgression is heavy upon it, and it falls and does not rise again.

²¹ And this shall happen on that day: Yahweh will punish the host of heaven in heaven, and the kings of the earth on the earth.

²² And they will be gathered in a gathering, like a prisoner ⌞in⌟¹ a pit. And they will be shut ⌞in⌟² a prison and be punished ⌞after⌟³ many days.

1. Literally “on”
2. Literally “on”
3. Literally “from”

²³ And the full moon will be ashamed and the sun will be ashamed, for Yahweh of hosts will rule on ⌞Mount Zion⌟¹ and in Jerusalem, and before his elders in glory.

1. Literally “the mountain of Zion”

Praise for Salvation

¹ Yahweh, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things,¹ plans² ⌞of old⌟,³ in faithfulness, trustworthiness.

1. Hebrew “thing”
2. Hebrew “plan”
3. Literally “from far away “

² For you have ⌞made⌟¹ the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin, the palace of foreigners ⌞is no longer⌟² a city; it will ⌞never⌟³ be rebuilt.

1. Literally “placed”
2. Literally “from”
3. Literally “to eternity not”

³ Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; a city of ruthless nations, they will fear you.

⁴ For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless was like a rainstorm against a wall,¹

1. The same consonants with different vowels can be translated “winter rainstorm”

⁵ the noise of foreigners like heat in a dry land. You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud; the song of the ruthless was silenced.

⁶ And on this mountain Yahweh of hosts will make for all peoples a ⌞rich feast⌟,¹ a feast of aged wines, fat filled with marrow, filtered aged wine.

1. Literally “feast of fat”

⁷ And on this mountain he will ⌞destroy⌟¹ the face of the shroud, the shroud over all peoples, and the woven covering over all nations.

1. Literally “engulf”

⁸ He will ⌞destroy⌟¹ death forever, and the Lord Yahweh will wipe off the tears from all faces, and he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken.

1. Literally “engulf”

⁹ And one will say, on that day, “Look! This is our God! We have waited for him and he saved us! This is Yahweh; we waited for him! Let us be glad, and let us rejoice in his salvation.”

¹⁰ For the hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down under him as ⌞a heap of straw is trampled down⌟¹ in ⌞waters of⌟² a dung heap.

1. Literally “the trampling down of a heap of straw”
2. These words are in the written Hebrew text, but not in the reading tradition (Qere)

¹¹ And it¹ will spread out its hands in the midst of it, just as the swimmer spreads out to swim, and its pride will be brought low with the movement² of its hands.

1. Moab
2. Meaning uncertain

¹² And he will throw down the fortification of the high point of your walls; he will bring it low; he will ⌞send it⌟¹ to the ground, to the dust.

1. Literally “cause it to touch”

Judah’s Song of Praise

¹ On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “⌞We have a strong city⌟;¹ he sets up victory like walls and ramparts!²

1. Literally “a city of strength for us”
2. Hebrew “rampart”

² Open the gates ⌞so that⌟¹ the righteous nation who keeps faithfulness may enter!

1. Or “and”

³ You will protect a firm inclination in peace, in peace because he trusts in you.

⁴ Trust in Yahweh forever, for in Yah, Yahweh you have an everlasting rock.

⁵ For he has thrown down the inhabitants of the height, he lays low the lofty city. He lays it low to the ground; he throws her to the dust.

Yahweh’s People Vindicated

⁶ The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”

⁷ The way of the righteous is a straight path; ⌞you clear the level path of the righteous⌟.¹

1. Literally “the level path of the righteous you make level”; the meaning of this phrase is uncertain

⁸ Surely we wait for you in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, for your name and renown are the desire of the soul.

⁹ I desire you with all my soul in the night; also I seek you with my spirit within me, for when your judgments are ⌞upon⌟¹ the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

1. Literally “to”

¹⁰ Though the wicked person is shown compassion, he does not learn righteousness; he acts unjustly in the land of uprightness, and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.

¹¹ Yahweh, though your hand reaches high, they do not see it. Let them see, and let them be ashamed of the zeal of people. Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.

¹² Yahweh, you will establish peace for us, for you have done even all of our works for us.

¹³ Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us, ⌞but we praise your name alone⌟.¹

1. Literally “alone in you we praise name you”

¹⁴ The dead do not live; dead spirits do not rise because you have punished and destroyed them, and you have destroyed all memory of them.

¹⁵ You have added to the nation, Yahweh. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have extended all the ends of the land.

¹⁶ Yahweh, in distress they have visited you; they poured out an ⌞incantation⌟;¹ your discipline was on them.

1. Literally “whispering”

¹⁷ Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains. So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

¹⁸ We became pregnant, we writhed; we gave birth to wind. We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth, and no inhabitants of the world are born.

¹⁹ Your dead shall live; ⌞their corpses⌟¹ shall rise. Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust, for your dew is ⌞celestial dew⌟,² and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.³

1. Literally “my corpse;” some manuscripts propose an emendation to the suffix to change it to third person masculine plural (“their corpses”), which makes better sense
2. Literally “dew of light”
3. Or “you make the land of Rephaim fall”

²⁰ Go, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors¹ behind you; hide for ⌞a very little⌟² while, until the wrath has passed over.

1. The reading tradition (Qere) is singular
2. Literally “a little a little”

²¹ For look! Yahweh is about to come out from his place to punish the iniquity of the inhabitants¹ of the earth against him, and the earth will disclose her blood and will no longer cover her slain.

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”

Israel Rescued

¹ On that day, Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.

² On that day: “A vineyard of beauty! Sing in praise of it!

³ I, Yahweh, am her keeper; I water it ⌞again and again⌟.¹ Lest one afflict harm on it, I guard it night and day;

1. Literally “by moments”

⁴ ⌞I have no wrath⌟.¹ Whatever gives me thorns and briers, I will step forth against in battle. I will set it on fire altogether.

1. Literally “There is no wrath for me”

⁵ Or let it grasp at my protection; let it make peace with me; peace let it make with me.”

⁶ ⌞Days are coming⌟,¹ let Jacob take root; Israel will blossom and send out shoots, and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.

1. Literally “The coming ones”

⁷ Does he strike him ⌞as he struck down those who struck him⌟?¹ Or is he killed ⌞as those who killed him were killed⌟?²

1. Literally “like the striking of one striking him”
2. Literally “like the killing of his killed ones”

⁸ By expelling¹ her, by her sending away, you argue with her. He removed them with his strong wind, in the day of the east wind.

1. Meaning uncertain, derived from the following parallel expression

⁹ Therefore by this he will make atonement for the guilt of Jacob, and this will be all of the fruit of the removal of his sin: ⌞when he makes⌟¹ all the stones of the altar like crushed stones of chalk, no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.

1. Literally “in his setting”

¹⁰ For the fortified city is solitary, a settlement deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; the calf grazes there, lies down there and destroys its branches.

¹¹ ⌞When its branches are dry⌟,¹ they are broken; women are coming and setting light to it. For it is not a people of understanding; therefore his maker will not have compassion on him, and his creator will not show him favor.

1. Literally “In her branch being dry”

¹² And this shall happen: on that day, Yahweh will thresh from the floodwaters of the Euphrates to the wadi¹ of Egypt, and as for you, you will be gathered one by one, sons of Israel.

1. A seasonal stream that is often dry

¹³ And this shall happen: on that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, and they will bow down to Yahweh on the ⌞holy mountain⌟¹ at Jerusalem.

1. Literally “mountain of holiness”

Judgment against the Leaders of Ephraim

¹ Ah! The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim and the withering flower of the glory of his beauty, which is at the head of ⌞the rich valley⌟,¹ ⌞ones overcome⌟² with wine!

1. Literally “a valley of fat”
2. Literally “ones struck”

² Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction, like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters, he will put them to the earth with his hand.

³ The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled¹ by feet,

1. The Hebrew is plural

⁴ and the withering flower of the glory of its beauty which is at the head of ⌞the rich valley⌟¹ will be like its early fig before summer, ⌞which the one who sees it swallows⌟² while it is still in his hand.

1. Literally “a valley of fat”
2. Literally “Which, when the one who sees it sees it, he swallows it”

⁵ In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,

⁶ and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ And these also stagger because of wine and stagger because of strong drink; priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink; they are confused¹ because of wine. They stagger because of strong drink; they err in vision. They stagger in the rendering of a decision,

1. Or “swallowed”

⁸ for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, ⌞with no place left⌟.¹

1. Literally “without a place”

⁹ To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from milk, those taken from the breast?

¹⁰ For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah, blah-blah upon blah-blah, gah-gah upon gah-gah, gah-gah upon gah-gah,¹ a little here, a little there.

1. In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”

¹¹ For he will speak with ⌞stammering⌟¹ and another tongue to this people,

1. Literally “stammer of lip”

¹² to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet¹ they were not willing to hear.

1. Or “and”

The Cornerstone of Zion

¹³ And to them the word of Yahweh will be blah-blah upon blah-blah blah-blah upon blah-blah gah-gah upon gah-gah gah-gah upon gah-gah,¹ a little here, a little there, so that they may go and stumble backward and be broken and ensnared and captured.

