The Message

Damascus: A Pile of Dust and Rubble

1-3 A Message concerning Damascus:

“Watch this: Damascus undone as a city,

a pile of dust and rubble!

Her towns emptied of people.

The sheep and goats will move in

And take over the towns

as if they owned them—which they will!

Not a sign of a fort is left in Ephraim,

not a trace of government left in Damascus.

What’s left of Aram?

The same as what’s left of Israel—not much.”

Decree ofGod-of-the-Angel-Armies.

The Day Is Coming

4-6 “The Day is coming when Jacob’s robust splendor goes pale

and his well-fed body turns skinny.

The country will be left empty, picked clean

as a field harvested by field hands.

She’ll be like a few stalks of barley left standing

in the lush Valley of Rephaim after harvest,

Or like the couple of ripe olives overlooked

in the top of the olive tree,

Or the four or five apples

that the pickers couldn’t reach in the orchard.”

Decree of theGodof Israel.

7-8 Yes, the Day is coming when people will notice The One Who Made Them, take a long hard look at The Holy of Israel. They’ll lose interest in all the stuff they’ve made—altars and monuments and rituals, their homemade, handmade religion—however impressive it is.

9 And yes, the Day is coming when their fortress cities will be abandoned—the very same cities that the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when Israel invaded! And the country will be empty, desolate.

You Have Forgotten God

10-11 And why? Because you have forgotten God-Your-Salvation,

not remembered your Rock-of-Refuge.

And so, even though you are very religious,

planting all sorts of bushes and herbs and trees

to honor and influence your fertility gods,

And even though you make them grow so well,

bursting with buds and sprouts and blossoms,

Nothing will come of them. Instead of a harvest

you’ll get nothing but grief and pain, pain, pain.

12-13 Oh my! Thunder! A thundering herd of people!

Thunder like the crashing of ocean waves!

Nations roaring, roaring,

like the roar of a massive waterfall,

Roaring like a deafening Niagara!

But God will silence them with a word,

And then he’ll blow them away like dead leaves off a tree,

like down from a thistle.

14 At bedtime, terror fills the air.

By morning it’s gone—not a sign of it anywhere!

This is what happens to those who would ruin us,

this is the fate of those out to get us.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/17-aaee5e9716560e0cd28f12d050a5e248.mp3?version_id=97—

People Mighty and Merciless

1-2 Doom to the land of flies and mosquitoes

beyond the Ethiopian rivers,

Shipping emissaries all over the world,

down rivers and across seas.

Go, swift messengers,

go to this people tall and handsome,

This people held in respect everywhere,

this people mighty and merciless,

from the land crisscrossed with rivers.

3 Everybody everywhere,

all earth-dwellers:

When you see a flag flying on the mountain, look!

When you hear the trumpet blown, listen!

4-6 For here’s whatGodtold me:

“I’m not going to say anything,

but simply look on from where I live,

Quiet as warmth that comes from the sun,

silent as dew during harvest.”

And then, just before harvest, after the blossom

has turned into a maturing grape,

He’ll step in and prune back the new shoots,

ruthlessly hack off all the growing branches.

He’ll leave them piled on the ground

for birds and animals to feed on—

Fodder for the summering birds,

fodder for the wintering animals.

7 Then tribute will be brought toGod-of-the-Angel-Armies,

brought from this people tall and handsome,

This people once held in respect everywhere,

this people once mighty and merciless,

From the land crisscrossed with rivers,

to Mount Zion,God’s place.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/18-f967732defaaf5fdd0db5c4b92a0af46.mp3?version_id=97—

Anarchy and Chaos and Killing!

1 A Message concerning Egypt:

Watch this!Godriding on a fast-moving cloud,

moving in on Egypt!

The god-idols of Egypt shudder and shake,

Egyptians paralyzed by panic.

2-4 God says, “I’ll make Egyptian fight Egyptian,

brother fight brother, neighbor fight neighbor,

City fight city, kingdom fight kingdom—

anarchy and chaos and killing!

