Isaiah 23 - 28 — Legacy Standard Bible

An Oracle Concerning Tyre

23The ¹oracle concerning ^aTyre. Wail, O ^bships of ^cTarshish,For Tyre is destroyed, without house or ²^,^dharbor;It is revealed to them from the land of ³^,^eCyprus.

²^aBe silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,You merchants of Sidon;¹Your messengers crossed the sea³And were on many waters.^aThe ¹grain of ²^,^bShihor, the harvest of the Nile was her revenue;And she was the nations’ ^cgain.⁴Be ashamed, O ^aSidon;For the sea speaks, the strong defense of the sea, saying,“I have neither travailed nor given birth;I have neither brought up choice men nor reared virgins.”⁵When the report reaches Egypt,They will be in ^atravail at the report of Tyre.⁶Pass over to ^aTarshish;Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.⁷Is this your ^aexultant city,Whose origin is from days of old,Whose feet used to lead her to sojourn in distant places?⁸Who has counseled this against Tyre, ^athe bestower of crowns,Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?⁹^aYahweh of hosts has counseled it, to ^bdefile the pride of all beauty,To make contemptuous all the ^chonored of the earth.¹⁰¹Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish;There is no more ²restraint.¹¹He has ^astretched His hand out ^bover the sea;He has ^cmade the kingdoms tremble;Yahweh has given a command concerning Canaan to ^ddemolish its strong defenses.¹²So He said, “^aYou shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.Arise, pass over to ¹^,^bCyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; ^aAssyria established it for ^bdesert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, ^cthey made it a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, O ^aships of Tarshish,For your strong defense is destroyed.

¹⁵Now it will be in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten for ^aseventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

¹⁶Take your harp, walk about the city,O forgotten harlot;Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,That you may be remembered.

¹⁷And it will be at ^athe end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will ^bplay the harlot with all the kingdoms ¹on the face of the earth. ¹⁸And her ^again and her harlot’s wages will be ^bset apart to Yahweh; it will not be treasured up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh.

Yahweh Will Empty the Earth

24Behold, Yahweh ^aempties the earth to destruction, eviscerates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. ²And the people will be like the priest, the male slave like his master, the female slave like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the ^acreditor like the debtor. ³The earth will be completely emptied to destruction and completely plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word. ⁴The ^aearth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the ^bexalted of the people of the earth languish. ⁵The earth is also ^apolluted ¹by its inhabitants, for they trespassed laws, violated statutes, ^bbroke the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore, a ^acurse devours the earth, and those who inhabit it are held guilty. Therefore, the ^binhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men remain.

⁷The ^anew wine mourns;The vine languishes;All the glad of heart sigh.⁸The ^ajoy of tambourines ceases;The rumbling of those exulting stops;The joy of the harp ceases.⁹They do not drink wine with song;^aStrong drink is ^bbitter to those who drink it.¹⁰The ^acity of chaos is broken down;^bEvery house is shut up so that none may enter.¹¹There is an ^aoutcry in the streets concerning the wine;^bAll gladness ¹turns to gloom.The joy of the earth is taken away into exile.¹²Desolation remains in the city,And the ^agate is struck down to ruins.¹³For ^athus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,As the ¹shaking of an olive tree,As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.¹⁴^aThey lift up their voices, they shout for joy;They cry out from the ¹west concerning the majesty of Yahweh.¹⁵Therefore ^aglorify Yahweh in the ¹east,The ^bname of Yahweh, the God of Israel,In the ²^,^ccoastlands of the sea.¹⁶From the ^aends of the earth we hear songs, “^bGlory to the Righteous One,”But I say, “¹^,^cI waste away! ²I waste away! Woe is me!The ^dtreacherous deal treacherously,And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”¹⁷^aPanic and pit and pitfallAre upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.¹⁸Then it will be that he who flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit,And he who ¹climbs out of the pit will be caught in the pitfall;For the ^awindows ²above are opened, and the ^bfoundations of the earth quake.¹⁹^aThe earth is broken asunder;The earth is ^bsplit through;The earth is shaken violently.²⁰The earth ^areels to and fro like a drunkardAnd it totters like a ¹shack,For its ^btransgression is heavy upon it,And it will fall, ^cnever to rise again.²¹So it will be in that day,That Yahweh will ^apunish the host of heights on high,And the ^bkings of the earth on earth.²²They will be gathered togetherLike ^aprisoners in the ¹pit,And will be confined in prison;And after many days they will ^bbe punished.²³Then the ^amoon will be humiliated and the sun ashamed,For ^bYahweh of hosts will reign on ^cMount Zion and in Jerusalem,And His glory will be before His elders.

