Aug 5 - Isaiah 19-23
Isaiah
1The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a lofty cloud, and he will enter into Egypt, and the false images of Egypt will be moved before his face, and the heart of Egypt will waste away in its midst2And I will cause Egyptian to rush against Egyptian. And they will fight: a man against his brother, and a man against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom3And the spirit of Egypt will be ruptured to its very core. And I will cast down their plan violently. And they will seek answers from their false images, and their diviners, and those led by demons, and their seers4And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a strong king will dominate them, says the Lord, the God of hosts5And the waters of the sea will dry up, and the river will be desolate and dry6And the rivers will fail. The streams of its banks will diminish and dry up. The reed and the bulrush will wither away7The channel of the river will be stripped down to its source, and everything irrigated by it will dry up and wither and be no more8And the fishermen will grieve. And all who cast a hook into the river will mourn. And those who cast a net upon the surface of its waters will languish9Those who work with linen, combing and weaving fine textiles, will be confounded10And its irrigated places will begin to fail, with all those who make pools to take fish11The leaders of Tanis are foolish. The wise counselors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh: "I am the son of wisemen, the son of the kings of antiquity?12Where are your wisemen now? Let them announce it to you, and let them reveal what the Lord of hosts intends for Egypt13The leaders of Tanis have become foolish. The leaders of Memphis have decayed. They have deceived Egypt, the corner of its people14The Lord has mixed a spirit of giddiness into its midst. And they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, like a drunken man who staggers and vomits15And there will be no work for Egypt that would produce a head or a tail, one who bows down or one who refrains from bowing down16In that day, Egypt will be like women, and they will be stupefied and fearful before the presence of the shaking hand of the Lord of hosts, the hand which he will move over them17And the land of Judah will be a dread to Egypt. Everyone who thinks about it will be terrified before the presence of the plan of the Lord of hosts, the plan which he has decided concerning them18In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan, and which swear by the Lord of hosts. One will be called the City of the Sun19In that day, there will be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a monument of the Lord beside its borders20This shall be a sign and a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they will cry out to the Lord before the face of the tribulation, and he will send them a savior and a defender who will free them21And the Lord will be acknowledged by Egypt, and the Egyptians will recognize the Lord in that day, and they will worship him with sacrifices and gifts. And they will make vows to the Lord, and they will fulfill them22And the Lord will strike Egypt with a scourge, and he will heal them. And they will return to the Lord. And he will be placated toward them, and he will heal them23In that day, there will be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian will enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian will be with the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve Assur24In that day, will Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian, a blessing in the midst of the earth25which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands for the Assyrian, but Israel is my inheritance
1In the year in which Tharthan entered into Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of the Assyrians, had sent him, and when he had fought against Ashdod and had captured it2in that same time, the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying: "Go forth, and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take your shoes from your feet." And he did so, going out naked and barefoot3And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, as a sign and as a portent of three years over Egypt and over Ethiopia4so also will the king of the Assyrians force the captivity of Egypt, and the transmigration of Ethiopia: young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt5And they will be afraid and confounded over Ethiopia, their hope, and Egypt, their glory6And in that day, the inhabitants of a certain island will say: "Behold, this was our hope, we fled to them for help, to free us from the face of the king of the Assyrians. And now, how will we be able to escape?
1The burden of the desert of the sea. Just as the whirlwinds approach from Africa, it approaches from the desert, from a terrible land2A difficult vision has been announced to me: he who is unbelieving, he acts unfaithfully, and he who is a plunderer, he devastates. Ascend, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I have caused all its mourning to cease3Because of this, my lower back has been filled with pain, and anguish has possessed me, like the anguish of a woman in labor. I fell down when I heard it. I was disturbed when I saw it4My heart withered. The darkness stupefied me. Babylon, my beloved, has become a wonder to me5Prepare the table. Contemplate, from a place of observation, those who eat and drink. Rise up, you leaders! Take up the shield6For the Lord has said this to me: "Go and station a watchman. And let him announce whatever he will see.7And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, and a rider on a donkey, and a rider on a camel. And he considered them diligently, with an intense gaze8And a lion cried out: "I am on the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day. And I am at my station, standing throughout the night9Behold, a certain man approaches, a man riding on a two-horse chariot." And he responded, and he said: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon! And all its graven gods have been crushed into the earth10O my threshed grain! O sons of my threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced to you.11The burden of Dumah, cried out to me from Seir: "Watchman, how goes the night? Watchman, how goes the night?12The watchman said: "Morning approaches with the night. If you are seeking: seek, and convert, and approach.13The burden in Arabia. In the forest you shall sleep, in the evening on the paths of Dedanim14You who inhabit the land of the south: upon meeting the thirsty, bring water; meet the fugitive with bread15For they are fleeing before the face of swords, before the face of a sword hanging over them, before the face of a bent bow, before the face of a grievous battle16For the Lord said this to me: "After one more year, just like one year for a hired hand, all the glory of Kedar will be taken away17And the remainder of the multitude of strong archers from the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.