I’ll knock the wind out of the Egyptians.

They won’t know coming from going.

They’ll go to their god-idols for answers;

they’ll conjure ghosts and hold séances, desperate for answers.

But I’ll turn the Egyptians

over to a tyrant most cruel.

I’ll put them under the rule of a mean, merciless king.”

Decree of the Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

5-10 The River Nile will dry up,

the riverbed baked dry in the sun.

The canals will become stagnant and stink,

every stream touching the Nile dry up.

River vegetation will rot away

the banks of the Nile-baked clay,

The riverbed hard and smooth,

river grasses dried up and gone with the wind.

Fishermen will complain

that the fishing’s been ruined.

Textile workers will be out of work, all weavers

and workers in linen and cotton and wool

Dispirited, depressed in their forced idleness—

everyone who works for a living, jobless.

11-15 The princes of Zoan are fools,

the advisors of Pharaoh stupid.

How could any of you dare tell Pharaoh,

“Trust me: I’m wise. I know what’s going on.

Why, I’m descended from the old wisdom of Egypt”?

There’s not a wise man or woman left in the country.

If there were, one of them would tell you

whatGod-of-the-Angel-Armies has in mind for Egypt.

As it is, the princes of Zoan are all fools

and the princes of Memphis, dunces.

The honored pillars of your society

have led Egypt into detours and dead ends.

Godhas scrambled their brains,

Egypt’s become a falling-down-in-his-own-vomit drunk.

Egypt’s hopeless, past helping,

a senile, doddering old fool.

16-17 On that Day, Egyptians will be like hysterical schoolgirls, screaming at the first hint of action fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies. Little Judah will strike terror in Egyptians! Say “Judah” to an Egyptian and see panic. The word triggers fear of theGod-of-the-Angel-Armies’ plan against Egypt.

18 On that Day, more than one city in Egypt will learn to speak the language of faith and promise to followGod-of-the-Angel-Armies. One of these cities will be honored with the title “City of the Sun.”

19-22 On that Day, there will be a place of worship toGodin the center of Egypt and a monument toGodat its border. It will show how theGod-of-the-Angel-Armies has helped the Egyptians. When they cry out in prayer toGodbecause of oppressors, he’ll send them help, a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them.Godwill openly show himself to the Egyptians and they’ll get to know him on that Day. They’ll worship him seriously with sacrifices and burnt offerings. They’ll make vows and keep them.Godwill wound Egypt, first hit and then heal. Egypt will come back toGod, andGodwill listen to their prayers and heal them, heal them from head to toe.

23 On that Day, there will be a highway all the way from Egypt to Assyria: Assyrians will have free range in Egypt and Egyptians in Assyria. No longer rivals, they’ll worship together, Egyptians and Assyrians!

24-25 On that Day, Israel will take its place alongside Egypt and Assyria, sharing the blessing from the center.God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who blessed Israel, will generously bless them all: “Blessed be Egypt, my people! . . . Blessed be Assyria, work of my hands! . . . Blessed be Israel, my heritage!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/19-05a53d33211a91c2cb23b86633422355.mp3?version_id=97—

Exposed to Mockery and Jeers

1-2 In the year the field commander, sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought and took it,Godtold Isaiah son of Amoz, “Go, take off your clothes and sandals,” and Isaiah did it, going about naked and barefooted.

3-6 ThenGodsaid, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around town naked and barefooted for three years as a warning sign to Egypt and Ethiopia, so the king of Assyria is going to come and take the Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopians as exiles. He’ll take young and old alike and march them out of there naked and barefooted, exposed to mockery and jeers—the bared buttocks of Egypt on parade! Everyone who has put hope in Ethiopia and expected help from Egypt will be thrown into confusion. Everyone who lives along this coast will say, ‘Look at them! Naked and barefooted, shuffling off to exile! And we thought they were our best hope, that they’d rescue us from the king of Assyria.Nowwhat’s going to happen to us? How are we going to get out of this?’”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/20-2b6b9bf873879dd3cea10e8a3c450f56.mp3?version_id=97—

The Betrayer Betrayed

1-4 A Message concerning the desert at the sea:

As tempests drive through the Negev Desert,

coming out of the desert, that terror-filled place,

A hard vision is given me:

The betrayer betrayed, the plunderer plundered.