1. In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery, rulers of these people in Jerusalem:

¹⁵ Because you have said, “We have ⌞made⌟¹ a covenant with death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol. The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us, for we have made lies² our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”

1. Literally “cut”
2. Hebrew “lie”

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this: “Look! I am laying a stone in Zion, a ⌞tested⌟¹ stone, a precious cornerstone, a founded foundation: ‘The one who trusts will not ⌞panic⌟.’²

1. Literally “testing”
2. Literally “hurry”

¹⁷ And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,¹ and waters will flood over the hiding place.

1. Hebrew “lie”

¹⁸ And your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.

¹⁹ ⌞As often as it passes through⌟,¹ it will take you, for ⌞morning by morning⌟² it will pass through, in the day and in the night, and understanding the message will be only terror.”

1. Literally “From enough his passing through”
2. Literally “in the morning in the morning”

²⁰ For the bed is too short ⌞to stretch out on⌟,¹ and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.

1. Literally “from stretching oneself”

²¹ For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim; he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon to do his deed—his deed is strange— and to work his work—his work is alien!

A Parable of Yahweh’s Work

²² And now you must not scoff, or your bonds will be strong, for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts: complete destruction decreed upon all the land.

²³ Listen, and hear my voice! Listen attentively, and hear my word!

²⁴ Is it all day that the plowman plows, opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?

²⁵ When he has leveled its ⌞surface⌟,¹ does he not scatter dill, and sow cumin seed, and ⌞plant⌟² wheat in planted rows,³ and barley in an appointed place, and spelt grain as its border?

1. Literally “face”
2. Literally “place”
3. Hebrew “row”

²⁶ And his God instructs him about the prescription;¹ he teaches him.

1. That is, “the proper way”

²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a wheel of a utility cart ⌞rolled⌟¹ over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

1. Literally “turned”

²⁸ Grain is crushed fine, but certainly one does not thresh it forever; and one drives the wheel of his cart, but his horses do not crush it.

²⁹ This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts. He is wonderful in advice; he makes great wisdom.

Woe to Jerusalem

¹ Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year, let festivals recur.

² Yet¹ I will inflict Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation, and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.²

1. Or “And”
2. Hebrew “Ariel,” which might mean “altar hearth”

³ And I will encamp ⌞in a circle⌟¹ against you, and I will lay siege to you with towers² and I will raise up siegeworks against you.

1. The Hebrew text literally reads “like the ball”; the LXX supports an emendation to “David”
2. Hebrew “tower”

⁴ Then¹ you shall be low; you shall speak from the earth, and your words² will be low, from dust. And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost, and your word will whisper from the dust.

1. Or “And”
2. Hebrew “word”

⁵ But¹ the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by. And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.

1. Or “And”

⁶ You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great sound, storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.

⁷ And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, all those who fight against her and her stronghold, and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

⁸ And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating! And he wakes up and his inner self is empty. Or¹ as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking! And he wakes up and look, he is faint, and his inner self is longing for water. So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.

1. Or “And”

⁹ Be astonished and be amazed! Blind yourselves and be blinded! They are drunk but¹ not from wine; they stagger but² not from strong drink.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”

¹⁰ For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and he has shut your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹ And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the¹ document, saying, “⌞Read⌟² this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.”

1. The reading tradition (Qere) has “a” instead of “the”
2. Literally “Call”

¹² And if the document is given to one who does not ⌞know how to read⌟,¹ saying, “⌞Read⌟² this now!” he says, “I do not ⌞know how to read⌟.”³

1. Literally “know a document”
2. Literally “Call”
3. Literally “know a document”

¹³ And the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with its mouth, and with its lips it honors me, and its heart is far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,

¹⁴ therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular and a spectacle with this spectacular people. And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish, and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”

¹⁵ Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh, and their deeds are¹ in a dark place. And they say, “Who sees us? And who knows us?”

1. The Hebrew is singular

Blessing after Punishment

¹⁶ Your perversity! As if ⌞a potter⌟¹ shall be regarded as the clay! That the product of its maker says, “He did not make me,” and the thing made into shape says of its ⌞potter⌟,² “He has no understanding.”

1. Literally “of the one who creates”
2. Literally “one who creates”

¹⁷ ⌞In a very little while⌟¹ shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land, and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?

1. Literally “Not still a trifling of time”

¹⁸ And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.

¹⁹ And the meek ⌞have joy after joy⌟¹ in Yahweh, and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.

1. Literally “shall add joy”

²⁰ For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall come to an end. And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;

²¹ those who mislead a person into sin with a word and set a trap for the ⌞arbitrator⌟¹ in the gate and guide away the righteous by emptiness.

1. Literally “one who argues”

²² Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob: “Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer grow pale.

²³ For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will treat my name as holy, and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴ And those who err in spirit will ⌞acquire⌟¹ understanding, and those who grumble will learn instruction.

1. Literally “know”

Warning against Alliance with Egypt

¹ “Oh rebellious children!” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “to make a plan, but² not from me, and pour out a libation, but³ not from my Spirit, ⌞so as to add⌟⁴ sin to sin.

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Or “and”
3. Or “and”
4. Literally “for the sake of adding”

² Who go to go down to Egypt, but¹ they do not ask of my mouth, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.

1. Or “and”

³ And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.

⁴ For his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys reach to Hanes.

⁵ Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them, not for help and not for profiting, but for shame and also for disgrace.”

Oracle regarding the Negev

⁶ An oracle of the animals of the Negev: Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, ⌞among⌟¹ them are snake and flying serpent; they carry their wealth on the ⌞backs⌟² of male donkeys and their treasures on the humps³ of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.

1. Literally “from”
2. Literally “shoulder”
3. Hebrew “hump”

⁷ For¹ ⌞Egyptians⌟² help with vanity and emptiness, therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “Egypt”

⁸ Now go, write it on a tablet with them, and inscribe it on a scroll, ⌞that⌟¹ it may be ⌞for the time to come⌟,² forever, forever.

1. Or “and”
2. Literally “for last day”

⁹ For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children, children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,

¹⁰ who say to those who do see, “You must not see!” and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us; speak smooth things to us, see illusions,

¹¹ turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path, put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”

¹² Therefore the holy one of Israel says this: “Because you are rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and ⌞cunning⌟¹ and you rely on it,

1. Literally “going wrong”

¹³ therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall, bulging out on a high wall ⌞that breaks⌟¹ suddenly, in an instant.

1. Literally “whose breaking comes”

¹⁴ And he breaks it like a vessel of ⌞a potter⌟¹ breaks, that is crushed; he has no compassion, and no potsherd is found among its fragments² ⌞to take fire⌟³ from the hearth, or ⌞to skim⌟⁴ water from the cistern.”

1. Literally “someone who forms”
2. Hebrew “fragment”
3. Literally “for the taking away of fire”
4. Literally “for the skimming off of”

¹⁵ For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; your strength shall be in quietness and in trust.” But¹ you were not willing,

1. Or “And”

¹⁶ and you said, “No! For we will flee on horses!”¹ Therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift horses!”² Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!

1. Hebrew “horse”
2. Hebrew “horse”

Yahweh Will Show Mercy

¹⁷ One thousand ⌞because of⌟¹ a threat of one, ⌞because⌟² of a threat of five you shall flee, until you are left like a flagstaff on ⌞top⌟³ of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill.

1. Literally “from the face of”
2. Literally “from the face”
3. Literally “head”

¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy, for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹ For people will live in Zion; in Jerusalem, you will surely not weep. Surely he will be gracious to you; when he hears the sound of your cry, he will answer you.

²⁰ And the Lord will give you the bread of distress and the water of oppression, but¹ your teachers will not hide themselves² any longer. And your eyes ⌞shall see⌟³ your teachers.

1. Or “and”
2. Hebrew “himself”
3. Literally “be seeing”

²¹ And your ears shall hear a word from behind you, saying, “this is the way; walk in it,” when you go to your right and when you go to your left.

²² And you will defile the plating of your silver idols and the covering of your gold image. You will scatter them like contaminated things;¹ you will say to it, “Filth!”²

1. Hebrew “contaminated thing”
2. Or “Get out!”

²³ And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and ⌞fertile⌟.¹ On that day, your cattle will graze in broad pastures;²

1. Literally “fat”
2. Hebrew “pasture”

²⁴ and the oxen and the donkeys that till¹ the ground will eat fodder, sorrel that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

1. Or “tilling”

²⁵ And there will be streams on every high mountain and elevated hill, watercourses of water, on a day of great slaughter, when towers fall.

Judgment against Assyria

²⁶ And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when Yahweh binds up the breakage of his people, and he heals the wound of his blow.

²⁷ Look! The name of Yahweh comes from afar, burning with his anger and heaviness of cloud. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire.

²⁸ And his breath is like an overflowing river; it reaches up to the neck to shake the nations with the sieve of worthlessness; and a bridle that leads astray is on the jawbones of the peoples.

²⁹ ⌞You shall have a song⌟¹ as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and a gladness of heart like one who goes with the flute, to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the rock of Israel.

1. Literally “There shall be a song for you”

³⁰ And Yahweh will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard, and he will cause the descent of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and a rainstorm and stones¹ of hail.

1. Hebrew “stone”

³¹ Indeed, Assyria will be shattered by the voice of Yahweh; he strikes with the rod.

