A message about the rebellious nation of Judah

2 This is what Yahweh says:

“All you angels in [APO] heaven and all you people on [APO] earth, listen to me!

The people that I caused to exist and took care of [DOU]

have rebelled against me.

3 Oxen know their owners,

and donkeys know who provides food for them,

but my Israeli people do not know me;

they do not realize that I am the one who takes care of them.”

4 Terrible things will happen to that sinful nation,

to those people who are guilty of sinning greatly.

They are a group of very evil people,

who act very unjustly.

They have abandoned Yahweh,

the holy one of Israel;

they have ◄abandoned/turned away from► him.

5 Why do you [RHQ] continue to do things for which you should be punished?

Why do you continue to rebel against Yahweh?

You are like [MET] someone whose head is badly injured

and whose mind is sick/corrupt.

6 It is as though [MET] from the soles/bottoms of your feet to the tops of your heads

nothing is healthy;

there are only open wounds and cuts and sores

that have not been cleaned or bandaged,

and no olive oil has been put on them to heal them.

7 It is as though your country is ruined/desolate;

your towns have been burned.

Foreigners plunder/steal the crops in your fields while you watch;

they destroy everything that they see.

8 The city of Jerusalem has already been abandoned,

it is like [SIM] a shelter in a vineyard that has been abandoned by the watchmen;

it is like [SIM] a watchman’s hut in a field of melons that has been deserted.

It is a city surrounded by its enemies who are waiting to attack it.

9 If the Commander of the armies of angels had not allowed a few of us his people to ◄survive/remain alive►,

we would have all been destroyed,

like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

10 You leaders of Judah are as wicked as the rulers of Sodom were,

and you other people in Jerusalem areas are as wicked as the people in Gomorrah were.

Listen to this message from Yahweh, all of you!

11 He says, “You continue to bring many sacrifices to me,

but I do not [RHQ] want them because you do not worship me sincerely!

You bring me many offerings to be completely burned on the altar,

but I ◄am tired/do not want any more► of your burning all those offerings,

the burning rams and the fat from fat cattle.

I am not pleased with the blood of bulls and lambs and goats

that the priest pours against the altar.

12 When you come to my temple to worship me,

no one [RHQ] told you to trample on my courtyard while you perform all those rituals.

13 Stop bringing to me those offerings, because they are useless to me;

I am disgusted with the incense that the priests burn.

And your feasts to celebrate the new moon each month and your ◄Sabbath days/days of rest► and your other festivals—

I detest them because of the wicked things that you do.

14 I [SYN] hate all your celebrations of each new moon and the other festivals that you celebrate each year.

They are like [MET] a heavy burden that I am tired of carrying.

15 So, when you lift up your hands when you pray to me,

I will not even look at you.

Even if you pray to me very frequently,

I will not listen to you,

because it is as though your hands are covered with the blood of people whom you have killed.

16 Cleanse your inner beings, and become spiritually clean!

Stop your evil behavior!

Stop doing things that are wrong!

17 Learn to do things that are good!

Try to cause people to do what is just.

Help people who are ◄oppressed/treated cruelly►.

Defend orphans and widows when people take them to court.”

18 Yahweh says, “You need to think about the results of what you do.

Even though the guilt of your sins be as evident and as difficult to get rid of as [SIM] red stains on a white garment [DOU],

I will get rid of them completely

like someone who can make that stained garment become as white as snow or wool [DOU].

19 If you are willing to obey me,

I will enable you to have plenty to eat.

20 But, if you turn away from me and rebel against me,

you will be killed by your enemies’ swords.

That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

Yahweh condemned Jerusalem

21 “You people of Jerusalem previously faithfully worshiped only me,

but now you have become like [MET] prostitutes who are not faithful to any husband.

Previously, people there always acted justly/fairly and righteously,

but now your city is full of murderers.

22 Previously, you were like [MET] pure silver,

but now you have become like [MET] the scum that is left when silver is purified.

Previously you were like pure wine,

but you have become like [MET] wine that has a lot of water mixed with it.

23 Your leaders are rebels;

they spend time with thieves.

They all want to get bribes

and force others to give them gifts in order that they do good things for them.

They do not defend orphans in court,

and they do not do all they can to enable widows to get what they should receive.

24 Therefore I, the Commander of the armies of angels, the mighty God of Israel, say to my enemies,

‘ will get revenge on you;

you will not cause me any more trouble.

And I will pay you back for the evil things that you did.

25 I will raise my fist to strike you.

I will punish you severely [MET],

as though [MET] you were silver and I needed to heat you very greatly to melt you and get rid of the impurities.

26 After that happens, I will give you good judges like you had previously;

you will have wise counselors like you had long ago.

Then people will call your city “a city where people act righteously,

a city where people are loyal to me.”'”

27 Because the people of Jerusalem will do what is fair/just,

their city will be restored;

those who repent will be saved

because of their acting righteously.

28 But rebels and sinners will be crushed by Yahweh,

and those who forsake him will disappear.

29 You will be ashamed because you worshiped idols under the oak trees that you considered to be sacred;

you will be disgraced because you worshiped idols in the gardens where you chose to worship them.

30 You will be like [SIM] a very large tree which has withered leaves,

like [SIM] a garden that is dried up because it has no water.

31 Those among you who are very strong will become like [MET] dry wood,

and the work they do will be like [MET] a spark;

both they and the evil things that they do will burn up completely,

and no one will be able to put out the fire.

A message about future peace in Judah

2 This is the message that Yahweh showed me in a vision, concerning Jerusalem and the rest of Judea:

2 I saw that in the future, the hill on which Yahweh’s temple is built

will be the most important place on the earth;

it will be as though it is the highest mountain,

as though it has been raised up above all other hills;

and people from all over the world will come there.

3 People from many people-groups will say to each other,

“Come, let’s go up to the hill,

to the temple of Yahweh,

to worship the God whom Jacob worshiped.

There Yahweh will teach us what he desires us to know,

in order that our behavior will please him.

His teaching will be given to us in Jerusalem,

and we will take his message from Jerusalem to other places/nations.

4 Yahweh will listen to the disputes between nations

and he will settle their arguments.

Then, instead of fighting against each other, they will hammer their swords into plow blades,

and they will hammer their spears into pruning knives.

The armies of nations will no longer fight against each other,

and they will not even train men to fight in battles/wars.”

5 You Israeli people,

let’s walk in the light [MET] that comes from Yahweh!

A warning about the coming judgment

6 Yahweh, you have abandoned us your people

who are descendants of Jacob,

because everywhere your people practice the customs of people who live east of Israel.

Your people also perform rituals to find out what will happen in the future, like the people in Philistia do.

They make agreements/treaties with ◄pagans/people who do not know you►.

7 Israel is full of silver and gold;

there are very many ◄treasures/valuable things► here.

The land is full of war horses

and war chariots.

8 But the land is also full of idols;

the people worship things that they have made with their own hands.

9 So now they will be humbled

and they will be caused to become disgraced—

Yahweh, do not forgive them!

10 All you people should crawl into the caves in the rock cliffs!

You should hide in pits/holes in the ground

because of being afraid of Yahweh

and of his glorious and awesome power.

11 Yahweh will cause you people to no longer be arrogant,

and he will stop you from being proud.

Only Yahweh will be praised/honored on that day.

12 The Commander of the armies of angels has chosen a day

when he will judge those who are proud, every one of them [DOU],

and he will humble them.

13 He will get rid of all those who think they should be admired like [MET] the tall cedar trees in Lebanon,

and like all the great oak trees in the Bashan region.

14 He will get rid of all those who think they are as great as [MET] all the high hills

and even the high mountains.

15 He will get rid of all those who think that they are high towers

and high strong walls inside of or behind which they will be safe.

16 He will destroy all those who are rich because they own big ships that carry goods to other countries

and they own other beautiful ships.

17 He will cause people to no longer be arrogant

and he will cause them to stop being proud.

Only Yahweh will be praised/honored on that day.

18 All idols will ◄disappear/be destroyed►.

19 When Yahweh comes to shake/terrify the people on the earth,

they will run to hide in caves in rock cliffs

and in holes/pits in the ground,

because of being afraid of Yahweh

and of his glorious and awesome power.

20 On that day, people will get rid of all their gold and silver idols

that they made to worship,

and they will throw them to the bats and rats.

21 Then they will crawl into caves

and hide in the crags in the cliffs.

They will do that to escape from the dreadful punishments that Yahweh will cause them to endure,

from what he will do because he is glorious and awesome,

when he comes to shake/terrify the people on the earth.

22 So, do not trust that people will save you,

because people are as powerless as [MET] their own breath.

People certainly cannot help you [RHQ]!

A warning that God will punish Judah

3 The Commander of the armies of angels is about to take away from Jerusalem and other places in Judea

everything that you depend on—

all your food and water.

2 He will take away your heroes and your other soldiers,

your judges and your prophets,

people who do rituals to find out what will happen in the future and the elders,

3 army officers and other officials,

advisors and skilled craftsmen and those who perform rituals to predict the future.

4 He will appoint boys to be your leaders;

your children will rule you.

5 People will treat each other cruelly:

people will fight against their neighbors.

Young people will insult older people,

and vulgar/dishonorable people will sneer at people who should be honored.

6 At that time, someone will grab one of his brothers in his father’s house and say to him,

“You have a coat, which shows that you are respected.

So you be our leader!

You rule this city, which is now a pile of ruins!”

7 But his brother will reply,

“No, I cannot help you,

because I do not have any extra food or clothes in this house.

So do not appoint me to be your leader!”

8 Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah will be destroyed,

because everything that the people do and say there opposes Yahweh,

who is powerful and glorious,

and they refuse to obey him.

They rebel against him.

9 They even show on their faces that they oppose Yahweh.

They are proud of their sins,

like the people of Sodom were long ago;

they do not try to hide their sins.

Because of their sins, terrible things will happen to them,

but they will bring those disasters on themselves.

10 Yahweh told me to tell the righteous people that good things will happen to them;

they will enjoy the blessings that they will receive for their good deeds.

11 But terrible things will happen to wicked people;

they will be ◄paid back/punished► for the evil things that [MTY] they have done.

12 Now, youths who have become leaders treat my people cruelly,

and women rule over my people.

My people, your leaders are misleading you;

they are causing you to go down the wrong road [MET].

13 It is as though Yahweh has sat in his place in a courtroom

and is ready to judge his people.

14 He will stand up to declare why the elders and rulers of his people should be punished:

he says, “The people of Israel are like [MET] a vineyard that I planted,

but you have ruined it!

Your houses are full of things that you have stolen from poor people.

15 You should stop [RHQ] crushing my people!

It is as though you are pushing the faces of poor people into the dirt!”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

A warning to the women of Jerusalem

16 Yahweh says this:

“The women of Jerusalem are haughty/proud;

they walk around sticking their chins out,

and flirting with men with their eyes.

They walk with tiny steps

with bracelets on their ankles that jingle.

17 So I, Yahweh, will cause sores to be on their heads,

and I will cause those beautiful women in Jerusalem to become bald.”

18 At the time that Yahweh does that, he will strip away everything that the women of Jerusalem wear to make themselves beautiful—the ornaments on their ankles and their headbands, their crescent necklaces, 19 their earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 their scarves and ankle bracelets and sashes, their perfumes and ◄charms/little things that they wear thinking that those things will protect them from evil►, 21 their signet rings and nose rings, 22 their nice robes and capes and cloaks and purses, 23 their mirrors and nice linen clothes and shawls.

24 Instead of their having a nice smell from perfume, they will stink;

instead of nice sashes, they will have ropes around their waists because they will be captives.

Instead of having fancy hairdos, they will be bald.

Instead of fancy/beautiful robes, they will wear rough sackcloth,

and instead of being beautiful, they will be branded.

25 Their husbands will be killed by their enemies’ swords,

and their soldiers will also die in battles.

26 People [PRS] will mourn and cry at the gates of the city.

The city will be like [MET] a woman who sits on the ground because everything that she owned is gone.

4 When that happens, there will be very few unmarried men still alive.

As a result, seven unmarried women will grab one man, and say,

“Allow us all to marry you [IDM]!

We will provide our own food and clothing.

All that we want is to no longer be disgraced because of not being married.”

A promise that some day Jerusalem will be restored

2 But some day, Israel [MTY] will be very beautiful and great/glorious.

The people of Israel who will still be there will be very proud of the wonderful fruit that grows in their land.

3 All the people who will remain in Jerusalem, who were not killed when Jerusalem was destroyed,

whose names are listed among those who live there, will be called holy.

4 That will happen when Yahweh washes away the guilt of the women of Jerusalem,

and when he stops the violence [MET] on the streets of Jerusalem by punishing the people of Jerusalem.

When he does that, it will be like a fire to burn up all the impure things.

5 Then Yahweh will send a cloud of smoke every day and a flaming fire every night

to cover Jerusalem and all those who gather there;

it will be like a glorious canopy over the city

6 that will shelter the people from the sun during the daytime

and protect them when there are windstorms and rain.

A song about the people who were like Yahweh’s vineyard

5 Now I will sing a song about my dear friend,

and about his vineyard.

The vineyard was on a very fertile hillside.

2 My friend plowed the ground and cleared away the stones.

Then he planted very good grapevines on that ground.

In the middle of the vineyard, he built a watchtower,

and he dug a ◄winepress/pit for squeezing the grapes►.

Then he waited each year to harvest some good grapes,

but the vines produced only sour grapes.

3 Now this is what Yahweh says:

“You people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah,

I am like the friend, and you are like my vineyard;

so you judge which of us has done what is right.

4 What more could I have done for you

than what I have already done?

I expected you to be doing good deeds [MET],

so it is disgusting that [RHQ] you were doing only evil things

like the vineyard that produced only sour grapes!

5 So, I will now tell you what I will do to Judah, the place that is like my vineyard.

I will cut down the hedges,

and they will be destroyed.

I will tear down the walls of the cities

and allow wild animals to trample the land.

6 I will cause it to become a wasteland

where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed.

It will be a place where briers and thorns [DOU] grow.

And I will command that no rain will fall on it.”

7 The nation of Israel is like [MET] the vineyard of the Commander of the armies of angels.

The people of Judah are like the garden that was pleasing to him.

He expected you to be doing what is just/fair,

but instead, what he saw was people murdering [MTY] others.

He expected that you would be doing righteous deeds,

but instead, he heard cries from people who were being attacked violently.

