New King James Version (NKJV)

A Song of Salvation

1 Inthat day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

# Godwill appoint salvationforwalls and bulwarks.

2 Open the gates,

That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.

3 You will keephimin perfectpeace,

WhosemindisstayedonYou,

Because he trusts in You.

4 Trust in theLordforever,

# For in YAH, theLord,iseverlasting strength.

5 For He brings down those who dwell on high,

# The lofty city;

He lays it low,

He lays it low to the ground,

He brings it down to the dust.

6 The foot shall tread it down—

The feet of the poor

Andthe steps of the needy.”

7 The way of the justisuprightness;

# O Most Upright,

You weigh the path of the just.

8 Yes,in the way of Your judgments,

# OLord, we havewaited for You;

The desire ofoursoulisfor Your name

And for the remembrance of You.

9 With my soul I have desired You in the night,

Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;

For when Your judgmentsarein the earth,

The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 Let grace be shown to the wicked,

Yethe will not learn righteousness;

# Inthe land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,

And will not behold the majesty of theLord.

11 Lord,whenYour hand is lifted up,they will not see.

But they will see and be ashamed

Fortheirenvy of people;

Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.

12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,

For You have also done all our works in us.

13 OLordour God,masters besides You

Have had dominion over us;

Butby You only we make mention of Your name.

14 Theyaredead, they will not live;

Theyaredeceased, they will not rise.

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,

# And made all their memory toperish.

15 You have increased the nation, OLord,

# You haveincreased the nation;

You are glorified;

You have expanded all the borders of the land.

16 Lord,in trouble they have visited You,

They poured out a prayerwhenYour chasteningwasupon them.

17 Asa woman with child

Is in pain and cries out in her pangs,

Whenshe draws near the time of her delivery,

So have we been in Your sight, OLord.

18 We have been with child, we have been in pain;

We have, as it were, brought forth wind;

We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,

# Nor havethe inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Your dead shall live;

Togetherwithmy dead body they shall arise.

# Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;

For your dewislikethe dew of herbs,

And the earth shall cast out the dead.

Take Refuge from the Coming Judgment

20 Come, my people,enter your chambers,

And shut your doors behind you;

# Hide yourself, as it were,for a little moment,

Until the indignation is past.

21 For behold, theLordcomes out of His place

To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

The earth will also disclose her blood,

And will no more cover her slain.

1 In that day theLordwith His severe sword, great and strong,

Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,

# Leviathan that twisted serpent;

# And He will slaythe reptile thatisin the sea.

The Restoration of Israel

2 In that daysing to her,

# “A vineyard of red wine!

3 I, theLord, keep it,

I water it every moment;

Lest any hurt it,

I keep it night and day.

4 Furyisnot in Me.

# Who would setbriersandthorns

Against Me in battle?

I would go through them,

I would burn them together.

5 Or let him take holdof My strength,

# Thathe maymake peace with Me;

Andhe shall make peace with Me.”

6 Those who come He shall causeto take root in Jacob;

Israel shall blossom and bud,

And fill the face of the world with fruit.

7 Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him?

Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?

8 In measure, by sending it away,

You contended with it.

# He removesitby His rough wind

In the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered;

And thisisall the fruit of taking away his sin:

When he makes all the stones of the altar

Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust,

Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

10 Yet the fortified citywillbedesolate,

The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness;

There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down

And consume its branches.

11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off;

The women comeandset them on fire.

# Foritisa people of no understanding;

# Therefore He who made them willnot have mercy on them,

# AndHe who formed them will show them no favor.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day

ThattheLordwill thresh,

From the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt;

# And you will begathered one by one,

O you children of Israel.

13 So it shall be in that day:

# The great trumpet will be blown;

They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria,

# And they who are outcasts in the land ofEgypt,

# And shallworship theLordin the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Woe to Ephraim and Jerusalem

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,

Whose glorious beautyisa fading flower

Whichisat the head of the verdant valleys,

To those who are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one,

# Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,

Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing,

Who will bringthemdown to the earth withHishand.

3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,

Will be trampled underfoot;

4 And the glorious beauty is a fading flower

Whichisat the head of the verdant valley,

Like the first fruit before the summer,

Which an observer sees;

He eats it up while it is still in his hand.

5 In that day theLordof hosts will be

For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty

To the remnant of His people,

6 For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 But they alsohave erred through wine,

And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;

# The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink,

They are swallowed up by wine,

They are out of the way through intoxicating drink;

They err in vision, they stumbleinjudgment.