³² And every stroke of the staff of foundation¹ that Yahweh lays will be on it with timbrels and lyres, and he will fight against it² with battles of brandishing.

1. Some translations emend this to “discipline”
2. The reading tradition (Qere) has “them”

³³ For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday; indeed, it is made ready for the king. He makes its pile of wood deep and wide; he makes fire and wood ⌞abundant⌟.¹ The breath of Yahweh burns in it like a stream of sulfur.

1. Literally “numerous”

The Egyptians are No Help

¹ Ah! Those who go down to Egypt for help! They rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very numerous, and they do not look to the holy one of Israel, and they do not consult Yahweh.

² And indeed, he is wise, and he brings disaster, and he does not remove his words, and he will rise against the house of evildoers and against the help of workers of iniquity.

³ And the Egyptians are human and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and the helper will stumble, and the one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.¹

1. Or “perish”

⁴ For Yahweh said this to me: “As which a lion growls and a young lion over its prey when ⌞a full group⌟¹ of shepherds is called against him, it is not terrified by their voice, and to their noise it does not respond, so Yahweh of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

1. Literally “fullness”

⁵ Like birds flying overhead, so Yahweh of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will pass over and rescue it.

⁶ Turn back to the one against whom the sons of Israel have made deep rebellion.

⁷ For on that day, each one will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your hands have made in sin for you.

⁸ And Assyria shall fall by a sword not of a man, and a sword not of a human shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.

⁹ And his rock will pass over because of terror, and his officers will be terrified because of the flag,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, who has a fire in Zion and has a furnace in Jerusalem.

1. Literally “declaration of”

The Kingdom of Righteousness

¹ See, a king will rule according to righteousness, and princes will rule according to justice.

² And each one will be like a hiding place from the wind and a covering from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a dry region, like the shade of a large rock in a weary land.

³ And the eyes of those who see will not gaze,¹ and the ears of those who hear will listen.

1. The same consonants with different vowels would be translated “be blinded,” which fits the context better

⁴ And the ⌞minds⌟¹ of the rash will understand ⌞knowledge⌟,² and the tongues³ of stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

1. Literally “heart”
2. Literally “to know”
3. Hebrew “tongue”

⁵ A fool will no longer be called noble, and a scoundrel will not be said to be eminent.

⁶ For a fool speaks folly, and his ⌞mind⌟¹ does iniquity: to ⌞behave wickedly⌟,² and to speak error concerning Yahweh, to leave the throat of the hungry empty, and he deprives the thirsty of drink.

1. Literally “heart”
2. Literally “do ungodliness”

⁷ And a scoundrel, his weapons are evil; he plans evil devices to ruin the poor with words of deception even¹ when the speech of the needy is right.

1. Or “and”

Against the Carefree Women

⁸ But¹ the nobleman plans noble things, and he stands upon noble things.

1. Or “And”

⁹ Women who are at ease, rise up; hear my voice! Carefree daughters, listen to my word!

¹⁰ ⌞In a year⌟¹ you will tremble, carefree ones, for the vintage will come to an end; the harvest will not come.

1. Literally “In days upon a year”

¹¹ Tremble, you who are at ease; tremble, carefree ones; strip, and strip yourself, and gird yourself on your loins,¹

1. Although the carefree and at ease addressees in this verse are feminine plural (“you women”), the commands are masculine singular in form

¹² mourning over breasts, over fields of delight, over the fruitful vine,

¹³ over the soil of my people. It goes up in thorns¹ and briers,² indeed over all of the houses of joy in the jubilant city.

1. Hebrew “thorn”
2. Hebrew “brier”

¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the ⌞crowded city⌟¹ deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become² a cave forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture ⌞for⌟³ flocks.

1. Literally “crowd of the city”
2. The Hebrew text has “for the benefit of” following “become”
3. Literally “of”

¹⁵ Until a spirit is poured out on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned as the forest.

¹⁶ Then¹ justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful field.

1. Or “And”

¹⁷ And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness, quietness and security forever.

¹⁸ And my people will dwell in a settlement of peace and in a dwelling place of security and in undisturbed resting places.

¹⁹ And it hails when ⌞the forest comes down⌟,¹ and the city will become low in humiliation.

1. Literally “the coming down of the forest”

²⁰ Happy are you who sow by all waters, who let the foot of the ox and the donkey go free.

Yahweh’s Judgment and Help

¹ Ah, destroyer, and yourself not destroyed! And treacherous one, and no one has dealt treacherously with him!¹ When you ⌞cease⌟² destroying, you will be destroyed. When you stop dealing treacherously, one will deal treacherously with you.

1. Many manuscripts suggest “you” rather than “him”
2. Literally “finishing”

² Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you. Be our¹ arm in the mornings, indeed our salvation in the time of trouble.

1. Hebrew “their”

³ At the sound of tumult, peoples fled; because of your exaltation, nations scattered.

⁴ And your spoil is gathered, as the gathering of the locust, as a swarm of locusts storming on it.

⁵ Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high; he filled Zion with justice and righteousness,

⁶ and he will be the security of your times, an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.

⁷ Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

⁸ Highways are deserted; the traveler on the road ceases. One breaks a treaty, he rejects the cities,¹ he does not hold man in high regard.

1. A Dead Sea Scroll reads “witnesses”

⁹ The land mourns; it languishes. Lebanon feels abashed; it withers. Sharon is like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel ⌞are losing their leaves⌟.¹

1. Literally “shaking off”

¹⁰ “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh. “Now I will lift myself up proudly; now I will raise myself.

¹¹ You conceive dry grass, you bring forth stubble; your breath is a fire; it will consume you.

¹² And the peoples will be burning to lime— they are burned like thorns that have been cut down in the fire.

¹³ You who are far away, hear what I have done; and you who are near, know my might!”

¹⁴ Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized the godless: “Who of us can ⌞live⌟¹ with devouring fire? Who of us can ⌞live⌟² with everlasting consuming hearths?”

1. Literally “dwell as an alien”
2. Literally “dwell as an alien”

¹⁵ He who walks in righteousness and speaks uprightness, who rejects the gain of extortion, who ⌞refuses⌟¹ a bribe, who stops up his ears² from hearing ⌞bloodshed⌟³ and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.

1. Literally “shakes his hand from the taking of”
2. Hebrew “ear”
3. Literally “blood”

¹⁶ That one will live on the heights; the fortresses of rocks will be his refuge. His food will be given; his waters¹ will endure.

1. Hebrew “water”

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will see a ⌞distant land⌟.¹

1. Literally “land of distance”

¹⁸ Your ⌞mind⌟¹ will meditate on the terror: “Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed out? Where is the one who counted the towers?”

1. Literally “heart”

¹⁹ You will not see the insolent people, the people ⌞whose language is too obscure to understand⌟,¹ whose stammering of tongue ⌞cannot be understood⌟.²

1. Literally “obscure of lip than to hear”
2. Literally “there is no understanding”

²⁰ Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, a tent ⌞that is not moved⌟.¹ No one will ever pull out its tent pegs, and none of its ropes will be torn in two.

1. Literally “not he is loaded”

²¹ Rather, there Yahweh will be mighty for us, a place of rivers and ⌞broad streams⌟,¹ a galley ship with² oars³ cannot go in it, and a mighty ship cannot pass through it.

1. Literally “streams broad of hands”
2. Or “of”
3. Hebrew “oar”

²² For Yahweh is our judge; Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king; he is the one who will save us.

²³ Your riggings hang slack; they do not hold the base of their mast firm, they do not spread out the sail. Then the prey of spoil in abundance will be divided; the lame will take plunder.

²⁴ And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who live in it, their iniquity will be taken away.

Judgment on the Nations

¹ Come near, nations, to hear; and peoples, listen attentively! Let the earth hear, and that which fills it; the world and all its offspring.

² For the anger of Yahweh is against all the nations, and his wrath is against all their armies; he has put them under a ban, he has given them up for slaughter.

³ And their slain shall be cast out; as for¹ their corpses, their stench shall go up. And the mountains shall melt with² their blood,

1. Or “and”
2. Or “from”

⁴ and all the host of heaven shall rot. And the skies shall roll up like a scroll, and all their host shall wither like the withering of a leaf from a vine, or¹ like the withering from a fig tree.

1. Or “and”

⁵ When my sword is drenched in the heavens, look! It will descend upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, for judgment.

⁶ ⌞Yahweh has a sword⌟;¹ it is full of blood. It is covered with² fat, with³ the blood of lambs and goats, with⁴ the fat of the kidneys of rams, for ⌞Yahweh has a sacrifice⌟⁵ in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

1. Literally “A sword for Yahweh”
2. Or “from”
3. Or “from”
4. Or “from”
5. Literally “a sacrifice for Yahweh”

⁷ And wild oxen shall go down with them, and steers with strong bulls. And their land shall be drenched with¹ blood, and their soil shall be fattened with² fat.

1. Or “from”
2. Or “from”

⁸ For ⌞Yahweh has a day of vengeance⌟,¹ a year of retribution for the strife of Zion.

1. Literally “a day of vengeance for Yahweh”

⁹ And its streams shall be changed to pitch and its soil to sulfur, and its land shall become like burning pitch.

¹⁰ Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall be in ruins; forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her.