Yahweh promises to punish Judah

8 Terrible things will happen to you who continually illegally acquire houses and fields.

You force one family after another to leave their homes

until you are the only ones [HYP] still living in the land.

9 But I heard the Commander of the armies of angels solemnly declare this:

“Some day, many of those huge houses will be empty/deserted;

no one will be living in those beautiful mansions.

10 The vines on ten acres of land will not produce enough grapes to make ◄six gallons/22 liters► of juice/wine,

and ten baskets of seed will produce only one basket of grain.”

11 Terrible things will happen to those who get up early each morning

to begin drinking alcoholic drinks,

and who stay awake until late at night drinking a lot of wine

until they are completely drunk.

12 They have big parties and provide lots of wine.

At their parties, there are people playing harps and lyres and tambourines and flutes,

but they never think about what Yahweh does

or appreciate what he has created.

13 So, my people will be ◄exiled/taken to other countries► far away

because they do not know about me.

Those who are now very important and honored will starve,

and the other people will die from thirst.

14 It is as though [PRS] the place where the dead people are is eagerly looking for more Israeli people,

opening its mouth to swallow them,

and a huge number of people will be thrown into that place,

including their leaders as well as a noisy crowd of people who enjoy living in Jerusalem.

15 Yahweh will get rid of a huge number of people;

and he will humble many more people who now are proud/arrogant.

16 But the Commander of the armies of angels will be exalted/praised because of his acting justly.

God will show that he is holy by doing righteous/just deeds.

17 Then lambs and fat sheep will be able to find good grass to eat,

even among the ruins of the houses of rich people.

18 Some people constantly tell lies,

and it is as though they are dragging behind them the wrong things that they have done.

Terrible things will happen to them!

19 They make fun of God and say to him,

“Go ahead, do something to punish us!

We want to see what you will do.

You, the Holy One of Israel, should do what you are planning to do,

because we want to know what it is.”

20 Terrible things will happen to those who say

that evil is good, and that good is evil,

that darkness is light and that light is darkness,

that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter.

21 Terrible things will happen to those who think that they are wise

and that they ◄are very clever/know everything►.

22 Terrible things will happen to those who think that [IRO] they are great/heroes

because they are able to drink lots of wine,

and boast about being able to mix good alcoholic drinks.

23 If people offer them bribes in order that they will enable wicked people not to be punished,

they accept those bribes,

and they cause people who are innocent to be punished.

24 Therefore, just like [SIM] fires burn up stubble

and dry grass shrivels up and quickly burns in flames,

it will be as though those people have roots that will rot

and have flowers that will wither.

That will happen because they rejected the laws of the Commander of the armies of angels;

they have despised the messages of the Holy One of Israel.

25 That is why Yahweh is extremely angry with his people;

it is as though his hand is raised and he is ready to smash them.

When he does that, the mountains will shake,

and the corpses of people will be scattered in the streets like [SIM] manure.

But even when that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry;

he will be ready to punish his people [MET] again.

26 Yahweh will send a signal to summon armies of nations far away;

it is as though he will whistle to summon those soldiers who are in very remote places on the earth.

They will come very swiftly [DOU] to Jerusalem.

27 They will not get tired or stumble.

They will not stop to rest or to sleep.

None of their belts will be loose,

and none of them will have sandals with broken straps,

so they will all be ready to fight in battles.

28 Their arrows will be sharp,

and their bows will be ready to shoot those arrows in a battle.

Because their horses pull the chariots fast, sparks will shoot out from their hooves,

and the wheels of the chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

29 They will roar like very strong lions [DOU]

that growl and then pounce on the animals they want to kill

and carry them off,

and no one is able to rescue them.

30 Similarly, your enemies will roar when they see the people they are about to kill,

like [SIM] the sea roars.

On that day, if someone looks across the land,

he will see only people who are in darkness and distressed;

it will be as though even the sunlight is hidden by dark clouds.

God appointed Isaiah to be a prophet

6 During the year that King Uzziah died, Yahweh showed me a vision. In the vision, I saw Yahweh sitting on a throne, high above everyone. He was wearing a very long robe that covered the floor of the temple. 2 Above him were standing several winged creatures. Each of them had six wings. They covered their faces with two of their wings, they covered their feet with two of their wings, and they flew using two of their wings. 3 They were calling to each other, saying,

“The Commander of the armies of angels is holy;

he is completely holy!

The entire earth is filled with his glory.”

4 When they spoke, it caused the doorposts of the temple to shake, and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, “Terrible things will happen to me, because everything that I say [MTY] is sinful, and I live among people who constantly say [MTY] sinful things. I will be destroyed because I have seen the Commander of the armies of angels!”

6 Then one of the winged creatures took a hot coal from the altar, using a pair of tongs. He flew to me 7 and touched my lips with the coal. Then he said, “Look at what I have done. I have touched your lips with this coal. Now your guilt is ended, and your sins are forgiven [DOU].”

8 Then I heard Yahweh asking, “Whom shall I send to be a messenger to my people? Who will go and speak for us?” I replied, “I will. Send me!”

9 Then he said,

“Okay, go, and say to the Israeli people,

‘You will listen carefully to what I say, but you will not understand it.

You will look very carefully at the things that I am doing,

but you will not understand them.’

10 What you(sg) say will cause these people to become stubborn [IDM];

it will cause them to not be able to hear what I say and see what I do.

As a result, they will not see what I want them to see or hear what I want them to hear,

and they will not understand it,

and they will not turn to me

and be saved from being punished.”

11 Then I said, “How long do you want me to continue to do that?”

He replied, “Do it until their cities are ruined by their enemies,

until no one is living in their houses,

do it until all the crops are stolen from their fields

and the fields are ruined.

12 Do it until I have ◄exiled everyone/forced everyone to go to their enemies’ lands► far away,

and the whole land of Israel is deserted.

13 If even one tenth of the people survive and stay there,

their enemies will invade the land again and burn everything.

But, just like [MET] when an oak tree is cut down, a stump is left from which new shoots will grow,

the people who remain in this land will be a group that will become large again and be ◄set apart for/dedicated to► me.”

A message of encouragement for King Ahaz

7 Ahaz was the son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah. During the time that Ahaz was the king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel marched with their armies to attack Jerusalem. But they could not conquer it.

2 But before they attacked, everyone in the palace heard a report that the armies of Syria and Israel were now ◄allies/joined to attack Jerusalem►. So Ahaz and the people over whom he ruled were extremely afraid; they were shaking from fear like trees shake in a windstorm.

3 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take your son Shear-Jashub, and go to talk with King Ahaz. He is at the end of the ◄aqueduct/water channel► that brings water into the upper reservoir, near the road to the place where women wash clothes. 4 Tell Ahaz to stop worrying [DOU]. Tell him that he does not need to be afraid of those two kings, Rezin and Pekah. They are very angry with Judah, but they are unable to harm his country any more than completely burned-out coals can harm him. 5 Yes, they are planning to attack this land and saying, 6 ‘We will attack Judah and conquer it. Then we will appoint Tabeel’s son to be the king of Judah.’ 7 But this is what Yahweh, the Lord, says:

‘It will not happen;

they will not conquer Jerusalem!

8 The capital of Syria is Damascus,

but Damascus is ruled only by its unimportant/insignificant king king Rezin.

And as for Israel, within 65 years it will be conquered and completely destroyed.

9 Israel’s capital is Samaria, and Samaria is ruled only by its insignificant/unimportant king king Pekah.

So you do not need to be afraid of those two countries!

But you must trust me, because if you do not trust me fully,

you will be defeated.’ ”

A promise of a son named Immanuel

10 Later, Yahweh gave me another message to tell to King Ahaz. 11 He said to tell him, “Request me, Yahweh your God, to do something that will enable you to be sure that I will help/protect you. What you request can be from a place that is as high as the sky or as low as the place where the dead people are.”

12 But when I told that to the king, he refused. He said, “No, I will not request Yahweh to do something to prove that he will help/protect us!”

13 Then I said to him, “You people who are descendants of King David, listen! You are causing me to be tired of being patient. Are you also going to cause my God to stop being patient with you [RHQ]? 14 Yahweh himself will do something for you to prove that he will help/protect you. Listen to this: A young woman will become pregnant and give birth to a son. She will name him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’. 15 And by the time that child is old enough to eat curds/yogurt and honey, he will be able to reject what is evil and choose what is good. 16 And before that child is old enough to do that, the lands of the two kings that you(sg) are very ◄afraid of/worried about► will be deserted. 17 But then Yahweh will cause you and your family and your entire nation to experience terrible disasters. Those disasters will be worse than any disasters that have occurred since the country of Israel separated from Judah. Yahweh will cause the army of the king of Assyria to attack you!”

18 At that time, it will be as though Yahweh will whistle to summon the army from the south of Egypt as well as the army of Assyria. They will come and surround your country like [MET] flies and bees. 19 They will all come and settle/live everywhere—in the narrow valleys and caves in the rock cliffs, on land where there are thornbushes as well as on the fertile land. 20 At that time Yahweh will hire the king of Assyria to come with his army from east of the Euphrates River. They will get rid of everything in your land—the crops and the people. They will destroy everything thoroughly; it will be like [MET] a barber shaving not only a man’s hair but his beard and the hair on his legs. 21 When that happens, a farmer will be able to have only one cow and two goats/sheep. 22 However, those animals will give plenty of milk, with the result that the farmer will have curds/yogurt to eat. And because there will not be many people left in the land, all the people who remain there will have plenty of milk and honey. 23 Now there are many areas where there are vineyards that are worth 1,000 pieces of silver, but at that time there will be only briers and thorns [DOU] in those fields. 24 There will be only briers and thorns in the entire land, and wild animals, with the result that men will take their bows and arrows and go there to hunt and kill animals. 25 No one will go to where there previously were gardens on fertile hillsides, because briers and thorns will cover those hillsides. They will be areas where only a few cattle and sheep and goats wander around searching for something to eat.

A warning about the Assyrian attack

8 Then Yahweh said to me, “Make a large signboard. And write clearly on it, ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’ which means ‘quickly ◄plunder/take by force► and steal everything’.” 2 So I requested Uriah the Supreme Priest and Jeberekiah’s son Zechariah, men who were both honest/trustworthy witnesses, to watch me as I was doing that.

3 Then I had sex with [EUP] my wife, who was a prophetess, and she became pregnant and then gave birth to a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Give him the name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (which means ‘suddenly attacked, quickly conquered’), 4 because before he is old enough to say ‘papa’ or ‘mama’, the King of Assyria will come with his army and quickly take away all the valuable things in Damascus and in Samaria.”

5 Yahweh spoke to me again and said, “Tell the people of Judah,

6 ‘I have taken good care of you people,

but you have rejected that, thinking that my help was very little,

like [MET] the little canal through which water flows from the Gihon Spring into Jerusalem.

Instead, you have been happy to request help from King Rezin and King Pekah.

7 Therefore, I will cause the people of Judah to be attacked by the powerful army of the King of Assyria, which will be like a great flood from the Euphrates River.

Their soldiers will be everywhere in your country, like a river that overflows all its banks.

8 Those soldiers will go all over Judah—

like a river whose water [MET] rises as high as a person’s neck.

Their army will spread over the land quickly, like an eagle,

and they will cover your entire land!

But I will be with you!’ ”

9 Listen, all you people in distant countries!

You can prepare to attack Judah.

You can prepare for battle, and shout your war-cries,

but your armies will be crushed/shattered!

10 You can prepare for what you will do to attack Judah,

but what you plan to do will not happen!

You will not succeed,

because God is with us!

Isaiah is urged to revere Yahweh

11 Yahweh strongly warned me [MTY] not to act like the other people in Judah did. He said to me,

12 “Do not say that everything that people do is conspiring/rebelling against the government,

like other people say,

and do not ◄be afraid of/worry about► the things that other people are afraid of.

13 I, the Commander of the armies of angels, am the one you should consider to be holy.

And I am the one you should fear,

the one you should revere.

14 I will protect you(sg).

But as for the other people [MTY] in Israel and Judah,

I will be like [MET] a stone that causes people to stumble,

a rock that causes them to fall down.

And as for the people of Jerusalem,

I will be like [MET] a trap or a snare [DOU].

15 Many people will stumble and fall down

and never get up again.

They will experience great troubles;

they will be captured by their enemies.”

16 So, I say to you who are my disciples, seal up this scroll

on which I have written the messages that God has given to me,

and give his instructions to others who have accompanied me.

17 I will wait to see what Yahweh will do.

He has rejected the descendants [MTY] of Jacob,

but I will confidently expect him to help me.

18 I and the children that Yahweh has given to me are like signs to warn the people of Israel;

we are warnings from the Commander of the armies of angels

the one who lives in his temple on Zion Hill in Jerusalem.

19 Some people may urge you(pl) to ◄consult/go and talk with► those who talk with the spirits of dead people or with those who say that they receive messages from those spirits. They whisper and mutter about what we should do in the future. But God is [RHQ] the one whom we should ask to guide us! It is ridiculous [RHQ] for people who are alive to request spirits of dead people to tell us what we should do! 20 Pay attention to God’s instructions and teaching! If people do not say things that agree with what God teaches us, what they say is worthless. It is as though those people are in darkness. 21 They will wander through the land, worried/discouraged and hungry. And when they become very hungry, they will become very angry. They will look up toward heaven and curse God and will also curse their king. 22 They will look around the land and see only trouble/distress and darkness and things that cause them to despair. And then they will be thrown into the very black darkness of hell.

The promise of the future king

9 However, those in Judah who have been distressed/worried will not continue to suffer. Previously, Yahweh humbled the people in the land where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali live. But in the future he will honor the people who live in that Galilee region, along the road between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where many foreigners live.

2 Some day, it will be as though [MET] the people who walked in darkness will see a great light.

A great light will shine on those who live in a land where they have great troubles/distress.

3 Yahweh, you will cause us people in Israel to rejoice;

we will become very happy.

We will rejoice about what you have done

like [SIM] people rejoice when they harvest their crops,

or like soldiers rejoice

when they divide up among themselves the things that they have captured in a battle.

4 You will cause us to no longer be slaves [MET] of those who captured us;

you will lift the heavy burdens from our shoulders.

It will be as though you will break the rods of those who oppressed us,

like you did when you destroyed the army of the Midian people-group.

