Isaiah 1 - 12 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 1 - 12

Judah, a Sinful Nation

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he beheld in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 2

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

For Yahweh speaks,

“Sons I have reared and raised up,

But they have transgressed against Me.

An ox knows its owner,

And a donkey its master’s manger,

But Israel does not know;

My people do not perceive.”

Alas, sinful nation,

People heavy with iniquity,

Seed of evildoers,

Sons who act corruptly!

They have forsaken Yahweh;

They have spurned the Holy One of Israel;

They have become estranged from Him.

Where will you be stricken again,

As you continue in your rebellion?

The whole head is sick,

And the whole heart is faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head

There is nothing sound in it,

Only bruises, wounds, and raw wounds,

Not pressed out, not bandaged,

Not softened with oil.

Your land is desolate;

Your cities are burned with fire;

Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence;

It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,

Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

Unless Yahweh of hosts

Had left us a few survivors,

We would be like Sodom,

We would be like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of Yahweh,

You rulers of Sodom;

Give ear to the law of our God,

You people of Gomorrah.

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”

Says Yahweh.

“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed cattle;

And in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats I take no pleasure.

When you come to appear before Me,

Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?

Bring your worthless offerings no longer,

Incense is an abomination to Me.

New moon and sabbath, the calling of convocation—

I cannot endure wickedness and the solemn assembly.

My soul hates your new moon festivals and your appointed times,

They have become a burden to Me;

I am weary of bearing them.

So when you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide My eyes from you;

Indeed, even though you multiply prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood.

“Wash yourselves, purify yourselves;

Remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes.

Cease to do evil,

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Reprove the ruthless,

Execute justice for the orphan,

Plead for the widow.

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says Yahweh,

“Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool.

If you are willing and obey,

You will eat the best of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel,

You will be eaten by the sword.”

For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

Zion Will Be Redeemed with Justice

How the faithful city has become a harlot,

She who was full of justice!

Righteousness once lodged in her,

But now murderers.

Your silver has become dross,

Your drink diluted with water.

Your rulers are rebels

And companions of thieves;

Everyone loves a bribe

And pursues rewards.

They do not execute justice for the orphan,

Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,

The Mighty One of Israel, declares,

“Ah, I will be comforted concerning My adversaries,

And I will avenge Myself on My enemies.

I will also turn My hand against you,

And will smelt away your dross as with lye

And will remove all your alloy.

Then I will have your judges return as at the first,

And your counselors as at the beginning;

Afterwards you will be called the city of righteousness,

A faithful town.”

Zion will be redeemed with justice

And her repentant ones with righteousness.

But transgressors and sinners will be broken together,

And those who forsake Yahweh will come to an end.

For you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,

And you will be humiliated because of the gardens which you have chosen.

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers away

Or as a garden that has no water.

And the strong man will become tinder,

His work also a spark.

Thus they shall both burn together,

And there will be none to quench them.

Yahweh Will Judge the Nations

The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz beheld concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2

Now it will be that

In the last days

The mountain of the house of Yahweh

Will be established as the head of the mountains,

And will be lifted up above the hills;

And all the nations will stream to it.

And many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,

To the house of the God of Jacob,

That He may instruct us from His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For from Zion the law will go forth

And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between the nations,

And will render decisions for many peoples;

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

Yahweh Will Have a Day of Reckoning

Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,

Because they are filled with influences from the east,

And they are soothsayers like the Philistines,

And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.

Their land has also been filled with silver and gold,

And there is no end to their treasures;

Their land has also been filled with horses,

And there is no end to their chariots.

Their land has also been filled with idols;

They worship the work of their hands,

That which their fingers have made.

So the common man has been bowed down,

And the man of importance has been made low,

But do not forgive them.

Enter the rock and hide in the dust

From the dread of Yahweh and from the splendor of His majesty.

The lofty look of man will be made low,

And the men made high will be bowed down,

And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

For Yahweh of hosts will have a day of reckoning

Against everyone who is proud and high

And against everyone who is lifted up,

That he may be made low.