¹¹ But¹ the large bird and the hedgehog shall take possession of it, and the owl and the raven shall live in it. And he shall stretch the measuring line of confusion out over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

1. Or “And”

¹² Its nobles—but no kingdom is there—shall call, and all its princes shall be nothing.

¹³ And thorns shall go up her citadel fortress, weeds¹ and thistle plants² in her fortresses; and it shall be the settlement of jackals, green grass for the daughters of an ostrich.

1. Hebrew “weed”
2. Hebrew “thistle plant”

¹⁴ And desert creatures shall meet with hyenas, and a goat-demon shall call to his neighbor; surely there Lilith¹ shall repose, and she shall find a resting place for herself.

1. Hebrew transliteration; possibly a proper name for a Mesopotamian night-demon

¹⁵ There the owl shall nest and lay and hatch and care for her chicks in her shadow; surely there the birds of prey shall be gathered, each one with her mate.

¹⁶ Seek from the book of Yahweh and ⌞read⌟;¹ none of these shall be missing; none shall miss her mate. For my² mouth ⌞is the one that⌟³ has commanded, and his spirit ⌞is the one that⌟⁴ has gathered them.

1. Literally “call”
2. The Dead Sea Scroll has “his”
3. Literally “he”
4. Literally “he”

¹⁷ And he ⌞is the one that⌟¹ has cast the lot for them, and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line; they shall take possession of it forever, they shall live in it ⌞from generation to generation⌟.²

1. Literally “he”
2. Literally “to generation and generation”

The Ransomed Return to Zion

¹ Wilderness and dry land shall be glad,¹ and desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.

1. The Hebrew has an extra “them,” probably from an accidental of the first letter of the next word

² It shall blossom abundantly, and it shall rejoice indeed with rejoicing and exulting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. ⌞They are the ones who⌟¹ shall see the glory of Yahweh, the majesty of our God.

1. Literally “they”

³ Strengthen the weak hands and make the staggering knees firm.

⁴ Say to those who are hasty of heart, “Be strong; you must not fear! Look! your God will come with vengeance, with ⌞divine retribution⌟.¹ He ⌞is the one who⌟² will come and save you.”

1. Literally “the retribution of gods”
2. Literally “he”

⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened.

⁶ Then the lame shall leap like the deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy, for waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

⁷ And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Her resting place is in a settlement of jackals; the grass shall become like reeds¹ and rushes.²

1. Hebrew “reed”
2. Hebrew “rush”

⁸ And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not travel through it, but¹ it is for them, he who walks on the way; and fools shall not wander about.

1. Or “and”

⁹ No lion shall be there, and no ferocious wild beast shall go up it. It shall not be found there, but¹ the redeemed shall walk there.

1. Or “and”

¹⁰ And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come to Zion with rejoicing. And everlasting joy shall be on their head; joy and gladness shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

¹ And this happened: In ⌞the fourteenth year⌟¹ of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them.

1. Literally “four ten year”

² And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh¹ from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the field of the washer.

1. Rabshekah is the title of a high Assyrian official

³ And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who ⌞was in charge of the palace⌟,¹ came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.

1. Literally “was over the house”

⁴ And Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence in which you trust?

⁵ I said, ‘Only a word of lips! ⌞War has power and a plan⌟!’¹ Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

1. The Hebrew here is awkward; literally “Plan and power for war”

⁶ Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him.

⁷ And if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down in the ⌞presence⌟¹ of this altar.’ ”

1. Literally “face”

⁸ And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, that is, if you are able ⌞put⌟¹ riders for yourself on them!

1. Literally “give”

⁹ But how can you drive back ⌞one governor among the least of my master’s servants⌟,¹ when² you trust in Egypt for chariots³ and horsemen?

1. Literally “the face of the governor of the one of the insignificant servants of my master”
2. Or “and”
3. Hebrew “chariot”

¹⁰ And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it!” ’ ”

¹¹ And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand¹ it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the ⌞hearing⌟² of the people who are on the wall.”

1. Or “hear”
2. Literally “ear”

¹² But¹ Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? Was it not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine² with you?”

1. Or “And”
2. So Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) has “feet-water”

¹³ Then¹ Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

1. Or “And”

¹⁴ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you!

¹⁵ And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, “Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!”

¹⁶ You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make a blessing¹ with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat from his vine and from his fig tree and drink water from² his cistern,

1. That is, a gesture of surrender
2. Or “of”

¹⁷ until ⌞I come⌟¹ and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards,

1. Literally “my coming”

¹⁸ lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, ‘Yahweh will save us!’ Did the gods of the nations each save his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

²⁰ Who are there among all the gods of these countries who have saved their land from my hand, that Yahweh should save Jerusalem from my hand?” ’ ”

²¹ But¹ they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, “You must not answer him.”

1. Or “And”

²² Then¹ Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the ⌞palace⌟,² Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “house”

Hezekiah Consults Isaiah

¹ And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple¹ of Yahweh.

1. Or “house”

² And he sent Eliakim, who was ⌞in charge of⌟¹ the palace,² and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests ⌞covered⌟³ with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.

1. Literally “over”
2. Or “house”
3. Literally “covering themselves”

³ And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the cervical opening, and there is no strength to give birth.

⁴ Maybe Yahweh your God heard the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.’ ”

⁵ When¹ the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,

1. Or “And”

⁶ Isaiah said to them, “You must say this to your master: ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You must not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷ Look! I am about to ⌞put⌟¹ a spirit in him ⌞so that⌟² he shall hear a rumor and he shall return to his land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.” ’ ”

1. Literally “give”
2. Or “and”

⁸ And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left from Lachish.

⁹ Now¹ he² heard concerning Tirhakah the king of Cush, saying, “He has set out to fight against³ you.” When⁴ he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

1. Or “And”
2. That is, the king
3. Or “with”
4. Or “And”

¹⁰ “You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

¹¹ Look! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered?

¹² Did the gods of the nations that my ⌞predecessors⌟¹ destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?

1. Literally “fathers”

¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or¹ Ivvah?’ ”

1. Or “and”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read¹ it. Then² he went up to the temple³ of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the ⌞presence⌟⁴ of Yahweh.

1. Or “called”
2. Or “And”
3. Or “house”
4. Literally “face”

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,

¹⁶ “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel ⌞who is enthroned on⌟¹ the cherubim, you are the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth.

1. Literally “sitting”

¹⁷ Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God!

¹⁸ Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands¹ and their land,

1. The parallel text in 2 Kings has “nations”

¹⁹ to ⌞set⌟¹ their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them.

1. Literally “give”

²⁰ So¹ now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that² all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, you alone!”

1. Or “And”
2. Or “and”

God’s Answer

²¹ And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to me ⌞concerning⌟¹ Sennacherib, king of Assyria,

1. Literally “to”

²² this is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion; she shakes her head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.

²³ Whom have you taunted and blasphemed, and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward? To the holy one of Israel!

²⁴ By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said, “With my many chariots,¹ I myself have gone up the height of the mountains, to the remote areas of Lebanon. And I cut off ⌞its tall cedars⌟,² the choicest of its junipers. And I came to the height of its limit, the forest of its orchard.³

1. Hebrew “chariot”
2. Literally “the height of its cedars”
3. Or “Carmel”

²⁵ I myself dug and drank waters, and I caused all the streams of Egypt to dry up by the sole of my feet.”

²⁶ Have you not heard from ⌞a long time ago⌟?¹ I have made it from days of primeval time, and I formed it. Now I have brought it about, and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones.

1. Literally “distant”

²⁷ And their inhabitants are ⌞weak⌟;¹ they are dismayed, and they are ashamed; they have become like plants² of the field, and like greens of grass, like grass on³ the roofs and a cultivated field ⌞before⌟⁴ the standing grain.

1. Literally “short of hand”
2. Hebrew “plant”
3. Or “of”
4. Literally “before the face of”

²⁸ And I know your sitting down and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging ⌞against⌟¹ me.

1. Literally “to”

²⁹ Because you were enraged ⌞against⌟¹ me, and your noise² has come up to³ my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle on your lips, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.

1. Literally “to”
2. Or “complacency”
3. Literally “in”

³⁰ And this shall be the sign for you: the eating of volunteer plants¹ this² year, and in the second year self-seeded plants,³ and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

1. Hebrew “plant”
2. Literally “the”
3. Hebrew “plant”

³¹ And the remnant of the house of Judah that remain shall ⌞grow⌟¹ roots² downwards and make fruit upwards.

1. Literally “add”
2. Hebrew “root”

³² For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem and survivors¹ from mountain Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’

1. Hebrew “survivor”

³³ Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning¹ the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come to this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow there, and he shall not meet it with a shield, and he shall not heap a siege ramp up against her.

1. Or “to”

³⁴ He shall return by the way that he came, and he shall not come to this city,’ ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

³⁵ ‘And I will defend this city, to save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Defeat

³⁶ And the angel of Yahweh set out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When¹ they rose in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses.

1. Or “And”

³⁷ Then¹ Sennacherib king of Assyria left, went, and returned and lived at Nineveh.