5 The boots that the enemy soldiers have worn

and their clothing which has stains of blood on them

will all be burned up;

they will only be fuel for a big fire.

6 Another reason that we will rejoice is that a special child will be born for us;

a woman will give birth to a son,

who will be our ruler.

And his names will be ‘Wonderful Counselor’, ‘Mighty/Powerful God’, ‘Our Everlasting Father’, and ‘Prince/Ruler who enables us to have Peace’.

7 His rule, and the peace that he brings/causes, will never end.

He will rule [MTY] fairly and justly [DOU],

like his ancestor King David did.

This will happen because the Commander of the armies of angels greatly desires that it happen.

God will punish Israel

8 The Lord has warned the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob;

he has said that he will punish them.

9-10 9-10And all the people in Samaria and other places in Israel know that,

but they are very proud and arrogant [DOU].

They say, “Our city has been destroyed,

but we will take away the broken bricks from the ruins

and replace them with carefully cut stones.

Our sycamore-fig trees have been cut down by our enemies,

but we will plant cedar trees in their place.”

11 But Yahweh brought the armies of Assyria, the enemies of King Rezin of Syria, to fight against Israel

and incited other nations to attack Israel.

12 The army of Syria came from the east,

and the army of Philistia came from the west, and they destroyed Israel

like a wild animal tears another animal apart and [MET] devours it.

But even after that happened, Yahweh was still very angry with them.

He was ready to strike them with his fist again.

13 But even though Yahweh punished his people like that,

they still did not return to him and worship him.

They still did not request the Commander of the armies of angels to assist them.

14 Therefore, in one day Yahweh will get rid of those who are like Israel’s head and those who are like its tail;

the ones who are like the top of the palm tree and the ones who are like the bottom.

15 The leaders [DOU] of Israel are the head,

and the prophets who tell lies are the tail.

16 The leaders of the people have misled them;

they have caused the people that they are ruling to be confused.

17 For that reason, Yahweh is not pleased with the young men of Israel,

and he does not even act mercifully toward the widows and orphans,

because they are all ungodly and wicked,

and they all say things that are foolish.

But Yahweh still is angry with them;

he is ready to strike them with his fist again.

18 When people do wicked things,

it is like [SIM] a brushfire that spreads rapidly.

It burns up not only briers and thorns;

it starts a big fire in the forests

from which clouds of smoke will rise.

19 It is as though the whole land is burned black

because the Commander of the armies of angels is extremely angry with the Israeli people.

They will become like [SIM] fuel for that great fire,

and no one will try to rescue even his own brother from that fire.

20 Israeli people will attack their neighbors on the right to get food from them,

but they will still be hungry.

They will kill those who live in houses on the left and eat their flesh,

but their stomachs will still not be full.

21 People of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim will attack each other,

and then they will both attack the people of Judah.

But even after that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry with them.

He will be ready to strike them with his fist again.

A warning to unjust judges

10 Terrible things will happen to you judges who are unjust

and who make unfair laws.

2 You refuse to help poor people,

and you do not allow them to get the things that they should get.

You allow people to steal things from widows

and do unfair things to orphans.

3 When I punish you

by sending people from distant lands to cause you to experience disasters,

◄to whom will you run to get help?/there will be no one who can help you.► [RHQ]

Your valuable possessions will certainly not be safe [RHQ] anywhere.

4 You will be able only to stumble along as you are taken away with other prisoners,

or else your corpses will lie on the ground with others who have been killed.

But even after that happens,

Yahweh will still be very angry with you.

He will still be ready to strike you again with his fist.

A warning to Assyria

5 Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to Assyria.

It is true that their army is like a rod/club [DOU] with which I punish other nations

because I am very angry with those nations [DOU].

6 Sometimes I send the armies of Assyria to attack a godless nation,

to fight against other people who have caused me to be angry.

I send them to capture people and to seize and take away their possessions,

and to trample them like [SIM] people walk on mud in the streets.

7 But the king of Assyria does not understand,

he does not realize that he is only like a weapon in my hand.

He wants only to destroy people,

to get rid of many nations.

8 He says, ‘All of my army commanders will soon be kings of these nations that I conquer!

9 We destroyed Calno city like we destroyed Carchemish city,

We destroyed Hamath city like we destroyed Arpad city;

we destroyed Samaria just like we destroyed Damascus.

10 We were able to destroy all those kingdoms that were full of idols,

kingdoms whose idols were greater than the idols in Jerusalem and Samaria.

11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and destroy the idols that are there,

just like we destroyed Samaria and the idols that were there!’

12 But, I, Yahweh, say that after I have used Assyria to finish what I want to do to punish the people in Jerusalem [DOU], I will punish the king of Assyria because he has been very proud and arrogant/boastful [DOU].

13 He says, ‘By my own great power [MTY] I have done these things.

I have been able to do them because I am very wise and very intelligent.

My army removed the barriers at the borders of nations

and carried away all their valuable things.

My army has knocked down their kings like [SIM] a ferocious bull would.

14 Like [MET] a farmer reaches into a bird’s nest to take away the eggs,

we have taken away the treasures of other countries [DOU].

The people were not like birds that would flap their wings or chirp loudly to protest about their eggs being stolen;

the people did not object at all to their treasures being stolen.’

15 But I, Yahweh, say that an axe certainly cannot [RHQ] boast about being stronger than the person who uses it,

and a saw is not greater than the person who uses it.

A rod cannot control the one who holds it [RHQ],

and a wooden club cannot lift up a person [RHQ].

So the king of Assyria should not boast that he has done these things with his own wisdom and strength.

16 And I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will send a plague among the proud soldiers of Assyria;

it will be like [MET] a fire that will kill them and get rid of their glory/wealth.

17 I, Yahweh, who am like [MET] a light for the people of Israel, will be the fire;

I, the Holy One, will be like a flame.

The soldiers of Assyria are like [MET] thorns and briers,

and I will burn them up in one night.

18 There are glorious forests and fertile farmlands in Assyria, but I will completely destroy them;

they will be like [SIM] a very sick person who shrivels up and then dies.

19 There will be very few trees left in those forests;

even a child will be able to count them.”

A promise of future blessings for Israel

20 In the future there will be only a few people left in Israel;

not many descendants of Jacob will still be alive.

But they will no longer rely on the king of Assyria,

the king of the nation that tried to destroy them.

Instead, they will faithfully/sincerely trust in Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

21 Those Israelis will return to their mighty God.

22 Now, the people of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,

but only a few of them will return from the countries to which they were exiled.

Yahweh has decided to destroy most of the Israelis

and that is what he must do because he is completely just/righteous.

23 Yes, the Commander of the armies of angels has already decided to destroy the entire land of Israel.

24 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says:

“My people in Jerusalem, do not be afraid of the army of Assyria when they beat you with rods and clubs,

like the men of Egypt did to your ancestors long ago.

25 Soon I will no longer be angry with you,

and then I will be angry with the people of Assyria and destroy them!”

26 The Commander of the armies of angels will whip them.

He will do to them like he did when he helped Gideon and his 300 soldiers to defeat the army of the Midian people-group,

and like he did when he showed his mighty power [MTY] by causing the army of Egypt to drown in the Red Sea.

27 Some day, Yahweh will cause the army of Assyria to stop oppressing you, his people;

he will end your suffering and your being slaves of the people of Assyria [MET];

he will take away the load that you people of Judah have been carrying,

and cause things to go well for you.

The Assyrians will invade Judah

28 The army of Assyria will enter northern Judah near Aiath town,

they will go through Migron town

and store their supplies at Micmash town north of Jerusalem.

29 They will cross through a mountain pass

and set up their tents at Geba town.

People in Ramah town will tremble because of being afraid.

The people of Gibeah town, where King Saul was born, will all run away.

30 You people of Gallim town will cry out for help.

You will shout to the people of Laish city near Jerusalem to warn them!

The people of Anathoth town will suffer a lot.

31 The people of Madmenah town north of Jerusalem will all be running away,

and the people of Gebim town close to Jerusalem will be trying to hide.

32 The soldiers of Assyria will stop at Nob city outside Jerusalem.

They will shake their fists

as they threaten the people on Zion Hill in Jerusalem.

33 But listen to this! The Commander of the armies of angels

with his great power will destroy [MET] the mighty army of Assyria.

It is as though they are a huge tree [MET] that he will cut down.

34 He will destroy the soldiers of Assyria

like men use big axes to cut down the tall trees in the forests of Lebanon.

David’s descendant will bring peace

11 Like [MET] a new shoot often grows from the stump of a tree,

there will be a descendant of King David who will be a new king.

2 The Spirit of Yahweh will always be with him.

The Spirit will enable him to be wise and to understand much about many things.

The Spirit will enable him to decide what is good to do, and will enable him to be very powerful.

The Spirit will enable him to know Yahweh and to revere him.

3 He will be glad to obey Yahweh.

He will not decide whether someone is righteous or not only by seeing what that person looks like,

or by listening to what others say about that person.

4 He will judge the cases of needy people fairly;

and he will act justly toward poor people.

He will punish evil people as a result of what he decides [MTY];

he will get rid of wicked people because of [MTY] their behavior.

5 He will always act righteously;

his doing that will accompany him like [MET] a belt around his waist.

He will always speak what is true;

his doing that will accompany him like [MET] a sash around his waist.

6 When he becomes king, wolves and lambs will live together peacefully;

leopards, instead of killing baby goats,

will lie down with them.

Similarly, calves and lions will eat food together;

and a young child will take care of them.

7 Cows and bears will eat together;

bear cubs and calves will lie down together.

Lions will not eat other animals;

instead, they will eat hay like cows do.

8 Babies will play safely near the holes where cobra snakes live;

small children will even put their hands into nests of poisonous snakes,

and the snakes will not harm them.

9 No creatures will harm or kill other creatures on Zion Hill, my holy hill;

and the earth will be filled with people who know Yahweh

like [SIM] the seas are full of water.

10 At that time, a descendant of King David will hold up a flag

to signal to the people of all people-groups that they should gather around him;

they will come to him to get his advice,

and the place where he lives will be glorious.

11 At that time, Yahweh will ◄reach out his hand/use his power► as he did long ago;

he will enable those who had been ◄exiled from/forced to leave► Israel to return home,

from Assyria, from northern Egypt, from southern Egypt,

from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath, and from all the distant countries near the sea.

12 Yahweh will raise his flag among all the people-groups,

and he will gather together the people of Israel who had been exiled long ago.

He will gather from very distant places [IDM] on the earth

the people of Judah who ◄had been scattered to/are living in► those places.

13 Then, the people of Israel and the people of Judah will not be jealous of each other any longer,

and they will no longer be enemies of each other.

14 Their armies will join together to attack the people of Philistia to the west.

And together they will attack nations to the east;

they will defeat those nations and take away all their valuable possessions.

They will capture the areas of Edom and Moab,

and the people of the Ammon people-group will be controlled/ruled by the people of Israel and Judah.

15 Yahweh will make a dry road through the sea near Egypt.

And it will be as though he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River

and send a strong wind to cause it to divide into seven streams,

with the result that people will be able to walk across those streams.

16 And because he will make a highway for his people who are living in Assyria,

they will be able to return to their own land,

just like long ago he made a path for the people of Israel

so that they could go through the water

when they left Egypt.

Songs that people will sing to praise Yahweh

12 At that time, you people of Jerusalem will sing this song:

“Yahweh, we praise you!

Previously, you were angry with us,

but you are not angry now

and you have comforted us.

2 Amazingly, you have come to save us,

so we will trust in you and not be afraid.

Yahweh our God, you enable us to be strong;

you are the one about whom we sing;

you have rescued us from our enemies.”

3 You(pl), his people, will greatly enjoy being saved

like [MET] you enjoy drinking water from a fountain.

4 At that time you all will say,

“We should thank Yahweh! We should praise him [MTY]!

We should tell the people of all the people-groups what he has done;

we should enable them to know that he [MTY] is very great!

5 We should sing to Yahweh, because he has done wonderful things.

We should enable everyone in the world to know it!

6 You people of Jerusalem, shout joyfully to praise Yahweh,

because he is the great Holy One whom we Israeli people worship,

and he lives among us!”

Yahweh will punish Babylon

13 I, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, received from Yahweh this message about Babylon city:

2 Lift up a flag on the bare top of a hill,

to signal that an army should come to attack Babylon.

Shout to them and wave your hand to signal to them

that they should march through the city gates into the palaces of the proud rulers of Babylon!

3 Yahweh says, “I have commanded those soldiers to do that;

I have summoned the warriors whom I have chosen to punish the people of Babylon because of my being very angry with them,

and those soldiers will be very proud when they do that.”

4 Listen to the noise on the mountains,

which is the noise of a huge army marching!

It is the noise made by people of many people-groups shouting.

The Commander of the armies of angels has summoned this army to gather together.

5 They come from countries that are far away,

from the most remote places [IDM] on the earth.

They are like [SIM] weapons that Yahweh will use to punish the people with whom he is very angry,

and to destroy the entire country of Babylonia.

6 You people of Babylon will scream because you will be terrified,

because it will be the time that Yahweh has determined/chosen,

the time for the all-powerful God to destroy your city.

7 All of your people will be very afraid [DOU],

with the result that they will be unable even to lift their arms.

8 All of you will be terrified.

You will have [PRS] severe pains

like [SIM] a woman has when she is giving birth to a baby.

You will look at each other helplessly,

and it will show on your faces that you feel horror.

9 Listen to this: The day that Yahweh has appointed/chosen is near,

the day that he will furiously and fiercely punish you because he is very angry with you.

He will cause your land of Babylonia to be desolate/barren,

and he will destroy all the sinners in it.

10 When that happens, none of the stars will shine.

When the sun rises, it will be dark,

and there will be no light from the moon at night.

11 Yahweh says, “I will punish everyone in the world for the evil things that they do;

I will punish the wicked people for the sins that they have committed.

I will stop arrogant/proud people from being proud,

and I will stop ruthless people from acting cruelly.

12 And because I will cause most people to die,

people will be harder to find than gold,

harder to find than fine gold from Ophir in Arabia.

13 I will shake the sky,

and the earth will also move out of its place.

That will happen when I, the Commander of the armies of angels, punish wicked people,

when I show them that I am extremely angry with them.

14 And all the foreigners in Babylon will run around like [SIM] deer that are being hunted,

like sheep that do not have a shepherd.

They will try to find other people from their countries,

and then they will escape from Babylon and return to their own countries.