8 For all tables are full of vomitandfilth;

No placeisclean.

9 “Whomwill he teach knowledge?

And whom will he make to understand the message?

Thosejustweaned from milk?

Thosejustdrawn from the breasts?

10 For preceptmustbeupon precept, precept upon precept,

Line upon line, line upon line,

Here a little, there a little.”

11 For withstammering lips and another tongue

He will speak to this people,

12 To whom He said, “Thisistherestwithwhich

You may cause the weary to rest,”

And, “Thisisthe refreshing”;

Yet they would not hear.

13 But the word of theLordwas to them,

“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

Line upon line, line upon line,

Here a little, there a little,”

That they might go and fall backward, and be broken

And snared and caught.

14 Therefore hear the word of theLord, you scornful men,

Who rule this people whoarein Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

And with Sheol we are in agreement.

When the overflowing scourge passes through,

It will not come to us,

# For we have made lies our refuge,

And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

A Cornerstone in Zion

16 Therefore thus says the LordGod:

# “Behold, I lay in Ziona stone for a foundation,

A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;

Whoever believes will not act hastily.

17 Also I will make justice the measuring line,

And righteousness the plummet;

The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

And the waters will overflow the hiding place.

18 Your covenant with death will be annulled,

And your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

When the overflowing scourge passes through,

Then you will be trampled down by it.

19 As often as it goes out it will take you;

For morning by morning it will pass over,

And by day and by night;

It will be a terror just to understand the report.”

20 For the bed is too short to stretch outon,

And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himselfinit.

21 For theLordwill rise up asatMountPerazim,

# He will be angry as in the Valley ofGibeon—

# That He may do His work,His awesome work,

And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.

22 Now therefore, do not be mockers,

Lest your bonds be made strong;

For I have heard from the LordGodof hosts,

# A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

Listen to the Teaching of God

23 Give ear and hear my voice,

Listen and hear my speech.

24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow?

Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?

25 When he has leveled its surface,

Does he not sow the black cummin

And scatter the cummin,

Plant the wheat in rows,

The barley in the appointed place,

And the spelt in its place?

26 For He instructs him in right judgment,

His God teaches him.

27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin;

But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick,

And the cummin with a rod.

28 Breadflourmust be ground;

Therefore he does not thresh it forever,

Breakitwithhis cartwheel,

Or crush itwithhis horsemen.

29 This also comes from theLordof hosts,

# Whois wonderful in counselandexcellent in guidance.

Woe to Jerusalem

1 “Woeto Ariel, to Ariel, the citywhereDavid dwelt!

Add year to year;

Let feasts come around.

2 Yet I will distress Ariel;

There shall be heaviness and sorrow,

And it shall be to Me as Ariel.

3 I will encamp against you all around,

I will lay siege against you with a mound,

And I will raise siegeworks against you.

4 You shall be brought down,

You shall speak out of the ground;

Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;

# Your voice shall be like a medium’s,out of the ground;

And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 “Moreover the multitude of yourfoes

Shall be like fine dust,

And the multitude of the terrible ones

# Likechaff that passes away;

# Yes, it shall bein an instant, suddenly.

6 You will be punished by theLordof hosts

# With thunder andearthquake and great noise,

Withstorm and tempest

And the flame of devouring fire.

7 The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,

Even all who fight against her and her fortress,

And distress her,

# Shall beas a dream of a night vision.

8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,

And look—he eats;

But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;

Or as when a thirsty man dreams,

And look—he drinks;

But he awakes, and indeedheisfaint,

And his soul still craves:

So the multitude of all the nations shall be,

Who fight against Mount Zion.”

The Blindness of Disobedience

9 Pause and wonder!

Blind yourselves and be blind!

# They are drunk,but not with wine;

They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.

10 FortheLordhas poured out on you

The spirit of deep sleep,

# And hasclosed your eyes, namely, the prophets;

# And He has covered your heads,namely,the seers.

11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a bookthat is sealed, whichmendeliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”

# And he says, “I cannot, for itissealed.”

12 Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”

And he says, “I am not literate.”

13 Therefore the Lord said:

# “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths

# And honor Mewith their lips,

But have removed their hearts far from Me,

And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work

Among this people,

A marvelous work and a wonder;

# For the wisdom of their wisemenshall perish,

And the understanding of their prudentmenshall be hidden.”

15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from theLord,

And their works are in the dark;

# They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”

16 Surely you have things turned around!

Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;

# For shall thething made say of him who made it,

“He did not make me”?

Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

Future Recovery of Wisdom

17 Isit not yet a very little while

# TillLebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?

18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,

And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

19 The humble also shall increasetheirjoy in theLord,

# Andthe poor among men shall rejoice

In the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing,

# The scornful one is consumed,

# And all whowatch for iniquity are cut off—

21 Who make a man an offender by a word,

# Andlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

# And turn aside the justby empty words.

22 Therefore thus says theLord,who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

# “Jacob shall not now beashamed,

Nor shall his face now grow pale;

23 But when he sees his children,

# The work of My hands, in his midst,

They will hallow My name,

And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,

And fear the God of Israel.

24 These alsowho erred in spirit will come to understanding,

And those who complained will learn doctrine.”

Futile Confidence in Egypt

1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says theLord,

# “Who take counsel, but not of Me,

And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit,

# That they may add sin to sin;

2 Who walk to go down to Egypt,

# Andhave not asked My advice,

To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,

And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh

Shall be your shame,

And trust in the shadow of Egypt

Shall beyourhumiliation.

4 For his princes were atZoan,

And his ambassadors came to Hanes.

5 They were all ashamed of a peoplewhocould not benefit them,

Or be help or benefit,

But a shame and also a reproach.”

6 The burden against the beasts of the South.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

From whichcamethe lioness and lion,

# The viper and fiery flying serpent,

They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,

And their treasures on the humps of camels,

To a peoplewhoshall not profit;

7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.

Therefore I have called her

Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.

A Rebellious People

8 Now go,write it before them on a tablet,

And note it on a scroll,

That it may be for time to come,

Forever and ever:

9 Thatthisisa rebellious people,

Lying children,

Childrenwhowill not hear the law of theLord;

10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;

# Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.

11 Get out of the way,

Turn aside from the path,

Cause the Holy One of Israel

To cease from before us.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

# “Because youdespise this word,

And trust in oppression and perversity,

And rely on them,

13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you

# Like a breach ready to fall,

A bulge in a high wall,

# Whose breakingcomes suddenly, in an instant.

14 AndHe shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,

Which is broken in pieces;

He shall not spare.

So there shall not be found among its fragments

A shard to take fire from the hearth,

Or to take water from the cistern.”

15 For thus says the LordGod, the Holy One of Israel:

# “In returning and rest you shall be saved;

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

# But you would not,

16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—

Therefore you shall flee!

And, “We will ride on swifthorses”—

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

17 One thousandshallfleeat the threat of one,

At the threat of five you shall flee,

Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain

And as a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore theLordwill wait, that He may begracious to you;

And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.

For theLordisa God of justice;

# Blessedareall those whowait for Him.

19 For the peopleshall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;

# You shallweep no more.

He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;

# When He hears it, He willanswer you.

20 Andthoughthe Lord gives you

# The bread of adversity and the water of affliction,

# Yetyour teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,

But your eyes shall see your teachers.

21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

“Thisisthe way, walk in it,”

# Whenever youturn to the right hand

Or whenever you turn to the left.

22 You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,

And the ornament of your molded images of gold.

You will throw them away as an unclean thing;

# You will say to them, “Get away!”

23 Then He will give the rain for your seed

With which you sow the ground,

And bread of the increase of the earth;

It will be fat and plentiful.

In that day your cattle will feed

In large pastures.

24 Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground

Will eat cured fodder,

Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.

25 There will beon every high mountain

And on every high hill

Riversandstreams of waters,

# In the day of thegreat slaughter,

When the towers fall.

26 Moreoverthe light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,

And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,

As the light of seven days,

In the day that theLordbinds up the bruise of His people

And heals the stroke of their wound.

Judgment on Assyria

27 Behold, the name of theLordcomes from afar,

BurningwithHis anger,

AndHisburdenisheavy;

His lips are full of indignation,

And His tongue like a devouring fire.

28 His breath is like an overflowing stream,

# Which reaches up to the neck,

To sift the nations with the sieve of futility;

# Andthereshallbea bridle in the jaws of the people,

Causingthemto err.

29 You shall have a song

As in the nightwhena holy festival is kept,

And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,

# To come intothe mountain of theLord,

To the Mighty One of Israel.

30 TheLordwill cause His glorious voice to be heard,

And show the descent of His arm,

With the indignation ofHisanger

And the flame of a devouring fire,

# Withscattering, tempest,and hailstones.

31 Forthrough the voice of theLord

Assyria will be beaten down,

# As He strikes with therod.

32 Andinevery place where the staff of punishment passes,

Which theLordlays on him,

Itwill be with tambourines and harps;

# And in battles ofbrandishing He will fight with it.

33 For Tophetwasestablished of old,

Yes, for the king it is prepared.