1. Or “And”

³⁸ And this happened: he was bowing in worship in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness

¹ In those days, Hezekiah became sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Order your house, for you are about to die, and you shall not recover.’ ”

² Then¹ Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,

1. Or “And”

³ and he said, “O Yahweh, please remember how¹ I have walked before your ⌞presence⌟² in faithfulness with a whole heart, and I have done the good in your eyes!” And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

1. Or “that”
2. Literally “face”

⁴ Then¹ the word of Yahweh came² to Isaiah, saying,

1. Or “And”
2. Or “was”

⁵ “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your ancestor:¹ “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. ⌞Look, I am going to⌟² add fifteen years to your days.

1. Or “father”
2. Literally, “Behold me; he will add,” but in this context it makes better sense to change the “he” to “I”; most translations follow this emendation

⁶ And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’

⁷ And this is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken:

⁸ Look! I will cause the shadow of the steps, which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to turn backwards ten steps.” And the sun turned back ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.

⁹ A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick and had recovered from his sickness:

¹⁰ I was the one who said, “I must go in the quiet of my days; I am summoned through the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”

¹¹ I said, “I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living! I shall no more look at humankind among the inhabitants of the world.

¹² My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd; I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the thrum; from day to night you bring me to an end.

¹³ I lie down¹ until morning; like a lion, so he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.

1. Or “cry out”

¹⁴ Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

¹⁵ What can I say? For¹ he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

1. Or “And”

¹⁶ Lord, they live by them, and the life of my spirit belongs to all among them. And restore me to health and keep me alive!

¹⁷ Look! Bitterness was bitter to me for peace. And you were the one who loved¹ my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

1. Or possibly “kept back,” which sounds similar in Hebrew

¹⁸ For Sheol cannot praise you; death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

¹⁹ The living, the living one praises you like me today; a father will make your faithfulness known to children.

²⁰ Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple¹ of Yahweh.”

1. Or “house”

²¹ And Isaiah said, “Let them ⌞take⌟¹ a lump of figs, and let them rub it on the boil ⌞so that⌟² he may recover.”

1. Literally “lift up”
2. Or “and”

²² And Hezekiah said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple¹ of Yahweh?”

1. Or “house”

The Delegation from Babylon

¹ At that time, Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for¹ he heard that he had been sick and recovered.

1. Or “and”

² And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them his house of aromatic gum, the silver, gold, spices, good oil, all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them in his house or in all his dominion.

³ And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah ⌞answered⌟,¹ “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”

1. Literally “said”

⁴ And he¹ said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah ⌞answered⌟,² “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing that I have not shown them in my storehouses.”

1. That is, Isaiah
2. Literally “said”

⁵ And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts:

⁶ ‘Look! days are coming, and all that is in your house and that which your ancestors¹ have stored up to this day shall be carried off to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says Yahweh.

1. Or “fathers”

⁷ ‘And some of your sons who go out from you, whom you fathered, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh that you have spoken is good,” for¹ he ⌞thought⌟,² “Surely there will be peace and security in my days.”

1. Or “and”
2. Literally “said”

Comfort for God’s People

¹ “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God.

² “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has ⌞received⌟¹ from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”

1. Literally “taken”

³ A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!

⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall become low, And the rough ground shall be like a plain, and the rugged ground like a valley-plain.

⁵ And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all ⌞humankind⌟¹ together shall see it, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

1. Literally “flesh”

⁶ A voice is saying, “Call!” And he said, “What shall I call?” All ⌞humankind⌟¹ are grass, and all his loyalty is like the flowers of the field.

1. Literally “flesh”

⁷ Grass withers; the flower withers when the breath of Yahweh blows on it. Surely the people are grass.

⁸ Grass withers; the flower withers, but¹ the word of our God will stand forever.

1. Or “and”

⁹ ⌞Get yourself⌟¹ up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift it up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

1. Literally “Go for you”

¹⁰ Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with ⌞strength⌟,¹ and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense ⌞in his presence⌟.²

1. Literally “strong”
2. Literally “before his face”

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will carry them in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure and weighed out the mountains in the scales,¹ and the hills in a balance?

1. Hebrew “scale”

¹³ Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh or informed him as ⌞his counselor⌟¹?

1. Literally “the man of his counsel”

¹⁴ With whom has he consulted, that¹ he enlightened him² and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and made the way of understanding known to him?

1. Or “and”
2. Or “made him understand”

¹⁵ Look! The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of the balances! Look! He weighs the islands like a thin covering.

¹⁶ And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire, and its animals¹ not enough for a burnt offering.

1. Hebrew “animal”

¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him; they are counted by him as¹ nothing and emptiness.

1. Or “from”

¹⁸ And to whom will you liken God? And to what likeness will you compare him?

¹⁹ A craftsman pours out the idol, and a ⌞goldsmith⌟¹ overlays it with gold, and he smelts chains of silver.

1. Literally “refiner”

²⁰ The one who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.

²¹ Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the ⌞beginning⌟?¹ Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?

1. Literally “head”

²² He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil and spreads them out like a tent to live in,

²³ the one who brings¹ princes to nothing; he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.

1. Or “gives”

²⁴ Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly are they sown; indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth when¹ he blows on them and they wither, and the tempest carries them like stubble.

1. Or “also”

²⁵ “And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.

²⁶ Lift your eyes up on high, and see! Who created these? The one who brings out their host by number. He calls all them by name. Because he is great of power and mighty of power, no man is missing.

²⁷ ⌞Why⌟¹ do you say, Jacob, and you speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my judgment is passed over by my God?”

1. Literally “To what”

²⁸ Have you not known, or have you not heard? Yahweh is the God of eternity, the creator of the ends of the earth! He is not faint, and he does not grow weary! There is no searching his understanding.

²⁹ He gives power to the weary, and he increases power for ⌞the powerless⌟.¹

1. Literally “not power”

³⁰ Even¹ young people will be faint and grow weary, and the young will stumble, exhausted.

1. Or “And”

³¹ But¹ those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength. They shall go up with wings² like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not be faint.

1. Or “And”
2. Hebrew “wing”

God Helps Israel

¹ Listen to me in silence, coastlands, and let nations renew their strength. Let them approach, then let them speak; let us draw near together for judgment.

² Who has roused salvation from the east, summoned¹ him to his foot, gives nations ⌞in his presence⌟,² and subjugates kings? He makes³ them like the dust with his sword, like scattered stubble with his bow.

1. Or “called”
2. Literally “before his face”
3. Or “gives”

³ He pursues them and passes on in peace; he does not enter the path with his feet.

⁴ Who has accomplished and done this, calling the generations from the ⌞beginning⌟?¹ I, Yahweh, am first; and I am the one with the last.

1. Literally “head”

⁵ The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near, and they have come.

⁶ Each one helps¹ his neighbor; he says to his brother, “Take courage!”

1. Hebrew “help”

⁷ And the artisan encourages the ⌞goldsmith⌟,¹ the one who makes smooth with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good!” And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over.

1. Literally “refiner”

⁸ But¹ you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you, the ⌞offspring⌟² of Abraham my ⌞friend⌟,³

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “seed”
3. Literally “beloved”

⁹ you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth and called from its remotest parts and told, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”

¹⁰ You must not fear, for I am with you; you must not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.

¹¹ Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated; ⌞your opponents⌟¹ shall be like nothing and shall become lost.

1. Literally “the men of your strife”

¹² You shall seek them, but¹ you shall not find them; ⌞your opponents⌟² shall be like nothing, and the men of your war like nothing.

1. Or “and”
2. Literally “the men of your strife”

¹³ For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand; ⌞it is I who say⌟¹ to you, “You must not fear; I myself, I will help you.

1. Literally “the sayer”

¹⁴ You must not fear, O worm of Jacob; people of Israel, I myself, I will help you,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel.

1. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁵ Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge, ⌞with⌟¹ sharp edges. You shall thresh and crush the mountains, and you shall make the hills like chaff.

1. Literally “owner of”

¹⁶ You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh; you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.

¹⁷ The poor and the needy are seeking water and there is none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸ I will open rivers on the barren heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness like a pool of water and the land of dryness like springs of water.

¹⁹ I will ⌞put⌟¹ the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness; I will set the cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert

1. Literally “give”

²⁰ so that they may see and know, and take to heart and understand together that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and the holy one of Israel has created it.”

²¹ “Present your legal case,” says Yahweh. “Bring your evidence,” says the king of Jacob.

²² Let them bring them, and let them tell us what will happen. Tell us what the former things are ⌞so that⌟¹ we may take them to our heart and know their outcome.² Declare to us the things to come;

1. Or “And”
2. Or “end”

²³ tell us the things coming ⌞hereafter⌟,¹ that² we may know that you are gods. Indeed, do good or³ do evil, that⁴ we may be afraid and see⁵ together.

1. Literally “later”
2. Or “and”
3. Or “and”
4. Or “and”
5. Following the reading tradition (Qere); the written text (Kethib) has “fear”

²⁴ Look! you are nothing, and your work is something worthless; whoever chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵ I stirred up one from the north, and he has come from the rising of the sun. He shall call on my name, and he shall come on officials as on mortar, and as the ⌞potter⌟¹ treads clay.

1. Literally “creator”

²⁶ Who declared it from the ⌞beginning⌟¹ ⌞so that⌟² we might know, and ⌞beforehand⌟³ ⌞so that⌟⁴ we might say, “He is ⌞right⌟!”⁵ Indeed, there was no one who declared it; Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it. Indeed there was no one who heard your words.