15 Anyone who is captured in Babylon

will be killed by their enemies’ swords [DOU].

16 Their little children will be dashed to pieces on the rocks while their parents watch;

their enemies will steal everything valuable from their houses and will rape their wives.

17 Look! I am going to incite the people of Media to attack Babylon.

The army of Media will attack Babylon, even if they are offered [DOU] silver or gold if they promise to not attack it.

18 With their arrows, the soldiers of Media will shoot the young men of Babylon;

they will not even act mercifully [DOU] toward infants or children!”

19 Babylon has been a very beautiful [MTY] city;

all the people of Babylonia have been very proud of Babylon, their capital city;

but God will destroy Babylon,

like [SIM] he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 No one will ever live in Babylon again.

It will be deserted forever.

◄Nomads/People who travel from place to place to live► will refuse to set up their tents there;

shepherds will not bring their flocks of sheep to rest there.

21 Instead, animals that live in the desert will be there;

jackals/wolves will live in the ruins of the houses.

Owls (OR, Ostriches) will live in the ruins,

and wild goats will romp/jump around there.

22 Hyenas will howl in the ruined towers,

and jackals/wolves will make their dens in the ruins of the palaces that were previously very beautiful.

The time when Babylon will be destroyed is very near;

Babylon will not exist much longer.

God’s people will return to Judah

14 But Yahweh will act mercifully toward the Israeli people;

he will choose the people of Israel to be his people again,

and he will allow them to return here and live in their own land again.

Then people from many other countries will come here

and unite with the Israeli people.

2 People of other nations will help them to return to their own land,

and those who come from other countries will ◄work for/become the servants of► the Israeli people.

Those who captured people of Israel will be captured by Israeli soldiers,

and the people of Israel will rule over the people who previously oppressed them.

The king of Babylon will be killed

3 Some day Yahweh will free you Israeli people from suffering and trouble and from being afraid, and from being cruelly treated as slaves [MTY]. 4 When that happens, you will make fun of the King of Babylon by saying this:

“You treated us cruelly, but that has ended!

Your insolently causing others to suffer is finished!

5 You evil ruler, Yahweh will get rid of your power,

and you will oppress people no longer!

6 You attacked people many times

because you were very angry with them,

and you subdued/conquered other nations

by causing them to suffer endlessly.

7 But soon everything will be quiet and peaceful on the earth.

Everyone [PRS] will sing again!

8 It will be as though even the trees in the forests will joyfully sing this song,

the cyprus/pine trees and the cedar trees in Lebanon will sing it:

‘You ◄have been overthrown/are no longer a ruler►,

and now no one comes to get rid of us [MET].’

9 The dead people are [PRS] are eagerly waiting for you to come to the place where they are.

The spirits of the world leaders

will be delighted to welcome you;

those who were kings of many nations before they died

will stand up to welcome you.

10 They will all shout to you together,

‘Now you are as weak as we are!’

11 You were very proud and powerful,

but all that ended when you died,

along with the sounds of harps being played in your palace.

Now in your grave maggots will be under you like a sheet [MET],

and worms will cover you like a blanket [MET].

12 You have disappeared from the earth like [MET] a star which has fallen from the sky;

you were very well-known

like [MET] the morning star which is seen by everyone;

you destroyed many nations,

but now you have been destroyed.

13 You proudly said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven, to my throne above God’s stars.

I will rule on the mountain where the gods gather together, far in the north.

14 I will ascend above the clouds and become like the highest/greatest god!’

15 But you were not able to do that;

instead, you were carried down to your grave,

and you went to the place where the dead people are.

16 The other dead people there stare at you;

they wonder what happened to you.

They say, ‘Is this the man who caused the earth to shake

and caused the people in many kingdoms to tremble?

17 Is this the man who tried to cause the world to become a desert,

who conquered its cities and did not allow the people whom he captured to return to their homes?’

18 All the kings of the earth who have died were greatly honored when they were buried,

19 but your corpse will not be buried;

it will be thrown away like [SIM] a worthless branch of a tree.

Your corpse will be under a heap of other corpses of soldiers that were killed by their enemies’ swords,

and their corpses were not buried;

you will be with those who have gone down to the stony ground in a big pit.

20 Your corpse will not be buried

because you have destroyed your nation

and have caused your people to be killed.

The descendants of wicked people like you will never be honored again.

21 People will say, ‘Slaughter this man’s children

because of the sins that their ancestors committed!

Do not allow them to become rulers and conquer all the nations in the world,

and fill the world with the cities that they rule!’ ”

22 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says:

“I myself will cause Babylon to be conquered.

I will get rid of Babylon and its people and their descendants.

23 I will cause Babylon to be a place where owls live,

a place full of swamps;

I will get rid of it completely

as though [MET] I were sweeping it with a broom.

That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.”

Yahweh will punish Assyria

24 The Commander of the armies of angels has also solemnly promised this:

“The things that I have planned will surely happen [DOU].

25 When the army of Assyria is in my land of Israel,

I will crush them.

It will be as though I will trample them on my mountains.

My people will no longer be the slaves [MET] of the people of Assyria;

it will be as though [MET] I will take away the burdens that are on their shoulders.

26 I have a plan for everyone on the earth,

a plan to show my power [MTY] to punish all the nations.

27 I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have spoken,

and no one can [RHQ] change my mind.

When I raise my fist to strike Assyria,

no one [RHQ] will be able to stop me from doing that.”

Yahweh will punish Philistia

28 I received this message from Yahweh during the year that King Ahaz died:

29 You people of Philistia, do not rejoice that the enemy army [MET] that attacked you has been defeated

and that their king is dead.

He was as dangerous as [MET] a snake,

but there will be another king,

who will be more dangerous than a cobra;

he will be like [MET] a quick-moving poisonous snake.

30 Those of my people who are very poor will take care of their flocks of sheep,

and the needy people will lie down safely,

but I will cause you people of Philistia who are still alive [DOU]

to die from famine.

31 So, you people of Philistia, wail at the gates of your cities!

You should be extremely afraid,

because a very powerful army will come from the north to attack you;

their chariots will stir up the dust like [MET] a cloud of smoke.

Each of their soldiers is ready to fight.

32 If messengers from Philistia come to us Israeli people,

this is what we must [RHQ] tell them:

“Yahweh has established Jerusalem, not Philistia,

and his people who are oppressed will be safe inside the walls of Jerusalem.”

Yahweh will destroy Moab

15 I received this message from Yahweh about the Moab people-group:

In one night two of your important cities, Ar and Kir, will be destroyed.

2 The people of Dibon, your capital city, will go to their temple to mourn/weep;

they will go to their shrines on the hilltops to weep.

They will wail because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba towns in the south;

they will all shave the hair of their heads, and the men will cut off their beards to show that they are grieving.

3 In the streets people will wear rough sackcloth,

and on their flat rooftops and in the city plazas everyone will wail,

with tears streaming down their faces.

4 The people of Heshbon city and Elealeh towns in the north of Moab will cry out;

people as far away as Jahaz town in the south will hear them wailing.

Therefore the soldiers of Moab will tremble and cry out

and they will be very afraid [IDM].

5 I feel very sorry for the people of Moab;

they will flee to Zoar and Eglath-Shelishiyah towns in the far south.

They will cry as they walk up to Luhith town.

All along the road to Horonaim town people will mourn

because their country has been destroyed.

6 The water in Nimrim Valley will have dried up.

The grass there will be withered;

the green plants will all be gone,

and there will be nothing left that is green.

7 The people will pick up their possessions

and carry them across Willows Brook.

8 Throughout the country of Moab, people will be crying;

people as far away as Eglaim in the south and Beer-Elim in the north will hear them wailing.

9 The stream near Dimon will become red from the blood of people who have been killed,

but I will cause the people of Moab to experience even more trouble:

Lions will attack those who are trying to escape from Moab

and will also attack the people who remain in that country.

16 The rulers of Moab will say to each other,

“We must send some lambs from Sela city as a gift to the ruler of Judah to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us any more.

We should send them through the desert to the king.

2 The women of Moab will be left alone at the ◄fords of/places where people can walk across► the Arnon River;

they will be like [SIM] birds that have been pushed out of their nests.

3 They will cry out, ‘Help us!

Tell us what we should do!

Protect us completely [MET],

we who are running away from our enemies,

and do not ◄betray us/tell our enemies where we are►.

4 Allow those of us who are fleeing from Moab to stay with you;

hide/protect us from our enemies who want to destroy us!’

Some day there will be no one to oppress us,

and our enemies will stop destroying our land.

5 Then Yahweh will appoint someone to be king

who will be a descendant of King David.

As he rules [MTY], he will be merciful and truthful.

He will always do what is fair/just

and quickly do what is righteous.”

6 We people of Judah have heard about the people of Moab;

we have heard that they are very proud and conceited [DOU];

they are insolent,

but what they proudly say about themselves is not true.

7 Some day all the people in Moab will weep.

They will all mourn,

because there will be no more raisin cakes in Kir-Hareseth city.

8 The crops in the fields at Heshbon city will wither,

and the vineyards at Sibmah town will wither also.

The armies of other nations will destroy Moab,

which is like [MET] a beautiful grapevine

whose branches spread north to Jazer town

and east to the desert.

Its branches spread very far west,

to the west side of the Dead Sea.

9 So I will weep for Jazer

and for the grapevines of Sibmah.

I will shed tears for all of you.

I will cry because people will no longer shout joyfully, like they usually do

when they gather the fruit that ripens in the ◄summer/hot season► and the other crops that they harvest.

10 People will no longer be glad at harvest time.

No one will sing in the vineyards,

no one will shout joyfully.

No one will tread on grapes to get grape juice for wine;

there will be nothing to shout about joyfully.

11 I cry inwardly for Moab;

my groaning is like [SIM] a sad song played on a harp.

I am sad about Kir-Hareseth.

12 The people of Moab will go and pray at their sacred shrines,

but that will not help them.

They will cry out to their gods in their temples,

but none of them will be able to rescue the people.

13 Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab. 14 But now he says that exactly three years from now, he will destroy all the things that the people of Moab have been proud of. Even though they have a huge number of people in Moab now, only a few people will remain alive, and they will be weak/helpless.

Yahweh will punish Syria

17 I received this message from Yahweh about Damascus the capital of Syria:

“Listen carefully! Damascus will no longer be a city;

it will be only a heap of ruins!

2 The towns near Aroer city will be abandoned.

Flocks of sheep will eat grass in the streets and lie down there,

and there will be no one to chase them away.

3 The cities in Israel will not have walls around them to protect them.

The power of the kingdom of Damascus will be ended,

and the few people who will remain in Damascus will be disgraced like the people in Israel were disgraced.”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

The destruction of Israel

4 “At that time, Israel will become insignificant.

It will be like [MET] a fat person who has become very thin.

5 The entire land will be like [SIM] a field where the harvesters have cut all the grain;

there will be nothing left,

like [SIM] the fields in the Rephaim Valley after all the crops have been harvested.

6 Only a few of the Israeli people will remain [MET],

like [SIM] the few olives that remain on the top of a tree after the workers have caused all the other olives to fall to the ground.

There will be only two or three olives in the top branches,

or four or five olives on the other branches.”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

7 Then, at that time, you people of Israel will ◄turn for help to/look up to► God, your creator,

the Holy One of Israel.

8 You will no longer seek to get help from your idols

or worship the idols that you have made with your own hands [DOU].

You will never again bow down in front of the poles where you worship the goddess Asherah.

You will never again worship at the shrines that you have built for burning incense.

9 The largest cities in Israel will be abandoned, like the land that the Hiv and Amor people-groups abandoned (OR, like the forests that the Canaan people-group abandoned) when the Israelis attacked them long ago.

No one will live there.

10 That will happen because you have stopped worshiping God

who is like [MET] a huge rock under which you can be safe.

You have forgotten that he is the one who can hide/protect you.

So, now you plant very nice grapevines

and even plant very expensive ones that come from other countries.

11 But even if they sprout leaves on the day that you plant them,

and even if they produce blossoms on that same morning,

at harvest time, there will not be any grapes for you to pick.

All that you will get is a lot of agony/misery.

12 Listen! The armies of many nations will roar like the sea roars.

It will sound like the noise of crashing waves.

13 But even though their loud roaring will be like the sound of crashing waves,

when Yahweh rebukes them, they will run far away.

They will flee like [SIM] chaff on the hills scatters when the wind blows,

like tumbleweeds scatter when a windstorm blows.

14 And, even though you people of Israel will be terrified,

in the morning your enemies will all be gone/dead.

That is what will happen to those who invade our land and then steal our possessions.

The destruction of Ethiopia

18 Terrible things will happen to you people of Ethiopia!

In your land there are many sailboats at the upper part of the Nile River.

2 Your rulers send ambassadors that sail quickly down the river in papyrus boats.

You messengers to Ethiopia, go quickly!

Go up the river to people who are tall and who have smooth skin.

People everywhere are afraid of those people,

because they conquer and destroy other nations;

they live in a land that is divided by branches of one large river.

3 You messengers must tell people everywhere,

to people everywhere,

“Look when I lift up my battle flag on top of the mountain,

and listen when I blow the ram’s horn

to signal that the battle is about to begin.”

4 Listen because Yahweh has told me this:

“I will watch quietly from where I live.

I will watch as quietly as [SIM] the heat waves shimmer as they rises on a hot summer day,

as quietly as the dew forms on the ground during harvest time.”

5 But even before the army of Ethiopia starts to attack,

while their plans are slowly forming like [SIM] grapes that are ripening,

Yahweh will get rid of them like a farmer who [MET] cuts off the new shoots of the grapevines with his shears,

and prunes the branches that have become very long.

6 All the soldiers in the army of Ethiopia will be killed,

and their corpses will lie in the fields for vultures to eat their flesh in the ◄summer/hot season►.

Then wild animals will chew on their bones all during the ◄winter/cold season►.

7 At that time, the people of that land that is divided by the branches of that one big river will take gifts to Yahweh in Jerusalem.

Those tall people who have smooth/dark skin, whom people everywhere are afraid of,

because they conquer and destroy many countries,

will take gifts to Jerusalem, the city where the Commander of the armies of angels lives.

A prophecy about the destruction of Egypt

19 I received this message from Yahweh about Egypt:

“Listen to this! I, Yahweh, am coming to Egypt,

riding on a fast-moving cloud.