He has madeitdeep and large;

Its pyreisfire with much wood;

The breath of theLord, like a stream of brimstone,

Kindles it.

The Folly of Not Trusting God

1 Woe to thosewho go down to Egypt for help,

# Andrely on horses,

Who trust in chariots becausetheyaremany,

And in horsemen because they are very strong,

But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

# Nor seek theLord!

2 Yet He alsoiswise and will bring disaster,

# Andwill not call back His words,

But will arise against the house of evildoers,

And against the help of those who work iniquity.

3 Now the Egyptiansaremen, and not God;

And their horses are flesh, and not spirit.

When theLordstretches out His hand,

Both he who helps will fall,

And he who is helped will fall down;

# They all will perishtogether.

God Will Deliver Jerusalem

4 For thus theLordhas spoken to me:

# “As a lion roars,

And a young lion over his prey

(When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,

Hewill not be afraid of their voice

Nor be disturbed by their noise),

So theLordof hosts will come down

To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.

5 Like birds flying about,

So will theLordof hosts defend Jerusalem.

Defending, He will also deliverit;

Passing over, He will preserveit.”

6 ReturntoHimagainst whom the children of Israel havedeeply revolted.

7 For in that day every man shallthrow away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.

8 “Then Assyria shallfall by a sword not of man,

# And a sword not of mankind shalldevour him.

But he shall flee from the sword,

And his young men shall become forced labor.

9 He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear,

And his princes shall be afraid of the banner,”

Says theLord,

Whose fireisin Zion

And whose furnaceisin Jerusalem.

A Reign of Righteousness

1 Behold,a king will reign in righteousness,

And princes will rule with justice.

2 A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,

# Anda cover from the tempest,

As rivers of water in a dry place,

As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

3 The eyes of those who see will not be dim,

And the ears of those who hear will listen.

4 Also the heart of the rash willunderstand knowledge,

And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.

5 The foolish person will no longer be called generous,

Nor the miser saidtobebountiful;

6 For the foolish person will speak foolishness,

# And his heart will workiniquity:

To practice ungodliness,

To utter error against theLord,

To keep the hungry unsatisfied,

And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

7 Also the schemes of the schemerareevil;

He devises wicked plans

# To destroy the poor withlying words,

Even when the needy speaks justice.

8 But a generous man devises generous things,

And by generosity he shall stand.

Consequences of Complacency

9 Rise up, you womenwho are at ease,

Hear my voice;

You complacent daughters,

Give ear to my speech.

10 In a year andsomedays

You will be troubled, you complacent women;

For the vintage will fail,

The gathering will not come.

11 Tremble, youwomenwho are at ease;

Be troubled, you complacent ones;

Strip yourselves, make yourselves bare,

And girdsackclothonyourwaists.

12 People shall mourn upon their breasts

For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

13 On the land of my people will come up thornsandbriers,

# Yes, on all the happy homesinthe joyous city;

14 Because the palaces will be forsaken,

The bustling city will be deserted.

The forts and towers will become lairs forever,

A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks—

15 Untilthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

# Andthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.

The Peace of God’s Reign

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

17 The work of righteousness will be peace,

And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

18 My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation,

# In secure dwellings, and in quietresting places,

19 Though hail comes downon the forest,

And the city is brought low in humiliation.

20 Blessedareyou who sow beside all waters,

# Who send out freely the feet ofthe ox and the donkey.

A Prayer in Deep Distress

1 Woe to youwho plunder, though youhavenotbeenplundered;

And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you!

# When you cease plundering,

# You will beplundered;

When you make an end of dealing treacherously,

They will deal treacherously with you.

2 OLord, be gracious to us;

# We have waited for You.

Be their arm every morning,

Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

3 At the noise of the tumult the peopleshall flee;

When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered;

4 And Your plunder shall be gathered

Likethe gathering of the caterpillar;

As the running to and fro of locusts,

He shall run upon them.

5 TheLordis exalted, for He dwells on high;

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,

Andthe strength of salvation;

The fear of theLordisHis treasure.

7 Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside,

# The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

8 The highways lie waste,

The traveling man ceases.

# He has broken the covenant,

He has despised the cities,

He regards no man.

9 The earth mournsandlanguishes,

Lebanon is shamedandshriveled;

Sharon is like a wilderness,

And Bashan and Carmel shake offtheirfruits.