Yahweh Will Swallow Up Death

25O Yahweh, You are ^amy God;I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;For You have ^bworked wonders,^cCounsels formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.²For You have made a city into a ^aheap,A ^bfortified town into a ruin;A ^cpalace of strangers is a city no more,It will never be rebuilt.³Therefore a strong people will ^aglorify You;^bTowns of ruthless nations will fear You.⁴For You have been a ^astrong defense for the poor,A strong defense for the needy in his distress,A ^brefuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;For the breath of the ^cruthlessIs like a rain storm against a wall.⁵Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the ^arumbling of strangers;Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is ¹silenced.⁶^aAnd Yahweh of hosts will prepare a ¹lavish banquet for ^ball peoples on this mountain;A banquet of ²aged wine, ³choice pieces with marrow,And ⁴refined, aged wine.⁷And on this mountain He will swallow up the ¹^,^acovering which is over all peoples,Even the veil which is ²stretched over all nations.⁸He will ^aswallow up death for all time,And Lord Yahweh will ^bwipe tears away from all faces,And He will remove the ^creproach of His people from all the earth;For Yahweh has spoken.⁹And it will be said in that day,“Behold, ^athis is our God in whom we have ^bhoped that ^cHe would save us.This is Yahweh in whom we have hoped;^dLet us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”¹⁰For the hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain,And ^aMoab will be trodden down in his placeAs straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.¹¹And he will ^aspread out his hands in the middle of itAs a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,But Yahweh will ^blay low his lofty pride together with the trickery of his hands.¹²The ^aunassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,Lay low, and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

Yahweh Will Establish Peace

26^aIn that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a ^bstrong city;He sets up walls and ramparts for ^csalvation.

²“Open the ^agates, that the ^brighteous nation may enter,The one that keeps faithfulness.³“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect ^apeaceBecause he trusts in You.⁴“^aTrust in Yahweh forever,For in Yah—Yahweh Himself—we have an everlasting ^bRock.⁵“For He has laid low those who settle on high, the ¹^,^aexalted city;^bHe brings it low, He brings it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.⁶“^aThe foot will trample it,The feet of the ^bafflicted, the steps of the poor.”⁷The ^away of the righteous is upright;O Upright One, ^bmake the path of the righteous level.⁸Indeed, while following the way of ^aYour judgments, O Yahweh,We have hoped for You eagerly;^bYour name—the ^cmemory of You—is the desire of our souls.⁹^aAt night ¹my soul longs for You,Indeed, ²my spirit within me ^bseeks You earnestly;For when the earth ³experiences Your judgments,The inhabitants of the world ^clearn righteousness.¹⁰Though the wicked is shown favor,He does not ^alearn righteousness;He ^bdeals unjustly in the land of uprightness,And does not perceive the majesty of Yahweh.¹¹O Yahweh, Your hand is raised up high, yet they ^ado not behold it.¹They behold ^bYour zeal for the people and are put to shame;Indeed, ²^,^cfire will devour Your adversaries.¹²Yahweh, You will establish ^apeace for us,Since You have also performed for us all our works.¹³O Yahweh our God, ^aother masters besides You have ruled us;But through You alone we ^bbring Your name to remembrance.¹⁴^aThe dead will not live; the ¹departed spirits will not rise;Therefore You have ^bvisited and destroyed them,And You have made all remembrance of them perish.¹⁵^aYou have increased the nation, O Yahweh;You have increased the nation, You are glorified;You have ^bextended all the borders of the land.¹⁶O Yahweh, they visited You ^ain distress;They ¹could only whisper a prayer;Your chastening was upon them.¹⁷^aAs the ¹woman with child draws near to the time to give birth,She writhes and cries out in her pangs of labor,Thus were we before You, O Yahweh.¹⁸We were ¹with child, we writhed in labor;We ^agave birth, as it seems, only to wind.We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,And the ^binhabitants of the world ²were not born.¹⁹Your ^adead will live;¹Their corpses will rise.You who dwell in the dust, ^bawake and shout for joy,For your dew is as the dew of the ²dawn,And the earth will ³give birth to the ⁴departed spirits.²⁰Come, my people, ^aenter into your roomsAnd close your doors behind you;Hide for a little ¹^,^bwhileUntil ^cindignation passes by.²¹For behold, Yahweh is about to ^acome out from His placeTo ^bvisit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth;And the earth will ^creveal her bloodshedAnd will no longer cover those of hers who were killed.