The idols in Egypt will tremble when I appear,

and the people of Egypt will be extremely afraid [IDM].

2 I will cause the people of Egypt to fight against each other:

men will fight against their brothers,

neighbors will fight against each other,

people of one city will fight against the people of another city,

people of one province will fight against the people of another province.

3 The people of Egypt will become very discouraged,

and I will cause their plans not to be successful.

They will plead with idols and sorcerers and those who talk with spirits of dead people

to tell them what they should do.

4 Then I will enable someone who will treat them very cruelly to become their king [DOU].”

That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.

5 Some day the water in the Nile River will dry up,

and the riverbed will become very dry [DOU].

6 The branches of the river will all dry up [DOU]

The canals along the river will stink

because of the rotting reeds and ◄bulrushes/tall grass►.

7 All the plants along the river and all the crops will dry up;

then they will blow away and disappear.

8 The fishermen will throw into the river lines with hooks on them and nets,

and then they will groan and be very discouraged;

they will be sad because there will be no fish in the river.

9 Those who weave cloth from flax will not know what to do,

because there will be no thread for them to weave.

10 They will all despair

and be very discouraged.

11 The officials in Zoan city in northern Egypt are foolish.

The advice that they gave to the king was worthless.

Why do they continue to tell the king that they are wise,

that they are descendants of wise kings who lived long ago [RHQ]?

12 King, ◄where are your wise counselors now?/You have no wise counselors now!► [RHQ]

If you had any wise counselors, they could tell you what the Commander of the armies of angels has planned to do to Egypt [SAR]!

13 Yes, the officials of Zoan have become foolish,

and the leaders in Memphis city in northern Egypt have deceived themselves.

All the leaders of the people have ◄caused their people to do wrong things/led their people astray►.

14 Yahweh has caused them to be very foolish,

with the result that in everything that they do, it is as though the people of Egypt stagger

like [SIM] a drunken person staggers and slips in his own vomit.

15 There is no one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unimportant, who will be able to help them.

16 At that time, the people of Egypt will be as helpless as [SIM] women. They will tremble, being terrified because they know that the Commander of the armies of angels has raised his fist, ready to strike/punish them. 17 The people of Egypt will be afraid of the people of Judah, and anyone who mentions Judah to them will cause them to be terrified, because that will remind them of what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, is planning to do to them.

18 At that time, people in five cities in Egypt will solemnly declare that they will serve Yahweh. They will learn to speak the Hebrew language. One of those cities will be called ‘City of the Sun’.

19 At that time, there will be an altar for worshiping Yahweh in the center of Egypt, and there will be a ◄pillar/large rock► to honor Yahweh at the border between Egypt and Israel. 20 That will be a sign to indicate that the Commander of the armies of angels is worshiped in the land of Egypt. And when the people cry out to Yahweh to help them because others are ◄oppressing them/causing them to suffer►, he will send to them someone who will defend and rescue them. 21 Yahweh will enable the people of Egypt to know who he is, and at that time they will have a close relationship with Yahweh and worship him and bring to him offerings of grain and other sacrifices. They will solemnly promise to do things for Yahweh, and they will do what they promise. 22 After Yahweh has punished Egypt, he will cause their troubles to end. The people of Egypt will turn to Yahweh, and he will listen when they plead to him for help, and he will cause their troubles to cease.

23 At that time, there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria. As a result, the people of Egypt will be able to travel easily to Assyria, and the people of Assyria will be able to travel easily to Egypt. And the people of both countries will worship Yahweh. 24 And Israel will be their ally. All three nations will be friendly to each other, and the people of Israel will be a blessing to the people of the entire world. 25 The Commander of the armies of angels will bless them, saying, “You people of Egypt are now my people. You people of Assyria, I have established your country. You people of Israel are the people whom I have chosen to belong to me.”

A message about Egypt and Ethiopia

20 One year King Sargon of Assyria sent the chief commander of his army to take his soldiers to capture Ashdod city in Philistia. 2 At that time, Yahweh told me, “Take off the rough sackcloth that you have been wearing and take off your sandals.” So I did what he told me to do, and then I walked around naked and barefoot for three years.

3 Then Yahweh said this to the people of Judah: “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the past three years. That is to show the terrible disasters that I will cause the people of Egypt and Ethiopia to experience. 4 What will happen is that the army of the King of Assyria will invade those countries and capture many of the people and take them away as their prisoners. They will force all them, including both the young ones and the old ones, to walk naked and barefoot. They will also force them to have no clothes around their buttocks, which will cause the people of Egypt to be ashamed. 5 Then the people of other countries who trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia would be able to help them will be very dismayed/confused and afraid/disappointed. 6 They will say, ‘We trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia would help us and defend us, but they have been destroyed, so there is no way [RHQ] that we can escape from being destroyed by the army of the King of Assyria!’ ”

A message about the destruction of Babylon

21 I received this message from Yahweh about Babylonia, a land that is near the Persian Gulf but which will soon be a desert.

An army will soon come from the desert to invade that land;

it is an army that causes its enemies to be terrified,

an army that will come like a whirlwind from the south.

2 Yahweh showed me a terrifying vision.

In the vision I saw an army

that will betray/deceive people and steal their possessions after they conquer them.

Yahweh said, “You armies from Elam and Media, surround Babylon and prepare to attack it!

I will cause the groaning and suffering that Babylon caused to cease!”

3 Because of that, my body is full of pain;

my pain is like the pain that women who are giving birth experience.

When I hear about and see what God is planning to do,

I am shocked.

4 I cannot think straight/correctly, and I tremble.

I was eager for it to be nighttime,

but now it is night, and I am horrified.

5 In the vision I saw that the leaders of Babylonia were preparing a great feast.

They had spread rugs for people to sit on;

everyone was eating and drinking.

But they should get up and prepare their shields,

because they are about to be attacked!

6 Then Yahweh said to me,

“Put a watchman on the wall of Jerusalem,

and tell him to shout/proclaim what he sees.

7 Tell him to watch for chariots pulled by pairs of horses,

and men riding camels and donkeys, coming from Babylon.

Tell the watchman to watch and listen carefully!”

8 So I did that, and one day the watchman called out,

“Day after day I have stood on this watchtower,

and I have continued to watch during the day and during the night.

9 Now, I saw a man riding in a chariot pulled by two horses.

I called out to him, and he answered/shouted,

‘Babylon has been destroyed!

All the idols in Babylon lie in pieces on the ground!’ ”

10 My people in Judah, the army of Babylon has caused you to suffer greatly

as though [MET] you were grain that was threshed and ◄winnowed/thrown up into the air for the wind to blow away the chaff►.

But now I have told you what the Commander of the armies of angels the God whom we Israelis worship, told me about Babylon.

A message about Edom

11 I received this message from Yahweh about Edom:

Someone from Edom has been calling/shouting to me saying,

“Watchman, how long will it be before the night is ended? [DOU]”

12 I, the watchman, replied,

“It will soon be morning, but after that, it will soon be night again.

If you want to inquire again about what will happen in our country,

come back and inquire again.”

A message about Arabia

13 I received this message about Arabia:

Give this message to people traveling in caravans from Dedan town in northwest Arabia, who camp in the scrub there.

Tell them to bring water for those who are thirsty.

14 And you people who live in Tema city in northwest Arabia,

must bring food for the ◄refugees/people who are fleeing from their enemies►.

15 They are fleeing in order not to be killed by their enemies’ swords

and not to be shot in battles by arrows.

16 Yahweh said to me,

“Exactly one year from now,

all the greatness of the Kedar area in Arabia will end.

17 Only a few of their soldiers who know well how to shoot arrows will remain alive.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

A message about Jerusalem

22 I received this message from Yahweh about Jerusalem, about the valley where Yahweh showed me this vision.

Why is everyone foolishly running up to their flat rooftops?

2 Everyone in the city seems to be shouting.

There are a lot of corpses in the city,

but they were not killed by their enemies’ swords.

They did not die in battles;

instead, they died from diseases and hunger.

3 All the leaders of the city fled.

But then they were captured because they did not have bows and arrows to defend themselves.

Your soldiers tried to flee while the enemy army was still far away,

but they also were captured.

4 That is why I said, “Allow me to cry alone;

do not try to comfort me about my people being slaughtered.”

5 The Commander of the armies of angels has chosen a time when there will be a great uproar, soldiers marching, and people being terrified

in the valley where I received this vision.

It will be a time when our city walls will be battered down

and the people’s cries for help will be heard in the mountains.

6 The armies from Elam and Kir in Media will attack,

driving chariots and carrying shields.

7 Our beautiful valleys will be filled with our enemies’ chariots

and the men who drive the chariots will stand outside our city gates.

8 The walls that protect the cities in Judah will fall down.

You people of Jerusalem will run to get the weapons that are stored in the building called “the Hall of the Forest”.

9 You will see that there are many breaks/holes in the walls of Jerusalem.

You will store water in the lower pool in the city.

10 You will inspect the houses in Jerusalem,

and some of them you will tear down to use the stones to repair the city wall.

11 Between the walls of the city you will build a reservoir to store water from the old pool.

But you will never request help from the one who made the city;

you have never depended on Yahweh, who planned this city long ago.

12 The Commander of the armies of angels told you to weep and mourn;

he told you to shave your heads and to wear rough sackcloth

to show that you were sorry for the sins that you had committed.

13 But instead of doing that, you were happy and celebrating;

you slaughtered cattle and sheep,

in order to cook their meat and eat it and drink wine.

You said, “Let’s eat and drink all that we want to,

because it is possible that we will die tomorrow!”

14 So the Commander of the armies of angels revealed this to me: “I will never forgive my people for sinning like this!”

A message for Shebna

15 The Commander of the armies of angels said this to me: “Go to Shebna, the official who supervises the workers in the palace, and give this message to him:

16 'Who do you think you are?

Who gave you the authority to build a beautiful tomb where you will be buried,

chiseling it out of the rocky cliff high above this valley?

17 You think that you are [IRO] a great man, but Yahweh is about to hurl you away.

It will be as though he will seize you,

18 and roll/crumple you into a ball

and throw you away into a large distant land.

You will die and be buried there,

and your beautiful chariots will stay there in the hands of your enemies.

And because of what happens to you, your master, the king, will be very ashamed/disgraced.

19 Yahweh will force you to quit working in the palace;

you will be demoted from your important position.

20 Then I will summon Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who has served serve me well, to replace you. 21 I will allow him to wear your robe, and to fasten your sash around him, and I will give to him the authority that you had. He will be like [MET] a father to the people of Jerusalem and all the other towns in Judah. 22 I will give to him authority [MTY] over what happens in the palace where King David lived; when he decides something [MET], no one will be able to oppose it; when he refuses to do something, no one will be able to force him to do it. 23 I will cause his family to be greatly respected, because I will put him firmly in his position as supervisor of the workers in the palace, like [SIM] a nail that is firmly hammered into a wall. 24 Others will enable him to have much responsibility, with the result that all the members of his family, even the most insignificant ones, will be honored.' ”

25 But the Commander of the armies of angels also says, “Shebna is like [MET] a peg that is firmly fastened to the wall. But there will be a time when I will remove him from his position; he will lose his power/influence, and everything that he promoted [MET] will fail. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

A message about Tyre’s punishment

23 I received this message from Yahweh about Tyre city:

You sailors on [APO] ships from Tarshish,

weep, because the harbor of Tyre and all the houses in the city have been destroyed.

The reports that you heard in Cyprus island about Tyre are true.

2 You people who live along the coast near Tyre, and merchants of Sidon city, mourn silently.

Your sailors went across the seas to many places like Tyre.

3 They sailed across deep seas

to buy grain in Egypt

and other crops that are grown along the Nile River.

Tyre became the city where people from all nations bought and sold goods.

4 But now you people in Sidon should be ashamed,

because you trusted in Tyre, which has been a strong fortress on an island in the sea.

Tyre is like a woman who is saying,

“Now it is as though I have not given birth to any children,

or raised any sons or daughters.”

5 When the people of Egypt hear what has happened to Tyre,

they will grieve very much.

6 Sail to Tarshish and tell them what happened;

weep, you people who live along the coast.

7 The people in the very old city of Tyre were [RHQ] previously joyful.

Traders [PRS] from Tyre established colonies in many distant nations.

8 People from Tyre appointed kings over other places;

their traders were wealthy;

they were as powerful and wealthy as [MET] kings.

So, who [RHQ] caused the people of Tyre to experience this disaster?

9 It was the Commander of the armies of angels who did it;

he did it in order to cause you people in Tyre not to be proud any more,

to humiliate you men who are honored all over the world.

10 You people of Tarshish, you must grow crops in your land instead of trading;

spread out over your land like [SIM] the Nile River spreads over the land of Egypt when it floods,

because there is no harbor in Tyre for your ships now.

11 It is as though Yahweh stretched out his hand over the sea

and shook the kingdoms of the earth.

He commanded that in Phoenicia/Canaan

all its fortresses must be destroyed.

12 He said to the people of Sidon,

“You will never rejoice again, because you will be crushed;

even if you flee to Cyprus island,

you will not escape destruction.”

13 Think about what happened in Babylonia:

the people who were in that land have disappeared.

The armies of Assyria have caused that land to become a place where wild animals from the desert live.

The Assyrians built dirt ramps to the top of the walls of the city of Babylon;

then they entered the city and tore down the palaces

and caused the city to become a heap of rubble.

14 So wail, you sailors on the ships of Tarshish,

because the harbor in Tyre where your ships stop is destroyed!

15 For seventy years, which is as long as kings usually live, people will forget about Tyre. But then it will be rebuilt. What will happen there will be like what happened to a prostitute in this song:

16 “You harlot, whom people had forgotten,

play your harp well,

and sing many songs,

in order that people will remember you again.”

17 It is true that after seventy years Yahweh will restore Tyre. Their merchants will again earn a lot of money by buying things from and selling things to many other nations [HYP].

18 But their profits will be given to Yahweh.

The merchants will not hoard their money;

instead, they will give it to Yahweh’s priests

in order that they can buy food and nice clothes.

The destruction of everything on the earth

24 Some day, Yahweh is going to destroy everything on the earth.

He will devastate it and cause it to become a desert

and scatter its people.

2 He will scatter everyone—

priests and common people,

servants and their masters,

maids and their mistresses,

buyers and sellers,

lenders and borrowers,

people who owe money and people who are owed money.

3 Nothing that is worth anything will be left on earth;

everything valuable will be destroyed.