1. Literally “head”
2. Or “and”
3. Literally “from before faces”
4. Or “and”
5. Literally “righteous”

²⁷ First to Zion, look! Look at them! And I give a herald¹ of good tidings to Jerusalem.

1. Or “bringer”

²⁸ But¹ I look and there is no man, and I look among these and there is no counselor, that² I might ask them and they might answer a word.

1. Or “And”
2. Or “and”

²⁹ Look! All of them are deception; their works are nothing; their images are wind and emptiness.

The Mission of Yahweh’s Servant

¹ Look! here is my servant; I hold him, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have ⌞put⌟¹ my spirit on him; he will bring justice forth to the nations.

1. Literally “given”

² He will not cry out and lift up and make his voice heard in the street.

³ He will not break a broken reed, and he not will extinguish a dim wick. He will bring justice forth in¹ faithfulness.

1. Or “to”

⁴ He will not grow faint, and he will not be broken until he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands wait for his teaching.

⁵ Thus says the God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it.

⁶ “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness, and I have grasped your hand and watched over you; and I have given you as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations,

⁷ to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.

⁸ I am Yahweh; that is my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor¹ my praise to the idols.

1. Or “and”

A Song of Praise to Yahweh

⁹ Look! the former things have come, and I declare new things. I ⌞announce⌟¹ them to you before they sprout up.”

1. Literally “cause to hear”

¹⁰ Sing a new song to Yahweh; praise him from the end of the earth, you¹ who go down to the sea and that which fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.

1. Or “those”

¹¹ Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them shout loudly from the ⌞top⌟¹ of the mountains.

1. Literally “head”

¹² Let them give¹ glory to Yahweh and declare his praise in the coastlands.

1. Or “establish”

¹³ Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior; he stirs up zeal like a man of war. He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout; he prevails against his foes.

¹⁴ I have been silent for a long time; I have kept silent; I have restrained myself like one giving birth; I will moan, pant, and gasp together.

¹⁵ I will cause mountains and hills to dry up, and I will cause all their herbage to wither; and I will make rivers like islands, and I will cause pools to dry up.

¹⁶ And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know; I will cause them to tread on paths they have not known. I will make darkness ⌞in their presence⌟¹ into light and rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.

1. Literally “before their face”

Blind and Deaf Israel

¹⁷ They shall turn back; they shall be ⌞greatly ashamed⌟,¹ those who trust in an image, who say to a cast image, “You are our gods.”

1. Literally “ashamed with shame”

¹⁸ Deaf people, listen! And blind people, look to see!

¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant or¹ deaf like my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind like the one who is repaid or² blind like the servant of Yahweh?

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”

²⁰ You see many things, but¹ you do not observe. His ears are open, but² he does not hear.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”

²¹ Yahweh was willing for the sake of his righteousness; he showed his teaching to be great and proved it to be glorious.

²² But¹ this is a people plundered and looted; all of them are trapped in holes, and they are kept hidden in houses of imprisonment. They have become like plunder, and there is no one who saves; like booty, and there is no one who says, “Restore!”

1. Or “And”

²³ Who among you will heed this, will listen attentively and listen, for ⌞the time to come⌟?¹

1. Literally “later”

²⁴ Who gave Jacob to a plunderer¹ and Israel to those who plunder? Was it not Yahweh, against whom² we have sinned? And they were not willing to walk in his ways, and they would not ⌞obey⌟³ his law.

1. The reading tradition (Qere) has “as plunder”
2. Or “this”
3. Literally “hear”

²⁵ So¹ he poured the wrath of his anger upon him and the strength of war. And it set him afire all around, but² he did not understand;³ and it burned him, but⁴ he did not take it to heart.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”
3. Or “did not know”
4. Or “and”

The Restorer of Israel

¹ But now thus says Yahweh, he who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: “You must not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name; ⌞you are mine⌟.¹

1. Literally “to me you”

² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not scorch¹ you.

1. Or “burn”

³ For I am Yahweh, your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. I give you Egypt as ransom, Cush and Seba in place of you.

⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes, you are honored, and I myself love you, and I give people in place of you, and nations in place of your life.

⁵ You must not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your ⌞offspring⌟¹ from the east, and I will gather you from the west.

1. Literally “seed”

⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give!’ and to the south, ‘You must not withhold!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the end of the earth—

⁷ everyone who is called by my name, and whom I created for my glory, whom I formed, indeed whom I made.”

⁸ Bring out the people blind yet¹ with eyes, and deaf, though² they have ears.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”

⁹ Let all the nations gather together, and let the peoples assemble. Who among them has declared this, and ⌞declared⌟¹ the former things to us? Let them bring² their witnesses, that³ they may be in the right, and let them hear and say, “It is true!”

1. Literally “caused to hear”
2. Or “give”
3. Or “and”

¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe ⌞in⌟² me and understand that I am he. No god was formed before ⌞me⌟³, and none shall be after me.

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Literally “to”
3. Literally “my face”

¹¹ I myself am Yahweh, and there is no savior besides me!

¹² I myself declared and saved, and I ⌞proclaimed⌟.¹ And there was no ⌞strange god⌟² among you. And you are my witnesses,” ⌞declares⌟³ Yahweh, “and I am God.

1. Literally “caused to hear”
2. Literally “stranger”
3. Literally “declaration of”

Yahweh Rescues His People

¹³ Indeed, from this day I am the one, and no one can deliver from my hand. I perform,¹ and who can ⌞cancel it⌟?”²

1. Or “make”
2. Literally “bring it back”

¹⁴ Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel: “For your sake I will send to Babylon, and I will cause all of them to fall down as fugitives, and ⌞the Chaldeans⌟,¹ their rejoicing on the ships.

1. Literally “Chaldea”

¹⁵ I am Yahweh, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.”

¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh, who ⌞makes⌟¹ a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,

1. Literally “gives”

¹⁷ who brings out chariot and horse, army and mighty one. Together they lie down; they cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick.

¹⁸ “You must not remember the former things, and you not must consider the former things.

¹⁹ Look! I am about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts! Do you not perceive¹ it? Indeed, I will ⌞make⌟² a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

1. Or “know”
2. Literally “put”

²⁰ The animals of the field will honor me, jackals and daughters of the ostrich, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give a drink to my chosen people,

²¹ this people whom I formed for myself, so they might ⌞make known⌟¹ my praise.

1. Literally “count out”

²² But¹ you did not call me, Jacob; for you have become weary of me, Israel.

1. Or “And”

²³ You have not brought me your sheep for a burnt offering nor¹ honored me with your sacrifice. I have not made you serve with offerings,² nor have I made you weary with frankincense.

1. Or “and”
2. Hebrew “offering”

²⁴ You have not bought me spice reed with money or¹ satisfied me with the fat of sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have made me weary with your iniquities.

1. Or “and”

²⁵ I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and I will not remember your sins.

²⁶ Take me to court; let us enter into judgment together. You, ⌞make an account⌟¹ so that you may be in the right.

1. Literally “count up”

²⁷ Your first ancestor¹ sinned, and your ⌞representatives⌟² transgressed against me.

1. Or “father”
2. Literally “scoffers” or “spokesmen”

²⁸ And I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel to reviling.

Yahweh Blesses Chosen Israel

¹ “But now hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

² Thus says Yahweh, who made you, and who formed you in¹ the womb and will help you: you must not fear, my servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

1. Or “from”

³ For I will pour out water on a thirsty land and streams on dry ground. I will pour my spirit out on your descendants¹ and my blessing on your offspring.

1. Hebrew “descendant”

⁴ And they shall sprout ⌞among⌟¹ the grass like willows by a watercourse of water.

1. Literally “in between”

Yahweh the Only God

⁵ This one will say, ‘I belong to Yahweh!’ And that one will be called by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand ‘Yahweh’s’ and ⌞take the name⌟¹ of Israel.”

1. Literally “he will be titled by the name”

⁶ Thus says Yahweh, the king of Israel, and its redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: “I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no god besides me.

⁷ And who is like me? Let him proclaim¹ it! And let him declare it and set it in order for me ⌞since I established an eternal people⌟² and things that are to come, and let them tell them the things that are coming.

1. Or “call”
2. Literally “from my placing a people of eternity”

Idolatry Is Ridiculous

⁸ You must not tremble,¹ and you must not be paralyzed with fear. Have I not made you hear from of old² and declared it, and you are my witnesses? Is there a god besides me? And there is no rock! I know none!”

1. Or “be startled”
2. Or “then”

⁹ All those who form an idol are nothing, and their delightful things do not profit. And their witnesses do not see or know, so they will be ashamed.

¹⁰ Who would form a god and cast an image of which he cannot profit?

¹¹ Look! all his companions shall be ashamed, and the artisans are human! Let all of them assemble; let them stand up. They shall tremble;¹ they shall be ashamed together.

1. Or “be startled”

¹² The ⌞ironsmith⌟¹ works in the coals with his tool and forms it with hammers. And he makes it with ⌞his strong arm⌟;² indeed, he becomes hungry, and ⌞he lacks⌟³ strength; he does not drink water, and he is faint.