Attack, Elam!

Lay siege, Media!

Persians, attack!

Attack, Babylon!

I’ll put an end to

all the moaning and groaning.

Because of this news I’m doubled up in pain,

writhing in pain like a woman having a baby,

Baffled by what I hear,

undone by what I see.

Absolutely stunned,

horror-stricken,

I had hoped for a relaxed evening,

but it has turned into a nightmare.

5 The banquet is spread,

the guests reclining in luxurious ease,

Eating and drinking, having a good time,

and then, “To arms, princes! The fight is on!”

6-9 The Master told me, “Go, post a lookout.

Have him report whatever he spots.

When he sees horses and wagons in battle formation,

lines of donkeys and columns of camels,

Tell him to keep his ear to the ground,

note every whisper, every rumor.”

Just then, the lookout shouted,

“I’m at my post, Master,

Sticking to my post day after day

and all through the night!

I watched them come,

the horses and wagons in battle formation.

I heard them call out the war news in headlines:

‘Babylon fallen! Fallen!

And all its precious god-idols

smashed to pieces on the ground.’”

10 Dear Israel, you’ve been through a lot,

you’ve been put through the mill.

The good news I get fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies,

the God of Israel, I now pass on to you.

11-12 A Message concerning Edom:

A voice calls to me

from the Seir mountains in Edom,

“Night watchman! How long till daybreak?

How long will this night last?”

The night watchman calls back,

“Morning’s coming,

But for now it’s still night.

If you ask me again, I’ll give the same answer.”

13-15 A Message concerning Arabia:

You’ll have to camp out in the desert badlands,

you caravans of Dedanites.

Haul water to the thirsty,

greet fugitives with bread.

Show your desert hospitality,

you who live in Tema.

The desert’s swarming with refugees

escaping the horrors of war.

16-17 The Master told me, “Hang on. Within one year—I’ll sign a contract on it!—the arrogant brutality of Kedar, those hooligans of the desert, will be over, nothing much left of the Kedar toughs.” TheGodof Israel says so.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/21-88c05cd25ceae75f9fb7478b898fbcea.mp3?version_id=97—

A Country of Cowards

1-3 A Message concerning the Valley of Vision:

What’s going on here anyway?

All this partying and noisemaking,

Shouting and cheering in the streets,

the city noisy with celebrations!

You have no brave soldiers to honor,

no combat heroes to be proud of.

Your leaders were all cowards,

captured without even lifting a sword,

A country of cowards

captured escaping the battle.

You Looked, but You Never Looked to Him

4-8 In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone.

Let me grieve by myself.

Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right.

These people are doomed. It’snotall right.”

For the Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people,

Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision,

knocking down walls

and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!”

Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth—

weapons and chariots and cavalry.

Your fine valleys are noisy with war,

chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.

God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.

8-11 You assessed your defenses that Day, inspected your arsenal of weapons in the Forest Armory. You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water.

You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.

12-13 The Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

called out on that Day,

Called for a day of repentant tears,

called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.

But what doyoudo? You throw a party!

Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets!

You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast—

slabs of meat, kegs of beer.

“Seize the day! Eat and drink!

Tomorrow we die!”

14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: “You’ll pay for this outrage until the day you die.” The Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so.

The Key of the Davidic Heritage

15-19 The Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: “Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king’s affairs, and tell him: What’s going on here? You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important.Godis about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired—and good riddance!

20-24 “On that Day I’ll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I’ll dress him in your robe. I’ll put your belt on him. I’ll give him your authority. He’ll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah. I’ll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He’ll have the run of the place—open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him—not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.