And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,

Against all the oaks of Bashan,

Against all the high mountains,

Against all the hills that are lifted up,

Against every lofty tower,

Against every fortified wall,

Against all the ships of Tarshish

And against all the desirable craft.

The loftiness of man will be bowed down,

And the men who are high will be made low;

And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day,

But the idols will completely vanish.

Men will go into caves of the rocks

And into holes of the ground

Before the dread of Yahweh

And the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises to make the earth tremble.

In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats

Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

Which they made for themselves to worship,

In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs

Before the dread of Yahweh and the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises to make the earth tremble.

Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;

For why should he be esteemed?

Yahweh Will Judge Judah’s Leaders

For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah

Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread

And the whole supply of water,

The mighty man and the man of war,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

The commander of fifty and the highly respected man,

The counselor and the wise craftsman,

And the experienced enchanter.

And I will make young men their princes,

And capricious children will rule over them,

And the people will be oppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;

The youth will overwhelm the elder

And the dishonorable against the honorable.

When a man grasps his brother in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,

And these ruins will be under your hand,”

He will protest on that day, saying,

“I will not be your healer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh,

To rebel against His glorious presence.

The expression of their faces answers against them,

And they declare their sin like Sodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have dealt out evil on themselves.

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,

For they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,

For what he has dealt out will be done to him.

O My people! Their taskmasters are infants,

And women rule over them.

O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray

And swallow up the way of your paths.

Yahweh takes His stand to contend,

And stands to judge the peoples.

Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes,

“It is you who have consumed the vineyard;

The plunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

What do you mean by crushing My people

And grinding the face of the afflicted?”

Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh Will Judge Zion’s Daughters

16 Moreover, Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty

And walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

Therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.”

18 In that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, 19 dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, 20 headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, 21 finger rings, nose rings, 22 festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23 hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls. 24

Now it will be that instead of sweet perfume there will be the smell of rot;

Instead of a belt, a rope;

Instead of well‑set hair, a plucked‑out scalp;

Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;

And branding instead of beauty.

Your men will fall by the sword

And your mighty ones in battle.

And her gates will lament and mourn,

And deserted she will sit on the ground.

And seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!”

The Branch of Yahweh Glorified

2 In that day the Branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the honor of those of Israel who escape. 3 It will be that he who remains in Zion and is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and rinsed away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, 5 then Yahweh will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her convocation a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6 And there will be a booth to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and a hiding place from the storm and the rain.

The Song of the Vineyard

Let me sing now for my well‑beloved

A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.

My well‑beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

He dug it all around, removed its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

And He built a tower in the middle of it

And also hewed out a wine vat in it;

Then He hoped for it to produce good grapes,

But it produced only worthless ones.

“So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

Please judge between Me and My vineyard.

What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?

Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?

So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:

I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed;

I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground.

I will lay it waste;

It will not be pruned or hoed,

But briars and thorns will come up.

I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel

And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

Woes to Those Who Call Evil Good

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,

Until there is no more room,

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

In my ears Yahweh of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate,

Even great and good ones, without inhabitants.

For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine,

And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”

Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,

Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

And their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;

But they do not look upon the deeds of Yahweh,

Nor do they see the work of His hands.

Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;

And their honorable men are famished,

And their multitude is parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without limit;

And Jerusalem’s majesty, her multitude, her rumbling, and the exultant within her, descend into it.

So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance will be made low,

The eyes of the lofty also will be made low.

But Yahweh of hosts will be lofty in judgment,

And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

And sojourners will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness,

And sin as if with cart ropes,

Who say, “Let Him hurry, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near

And come to pass, that we may know it!”

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness,

Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

And understanding in their own sight!

Woe to those who are mighty men in drinking wine

And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

Who declare the wicked righteous for a bribe,

And remove the righteous standing of the ones who are righteous!

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble

And dry grass collapses into the flame,

So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;

For they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts

And the word of the Holy One of Israel they have spurned.

On this account, the anger of Yahweh has burned against His people,

And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.

