New King James Version (NKJV)

Moab Destroyed

1 Sendthe lamb to the ruler of the land,

# From Sela to the wilderness,

To the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 For it shall be as awandering bird thrown out of the nest;

# Soshall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of theArnon.

3 “Take counsel, execute judgment;

Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;

Hide the outcasts,

Do not betray him who escapes.

4 Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;

Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.

For the extortioner is at an end,

Devastation ceases,

The oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5 In mercythe throne will be established;

And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,

# Judging and seeking justice and hasteningrighteousness.”

6 We have heard of thepride of Moab—

Heisvery proud—

Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;

# Buthis liesshallnotbeso.

7 Therefore Moab shallwail for Moab;

Everyone shall wail.

# For the foundationsof Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;

Surelytheyarestricken.

8 Forthe fields of Heshbon languish,

# Andthe vine of Sibmah;

The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,

Which have reached to Jazer

And wandered through the wilderness.

Her branches are stretched out,

# They are gone over thesea.

9 Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,

With the weeping of Jazer;

I will drench you with my tears,

# O Heshbon and Elealeh;

For battle cries have fallen

Over your summer fruits and your harvest.

10 Gladness is taken away,

And joy from the plentiful field;

In the vineyards there will be no singing,

Nor will there be shouting;

No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;

I have made their shouting cease.

11 Thereforemy heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,

And my inner being for Kir Heres.

12 And it shall come to pass,

# When it is seen that Moab is weary onthe high place,

That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;

But he will not prevail.

13 Thisisthe word which theLordhas spoken concerning Moab since that time.

14 But now theLordhas spoken, saying, “Within three years,as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnantwillbevery smallandfeeble.”

Proclamation Against Syria and Israel

1 Theburden against Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus will cease frombeinga city,

And it will be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities ofAroerareforsaken;

They will be for flocks

# Which lie down, andno one will makethemafraid.

3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,

The kingdom from Damascus,

And the remnant of Syria;

They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”

Says theLordof hosts.

4 “In that day it shall come to pass

Thatthe glory of Jacob will wane,

# Andthe fatness of his flesh grow lean.

5 It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,

And reaps the heads with his arm;

It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain

In the Valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,

Like the shaking of an olive tree,

Twoorthree olives at the top of the uppermost bough,

Fourorfive in its most fruitful branches,”

Says theLordGod of Israel.

7 In that day a man willlook to his Maker,

And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

8 He will not look to the altars,

The work of his hands;

# He will not respect what hisfingers have made,

Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars.

9 In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough

And an uppermost branch,

Which they left because of the children of Israel;

And there will be desolation.

10 Because you have forgottenthe God of your salvation,

And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold,

Therefore you will plant pleasant plants

And set out foreign seedlings;

11 In the day you will make your plant to grow,

And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish;

Butthe harvestwillbea heap of ruins

In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.

12 Woe to the multitude of many people

# Whomake a noiselike the roar of the seas,

And to the rushing of nations

Thatmake a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;

# ButGodwillrebuke them and they will flee far away,

# Andbe chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,

Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14 Then behold, at eventide, trouble!

Andbefore the morning, heisno more.

Thisisthe portion of those who plunder us,

And the lot of those who rob us.

Proclamation Against Ethiopia

1 Woeto the land shadowed with buzzing wings,

Whichisbeyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2 Which sends ambassadors by sea,

Even in vessels of reed on the waters,saying,

“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smoothofskin,

To a people terrible from their beginning onward,

A nation powerful and treading down,

Whose land the rivers divide.”

3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:

# When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you seeit;

And when he blows a trumpet, you hearit.

4 For so theLordsaid to me,

“I will take My rest,

And I will look from My dwelling place

Like clear heat in sunshine,

Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect

And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,

He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks

And take awayandcut down the branches.

6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey

And for the beasts of the earth;

The birds of prey will summer on them,

And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

7 In that timea present will be brought to theLordof hosts

From a people tall and smoothofskin,

And from a people terrible from their beginning onward,

A nation powerful and treading down,

Whose land the rivers divide—

To the place of the name of theLordof hosts,

To Mount Zion.