That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it.

4 Everything on the earth will dry up and die [DOU];

its important people will become weak and unimportant.

5 The earth has become unacceptable to Yahweh because the people who live on it have disobeyed his laws;

they have rejected the agreement that he intended to last forever.

6 Therefore, Yahweh will curse the earth;

the people who live on it must be punished because of the sins that they have committed.

They will be destroyed by fire,

and only a few people will remain alive.

7 The grapevines will wither,

and there will be no grapes to make wine.

All the people who were previously happy will then groan and mourn.

8 People will no longer play cheerful songs with tambourines,

people will no longer play joyfully on their harps,

and people will no longer shout noisily during their celebrations.

9 People will no longer sing while they drink wine,

and all their alcoholic drinks will taste bitter.

10 Towns and cities will be desolate;

every house will be locked to prevent thieves from entering.

11 Mobs will gather in the streets, wanting wine;

no one on the earth will be happy [DOU] any more.

12 Cities will be ruined

and all their gates will be battered/broken into pieces.

13 It will be like that all over the earth:

there will only be a few people still alive,

like what happens when workers beat all the olives off a tree and there are only a few left,

or when they harvest the grapes and there are only a few left on the vines.

14 But those who are left alive will sing joyfully;

people in nations to the west of Israel will declare that Yahweh is very great;

15 people in nations to the east of Israel will also praise Yahweh [MTY];

in countries across the sea, people will praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis worship.

16 We will hear people in the most distant places on the earth singing praise to Yahweh, the truly righteous one.

But now, I am [SYN] very sad.

Weep for me, because I have become thin and weak.

Terrible things are happening!

Treacherous people still betray/deceive others everywhere [DOU].

17 You people all over the earth,

you will be terrified,

and you will fall into deep pits and traps/snares.

18 Those who try to flee because they are terrified

will fall into deep pits,

and those who climb out of the pits

will be caught by traps/snares.

The sky will split open and torrents [SIM] of rain will fall;

the foundations of the earth will shake.

19 The earth will split apart and be shattered;

it will shake violently.

20 It will be as though the earth will stagger like [SIM] a drunk;

it will shake like [SIM] a hut shakes in a windstorm.

It will collapse and not be able to rise again,

because the guilt of the people who rebel against Yahweh is very great.

21 At that time, Yahweh will punish the wicked powerful beings in the skies

and the wicked kings on the earth.

22 They will all be gathered together and thrown into a dungeon/pit.

They will be shut/locked in that dungeon/pit,

and later they will be punished.

23 At that time the light of the moon and the sun will be lessened;

it will be as though they are ashamed in the presence of Yahweh,

because he, the Commander of the armies of angels, will rule gloriously ◄on Zion Hill/in Jerusalem►,

in the presence of the leaders of his people.

Isaiah praises God for having good judgment and providing salvation

25 Yahweh, you are my God;

I will honor you and praise you [MTY].

You do wonderful things;

you said long ago that you would do those things,

and now you have done them like you said that you would.

2 Sometimes you have caused cities to become heaps of rubble,

cities that had strong walls around them.

You have caused palaces in foreign countries to disappear;

they will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore, people in powerful nations will declare that you are very great,

and people in nations whose leaders are ruthless/cruel will revere you.

4 Yahweh, you are like [SIM] a strong tower where poor people can ◄find refuge/be safe►,

a place where needy people can go when they are distressed.

You are like [MET] a place where people can find refuge in a storm

and where they can be shaded from the hot sun.

Ruthless/Cruel people oppress us;

they are like [SIM] a storm beating against a wall,

5 and like [SIM] the intense heat in the desert.

But you cause the roaring of people in foreign nations to cease.

Like the air cools when a cloud comes overhead,

you stop ruthless/cruel people from singing songs boasting about their being very great.

6 Here in Jerusalem, the Commander of the armies of angels will prepare a wonderful feast for all the people of the world.

It will be a banquet with plenty of good meat and fine well-aged [DOU] wine.

7 People here are sad;

their being sad is like a dark cloud that hangs over them,

like they experience when someone dies.

But Yahweh will enable them to quit being sad.

8 He will get rid of death forever!

Yahweh our God will cause people to no longer mourn because someone has died.

And he will stop other people insulting and making fun of his land and us his people.

That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it!

9 At that time, people will proclaim,

“Yahweh is our God!

We trusted in him, and he rescued us!

Yahweh, in whom we trusted, has done it;

we should rejoice because of his saving/rescuing us!”

10 Yahweh [MTY] will protect and bless Jerusalem.

But he will crush the people in the land of Moab;

they will be like [SIM] straw that is trampled in the manure and left to rot.

11 Yahweh will push down the people of Moab

like [SIM] a swimmer pushes the water with his hands.

He will cause them to cease being proud,

and he will show that all the things that they have done are worthless.

12 The high walls around the cities in Moab will be torn down;

they will be demolished and fall into the dust/dirt.

A song to praise Yahweh

26 Some day, people in Judah will sing this song:

Our city of Jerusalem is strong!

Yahweh protects our city;

He is like [MET] a wall that surrounds it.

2 Open the gates of the city for people who are righteous;

allow people who faithfully obey Yahweh to enter the city.

3 Yahweh, those who trust in you,

those who firmly resolve to never doubt you,

you will enable them to feel perfectly peaceful.

4 So always trust in Yahweh,

because Yahweh, our God, is forever like [MET] a huge rock under which we are sheltered/protected/safe.

5 He humbles proud people

and destroys cities whose people are arrogant.

He causes those cities to collapse into the dust/dirt.

6 When that happens, poor and oppressed people will trample on the ruins.

7 But as for righteous people,

Yahweh, you do what is right;

it is as though you cause the paths where they walk to be level and smooth.

8 Yahweh, by obeying your laws

we show that we trust you to help us;

and what we desire is that you will be honored/praised/exalted.

9 All through the night I [SYN] desire to know you better,

and each morning I still want to be with you.

Only when you come to judge and punish people who live on the earth

will they learn to do what is right.

10 But your acting kindly toward wicked people does not cause them to do what is good.

Even in places where people do what is right, the wicked people continue to do what is evil,

and they do not realize that you, Yahweh, are great.

11 Yahweh, it is as though your fist is raised up ready to strike them,

but they do not realize that.

Show them that you are very eager to help your people.

If your enemies would realize that, they would be ashamed;

allow your fire to burn them up because they are your enemies.

12 Yahweh, we desire that you will allow things to go well for us;

everything that we have done is what you have enabled us to do.

13 Yahweh, our God, others have ruled over us,

but you [MTY] are the only one whom we honor.

14 Those who ruled us are now gone; they are dead;

their spirits have left this earth, and they will not become alive again.

You punished those rulers and got rid of them,

and people do not even remember them any more.

15 Yahweh, you have enabled our nation to become great;

we are more in numbernow, and we have more land,

so we thank/praise you.

16 Yahweh, when we were distressed, we asked you to help us;

when you disciplined/punished us, we were able only to whisper when we prayed to you.

17 Like pregnant women writhe and cry out

when they are giving birth,

we suffered very much, too.

18 We had severe pain,

but nothing good resulted [MET] from it.

We have not rescued our people from being conquered by our enemies,

and we have not given birth to children who will rule the world correctly (OR, not defeated the armies that have attacked other nations.

God’s punishment for Israel

19 But Yahweh’s people who have died will become alive again,

their corpses will become alive!

Those whose bodies lie in graves will rise and shout joyfully!

His light will be like dew that falls on his people who have died,

who are now in the place where the dead people are,

and will cause them to become alive again.

20 But now, my people/fellow-citizens, go home

and lock your doors!

Hide for a short time,

until Yahweh is no longer angry.

21 Listen to this: Yahweh will come from heaven

to punish all the people on the earth for the sins that they have committed.

People will be able to see [PRS] the ◄blood of those/the people► who have been murdered;

their murderers will no longer be able to hide.

God’s future blessings on Israel

27 At that time, Yahweh will punish Leviathan,

the swift-moving monster/dragon,

that coiling serpent that lives in the sea.

Yahweh will kill it with his sharp, huge, and powerful sword.

2 At that time, Yahweh will say,

“You Israeli people, who are like [MET] a fruitful vineyard, must sing!

3 I will protect you

like a farmer [MET] waters his crops carefully in order that they will grow well.

I will guard you day and night, in order that no one harms you.

4 I am no longer angry with my people;

if any of your enemies try to injure you like briers and thorns injure people [MET],

I will attack them in battles;

I will get rid of them completely,

5 unless they request me to protect them;

I strongly invite them to make peace with me [DOU]!”

6 There will be a time when the ◄descendants of Jacob/Israeli people► will prosper like a plant that has good roots;

they will be like [MET] trees that bud and blossom and bear a lot of fruit;

what they do will bless all the people in the world.

7 But now I ask, has Yahweh punished us Israelis

like he punished our enemies?

Has he punished us as much as he punished them?

8 No, he has not done that,

but he punished us Israeli people and ◄exiled us/forced us to leave our country►;

we were taken away from our land

as though [SIM] we were struck by a windstorm from the east.

9 Yahweh did that in order to punish us for our sins,

and remove our guilt.

As a result of our being exiled, all the altars to other gods in Israel will be demolished,

and we will be forgiven for the sins that we have committed.

There will be no more poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah, or altars for burning incense to other gods;

they will all be torn down.

10 The cities that have strong walls around them will be empty;

like the desert, they will have no one living in them.

The houses will be abandoned,

and the streets will be full of weeds.

Calves will eat grass there and lie down there;

they will chew up all the leaves on the trees.

11 The Israeli people are like [MET] dry branches on a tree;

women break them off and use them to make fires under their cooking pots.

Our Israeli people do not have any sense;

so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them

or be kind to them.

12 However, there will be a time when Yahweh will gather them together again; he will separate them from the people who have conquered them, like people separate wheat from chaff. He will bring them back to Israel, one by one, from the land between the Euphrates River in the northeast and the brook at the border of Egypt in the southwest. 13 At that time, a trumpet will be blown very loudly. And those who were exiled to Assyria and Egypt and who almost died there will return to Jerusalem, to worship Yahweh on Zion, his holy hill.

Warnings to Israel

28 Terrible things will happen to Samaria city, the capital of Israel!

It is on a hill above a fertile valley;

the people who live there, who get drunk by drinking too much wine, are very proud;

it is a beautiful and glorious city,

but some day that beauty will disappear like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up.

2 Listen to this: Yahweh will cause a great army to attack Samaria.

Their soldiers will be like [SIM] a huge hailstorm or a very strong wind;

they will be everywhere, like the water of a huge flood,

and they will smash to the ground the buildings in Samaria.

3 The people of Samaria are proud,

but everything that the drunks who live there think is wonderful/glorious will be trampled on by their enemies.

4 Yes, Samaria is beautiful, set on a hill above a fertile valley, but that beauty will disappear

like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up.

Whenever someone sees a good fig at the beginning of the season when figs become ripe, he quickly picks and eats it;

similarly, when the enemies of Israel see all the beautiful things in Samaria,

they will quickly conquer the city and take away all those things.

5 At that time, the Commander of the armies of angels will be like a glorious wreath of flowers for us Israeli people

who are still alive after being exiled.

6 He will cause our judges to want to do what is fair/just

when they decide people’s cases.

He will enable the soldiers who stand at the city gates

to strongly defend the city when our enemies attack it.

7 But now, our leaders stagger/stumble

because they have drunk a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks.

The priests and prophets also stagger

because of drinking a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks.

They are not able to think right;

they see visions but they cannot understand what they mean;

they are unable to decide things correctly.

8 All their tables are covered with their vomit;

filth is everywhere.

9 They ridicule Yahweh saying, “Who does he think that he is teaching?

Why is he talking to us like this?

Does he think that we are little children

who have recently been weaned?

10 He continually tells us, ‘Do this, do that;’

first he tells us one rule, then another rule,

he tells us only one line at a time.”

11 So now, Yahweh will need to force them to listen to Assyrians

speaking to them in a language that they do not understand.

12 Yahweh told his people long ago,

“This is a place where you can rest;

you are exhausted from all your travels through the desert,

but you will be able to rest in this land.”

But they refused to pay attention to what he said.

13 So Yahweh continues to tell the people of Samaria,

one line at a time, “Do this, do that,”

first one rule and then another rule.

But because of their ignoring what God said, they will be attacked and defeated;

they will be wounded and snared and captured.

Warnings to Judah

14 Because of what will happen in Samaria,

you rulers in Jerusalem who make fun of me,

listen to this message from Yahweh:

15 You boast saying,

“We have made an alliance with the leaders of Egypt,

so we will not be killed in battles;

we will never go to the place where the dead people are.

When the army of Assyria attacks us, they will never defeat us,

because we have made an agreement with Egypt to protect us!”

But that agreement consists of a lot of lies [DOU].

16 Therefore, Yahweh our Lord says this:

“Listen to this! I am going to place in Jerusalem someone who is like [MET] a foundation stone,

he is like a stone that has been tested to determine if it is solid.

He will be like a valuable cornerstone around which it will be safe to build a house;

and whoever trusts in him will never be disappointed.

17 I will test you people of Jerusalem to find out if you will act justly and righteously

like [MET] someone uses a plumb line to determine if a wall is straight and vertical.

But because your agreement with Egypt to protect you was made by leaders lying to each other and deceiving each other,

you will be defeated and taken away from your country

by an army that will come against you like [MET] a flood.

18 I will annul/destroy the agreement that you made with the leaders of Egypt.

You thought that because of that agreement you would not be killed, and you would not go to the place where the dead are.

But when the vast army of Assyria overwhelms you like a flood,

they will trample you into the ground.

19 Their soldiers will come during the morning, at noontime, and at night,

and they will carry you all away.”

And when you understand this message,

you will be terrified.

20 You have heard people say, “Your bed is very short, you will not be able to sleep in it;

your blankets are very narrow; they will not cover you!”

That means for you that your agreement with Egypt is not going to save you.

21 Yahweh will come and cause you to be defeated;

he will do to you like he did to the army of Philistia at Perizim Mountain

and like he did to the Amor people-group at Gibeon Valley.

What he will do will be very strange and unusual [DOU].

22 The Commander of the armies of angels has told me that he is going to destroy the entire land.

So do not ridicule what I say any more,

because if you do that

he will punish you even more severely.