1. Literally “craftsman of iron”
2. Literally “the arm of his strength”
3. Literally “there is no”

¹³ The ⌞woodworker⌟¹ stretches out a line; he makes an outline of it with a marker. He makes it with a knife and makes an outline of it with a compass. He makes it like the image of a man, like the beauty of a human, to dwell in a temple.²

1. Literally “craftsman of wood”
2. Or “house”

¹⁴ Cutting down cedars for himself, he ⌞chooses⌟¹ a holm tree and an oak, and he lets it grow strong for him among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow.

1. Literally “takes”

¹⁵ And it ⌞becomes fuel for a human⌟,¹ and he takes some of it and grows warm; also, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also, he makes a god and bows in worship; he makes himself an image and bows down to it!

1. Literally “will become for a man as burning”

¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire; he eats meat over half of it; he roasts a roast and is satisfied. Also he grows warm and says, “Ah! I am warm! I see the fire!”

¹⁷ And he makes the remainder of it into a god! He bows down to his idol, and he bows in worship and prays to him, and he says, “Save me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸ They do not know, and they do not understand, for their eyes are besmeared ⌞so that they cannot see⌟,¹ their ⌞minds⌟² ⌞so that they have no insight⌟.³

1. Literally “from seeing”
2. Literally “hearts”
3. Literally “from having insight”

¹⁹ And ⌞no one takes it to heart⌟,¹ and there is no knowledge and no understanding to say, “I burned half of it in the fire and also I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat, and I have eaten. And I shall make the rest of it into an abomination! I shall bow down to a block of wood!”

1. Literally “he does not bring back to his heart”

Yahweh Remembers Israel

²⁰ He feeds on ashes; a ⌞deceived mind⌟¹ misleads him. And he cannot save ⌞himself⌟,² and he cannot say, “Is this not an illusion in my right hand?”

1. Literally “heart deceived”
2. Literally “his soul”

²¹ “Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant: I formed you; you are my servant; Israel, you will not be forgotten by me!

²² I have wiped your transgressions out like a cloud and your sins like mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you!”

Jerusalem Restored through Cyrus

²³ Sing for joy, heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Shout, depths of the earth! Break forth, mountains, in rejoicing, forest and every tree in it, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and he will show his glory in Israel!

²⁴ Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, and he who formed you in¹ the womb: “I am Yahweh, who made everything, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth—who was with me?—

1. Or “from”

²⁵ who frustrates¹ the signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives the wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

1. Or “breaks”

²⁶ who keeps¹ the word of his servant and carries out the plan of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt, and I will restore its ruins’;

1. Or “erects”

²⁷ who says to the deep, ‘Dry up! And I will cause your rivers to dry up’;

²⁸ who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd,’ and he shall carry out all my wishes¹; and saying of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be rebuilt,’ and the temple, ‘It shall be founded.’ ”

1. Hebrew “wish”

¹ Thus says Yahweh to his anointed one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subjugate nations before him, and I uncover¹ the loins of kings to open doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

1. Or “let loose”

² “I myself will go before you, and I will level the ⌞mountains⌟.¹ I will break the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.

1. Literally “swells”

³ And I will give you the treasures of darkness and treasures of secret places so that you may know that I am Yahweh, the one who calls you by your name, the God of Israel,

⁴ for the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one. And I call you by your name; I give you a name of honor, though¹ you do not know me.

1. Or “and”

⁵ I am Yahweh, and there is none besides me; besides me there is no god. I gird you though¹ you do not know me,

1. Or “and”

⁶ so that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me; I am Yahweh and there is none besides me.

⁷ I form light and I create darkness; I make peace and I create evil; I am Yahweh; I do all these things.

⁸ Trickle, O heavens, from above, and let clouds trickle with righteousness; let the earth open so that¹ salvation may be fruitful, and let it cause righteousness to sprout along with it.² I myself, Yahweh, have created it.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “together”

⁹ Woe to the one who strives with his ⌞maker⌟,¹ a potsherd among² potsherds of earth! Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ and ‘Your work has no hands’?

1. Literally “one who forms”
2. Or “with”

¹⁰ Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What you are begetting?’ or¹ to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’ ”

1. Or “and”

¹¹ Thus says Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, and its ⌞maker⌟:¹ “Ask me of the things to come ⌞about⌟² my children, and you command me about the work of my hands.

1. Literally “one who forms”
2. Literally “over”

¹² I myself made the earth, and I created humankind upon it. I, my hands, stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.

Yahweh the Only Savior

¹³ I myself have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his paths smooth. He himself shall build my city, and he shall set my exiles free, not for price or a gift,” says Yahweh of hosts.

¹⁴ Thus says Yahweh: “The acquisition of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, tall men, shall pass over to you; they shall be yours, and they shall walk behind you. They shall pass over in chains, and they shall bow down to you; they will pray to you: ‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other. Besides him there is no God.’ ”

¹⁵ Surely you are a God who keeps yourself hidden, God of Israel, the savior.

¹⁶ All of them are ashamed and indeed humiliated; the craftsmen of idols go together in insult.

¹⁷ Israel is saved by Yahweh with everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed, and you shall not be humiliated ⌞to all eternity⌟.¹

1. Literally “for eternity, forever”

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh, ⌞who created⌟¹ the heavens, he is God, ⌞who formed⌟² the earth and ⌞who made⌟³ it. He himself established it; he did not create it as emptiness— he formed it for inhabiting. “I am Yahweh and there is none besides me.

1. Literally “creating”
2. Literally “forming”
3. Literally “making”

¹⁹ I have spoken not in secrecy, in a place, a land, of darkness, I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek me ⌞in vain⌟!’¹ I, Yahweh, am speaking righteousness, declaring uprightness.

1. Literally “in emptiness,” as in verse 18

²⁰ Assemble and come; draw near together, survivors of the nations! They do not know, those who carry ⌞their wooden idols⌟¹ and pray to a god who cannot save.

1. Literally “the wood of their idol”

²¹ Declare and present your case, also let them consult together! Who ⌞made this known⌟¹ from ⌞former times⌟,² declared it from ⌞of old⌟?³ Was it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God besides me, and no savior besides me.

1. Literally “caused to hear this”
2. Literally “before”
3. Literally “then”

²² Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none besides me.

²³ I have sworn by myself; a word that¹ shall not return has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness: ‘Every knee shall kneel down to me; every tongue shall swear.’

1. Or “and”

²⁴ ‘Only in Yahweh,’ one shall say to me, ‘are righteousness and strength.’ He shall come to him, and all those who were angry with him shall be ashamed.

²⁵ In Yahweh all the offspring of Israel shall be in the right, and they shall boast.”

Babylon’s Idols

¹ Bel bows down; Nebo is stooping. Their idols are ⌞on⌟¹ animals² and ⌞on⌟³ cattle; your ⌞cargo⌟⁴ is carried as a burden ⌞on⌟⁵ weary animals.

1. Literally “to”
2. Hebrew “animal”
3. Literally “to”
4. Literally “things that are carried”
5. Literally “to”

² They stoop; they bow down together. They are not able to save the burden, but¹ ⌞they themselves go⌟² in captivity.

1. Or “and”
2. Literally “their inner self goes”

³ “Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been carried from the belly, who have been carried from the womb:

⁴ Even¹ to your old age I am he; even² to your advanced age I myself will support you. I myself have made you, and I myself will carry you, and I myself will support you, and I will save you.

1. Or “And”
2. Or “And”

⁵ To whom will you liken me, and count as equal, and compare with me, as though¹ we were alike?

1. Or “and”

⁶ Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire ⌞a goldsmith⌟¹ and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.

1. Literally “one who smelts”

⁷ They carry it on their shoulder; they support it and they set it in its place, and it stands in position. It cannot be removed from its place; even when he cries out to it, it does not answer. It does not save him from his trouble.

⁸ Remember this and pluck up courage! Call to ⌞mind⌟,¹ you transgressors!

1. Literally “heart”

⁹ Remember the former things from ⌞a long time ago⌟,¹ for I am God and there is none besides me, God and there is none like me,

1. Literally “forever”

¹⁰ who from the beginning declares the end, and from before, things that have not been done, who says, ‘My plan shall stand,’ and, ‘I will accomplish¹ all my wishes,’²

1. Or “do”
2. Hebrew “wish”

¹¹ who calls a bird of prey from the east, the man of his¹ plan from a country from afar. Indeed I have spoken; indeed I will bring it to being. I have formed it; indeed I will do it.

1. The reading tradition (Qere) has “my”

¹² Listen to me, strong of heart, far from righteousness!

¹³ I bring my righteousness near; it is not far. And my salvation will not delay; and I will put¹ salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

1. Or “give”

Babylon’s Fall

¹ Come down and sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea! For ⌞they shall no longer call⌟¹ you tender and delicate.

1. Literally “you shall not add they shall call to”

² Take the pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil, strip off your skirt, uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers!

³ Your nakedness shall be exposed; indeed, your shame shall become visible. I will take vengeance and I will not ⌞spare⌟¹ a person.

1. Literally “plead with”

⁴ Our redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the holy one of Israel.

⁵ Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea, for ⌞they shall no longer call⌟¹ you mistress of kingdoms.

1. Literally “you shall not add they shall call to”

⁶ I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not ⌞give⌟¹ them mercy; on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.

1. Literally “set up”

⁷ And you said, “I shall be an eternal mistress forever!” You did not set these things upon your heart; you did not remember its end.