Yahweh Will Deliver Israel

27In that day ^aYahweh will ¹punish ²^,^bLeviathan the fleeing serpent,With His fierce and great and ³mighty sword,Even ⁴Leviathan the twisted serpent;And ^cHe will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.²In that day,“A ¹^,^avineyard of delight, sing of it!³“I, Yahweh, am its keeper;^aI water it every moment.Lest anyone ¹damage it,I ^bkeep it night and day.⁴“I have no wrath.Who would ever give Me ^abriars and thorns in the battle?I would step on them, ^bI would burn them ¹completely.⁵“Or let him ¹^,^arely on My strong defense,Let him make peace with Me,Let him ^bmake peace with Me.”⁶¹In the days to come Jacob ^awill take root,Israel will ^bblossom and bud,And they will fill the ²whole world with ^cproduce.⁷Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has ^aHe struck them?Or like the slaughter of those of His who were killed, ¹have they been killed?⁸You contended with them ¹by driving them away, by ^amaking them forlorn.With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the ^beast wind.⁹Therefore through this, Jacob’s iniquity will be ^aatoned for;And this will be the whole fruit of the ^bturning away of his sin:When he makes all the ^caltar stones like pulverized chalk stones,When ¹Asherim and incense altars will not stand.¹⁰For the fortified city is ^aisolated,A ¹haunt ²forlorn and forsaken like the desert;^bThere the calf will graze,And there it will lie down and ³feed on its twigs.¹¹When its ^alimbs are dry, they are broken off;Women come and light a fire with them,For they are not a people of ^bdiscernment,Therefore ^ctheir Maker ^dwill not have compassion on them.And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹²And it will be in that day, that Yahweh ^awill start His threshing from the flowing stream of the ¹^,^bRiver to the brook of Egypt, and you will be ^cgathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. ¹³And it will be in that day, that a great ^atrumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of ^bAssyria and who were banished in the land of Egypt will come and ^cworship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Woe to Ephraim

28Woe to the proud crown of the ^adrunkards of ^bEphraim,And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valleyOf those who are ²overcome with wine!²Behold, the Lord has a strong and ^acourageous agent;As a storm of ^bhail, a tempest of destruction,Like a storm of ^cmighty overflowing waters,He has set it down to the earth with His hand.³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is ^atrodden under foot.⁴And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valley,Will be like the ^afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,Which ²one sees,And ³as soon as it is in his ⁴hand,He swallows it.⁵In that day ^aYahweh of hosts will become a beautiful ^bcrownAnd a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;⁶A ^aspirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,A ^bmight to those who turn back the ¹onslaught at the gate.⁷And these also ^areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:^bThe priest and ^cthe prophet reel with strong drink;They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from ^dstrong drink;They reel while ¹having ^evisions;They totter when rendering a verdict.⁸For all the tables are full of filthy ^avomit, without a single clean place.⁹“^aWhom would He instruct in knowledge,And whom would He provide understanding about the report?Those just ^bweaned from milk?Those just taken from the breast?¹⁰“For He says,‘¹^,^aOrder on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there.’”¹¹Indeed, He will speak to this peopleThrough ^astammering lips and a foreign tongue,¹²He who said to them, “Here is ^arest, give rest to the weary,”And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.¹³So the word of Yahweh to them will be,“¹Order on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there,”That they may go and ^astumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore, ^ahear the word of Yahweh, O ^bscoffers,Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,¹⁵Because you have said, “We have cut a ^acovenant with death,And with Sheol we have made a ¹pact.^bThe overflowing ²scourge will not reach us when it passes by,For we have made ^cfalsehood our refuge and we have ^dhidden ourselves with lying.”

¹⁶Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “^aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested ^bstone,A costly cornerstone for the foundation, ¹firmly placed.He who believes in it will not be ²disturbed.

¹⁷“I will make ^ajustice the measuring lineAnd righteousness the level;Then ^bhail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,And the waters will overflow the secret place.¹⁸“Your ^acovenant with death will be ¹^,^bcanceled,And your pact with Sheol will not stand;When the ^coverflowing scourge passes through,Then you will become its ^dtrampling place.¹⁹“As ^aoften as it passes through, it will take you;For ^bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,And it will be ¹sheer ^cterror to understand the report.”²⁰The bed is too short on which to stretch out,And the ^ablanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.²¹For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount ^aPerazim;He will be stirred up as in the valley of ^bGibeon,To work His ^cwork, His ¹^,^dunusual work,And to labor in His labor, His ²exceptional labor.²²So now do not carry on as ^ascoffers,Lest your fetters be made stronger;For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hostsOf complete ^bdestruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.²³Give ear and hear my voice,Pay attention and hear my words.²⁴Does the ¹farmer plow ²continually to plant seed?Does he continually ³turn and harrow his ground?²⁵Does he not level its surfaceAnd sow dill and scatter ^acuminAnd ¹plant ^bwheat in rows,Barley in its place and rye within its ²area?²⁶For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.²⁷For dill is not threshed with a ^athreshing sledge,Nor is the wheel of a cart ¹driven over cumin;But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.²⁸Grain for bread is crushed,But he does not continue to thresh it forever.Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ¹disturb it,He does not crush it longer.²⁹This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,Who has made His counsel ^awonderful and His wisdom ^bgreat.