Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia

1 In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet. And he did so, going naked and barefoot. 3 And the LORD said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 “Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast. 6 “So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, `Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?’

Message to Egypt

1 The oracle concerning Egypt.
Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2
“So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city {and} kingdom against kingdom. 3
“Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confound their strategy,
So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead
And to mediums and spiritists. 4
“Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master,
And a mighty king will rule over them, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

 5
The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry. 6
The canals will emit a stench,
The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
The reeds and rushes will rot away. 7
The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile
And all the sown fields by the Nile
Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8
And the fishermen will lament,
And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. 9
Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected. 10
And the pillars {of Egypt} will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

 11
The princes of Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.
How can you {men} say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings? 12
Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them understand what the LORD of hosts
Has purposed against Egypt. 13
The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly,
The princes of Memphis are deluded;
{Those who are} the cornerstone of her tribes
Have led Egypt astray. 14
The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion;
They have led Egypt astray in all that it does,
As a drunken man staggers in his vomit. 15
There will be no work for Egypt
Which {its} head or tail, {its} palm branch or bulrush, may do.

 16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. 17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.

 18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing {allegiance} to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.

 19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. 21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

 24 In that day Israel will be the third {party} with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.

Message to Ethiopia

1
Alas, oh land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush, 2
Which sends envoys by the sea,
Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth,
To a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide. 3
All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,
As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see {it,}
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear {it.}

 4 For thus the LORD has told me,
“I will look from My dwelling place quietly
Like dazzling heat in the sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5
For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives
And remove {and} cut away the spreading branches. 6
They will be left together for mountain birds of prey,
And for the beasts of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer {feeding} on them,
And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them. 7
At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts
From a people tall and smooth,
Even from a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide–
To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, {even} Mount Zion.

Prophecy about Damascus

1 The oracle concerning Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city
And will become a fallen ruin. 2
“The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks to lie down in,
And there will be no one to frighten {them.} 3
“The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,
Declares the LORD of hosts.

 4
Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
And the fatness of his flesh will become lean. 5
It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the valley of Rephaim. 6
Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two {or} three olives on the topmost bough,
Four {or} five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the LORD, the God of Israel. 7
In that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. 8
He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,
Even the Asherim and incense stands. 9
In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And the land will be a desolation. 10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange {god.} 11
In the day that you plant {it} you carefully fence {it} in,
And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;
{But} the harvest will {be} a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

 12
Alas, the uproar of many peoples
Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! 13
The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale. 14
At evening time, behold, {there is} terror!
Before morning they are no more.
Such {will be} the portion of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.

Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation

1
Send the {tribute} lamb to the ruler of the land,
From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2
Then, like fleeing birds {or} scattered nestlings,
The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon. 3
“Give {us} advice, make a decision;
Cast your shadow like night at high noon;
Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive. 4
“Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you;
Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.
For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
Oppressors have completely {disappeared} from the land. 5
A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,
And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;
Moreover, he will seek justice
And be prompt in righteousness.

 6
We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
{Even} of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
His idle boasts are false. 7
Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken. 8
For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah {as well;}
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer {and} wandered to the deserts;
Its tendrils spread themselves out {and} passed over the sea. 9
Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away. 10
Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No treader treads out wine in the presses,
{For} I have made the shouting to cease. 11
Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab
And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth. 12
So it will come about when Moab presents himself,
When he wearies himself upon {his} high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.

 13 This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14 But now the LORD speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all {his} great population, and {his} remnant will be very small {and} impotent.

Judgment on Moab

1 The oracle concerning Moab.
Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated {and} ruined;
Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated {and} ruined. 2
They have gone up to the temple and {to} Dibon, {even} to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;
Everyone’s head is bald {and} every beard is cut off. 3
In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth;
On their housetops and in their squares
Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears. 4
Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out,
Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz;
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
His soul trembles within him. 5
My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are as far as Zoar {and} Eglath-shelishiyah,
For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;
Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over {their} ruin. 6
For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.
Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out,
There is no green thing. 7
Therefore the abundance {which} they have acquired and stored up
They carry off over the brook of Arabim. 8
For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab,
Its wail {goes} as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim. 9
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;
Surely I will bring added {woes} upon Dimon,
A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.

Israel’s Taunt

1 When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

 3 And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How the oppressor has ceased,
{And how} fury has ceased! 5
“The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers 6
Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. 7
“The whole earth is at rest {and} is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy. 8
“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, {and} the cedars of Lebanon, {saying,}
`Since you were laid low, no {tree} cutter comes up against us.’ 9
“Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. 10
“They will all respond and say to you,
`Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us. 11
`Your pomp {and} the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out {as your bed} beneath you
And worms are your covering.’ 12
“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations! 13
“But you said in your heart,
`I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north. 14
`I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15
“Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit. 16
“Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, {saying,}
`Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms, 17
Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to {go} home?’ 18
“All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own tomb. 19
“But you have been cast out of your tomb
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse. 20
“You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have slain your people.
May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. 21
“Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.

 22 “I will rise up against them, declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity, declares the LORD. 23 “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares the LORD of hosts.

Judgment on Assyria 24 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, 25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26 “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. 27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate {it?} And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?

 28 In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:

Judgment on Philistia 29
“Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a flying serpent. 30
“Those who are most helpless will eat,
And the needy will lie down in security;
I will destroy your root with famine,
And it will kill off your survivors. 31
“Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes from the north,
And there is no straggler in his ranks. 32
“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That the LORD has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.

Thanksgiving Expressed

1
Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O LORD;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me. 2
“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation. 3
Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation. 4
And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make {them} remember that His name is exalted. 5
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth. 6
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Thanksgiving Expressed

1
Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O LORD;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me. 2
“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation. 3
Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation. 4
And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make {them} remember that His name is exalted. 5
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth. 6
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Righteous Reign of the Branch

1
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5
Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,
And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

 6
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them. 7
Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8
The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea.

 10
Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.

The Restored Remnant

 11
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover the second time with His hand
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath,
And from the islands of the sea. 12
And He will lift up a standard for the nations
And assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth. 13
Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass Judah will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim. 14
They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west;
Together they will plunder the sons of the east;
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them. 15
And the LORD will utterly destroy
The tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
And He will wave His hand over the River
With His scorching wind;
And He will strike it into seven streams
And make {men} walk over dry-shod. 16
And there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.