25 “And then the Day will come,” saysGod-of-the-Angel-Armies, “when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall—and everything hanging on it will go with it.” That’s what will happen.Godsays so.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/22-3ec3ff09091ac339d2bc0e1f787b7cbf.mp3?version_id=97—

It Was All Numbers, Dead Numbers, Profit and Loss

1-4 Wail, ships of Tarshish,

your strong seaports all in ruins!

When the ships returned from Cyprus,

they saw the destruction.

Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast,

merchants of Sidon.

Your people sailed the deep seas,

buying and selling,

Making money on wheat from Shihor,

grown along the Nile—

multinational broker in grains!

Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up,

the powerhouse of the ocean says,

“I’ve never had labor pains, never had a baby,

never reared children to adulthood,

Never gave life, never worked with life.

It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.”

5 When Egypt gets the report on Tyre,

what wailing! what wringing of hands!

Nothing Left Here to Be Proud Of

6-12 Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast.

Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears!

Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive,

bustling with activity, this historic old city,

Expanding throughout the globe,

buying and selling all over the world?

And who is behind the collapse of Tyre,

the Tyre that controlled the world markets?

Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons.

Tyre’s traders called all the shots.

God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash

to show the sordid backside of pride

and puncture the inflated reputations.

Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish.

There are no docks left in this harbor.

Godreached out to the sea and sea traders,

threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil.

Godordered the destruction

of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.

Godsaid, “There’s nothing left here to be proud of,

bankrupt and bereft Sidon.

Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus?

Don’t count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either.”

13 Look at what happened to Babylon: There’s nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.

14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,

your strong seaports all in ruins!

15-16 For the next seventy years, a king’s lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:

“Take a harp, circle the city,

unremembered whore.

Sing your old songs, your many old songs.

Maybe someone will remember.”

17-18 At the end of the seventy years,Godwill look in on Tyre. She’ll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee. But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over toGod. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use ofGod-Aware,God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/23-a3b6f7dbb3420b03de95b1ec4230f7ad.mp3?version_id=97—

The Landscape Will Be a Moonscape

1-3 Danger ahead!God’s about to ravish the earth

and leave it in ruins,

Rip everything out by the roots

and send everyone scurrying:

priests and laypeople alike,

owners and workers alike,

celebrities and nobodies alike,

buyers and sellers alike,

bankers and beggars alike,

the haves and have-nots alike.

The landscape will be a moonscape,

totally wasted.

And why? BecauseGodsays so.

He’s issued the orders.

4 The earth turns gaunt and gray,

the world silent and sad,

sky and land lifeless, colorless.

Earth Polluted by Its Very Own People

5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,

who have broken its laws,

Disrupted its order,

violated the sacred and eternal covenant.

Therefore a curse, like a cancer,

ravages the earth.

Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.

They dwindle away, dying out one by one.

No more wine, no more vineyards,

no more songs or singers.

The laughter of castanets is gone,

the shouts of celebrants, gone,

the laughter of fiddles, gone.

No more parties with toasts of champagne.

Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.

The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns.

Every house is boarded up, condemned.

People riot in the streets for wine,

but the good times are gone forever—

no more joy for this old world.

The city is dead and deserted,

bulldozed into piles of rubble.

That’s the way it will be on this earth.

This is the fate of all nations:

An olive tree shaken clean of its olives,

a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.

14-16 But there are some who will break into glad song.

Out of the west they’ll shout ofGod’s majesty.

Yes, from the eastGod’s glory will ascend.

Every island of the sea

Will broadcastGod’s fame,

the fame of the God of Israel.

From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing:

“All praise to the Righteous One!”

16-20 But I said, “That’s all well and good for somebody,

but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom.”

All of them at one another’s throats,

yes, all of them at one another’s throats.

Terror and pits and booby traps

are everywhere, whoever you are.

If you run from the terror,

you’ll fall into the pit.

If you climb out of the pit,

you’ll get caught in the trap.

Chaos pours out of the skies.

The foundations of earth are crumbling.

Earth is smashed to pieces,

earth is ripped to shreds,

earth is wobbling out of control,

Earth staggers like a drunk,

sways like a shack in a high wind.