And the mountains trembled, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this His anger is not turned back,

But His hand is still stretched out.

He will also lift up a standard to the distant nations,

And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;

And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

No one in it is weary or stumbles,

None slumbers or sleeps;

Nor is the belt at its waist undone,

Nor its sandal strap broken.

Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;

The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;

It growls and seizes the prey

And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;

Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah’s Vision of Yahweh

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts;

The whole earth is full of His glory.”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said,

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!

For I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.”

Yahweh Sends Isaiah

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

Keep on seeing, but do not know.’

Render the hearts of this people insensitive,

Their ears dull,

And their eyes dim,

Lest they see with their eyes,

And hear with their ears,

And understand with their hearts,

And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He said,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,

Houses are without people,

And the land is devastated to desolation,

And Yahweh has removed men far away,

And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

Yet there will be a tenth portion in it,

And it will again be subject to burning,

Like a terebinth or like an oak

Whose stump remains when it is felled.

The holy seed is its stump.”

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

Now it happened in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. 2 When it was told to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, to the highway of the fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and stay quiet, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the burning anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has counseled evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says Lord Yahweh: “It shall not stand, nor shall it happen. 8 For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), 9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely shall not be established.”’”

The Sign of Immanuel

10 Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from Yahweh your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not test Yahweh!” 13 Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15 He will eat curds and honey in order that He will know to refuse evil and choose good. 16 For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. 17 Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days which have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Trials to Come for Judah

18 And it will be in that day, that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and rest upon the steep ravines, on the crevices of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places. 20 In that day, the Lord will shave with a razor—one hired from regions beyond the River (that is, the king of Assyria)—the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard. 21 And it will be in that day, that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; 22 and because of the abundance of the milk produced, he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And it will be in that day, that every place where there used to be one thousand vines, valued at one thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. 24 People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

Then Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 Then I drew near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 Again Yahweh spoke to me further, saying, 6

“Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;

Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the mighty and abundant waters of the River—

The king of Assyria and all his glory;

And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.

Then it will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through;

It will reach even to the neck;

And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

Yahweh, a Sanctuary and a Stumbling Stone

“Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered;

And give ear, all remote places of the earth.

Gird yourselves, yet be shattered;

Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.

Devise counsel, but it will be thwarted;

Speak a word, but it will not stand,

For God is with us.”

11 For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’

In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy;

And you are not to fear what they fear, and you shall not tremble.

It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy.

And He shall be your fear,

And He shall be your cause of trembling.

Then He shall become a sanctuary;

But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,

And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many will stumble over them;

Then they will fall and be broken;

They will even be snared and caught.”

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope for Him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Darkness to Light Through the Prince of Peace

19 Now when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and hungry, and it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be banished into thick darkness.

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2

The people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

Those who live in the land of the shadow of death,

The light will shine on them.

You shall multiply the nation,

You shall make great their gladness;

They will be glad in Your presence

As with the gladness of harvest,

As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For You shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,

The rod of their taskmaster, as at the battle of Midian.

For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle,

And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.

Yahweh’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

The Lord sends a message against Jacob,

And it falls on Israel.

And all the people know it,

That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

Saying in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart:

“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with cut stones;

The sycamores have been cut in pieces,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

Therefore Yahweh exalts against them adversaries from Rezin

And incites their enemies,

The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;

And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,

Nor do they seek Yahweh of hosts.

So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel,

Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

The head is the elder and the highly respected man,

And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

For those who guide this people are leading them astray;

And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

Therefore the Lord is not glad in their choice men,

Nor does He have compassion on their orphans or their widows;

For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,

And every mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

For wickedness burns like a fire;

It consumes briars and thorns;

It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,

And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

By the fury of Yahweh of hosts the land is burned up,

And the people are like fuel for the fire;

No man spares his brother.

They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry,

And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;

Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

And together they are against Judah.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

Woe to those who enact evil statutes

And to those who constantly record mischief,

So as to turn the poor away from their cause

And rob the afflicted of My people of their justice,

So that widows may be their spoil

And that they may plunder the orphans.