23 Listen [IDM] to what I say;

pay attention carefully.

24 When a farmer plows some ground, does he never plant seeds [RHQ]?

Does he continue to plow it and never plant anything [RHQ]?

25 No, he makes the ground very level,

and then he plants seeds—

dill and cumin and wheat and barley.

He plants each kind of seed in the correct manner.

26 He does that because God has taught him the correct way to do it.

27 Farmers never thresh caraway/dill with a heavy sledge/club;

instead, they beat it only with a stick.

Farmers never thresh cumin by driving a cart over it;

instead, they hit it only with a rod.

28 And grain for baking bread is crushed easily,

so the farmers do not continue to pound it for a long time.

They sometimes cause their horses to pull a cart over it to thresh it,

but doing that does not grind the grain.

29 The Commander of the armies of angels

gives us wonderful advice about how to do things; he causes us to be very wise.

So what the farmers do is very smart/wise, but what your leaders are doing is very stupid.

Warnings for Jerusalem

29 This is a message from Yahweh:

Terrible things will happen to Jerusalem, the city where King David lived.

You people continue to celebrate your festivals each year.

2 But I will cause you to experience a great disaster,

and when that happens,

people will weep and lament very much.

Your city will become like [MET] an altar to me

where people are burned as sacrifices.

3 I will cause your enemies to come to your city;

they will surround it by building towers

and putting in place other things with which to attack you.

4 Then you will talk as though you were buried deep in the ground [DOU];

it will sound like someone whispering from under the ground,

like [SIM] a ghost speaking from a grave.

5 But, suddenly your enemies will be blown away like dust;

their armies will disappear

like [SIM] chaff that is blown away by the wind.

It will happen very suddenly.

6 The Commander of the armies of angels will come to help you

with thunder and an earthquake and a very loud noise,

with a strong wind and a big storm and a fire that will burn up everything.

7 Then the armies of all the nations that will be attacking Jerusalem will quickly disappear like a dream in the night [DOU].

Those who will be attacking Jerusalem will suddenly vanish/disappear.

8 People who are asleep dream about eating food,

but when they wake up, they are still hungry.

People who are thirsty dream about drinking something,

but when they wake up they are still thirsty.

It will be like that when your enemies come to attack Zion Hill;

they will dream about conquering you, but when they wake up,

they will realize that they have not succeeded.

9 You people of Jerusalem, be amazed and surprised about this [IRO]!

Do not believe what I have said [SAR]!

And continue to be blind [IRO] about what Yahweh is doing.

You are stupid, but it is not because you have drunk a lot of wine.

You stagger, but not from drinking alcoholic drinks.

10 Because Yahweh has prevented the prophets [DOU] from understanding and telling you his messages,

it is as though he has caused you to be fast/deeply asleep.

11 Yahweh gave me this vision; but for you, it is only words on a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to those who can read and request that they read it, they will say, “We cannot read it because the scroll is sealed.” 12 When you give it to others who cannot read, they will say, “We cannot read it because we do not know how to read.”

13 So the Lord says, “These people say that they belong to me.

They honor me by what they say [MTY],

but they do not think [IDM] about what I desire.

When they worship me,

all they do is recite rules that people have made and that they have memorized.

14 Therefore, again I will do something to amaze these people;

I will perform many miracles.

And I will show that the people who tell others that they are wise are not really wise,

and I will show that the people who tell others that they are intelligent are not really intelligent.

15 Terrible things will happen to those who try to conceal from me, Yahweh,

the evil things that they plan to do;

they do those things in the darkness

and they think, ‘Yahweh certainly cannot [RHQ] see us;

he cannot [RHQ] know what we are doing!’

16 They are extremely foolish!

They act as though they were the potters and I was the clay!

Something that was created should certainly never [RHQ] say to the one who made it,

‘You did not make me!’

A jar should never say,

‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’ ”

17 Soon the forests in Lebanon will become fertile fields,

and abundant crops will grow in those fields,

and that will happen very soon.

18 At that time, deaf people will be able to hear;

they will be able to hear when someone reads from a book;

and blind people will be able to see;

they will be able to see things when it is gloomy and even when it is dark.

19 Yahweh will enable humble people to be very joyful again.

Poor people will rejoice about what the Holy One of Israel has done.

20 There will be no more people who ridicule others

and no more arrogant people.

And those who plan to do evil things will be executed.

21 Those who testify falsely in order to persuade judges to punish innocent people will vanish/disappear.

Similar things will happen to those who by lying in court persuade judges to make unjust decisions.

22 That is why Yahweh, who rescued Abraham, says about the people of Israel,

“My people will no longer be ashamed;

no longer will they show on their faces that they are ashamed.

23 When they see that I have blessed them by giving them many children and doing many other things for them,

they will realize that I am the Holy One of Israel,

and they will revere me, the God to whom they, the descendants of Jacob, belong.

24 When that happens, those who have not been able to think well will think clearly,

and those who complain about what I am doing will accept what I am teaching them.”

Judah’s worthless treaty with Egypt

30 Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to you, my people who rebel against me.

You make plans, but what you plan is not what I want.

You have made an alliance with the rulers of Egypt,

but you did not ask my Spirit if that was what you should do.

By doing that, you have increased the number of your sins.

2 You went to Egypt to ask their rulers for help,

without asking for my advice.

You have trusted in the army of the king of Egypt to protect you;

you have trusted in them

like people sit in the shade to protect themselves from the sun [MET].

3 But the result of your trusting in the king of Egypt is that you will be disappointed and disgraced;

because of trusting in him, you will be humiliated.

4 Officials/ambassadors from Judah have gone to Zoan and Hanes cities in Egypt to make treaties,

5 but all those who trust in the King of Egypt will be humiliated,

because that nation will not be able to help you;

the treaty that you have made requesting help from them will be useless;

instead, the result will be that you will be humiliated and disgraced [DOU].”

6 I received from Yahweh this message about the animals in the southern part of Judah:

That area is one where people experience a lot of troubles and difficulties,

an area where there are male and female lions

and various kinds of poisonous snakes.

Caravans go through that area

taking donkeys and camels loaded with valuable goods.

They are taking them to Egypt to seek for protection by the army of Egypt,

but it will be useless.

7 The promises made by the king of Egypt are worthless;

therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.

A warning for Judah

8 Yahweh told me to write on a scroll a message,

in order that it would be a witness to the people of Judah

that would endure forever.

9 It would remind them that they are deceitful and always rebelling against Yahweh;

they refuse to pay attention to what he tells/teaches them.

10 They tell the people who see/receive visions from Yahweh,

“Stop seeing visions!”

They tell the prophets,

“Do not reveal to us what is right!

Tell us pleasant things;

do not tell us visions about things that are true!

11 Stop doing what you have been doing [DOU];

stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel says to us!”

12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected my message,

and you are relying on those who oppress and deceive others.

13 Therefore, the result of your sin of rejecting me will be that you will suddenly experience disasters;

what will happen to you will be like [SIM] a cracked wall that suddenly collapses [DOU].

14 You will be smashed like a clay jar is smashed when it is dropped,

and it shatters completely, with the result that there is not one piece big enough

to carry some coals from a stove

or to carry a little bit of water from a well.”

15 Yahweh, our God, the Holy One of Israel, also says this:

“You will be rescued from your enemies only if you repent and trust in what I will do for you;

you will be strong only if you quit worrying and trust in me.

But you do not want to do that.

16 You said, ‘No, we will escape on horses that the army of Egypt will give us!’

So, you will try to flee.

You said, ‘We will escape from the army of Assyria by riding on swift horses!’

But those who pursue you will also ride swiftly.

17 As a result, 1,000 of you will flee when only one of them pursues you!

When only five of their soldiers threaten to kill you,

all of you will flee.

Only a few of you will be left, like [SIM] a single flagpole on top of a mountain

with one signal flag on the pole.”

18 But Yahweh wants to be kind to you;

he desires to show you that he is merciful.

Do not forget that Yahweh is a God who acts justly;

he is pleased with those who patiently trust in him.

Yahweh will help his people

19 You people who live in Jerusalem [DOU], some day you will not cry any more. Yahweh will be kind to you when you call out to him for help. He will answer/help you as soon as he hears you call. 20 Although now Yahweh has caused you to daily experience [MET] great troubles and suffer much, he, your teacher, will not hide himself from you. He [SYN] will teach you many things clearly. 21 And you will hear him speak to you to guide you. Right behind you he will say, “This is the road on which you should walk; walk on this road!” 22 When that happens, you will destroy all your idols that are covered with silver or gold. You will throw them away like you throw away a filthy rag, and you will say to them, “We do not need you any more!”

23 If you do that, Yahweh will bless you by giving you good rain at the time that you plant your crops. You will have good harvests, and plenty of pasture with grass for your cattle to eat. 24 After the wind blows away the chaff, the oxen and donkeys that pull the plow to plow your ground will have good grain to eat. 25 At that time, when your enemies have been slaughtered and their towers have ◄collapsed/been destroyed►, there will be streams flowing down every hill and mountain in Judah. 26 The moon will seem to shine as brightly as the sun, and the sun will seem to shine seven times as brightly as previously. That is what it will be like when Yahweh causes the suffering of his people to cease; it will be as though [MET] he will be putting bandages on their wounds and healing them.

27 It is as though we see Yahweh coming from far away;

he is extremely angry,

and there are thick clouds of smoke around him.

By what he says [MTY] he shows that he is angry;

what he says is like [SIM] a devastating/destructive fire.

28 His breath is like [SIM] a flood that covers his enemies up to their necks.

He will separate [MET] the nations in order to destroy some of them;

it is as though he will put hooks in their mouths and take them away.

29 But his people will sing joyfully

like they sing during the nights when they celebrate a holy festival.

They will be very joyful,

like [SIM] a large group of his people are joyful when they go up to Zion Hill in Jerusalem,

along with men playing flutes

when they are all going there to worship Yahweh.

He is like [MET] a huge rock under which we Israeli people are safe.

30 And Yahweh will enable us to hear him speaking powerfully/majestically.

He will show us that he [SYN] is very powerful.

We will see him [SYN] smash his enemies.

Being very angry, he will descend with a big rainstorm and thunder and hail to punish them.

31 The soldiers of Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh

and when he strikes them with his rod.

32 And while Yahweh strikes them to punish them,

his people will celebrate by playing tambourines and harps.

It will be as though Yahweh will lift up his powerful hand/arm and defeat the Assyrian army in battle.

33 The valley of Topheth outside Jerusalem has been prepared for a long time;

it is ready for the king of Assyria;

the ◄funeral pyre/pile of wood► for burning his body is wide and high,

and it will be as though Yahweh will light the fire with his breath,

which will come out like a stream of burning sulfur.

A warning about relying on Egypt

31 Terrible things will happen to those who reply on Egypt to help them,

trusting in their soldiers’ horses and their many chariots and their strong chariot-drivers,

instead of trusting that Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, will help them.

2 Yahweh is very wise,

but he also causes people to experience disaster!

And when he decides to do that,

he does not change his mind!

He will strike/punish the wicked people

and all those who help them.

3 The soldiers of Egypt that you people of Judah are relying on are humans, not God!

And their horses are only horses; they are not powerful spirits!

So when Yahweh raises his fist

to strike/punish the soldiers of Egypt whom you thought would help you,

he will also strike you who thought that you would be helped,

and you and they will stumble and fall down;

all of you will die together.

4 But this is what Yahweh said to me:

“When a huge lion stands over the body of a sheep that he has killed and growls,

even if a large group of shepherds comes to chase/shoo away the lion,

even if they shout loudly,

the lion will not be afraid and will not leave.

Similarly, I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will come down

to fight my enemies on Zion Hill,

and nothing will hinder me.

5 I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will protect Jerusalem

like [SIM] a mother bird protects the baby birds in her nest:

I will defend the city

and rescue it from its enemies.”

6 My people, even though you have greatly rebelled against Yahweh, return to him. 7 When you do that, each of you will throw away the idols that you [SYN] have sinned by making, idols that are covered with silver and gold.

8 Many of the Assyrian soldiers will be killed,

but not by swords that men use.

They will be destroyed by the sword of God;

and those who are not killed will ◄panic/be very afraid► and flee.

And some of them will be captured and forced to become slaves.

9 Even their very strong soldiers [MTY] will be terrified;

they will abandon their battle flags and run away!

Yahweh will cause his enemies who attack Jerusalem to be destroyed.

Yahweh’s presence on Zion Hill is like a fire,

like a furnace that blazes in Jerusalem;

and that is what Yahweh says about what will happen to the Assyrian army!

What will happen when the great king comes

32 Listen to this! Some day there will be a righteous king,

and his officials will help him to rule justly/fairly.

2 Each of them will be like [MET] a shelter from the wind

and a ◄refuge/place to be protected► from the storm.

They will be like [SIM] streams of water in the desert,

like the shade under a huge rock in a very hot and dry land.

3 When that happens, those leaders will enable people who have not understood [MET] God’s truth to understand it,

and they will enable those who have not paid attention to [MET] God’s truth to pay attention to it.

4 Even those who act very hastily will have good sense,

and those who cannot speak well will speak fluently and clearly.

5 At that time, people who are foolish/unwise will no longer be ◄admired/looked up to►,

and scoundrels will no longer be respected.

6 Foolish people say things that are foolish,

and they plan to do evil things.

Their behavior is disgraceful,

and they say things about Yahweh that are false.

They do not give food to those who are hungry,

and they do not give water to those who are thirsty.

7 Scoundrels do things that are evil and that deceive people;

they plan to do evil things;

by telling lies in court they cause poor people to ◄have trouble/be convicted►,

even when what the poor people are requesting is fair/just.

8 But honorable people plan to do honorable/good things,

and they do the honorable/good things that they plan to do.

A message for the women of Jerusalem

9 You women of Jerusalem who think that you are very secure/safe

and think that everything is going well,

listen to [IDM] what I say!

10 One year from now, you who now ◄are not worried about anything/think that everything is going well► will tremble,

because there will be no grapes for you to harvest

and no other crops to harvest.

11 So tremble now, you women who are not worried about anything!

Take off your fancy clothes and put rough sackcloth around your waists.

12 Beat/Hit your breasts to show that you are grieving about what will happen in your fertile fields and to your fruitful grapevines,

13 because only thorns and thistles will grow in your soil.

Your houses where you had joyful parties and your city where you have been happy will be gone.