Proclamation Against Egypt

1 Theburden against Egypt.

# Behold, theLordrides on a swift cloud,

And will come into Egypt;

# The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence,

And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

2 “I willset Egyptians against Egyptians;

Everyone will fight against his brother,

And everyone against his neighbor,

City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;

I will destroy their counsel,

# And they willconsult the idols and the charmers,

The mediums and the sorcerers.

4 And the Egyptians I will give

# Into the hand of a cruel master,

And a fierce king will rule over them,”

Says the Lord, theLordof hosts.

5 The waters will fail from the sea,

And the river will be wasted and dried up.

6 The rivers will turn foul;

# The brooksof defense will be emptied and dried up;

The reeds and rushes will wither.

7 The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River,

And everything sown by the River,

Will wither, be driven away, and be no more.

8 The fishermen also will mourn;

All those will lament who cast hooks into the River,

And they will languish who spread nets on the waters.

9 Moreover those who work infine flax

And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed;

10 And its foundations will be broken.

All who make wageswillbetroubled of soul.

11 Surely the princes ofZoanarefools;

Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.

# How do you say to Pharaoh, “Iamthe son of the wise,

The son of ancient kings?”

12 Wherearethey?

Where are your wise men?

Let them tell you now,

# And let them know what theLordof hosts haspurposed against Egypt.

13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;

# The princes of Noph are deceived;

They have also deluded Egypt,

Thosewhoarethe mainstay of its tribes.

14 TheLordhas mingleda perverse spirit in her midst;

And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,

As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15 Neither will there beanywork for Egypt,

# Whichthe head or tail,

Palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16 In that day Egypt willbe like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of theLordof hosts,which He waves over it.

17 And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of theLordof hosts which He hasdetermined against it.

Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed

18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt willspeak the language of Canaan andswear by theLordof hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.

19 In that daythere will be an altar to theLordin the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to theLordat its border.

20 Andit will be for a sign and for a witness to theLordof hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to theLordbecause of the oppressors, and He will send them aSavior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.

21 Then theLordwill be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians willknow theLordin that day, andwill make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to theLordand performit.

22 And theLordwill strike Egypt, He will strike andhealit;they will return to theLord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.

23 In that daythere will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians willserve with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land,

25 whom theLordof hosts shall bless, saying, “BlessedisEgypt My people, and Assyriathe work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

The Sign Against Egypt and Ethiopia

1 In the year thatTartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,

2 at the same time theLordspoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and removethe sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so,walking naked and barefoot.

3 Then theLordsaid, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three yearsfora sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia,

4 so shall theking of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot,with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

5 Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory.

6 And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely suchisour expectation, wherever we flee forhelp to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’ ”

The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed

1 The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.

# Aswhirlwinds in the South pass through,

Soit comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 A distressing vision is declared to me;

# The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,

And the plunderer plunders.

# Go up, O Elam!

Besiege, O Media!

All its sighing I have made to cease.

3 Thereforemy loins are filled with pain;

# Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.

I was distressed whenIheardit;

I was dismayed whenIsawit.

4 My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;

# The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

5 Prepare the table,

Set a watchman in the tower,

Eat and drink.

Arise, you princes,

Anoint the shield!

6 For thus has the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman,

Let him declare what he sees.”

7 And he saw a chariotwitha pair of horsemen,

A chariot of donkeys,anda chariot of camels,

And he listened earnestly with great care.

8 Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!

# I stand continually on thewatchtower in the daytime;

I have sat at my post every night.

9 And look, here comes a chariot of menwitha pair of horsemen!”

Then he answered and said,

# “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!

# Andall the carved images of her gods

He has broken to the ground.”

10 Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!

That which I have heard from theLordof hosts,

The God of Israel,

I have declared to you.

Proclamation Against Edom

11 The burden against Dumah.

# He calls to me out ofSeir,

“Watchman, what of the night?

Watchman, what of the night?”

12 The watchman said,

“The morning comes, and also the night.

If you will inquire, inquire;

Return! Come back!”

Proclamation Against Arabia

13 The burden against Arabia.

In the forest in Arabia you will lodge,

# O you traveling companiesof Dedanites.

14 O inhabitants of the land of Tema,

Bring water to him who is thirsty;

With their bread they met him who fled.