⁸ Therefore now hear this, luxuriant one who sits¹ in security, who says² in her heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one. I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know the loss of children.”

1. Or “sitting”
2. Or “saying”

⁹ And these two shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood shall come on you ⌞completely⌟,¹ in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the power of your great enchantments.

1. Literally “as their fullness”

¹⁰ And you felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “⌞No one⌟¹ sees² me.” Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.”

1. Literally “none”
2. Or “is seeing”

¹¹ And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her. And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to ⌞avert⌟¹ it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.

1. Literally “make amends”

¹² Stand, now, in your enchantments, and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth. Perhaps you may be able to benefit; perhaps you may ⌞scare away⌟.¹

1. Literally “terrify”

¹³ You struggle with your many consultations;¹ let them stand, now, and save you— those who see the stars, divide the ⌞celestial sphere⌟,² who inform by new moons— from those things that are coming upon you.

1. Or “advice”
2. Literally “heavens,” that is, for astrology

¹⁴ Look! They are like stubble; the fire burns them completely. They cannot deliver ⌞themselves⌟¹ from the ⌞power⌟² of the flame; there is no coal ⌞for warming oneself⌟,³ no fire before which to sit.

1. Literally “their lives”
2. Literally “hand”
3. Literally “to grow warm”

¹⁵ So are to you those with whom you have labored, your traders from your youth. They wander, each to his side; there is no one who can save you.

Yahweh Refines Stubborn Israel

¹ Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and came out from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh, and ⌞invoke⌟¹ the God of Israel, but not in truth and not in righteousness.

1. Literally “cause to remember”

² For they call themselves ⌞after the holy city⌟,¹ and they lean on the God of Israel— Yahweh of hosts is his name.

1. Literally “from the city of the holiness”

³ “I declared the former things from ⌞of old⌟,¹ and they went out from my mouth. And I ⌞announced⌟² them suddenly; I acted,³ and they came to pass,

1. Literally “then”
2. Literally “caused to hear”
3. Or “did”

⁴ because ⌞I know⌟¹ that you are obstinate, and your neck an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze.

1. Literally “knowing me”

⁵ And I declared them to you from of old; I ⌞ announced⌟¹ them to you before they came to pass so that you would not say, ‘My idol did them, and my image and my cast image commanded them.’

1. Literally “caused to hear”

⁶ You have heard; see it all. And will you not declare it? I ⌞announce⌟¹ new things to you from this time and hidden things that² you have not known.

1. Literally “cause to hear”
2. Or “and”

⁷ Now they are created, and not from ⌞of old⌟,¹ and before today, and you have not heard them so that you could not say, “Look! I knew them.”

1. Literally “then”

⁸ Neither have you heard, nor have you known, nor from ⌞of old⌟¹ has your ear been opened. For I knew you would deal treacherously, very treacherously, and you are called a rebel from the womb.

1. Literally “then”

⁹ For the sake of my name I ⌞refrain from⌟¹ my anger, and for my praise I restrain it for you so as not to cut you off.

1. Literally “make long”

¹⁰ Look! I have refined you, but¹ not like² silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of misery.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “with”

Yahweh Frees Israel

¹¹ For my own sake, for my own sake I do it; for why should it¹ be defiled? And I will not give my glory to another.”

1. That is, my name

¹² “Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, ⌞whom I called⌟:¹ I am he. I am the first; also I am the last.

1. Literally “who was called by me”

¹³ Indeed, my hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon¹ them, they stand in position together.

1. Or “calling”

¹⁴ Assemble, all of you, and hear! Who among them declared these things? Yahweh loves him; he shall perform¹ his wish against Babylon and his arm against ⌞the Chaldeans⌟.²

1. Or “do”
2. Literally “Chaldea”

¹⁵ I, I myself, I have spoken! Indeed, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will be successful in his way.

¹⁶ Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from the ⌞beginning⌟;¹ from the time ⌞it came to be⌟,² there I have been; And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit.”

1. Literally “head”
2. Literally “of becoming it”

¹⁷ Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel: “I am Yahweh your God, ⌞who teaches⌟¹ you to profit, leads you in the way you should go.

1. Literally “teaching”

¹⁸ O that you had listened attentively to my commandments! Then¹ your prosperity would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

1. Or “and”

¹⁹ And your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your ⌞body⌟¹ like its grains.² It would not be cut off, and its name would not be destroyed from my presence.”

1. Literally “intestines”
2. Hebrew “grain”

²⁰ Go out from Babylon! Flee from Chaldea! Proclaim¹ it with a shout² of rejoicing; proclaim³ this! ⌞Send it forth⌟⁴ to the end of the earth; say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

1. Or “announce”
2. Or “sound”
3. Or “cause to hear”
4. Literally “Cause it to go out”

²¹ And when he led them through the deserts, they were not thirsty; he made water flow from the rock for them, and he split the rock, and the water gushed out.

²² “There is no peace,” says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”

Yahweh’s Servant Brings Salvation

¹ Listen to me, coastlands, and listen attentively, peoples from far away! Yahweh called me from the womb; from the ⌞body⌟¹ of my mother he made my name known.

1. Literally “intestines”

² And he ⌞made⌟¹ my mouth like a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of his hand, and he ⌞made⌟² me like an sharpened arrow; he hid me in his quiver.

1. Literally “put”
2. Literally “put”

³ And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.”

⁴ But¹ I myself said, “I have labored in² vain; I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity! Nevertheless, my justice is with Yahweh, and my reward is with my God.”

1. Or “And”
2. Or “for”

⁵ And now Yahweh says, who formed me from the womb as a servant for him, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might not¹ be gathered, for² I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength.

1. The reading tradition (Qere) has “to him”
2. Or “and”

⁶ And he says, “It is trivial ⌞for you to be⌟¹ a servant for me, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will give you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the end of the earth.”

1. Literally “from being you”

⁷ Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel, his holy one, to the one who despises¹ life, to the one who abhors the nation, to the slave of rulers: “Kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall bow down, for the sake of Yahweh, who is faithful, the holy one of Israel, and he has chosen you.”

1. A Dead Sea Scroll reads “is despised with respect to”

Yahweh Restores the Afflicted

⁸ Thus says Yahweh: “I have answered you in a time of favor, and helped you on a day of salvation, and watched over you, and given you as a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to give the desolate hereditary property as an inheritance,

⁹ saying to the ⌞prisoners⌟,¹ “Come out!” to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves!” they shall feed ⌞along⌟² the ways, and their pasturage shall be on all the barren heights.

1. Literally “captured ones”
2. Literally “on”

¹⁰ They shall not be hungry or thirsty, and heat and sun shall not strike them, for he who takes pity on them will lead them, and he will guide them to springs of water.

¹¹ And I will ⌞make⌟¹ all my mountains like a road, and my highways shall lead up.²

1. Literally “put”
2. Or “be high”

¹² Look! These shall come from afar, And look! These from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim.”

Yahweh Remembers Zion

¹³ Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth! Mountains must break forth in rejoicing! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and he will take pity on his afflicted ones.

¹⁴ But¹ Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me!”

1. Or “And”

¹⁵ Can a woman forget her suckling, refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb? Indeed, these may forget, but¹ I, I will not forget you!

1. Or “and”

¹⁶ Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷ Your children hasten; your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart¹ from you.

1. Or “move away”

¹⁸ Lift your eyes up all around and see; all of them gather; they come to you. ⌞As surely as I live⌟,¹ ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh, surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament, and you shall bind them on like a bride.

1. Literally “Life I”
2. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁹ Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,¹ surely now you will be ⌞too cramped for your⌟² inhabitants,³ and those who engulfed you will be far away.

1. Hebrew “ruin”
2. Literally “cramped by”
3. Hebrew “inhabitant”

²⁰ Yet the children ⌞born when you were bereaved⌟¹ will say in your ⌞hearing⌟,² “The place is too cramped for me; ⌞make room⌟³ for me so that I can dwell.”

1. Literally “of your bereavement”
2. Literally “ears”
3. Literally “approach”

²¹ Then¹ you will say in your heart, “Who has borne me these?” And, “I was bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so² who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; ⌞where have these come from⌟?”³

1. Or “And”
2. Or “and”
3. Literally “these where they”

²² Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations, and I will raise my signal to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.¹

1. Hebrew “shoulder”

²³ And kings shall be your ⌞guardians⌟,¹ and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, ⌞faces⌟² to the ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then³ you will know that I am Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed.

1. Literally “those who nurture”
2. Literally “noses”
3. Or “And”

²⁴ Can war-booty be taken from the mighty? or can a captive of a righteous¹ person be rescued?

1. The Dead Sea Scroll has “violent”

²⁵ But thus says Yahweh: “Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken, and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued, for¹ I myself will dispute with your opponent, and I myself will save your children.

1. Or “and”

²⁶ And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine. Then¹ all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob.”

1. Or “And”

¹ Thus says Yahweh: “Where is this divorce document of your mother’s divorce, with which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

² Why was there no man when I came, no one who answered when I called? ⌞Do I lack the strength to save⌟?¹ Or is there no power in me to deliver? Look! by my rebuke I dry up the sea; I ⌞make⌟² the rivers a desert; their fish stink because there is no water, and they³ die because of thirst.