1The burden of the valley of vision. What does it mean to you, then, that each of you have even climbed to the rooftops2Filled with clamor, a busy city, an exultant city: your dead have not been slain by the sword, nor did they die in battle3All your leaders have fled together, and they have been bound by hardship. All who were found were chained together. They have fled far away4For this reason, I said: "Depart from me. I will weep bitterly. Make no attempt to console me, over the devastation of the daughter of my people.5For it is a day of death, and of trampling, and of weeping to the Lord, the God of hosts, in the valley of vision: examining the wall and the magnificence above the mountain6And Elam took up the quiver and the chariot of the horseman; and he stripped the wall of the shield7And your elect valleys will be filled with chariots, and the horsemen will position themselves at the gates8And the covering of Judah will be exposed, and in that day, you will see the weaponry of the forest house9And you will see breaches in the city of David, for these have been multiplied. But you have gathered together the waters of the lower fish-pool10And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem. And you have destroyed the houses in order to fortify the wall11And you have made a pit between two walls for the waters of the ancient fish-pool. But you have not gazed upward to him who made it, and you have not considered, even from a distance, its Maker12And in that day, the Lord, the God of hosts, will call to weeping and mourning, to baldness and the wearing of sackcloth13But behold: gladness and rejoicing, the killing of calves and the slaughter of rams, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.14And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you, until you die," says the Lord, the God of hosts15Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: Go forth and enter to him who lives in the tabernacle, to Shebna, who is in charge of the temple, and you shall say to him16"What are you here, or who are you claiming to be here? For you have hewn a sepulcher for yourself here. You have diligently hewn a memorial in a rock, as a tabernacle to yourself17Behold, the Lord will cause you to be carried away, like a domesticated rooster, and he will remove you, like an outer garment18He will crown you with a crown of tribulation. He will toss you like a ball into a broad and spacious land. There you will die, and there the chariot of your glory will be, for it is a shame to the house of your Lord.19And I will expel you from your station, and I will depose you from your ministry20And this shall be in that day: I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah21And I will clothe him with your vestment, and I will strengthen him with your belt, and I will give your authority to his hand. And he shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah22And I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder. And when he opens, no one will close. And when he closes, no one will open23And I will fasten him like a peg in a trustworthy place. And he will be upon a throne of glory in the house of his father24And they will suspend over him all the glory of his father’s house: various kinds of vessels and every little article, from the vessels of bowls even to every instrument of music25In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg which was fastened in a trustworthy place shall be taken away. And he will be broken, and he will fall, and he will perish, along with all that had depended upon him, because the Lord has spoken it
1The burden of Tyre. Wail, you ships of the sea! For the house, from which they were accustomed to go forth, has been laid waste. From the land of Kittim, this has been revealed to them2Be silent, you inhabitants of the island! The merchants of Sidon, crossing over the sea, have filled you3The offspring of the Nile is in the midst of many waters. The harvest of the river is her crop. And she has become the marketplace of the nations4Be ashamed, O Sidon! For the sea speaks, the strength of the sea, saying: "I have not been in labor, and I have not given birth, and I have not raised young men, nor have I promoted the development of virgins.5When it has been heard in Egypt, they will be in anguish, when they hear of Tyre6Cross over the seas. Wail, you inhabitants of the island7Is this not your place, which from its earliest days has gloried in its antiquity? Her feet will lead her to a sojourn far away8Who has made this plan against Tyre, which formerly was crowned, whose merchants were leaders, whose traders were illustrious on the earth9The Lord of hosts has planned this, so that he may tear down the arrogance of all glory, and may bring disgrace to all the illustrious of the earth10Cross through your land, as through a river, O daughter of the sea. You no longer have a belt11He has extended his hand over the sea. He has stirred up kingdoms. The Lord has given an order against Canaan, so that he may crush its strong12And he said: "You shall no longer increase so as to glory, while enduring calumny, O virgin daughter of Sidon. Rise up and set sail for Kittim; in that place, too, there will be no rest for you.13Behold, the land of the Chaldeans: never before was there such a people! Assur founded it. They have led away its strong ones into captivity. They have dug under its houses. They have left it in ruins14Wail, you ships of the sea! For your strength has been devastated15And this shall be in that day: you, O Tyre, will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Then, after seventy years, there will be, for Tyre, something like the canticle of a harlot16Take up a stringed instrument. Circulate through the city, you harlot who had been forgotten. Sing many canticles well, so that you may be remembered17And this shall be after seventy years: the Lord will visit Tyre, and he will lead her back to her profits. And she will fornicate again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth18And her businesses and her profits will be sanctified to the Lord. They will not be locked away and they will not be stored. For her business will be for those who will live in the presence of the Lord, so that they may eat until satisfied, and may be well-clothed even into old age