15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword,

From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.

16 For thus theLordhas said to me: “Within a year,according to the year of a hired man, all the glory ofKedar will fail;

17 and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for theLordGod of Israel has spokenit.”

Proclamation Against Jerusalem

1 The burden against the Valley of Vision.

What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,

2 You who are full of noise,

# A tumultuous city,a joyous city?

Your slainmenarenot slain with the sword,

Nor dead in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together;

They are captured by the archers.

All who are found in you are bound together;

They have fled from afar.

4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me,

# I will weep bitterly;

Do not labor to comfort me

Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”

5 Foritisa day of trouble and treading down and perplexity

# By the LordGodof hosts

In the Valley of Vision—

Breaking down the walls

And of crying to the mountain.

6 Elam bore the quiver

With chariots of menandhorsemen,

# AndKir uncovered the shield.

7 It shall come to passthatyour choicest valleys

Shall be full of chariots,

And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

8 He removed the protection of Judah.

# You looked in that day to the armorof the House of the Forest;

9 You also saw the damage to the city of David,

That it was great;

And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem,

And the houses you broke down

To fortify the wall.

11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls

# For the water of the oldpool.

But you did not look to its Maker,

Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.

12 And in that day the LordGodof hosts

# Called for weeping and for mourning,

# For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.

13 But instead, joy and gladness,

Slaying oxen and killing sheep,

# Eating meat anddrinking wine:

# “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by theLordof hosts,

# “Surely for this iniquity therewill be no atonement for you,

Even to your death,” says the LordGodof hosts.

The Judgment on Shebna

15 Thus says the LordGodof hosts:

“Go, proceed to this steward,

# ToShebna, whoisover the house,andsay:

16 ‘What have you here, and whom have you here,

That you have hewn a sepulcher here,

# Ashewho hews himself a sepulcher on high,

Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock?

17 Indeed, theLordwill throw you away violently,

O mighty man,

# And will surely seize you.

18 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball

Into a large country;

# There you shall die, and thereyour glorious chariots

Shallbethe shame of your master’s house.

19 So I will drive you out of your office,

And from your position he will pull you down.

20 ‘Then it shall be in that day,

# That I will call My servantEliakim the son of Hilkiah;

21 I will clothe him with your robe

And strengthen him with your belt;

I will commit your responsibility into his hand.

He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem

And to the house of Judah.

22 The key of the house of David

# I will lay on hisshoulder;

# So he shallopen, and no one shall shut;

And he shall shut, and no one shall open.

23 I will fasten himasa peg in a secure place,

And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.

24 ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.

25 In that day,’ says theLordof hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden thatwason it will be cut off; for theLordhas spoken.’ ”

Proclamation Against Tyre

1 Theburden against Tyre.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

For it is laid waste,

So that there is no house, no harbor;

From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.

2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon,

Whom those who cross the sea have filled.

3 And on great waters the grain of Shihor,

The harvest of the River,isher revenue;

# Andshe is a marketplace for the nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon;

For the sea has spoken,

The strength of the sea, saying,

“I do not labor, nor bring forth children;

Neither do I rear young men,

Norbring up virgins.”

5 When the reportreachesEgypt,

They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre.

6 Cross over to Tarshish;

Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!

7 Isthis yourjoyouscity,

Whose antiquityisfrom ancient days,

Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?

8 Who has taken this counsel against Tyre,the crowningcity,

Whose merchantsareprinces,

Whose tradersarethe honorable of the earth?

9 TheLordof hosts haspurposed it,

# To bring to dishonor thepride of all glory,

To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

10 Overflow through your land like the River,

O daughter of Tarshish;

Thereisno more strength.

11 He stretched out His hand over the sea,

He shook the kingdoms;

# TheLordhas given a commandmentagainst Canaan

To destroy its strongholds.

12 And He said, “You will rejoice no more,

O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.

# Arise,cross over to Cyprus;

There also you will have no rest.”

13 Behold, the land of theChaldeans,

This peoplewhichwas not;

# Assyria founded it forwild beasts of the desert.

They set up its towers,

They raised up its palaces,

Andbrought it to ruin.