Its piled-up sins are too much for it.

It collapses and won’t get up again.

21-23 That’s whenGodwill call on the carpet

rebel powers in the skies and

Rebel kings on earth.

They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail,

Corralled and locked up in a jail,

and then sentenced and put to hard labor.

Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated,

red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced,

BecauseGod-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over,

ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem,

Splendid and glorious

before all his leaders.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/24-98341f4aa441e7f737040fce5c68d9b5.mp3?version_id=97—

God’s Hand Rests on This Mountain

1-5 God, you aremyGod.

I celebrate you. I praise you.

You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,

well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.

Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,

the strong city to a pile of stones.

The enemy Big City is a non-city,

never to be a city again.

Superpowers will see it and honor you,

brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.

They’ll see that you take care of the poor,

that you take care of poor people in trouble,

Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,

provide a cool place when it’s hot.

Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard

and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.

But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,

shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.

6-8 But here on this mountain,God-of-the-Angel-Armies

will throw a feast for all the people of the world,

A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,

a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.

And here on this mountain,Godwill banish

the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,

The shadow of doom darkening all nations.

Yes, he’ll banish death forever.

AndGodwill wipe the tears from every face.

He’ll remove every sign of disgrace

From his people, wherever they are.

Yes!Godsays so!

9-10 Also at that time, people will say,

“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!

We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!

ThisGod, the one we waited for!

Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.

God’s hand rests on this mountain!”

10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like refuse,

waste shoveled into a cesspool.

Thrash away as they will,

like swimmers trying to stay afloat,

They’ll sink in the sewage.

Their pride will pull them under.

Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,

those mighty walls reduced to dust.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/25-65dcc879929db1d5ec47ddbb3b70c7d3.mp3?version_id=97—

Stretch the Borders of Life

1-6 At that time, this song

will be sung in the country of Judah:

We have a strong city, Salvation City,

built and fortified with salvation.

Throw wide the gates

so good and true people can enter.

People with their minds set on you,

you keep completely whole,

Steady on their feet,

because they keep at it and don’t quit.

Depend onGodand keep at it

because in theLordGodyou have a sure thing.

Those who lived high and mighty

he knocked off their high horse.

He used the city built on the hill

as fill for the marshes.

All the exploited and outcast peoples

build their lives on the reclaimed land.

7-10 The path of right-living people is level.

The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.

We’re in no hurry,God. We’re content to linger

in the path sign-posted with your decisions.

Who you are and what you’ve done

are all we’ll ever want.

Through the night my soul longs for you.

Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.

When your decisions are on public display,

everyone learns how to live right.

If the wicked are shown grace,

they don’t seem to get it.

In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,

blind to the splendor ofGod.

11-15 You hold your hand up high,God,

but they don’t see it.

Open their eyes to what you do,

to see your zealous love for your people.

Shame them. Light a fire under them.

Get the attention of these enemies of yours.

God, order a peaceful and whole life for us

because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.

OGod, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,

but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.

The dead don’t talk,

ghosts don’t walk,

Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”

and wiped them off the books.

But the living you make larger than life.

The more life you give, the more glory you display,

and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!

16-18 OGod, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,

when your discipline was so heavy

they could barely whisper a prayer.

Like a woman having a baby,

writhing in distress, screaming her pain

as the baby is being born,

That’s how we were because of you, OGod.

We were pregnant full-term.

We writhed in labor but bore no baby.

We gave birth to wind.

Nothing came of our labor.

We produced nothing living.

We couldn’t save the world.

19 But friends, your dead will live,

your corpses will get to their feet.

All you dead and buried,

wake up! Sing!

Your dew is morning dew

catching the first rays of sun,

The earth bursting with life,

giving birth to the dead.

20-21 Come, my people, go home

and shut yourselves in.

Go into seclusion for a while

until the punishing wrath is past,

BecauseGodis sure to come from his place

to punish the wrong of the people on earth.

Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;

it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/26-dda04ba155e7f4a3a5dd5949752e10c2.mp3?version_id=97—