14 The king’s palace will be empty;

there will be no people in the city that now is very noisy.

Wild donkeys will walk around and flocks of sheep will eat grass

in the empty forts and watchtowers.

15 It will be like that until God pours his Spirit out on us from heaven.

When that happens, the deserts will become fertile fields,

and abundant crops will grow in those fertile fields.

16 People [PRS] will act/rule justly/fairly in those desert areas,

and people will act/rule righteously in those fertile fields.

17 And the result of their acting righteously will be that there will be peace,

the land will be tranquil/quiet, and people will be secure/safe forever.

18 My people will live in their homes peacefully, and safely, and calmly,

in places of rest.

19 Even if a severe hailstorm knocks down the trees in the forest,

and all the buildings in the city are blown down,

20 Yahweh will greatly bless you;

you will plant seeds in fields alongside the streams

and there will be abundant crops.

Your donkeys and cattle will easily find grass to eat.

Warnings to Assyria and promises to God’s people

33 Terrible things will happen to you people of Assyria!

You have destroyed others,

but you have not been destroyed yet.

You have betrayed/deceived others,

but you have not been betrayed/deceived yet.

When you stop destroying others[fn],

others will destroy you.

When you stop betraying/deceiving others,

others will betray you.

2 Yahweh, be kind to us,

because we have patiently waited for you to help us.

Enable us to be strong every day,

and rescue us when we have troubles.

3 Our enemies run away when they hear your voice.

When you stand up and show that you are powerful [IDM], the people of all nations flee.

4 And after our enemies have been defeated,

we, your people, will take away all our enemies’ possessions

like [SIM] caterpillars and locusts strip off all the leaves of plants.

5 Yahweh is greater than anyone else, and he lives in heaven,

and he will rule justly and righteously in Jerusalem.

6 When that happens, he will enable you to live securely/safely;

he will fully protect your possessions,

he will enable you to be wise and to know all that you need to know;

and revering Yahweh will be like [MET] a valuable treasure for you.

7 But now, look, our brave men are crying out in the streets;

our ambassadors have gone to other countries to make peace treaties,

but they will cry bitterly because they will not succeed.

8 No one travels on our roads [DOU].

The leaders of Assyria have broken/disregarded their peace treaty with us;

they despise the people who made those treaties,

and they do not respect anyone.

9 The land of Judah is dry and barren.

The cedar trees in Lebanon are drying up and decaying.

The Sharon Plain along the coast is now a desert.

There are no more leaves on the trees in the Bashan and Carmel areas.

10 Yahweh says, “Now I will begin to show that I am very powerful [DOU].

11 You people of Assyria make plans that are as useless as [MET] chaff and straw.

Your breath will become a fire that will burn you up.

12 Your people will be burned until only ashes remain [MET]

like [SIM] thornbushes are cut down and burned up in a fire.

13 You people who live far away and you people who live nearby,

pay attention to what I have done and realize that I am very powerful.”

14 The sinners in Jerusalem will tremble because of being very afraid;

godless people will be terrified.

They say, “None of us can [RHQ] remain alive because this fire is burning everything;

it is like the fire on Yahweh’s altar that will burn forever!”

15 Those who act honestly and say what is right,

those who do not try to become rich by ◄extortion/forcing people to give them money►,

those who do not try to get bribes,

those who refuse to listen to people who are planning to murder someone,

those who do not join others who urge them to do what is wrong,

16 they are the people who will live safely [MTY];

they will find places to be safe in the caves in the mountains.

They will have plenty of food

and water.

17 You [SYN] people of Judah will see the king wearing all his beautiful robes,

and you will see that he rules a land that extends far away.

18 When you see that, you will think about when you were previously terrified,

and you will say, “The officers of Assyria who counted the tax money that we were forced to pay to them have disappeared [RHQ]!

Those men who counted our towers are gone [RHQ]!

19 Those arrogant people who spoke a language that we could not understand are no longer here!”

20 At that time, you will see Zion Hill, the place where we celebrate our festivals;

you will see that Jerusalem has become a place that is calm and safe.

It will be secure,

like [SIM] a tent that cannot be moved because its ropes are tight

and its stakes are firmly in the ground.

21 Yahweh will be our mighty God;

he will be like [SIM] a mighty river that will protect us

because our enemies will not be able to cross it;

no one will be able to row across it

and no ships will be able to sail across it.

22 Yahweh is our judge;

he is the one who gives us laws,

and he is our king.

He will rescue us.

23 The ropes on our enemies’ boats will hang loose,

their masts will not be fastened firmly,

and their sails will not be spread out.

The treasures that they have seized will be divided among us, God’s people,

and even lame people among us will get some.

24 And the people in Jerusalem will no longer say, “We are sick,”

because Yahweh will forgive the sins that have been committed by the people who live there.

God will punish all his enemies

34 You people of all nations, come near and listen

and pay careful attention.

I want the world and everything that is in it to hear what I say.

2 Yahweh is angry with the people of all nations;

he is ◄furious/very angry► with all their armies.

He has decided that they must be destroyed,

and he will slaughter them.

3 Their corpses will not be buried,

and as a result their corpses will stink,

and their blood will fill the streams that flow down the mountains.

4 The sky will disappear like [SIM] a scroll that is rolled up and thrown away.

Stars will fall from the sky

like [SIM] withered leaves fall from grapevines,

or like [SIM] shriveled figs fall from fig trees.

5 When Yahweh has finished his work of destroying objects in the sky,

he will punish the people of Edom,

that people-group that he has said must be destroyed/exterminated.

6 It is as though Yahweh has a sword that is covered with blood and fat—

the blood of lambs and goats

and the fat of the kidneys of rams to be sacrificed.

It is as though Yahweh will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah

and kill many people in other cities in Edom.

7 Even wild oxen will be killed,

as well as young calves and big bulls.

The ground will be soaked with blood,

and the dirt will be covered with the fat of those animals.

8 That will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge

for what those people did to the people of Judah.

9 The streams in Edom will be full of burning pitch/tar,

and the ground will be covered with burning sulfur.

10 Yahweh will never finish punishing Edom with fire;

the smoke will rise forever.

No one will ever live in that land,

and no one will even travel through it.

11 Ravens and various kinds of owls and small animals will live there.

Yahweh will measure that land carefully:

He will measure it to to decide where to cause chaos and destruction.

12 There will be no princes;

the people who have authority will have no kingdom to rule.

13 The deserted palaces and fortified buildings will be full of thorns and thistles.

The ruins will be a place for jackals/wolves and owls to live.

14 Animals that live in the desert and hyenas/wolves will be there,

and wild goats will bleat/call to each other.

There will also be creatures/animals that roam around at night.

15 Owls will make their nests there and lay their eggs in the nests;

and when the eggs hatch, the mother birds will cover them with their wings.

There will also be falcons/hawks there,

each with its mate.

16 If you read what is written in the book that contains messages from Yahweh, you will find out what he will do in Edom.

All of those animals and birds will be there,

and each one will have a mate,

because that is what Yahweh has promised,

and his Spirit will cause them all to gather there.

17 He has decided what parts of the land of Edom each will live in,

and those are the places where each bird or animal will live.

Their descendants will possess those areas forever,

throughout all generations.

The promise of restoration

35 Some day, it will be as though the desert and other very dry areas are glad [DOU];

the desert will rejoice and flowers will blossom.

Like crocuses/daffodils,

2 the desert will produce flowers abundantly;

it will be as though everything is rejoicing and singing!

The deserts will become as beautiful as [SIM] the trees in Lebanon,

as fertile [SIM] as the plains of the Sharon and Carmel areas.

There people will see the glory of Yahweh;

they will see that he is magnificent.

3 So, encourage those who are tired and weak.

4 Say to those who are afraid,

“Be strong and do not be afraid,

because our God is going to come to get revenge on his enemies;

he will ◄pay them back/punish them► for what they have done,

and he will rescue you.”

5 When he does that, he will enable blind people to see

and enable deaf people to hear.

6 Lame people will leap like deer,

and those who have been unable to speak will sing joyfully.

Water will gush out from springs in the desert;

streams will flow in the desert.

7 The very dry ground will become a pool of water,

and springs will provide water for the dry land.

Grass and reeds and papyrus will grow in places where the jackals/wolves lived previously.

8 And there will be a highway through that land;

it will be called ‘the Holy Highway’.

People who are not acceptable to God will not walk on that road;

it will be only for those who conduct their lives as God wants them to;

foolish people will become lost while walking on that road.

9 There will not be any lions there

or any other dangerous animals along that road.

Only those who have been freed from being slaves in Babylonia will walk on it.

10 Those whom Yahweh has freed will return to Jerusalem;

they will sing as they enter the city;

they will be extremely joyful [MET, PRS] forever.

No longer will they be sad or mourn;

they will be completely joyful [DOU].

The army of Assyria invaded Judah

36 When King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost 14 years, King Sennacherib of Assyria came with his army to attack the cities in Judah that had walls around them. They did not conquer Jerusalem, but they conquered all the other cities. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent a large army with some of his important officials from Lachish city to persuade King Hezekiah to surrender. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stood in their positions alongside the aqueduct/channel in which water flows into the upper pool into Jerusalem, near the road to the field where the women wash clothes. 3 The Israeli officials who went out of the city to talk with them were Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the ◄palace administrator/man who supervised the workers in the palace►, Shebna the king’s secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, who wrote down the government decisions.

4 Then one of Sennacherib’s important officials told them to take this message to Hezekiah:

This is what the King of Assyria, the great king, says: “What are you trusting in to rescue you? 5 You say that you have weapons to fight us and some country’s promises to help you, and that will enable you to defeat us, but that is only talk [RHQ]. Who do you think will help you to rebel against my soldiers from Assyria? 6 Listen to me! You are relying on the army of Egypt. But that will be like [MET] using a broken reed for a walking stick on which you could lean. But it would pierce the hand of anyone who would lean on it! That is what the King of Egypt would be like for anyone who relied on him for help. 7 But perhaps you will say to me, ‘No, we are relying on Yahweh our God to help us.’ I would reply, ‘Is he not the one whom you insulted by tearing down his shrines and altars and forcing everyone in Jerusalem and other places in Judah to worship only in front of the altar in Jerusalem?’

8 So I suggest that you make a deal with my master/boss, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, but I do not think that you can find 2,000 of your men who can ride on them! 9 You are expecting the king of Egypt to send chariots and men riding horses to assist you. But they certainly would not [RHQ] be able to resist/defeat even the most insignificant/unimportant official in the army of Assyria! 10 Furthermore, do not think that [RHQ] we have come here to attack and destroy this land without Yahweh’s orders! It is Yahweh himself who told us to come here and destroy this land!”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the official from Assyria, “Please speak to us in your Aramaic language, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in our Hebrew language, because the people who are standing on the wall will understand it and become frightened.”

12 But the official replied, “Do you think that my master sent me to say these things only to you, and not to the people standing on the wall [RHQ]? If you reject this message, the people in this city will soon need to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, just like you will, because there will be nothing more for you to eat or drink.”

13 Then the official stood up and shouted in the Hebrew language to the people sitting on the wall. He said, “Listen to this message from the great king, the King of Assyria! 14 He says, ‘Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you! He will not be able to rescue you! 15 Do not allow him to persuade you to trust in Yahweh, saying that Yahweh will rescue you, and that the army of the King of Assyria will never capture this city!’

16 Do not pay attention to what Hezekiah says! This is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Come out of the city and surrender to me. If you do that, I will arrange for each of you to drink the juice from your own grapevines and to eat figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own well. 17 You will be able to do that until we come and take you to a land that is like your land—a land where there is grain to make bread and vineyards to produce grapes for making new wine and, and where we make lots of bread.’

18 Do not allow Hezekiah to mislead you by saying, “Yahweh will rescue us.” The gods that people of other nations worship have never [RHQ] rescued any of them from the power [MTY] of the King of Assyria! 19 Why were the gods of Hamath and Arpad cities, and the gods of Sepharvaim unable to rescue Samaria from my power [MTY]? 20 No, no god [RHQ] of any nation has been able to rescue their people from me. So why do you think that Yahweh will rescue you people of Jerusalem from my power [MTY]?’ ”

21 But the people who were listening were silent. No one said anything, because King Hezekiah had commanded, “When the official from Assyria talks to you, do not answer him.”

22 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn because they were extremely distressed. They told him what the official from Assyria had said.

Hezekiah asked Isaiah for advice

37 When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough sackcloth because he was very distressed. Then he went into the temple of Yahweh and prayed. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, Shebna, and the ◄older/most important► priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, to talk to me. 3 He said to them, “Tell this to Isaiah: ‘King Hezekiah says that this is a day when we are greatly distressed. Other nations are causing us to be insulted and disgraced. We are like [SIM] a woman who is about to give birth to a baby, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it. 4 But perhaps Yahweh our God has heard what the official from Assyria said. Perhaps he knows that his boss, the King of Assyria, sent him to insult the all-powerful God, and that Yahweh will punish the King of Assyria for what he said. And the king requests that you pray for the few of us who are still alive here in Jerusalem.’ ”

5 After those men gave me that message, 6 I replied, “Tell the King, ‘This is what Yahweh says: “Those messengers from the King of Assyria have said evil things about me. But do not be disturbed by what they said. 7 Listen to this: I will cause Sennacherib to hear a rumor that the armies of Babylon are about to attack his country, and that will worry him. So he will return to his own country, and there I will cause him to be assassinated by men using swords.” ’ ”

8 The official from Assyria found out that the King of Assyria and his army had captured Lachish city and that they were attacking Libnah, which is a nearby city. So the official left Jerusalem and went to Libnah to report to the king what had happened in Jerusalem.

9 Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army to attack them. So before King Sennacherib left Libnah with his army to fight against the army from Ethiopia, he sent other messengers to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with a letter. In the letter he wrote this to Hezekiah:

10 “Do not allow your god, on whom you are relying, to deceive you by promising you that Jerusalem will not be captured by my army. 11 You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries; our armies have destroyed them completely. So, ◄do you think that you will escape?/do not think that your god will save you!► [RHQ] 12 Did the gods of the nations that were about to be destroyed by the armies of the previous kings of Assyria rescue them? Did those gods rescue Gozan region, and Haran and Rezeph cities in northern Syria, and the people of Eden region who were forced to go to Tel-Assar city? 13 What happened to the King of Hamath and the King of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah cities? Did their gods rescue them [RHQ]?”