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

For your strength is laid waste.

15 Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre asinthe song of the harlot:

16 “Take a harp, go about the city,

You forgotten harlot;

Make sweet melody, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.”

17 And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that theLordwill deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, andcommit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

18 Her gain and her paywill be set apart for theLord; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before theLord, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing.

Impending Judgment on the Earth

1 Behold, theLordmakes the earth empty and makes it waste,

Distorts its surface

And scatters abroad its inhabitants.

2 And it shall be:

# As with the people, so with thepriest;

As with the servant, so with his master;

As with the maid, so with her mistress;

# As with the buyer, so with the seller;

As with the lender, so with the borrower;

As with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,

For theLordhas spoken this word.

4 The earth mournsandfades away,

The world languishesandfades away;

# Thehaughty people of the earth languish.

5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,

# Because they havetransgressed the laws,

Changed the ordinance,

# Broken theeverlasting covenant.

6 Thereforethe curse has devoured the earth,

And those who dwell in it are desolate.

# Therefore the inhabitants of the earth areburned,

And few menareleft.

7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes,

All the merry-hearted sigh.

8 The mirthof the tambourine ceases,

The noise of the jubilant ends,

The joy of the harp ceases.

9 They shall not drink wine with a song;

Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of confusion is broken down;

Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.

11 Thereisa cry for wine in the streets,

All joy is darkened,

The mirth of the land is gone.

12 In the city desolation is left,

And the gate is stricken with destruction.

13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,

# Itshallbelike the shaking of an olive tree,

Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;

For the majesty of theLord

They shall cry aloud from the sea.

15 Thereforeglorify theLordin the dawning light,

# The name of theLordGod of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.

16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:

“Glory to the righteous!”

But I said, “I am ruined, ruined!

Woe to me!

# The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,

Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

17 Fear and the pit and the snare

Areupon you, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 And it shall be

Thathe who flees from the noise of the fear

Shall fall into the pit,

And he who comes up from the midst of the pit

Shall be caught in the snare;

# Forthe windows from on high are open,

# Andthe foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 The earth is violently broken,

The earth is split open,

The earth is shaken exceedingly.

20 The earth shallreel to and fro like a drunkard,

And shall totter like a hut;

Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,

And it will fall, and not rise again.

21 It shall come to pass in that day

ThattheLordwill punish on high the host of exalted ones,

# And on the earththe kings of the earth.

22 They will be gathered together,

Asprisoners are gathered in the pit,

And will be shut up in the prison;

After many days they will be punished.

23 Then themoon will be disgraced

And the sun ashamed;

# For theLordof hosts willreign

# OnMount Zion and in Jerusalem

And before His elders, gloriously.

Praise to God

1 OLord, Youaremy God.

# I will exalt You,

I will praise Your name,

# For You have done wonderfulthings;

# Yourcounsels of oldarefaithfulnessandtruth.

2 For You have madea city a ruin,

A fortified city a ruin,

A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;

It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore the strong people willglorify You;

The city of the terrible nations will fear You.

4 For You have been a strength to the poor,

A strength to the needy in his distress,

# A refuge from the storm,

A shade from the heat;

For the blast of the terrible onesisas a stormagainstthe wall.

5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,

As heat in a dry place;

Asheat in the shadow of a cloud,

The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.

6 And inthis mountain

# TheLordof hosts will make forall people

A feast of choice pieces,

A feast of wines on the lees,

Of fat things full of marrow,

Of well-refined wines on the lees.

7 And He will destroy on this mountain

The surface of the covering cast over all people,

# Andthe veil that is spread over all nations.

8 He willswallow up death forever,

# And the LordGodwillwipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people

He will take away from all the earth;

For theLordhas spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day:

“Behold, thisisour God;

# We have waited for Him, and He will save us.

ThisistheLord;

We have waited for Him;

# We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

10 For on this mountain the hand of theLordwill rest,

# AndMoab shall be trampled down under Him,

As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap.

11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst

As a swimmer reaches out to swim,

# And He will bring down theirpride

Together with the trickery of their hands.

12 Thefortress of the high fort of your walls

He will bring down, lay low,

Andbring to the ground, down to the dust.