Impending Judgment on Zion

10 “NowI will rise,” says theLord;

“Now I will be exalted,

Now I will lift Myself up.

11 You shall conceive chaff,

You shall bring forth stubble;

Your breath,asfire, shall devour you.

12 And the people shall belikethe burnings of lime;

# Likethorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire.

13 Hear,youwhoareafar off, what I have done;

And youwhoarenear, acknowledge My might.”

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;

Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:

# “Who among us shall dwell with the devouringfire?

Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

15 He whowalks righteously and speaks uprightly,

He who despises the gain of oppressions,

Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,

Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,

# Andshuts his eyes from seeing evil:

16 He will dwell on high;

His place of defensewillbethe fortress of rocks;

Bread will be given him,

His waterwillbesure.

The Land of the Majestic King

17 Your eyes will see the King in Hisbeauty;

They will see the land that is very far off.

18 Your heart will meditate on terror:

# “Whereisthe scribe?

Whereishe who weighs?

Whereishe who counts the towers?”

19 You will not see a fierce people,

# A people of obscure speech, beyond perception,

Of a stammering tonguethatyoucannot understand.

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;

# Your eyes will seeJerusalem, a quiet home,

A tabernaclethatwill not be taken down;

# Not one ofits stakes will ever be removed,

Nor will any of its cords be broken.

21 But there the majesticLordwillbefor us

A place of broad riversandstreams,

In which no galley with oars will sail,

Nor majestic ships pass by

22 (For theLordisourJudge,

# TheLordisourLawgiver,

# TheLordisour King;

He will save us);

23 Your tackle is loosed,

They could not strengthen their mast,

They could not spread the sail.

Then the prey of great plunder is divided;

The lame take the prey.

24 And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”;

# The people who dwell in itwillbeforgiventheiriniquity.

Judgment on the Nations

1 Comenear, you nations, to hear;

And heed, you people!

# Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,

The world and all things that come forth from it.

2 For the indignation of theLordis against all nations,

AndHisfury against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

# He has given them over to theslaughter.

3 Also their slain shall be thrown out;

# Their stench shall rise from their corpses,

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,

And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;

# All their host shall fall down

As the leaf falls from the vine,

# And asfruitfalling from a fig tree.

5 “ForMy sword shall be bathed in heaven;

# Indeed itshall come down on Edom,

And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

6 Thesword of theLordis filled with blood,

It is made overflowing with fatness,

With the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

# FortheLordhas a sacrifice in Bozrah,

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 The wild oxen shall come down with them,

And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;

Their land shall be soaked with blood,

And their dust saturated with fatness.”

8 Foritisthe day of theLord’svengeance,

The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch,

And its dust into brimstone;

Its land shall become burning pitch.

10 It shall not be quenched night or day;

# Its smoke shall ascend forever.

# From generation to generation it shall lie waste;

No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it,

Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.

# AndHe shall stretch out over it

The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.

12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,

But noneshallbethere, and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 Andthorns shall come up in its palaces,

Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;

# It shall be a habitation of jackals,

A courtyard for ostriches.

14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals,

And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;

Also the night creature shall rest there,

And find for herself a place of rest.

15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and layeggs

And hatch, and gatherthemunder her shadow;

There also shall the hawks be gathered,

Every one with her mate.

16 “Search fromthe book of theLord, and read:

Not one of these shall fail;

Not one shall lack her mate.

For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.

17 He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”

The Future Glory of Zion

1 Thewilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,

# And thedesert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,

Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

# They shall see theglory of theLord,

The excellency of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands,

And make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to thosewhoarefearful-hearted,

“Be strong, do not fear!

# Behold, your God will comewithvengeance,

Withthe recompense of God;

# He will come andsave you.”

5 Then theeyes of the blind shall be opened,

# Andthe ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then thelame shall leap like a deer,

# And thetongue of the dumb sing.

# Forwaters shall burst forth in the wilderness,

And streams in the desert.

7 The parched ground shall become a pool,

And the thirsty land springs of water;

# Inthe habitation of jackals, where each lay,

Thereshallbegrass with reeds and rushes.

8 Ahighway shall be there, and a road,

And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.

# The unclean shall not pass over it,

But itshallbefor others.

Whoever walks the road, although a fool,

Shall not go astray.

9 No lion shall be there,

Nor shallanyravenous beast go up on it;

It shall not be found there.

But the redeemed shall walkthere,

10 And theransomed of theLordshall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness,

# Andsorrow and sighing shall flee away.