Now what will you do in the day of visitation,

And in the devastation which will come from afar?

To whom will you flee for help?

And where will you leave your glory?

Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives

Or fall among those killed.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back

And His hand is still stretched out.

Yahweh’s Anger with Assyria’s Arrogance

Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger

And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,

I send it against a godless nation

And command it against the people of My fury

To capture spoil and to seize plunder,

And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

But it does not intend to act in this way,

And it does not think in its heart in this way,

Rather, what is in its heart is to destroy

And to cut off many nations.

For it says, “Are not my princes all kings?

Is not Calno like Carchemish,

Or Hamath like Arpad,

Or Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,

Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images

Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

12 So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his eyes which are raised high.” 13 For he has said,

“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,

For I have understanding;

And I removed the boundaries of the peoples

And plundered their treasures,

And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants,

And my hand reached for the wealth of the peoples like a nest,

And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;

And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.”

Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it?

Is the saw to magnify itself over the one who wields it?

That would be like a rod wielding those who lift it,

Or like a staff lifting him who is not wood.

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors;

And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame,

And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

And He will bring to an end the glory of his forest and of his fruitful orchard, both soul and body,

And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number

That a child could write them down.

A Remnant Will Return

20 Now it will be in that day, that the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. 21

A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,

Only a remnant within them will return;

A destructive end is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

23 For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, Lord Yahweh of hosts will do in the midst of the whole land. 24 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh of hosts, “O My people who inhabit Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. 25 For in a very little while My indignation against you will end and My anger will be directed to their destruction.” 26 And Yahweh of hosts will waken a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. 27 So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness. 28

He has come against Aiath,

He has passed through Migron;

At Michmash he deposited his baggage.

They have gone through the pass, saying,

“Geba will be our lodging place.”

Ramah trembles, and Gibeah of Saul has fled away.

Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Gallim!

Pay attention, Laishah and afflicted Anathoth!

Madmenah has fled.

The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

Yet today he will stand at Nob;

He shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash;

Those also who are high in stature will be cut in pieces

And those who are lofty will be made low.

He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,

And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

The Judgments of the Branch

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor render a decision by what His ears hear;

But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with uprightness for the afflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He will put the wicked to death.

Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,

And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,

And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a young boy will lead them.

Also the cow and the bear will graze,

Their young will lie down together,

And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

And the nursing baby will play by the hole of the cobra,

And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

They will do no evil nor act corruptly in all My holy mountain,

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh

As the waters cover the sea.

A Remnant Remains

Then it will be in that day,

That the nations will seek the root of Jesse,

Who will stand as a standard for the peoples;

And His resting place will be glorious.

Then it will be in that day, that the Lord

Will again acquire the second time with His hand

The remnant of His people, who will remain,

From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath,

And from the coastlands of the sea.

And He will lift up a standard for the nations

And assemble the banished ones of Israel,

And will gather the scattered of Judah

From the four corners of the earth.

Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart,

And those who assail Judah will be cut off;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

And Judah will not assail Ephraim.

And they will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west;

Together they will plunder the sons of the east;

They will stretch out their hands over Edom and Moab,

And the sons of Ammon will obey them.

And Yahweh will devote to destruction

The tongue of the Sea of Egypt;

And He will wave His hand over the River

With His scorching wind;

And He will strike it into seven streams

And make men walk over dry‑shod.

And there will be a highway from Assyria

For the remnant of His people who will remain,

Just as there was for Israel

In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.

Yahweh Is My Strength and My Song

Then you will say in that day,

“I will give thanks to You, O Yahweh;

For although You were angry with me,

Your anger is turned away,

And You comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not dread;

For Yah—Yahweh Himself—is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.”

Therefore you will joyously draw water

From the springs of salvation.

And in that day you will say,

“Give thanks to Yahweh, call on His name.

Make known His deeds among the peoples;

Make them remember that His name is exalted.”

Praise Yahweh in song, for He has done majestic things;

Let this be known throughout the earth.

Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.