6 The burden of the animals of the South.
Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. 7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still. 8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the LORD’s law; 10 who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” 12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 14 He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found amongst the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence.” You refused, 16 but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses;” therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift;” therefore those who pursue you will be swift. 17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.
18 Therefore the LORD will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your teachers; 21 and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” 22 You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, “Go away!”
23 He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savoury feed, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 25 There will be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.
27 Behold, the LORD’s name comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation. His tongue is as a devouring fire. 28 His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. 29 You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to the LORD’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock. 30 The LORD will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. 31 For through the LORD’s voice the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod. 32 Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which the LORD will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons. 33 For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, it is prepared for the king. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. The LORD’s breath, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it.
31
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
and rely on horses,
and trust in chariots because they are many,
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel,
and they don’t seek the LORD!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster,
and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers,
and against the help of those who work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;
and their horses flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble,
and he who is helped shall fall,
and they all shall be consumed together.
4 For the LORD says to me,
“As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey,
if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,
will not be dismayed at their voice,
nor abase himself for their noise,
so the LORD of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5 As birds hovering, so the LORD of Armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it.
He will pass over and preserve it.”
6 Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin which your own hands have made for you.
8 “The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man;
and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him.
He will flee from the sword,
and his young men will become subject to forced labour.
9 His rock will pass away by reason of terror,
and his princes will be afraid of the banner,”
says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,
and his furnace in Jerusalem.
32
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in justice.
2 A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind,
and a covert from the storm,
as streams of water in a dry place,
as the shade of a large 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 The heart of the rash will understand knowledge,
and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
5 The fool will no longer be called noble,
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For the fool will speak folly,
and his heart will work iniquity,
to practise profanity,
and to utter error against the LORD,
to make empty the soul of the hungry,
and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The ways of the scoundrel are evil.
He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words,
even when the needy speaks right.
8 But the noble devises noble things,
and he will continue in noble things.
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice!
You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!
10 For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women;
for the vintage will fail.
The harvest won’t come.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease!
Be troubled, you careless ones!
Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked,
and put sackcloth on your waist.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine.
13 Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land;
yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
14 For the palace will be forsaken.
The populous city will be deserted.
The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever,
a delight for wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks,
15 until the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness;
and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.
17 The work of righteousness will be peace,
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in a peaceful habitation,
in safe dwellings,
and in quiet resting places,
19 though hail flattens the forest,
and the city is levelled completely.
20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,
who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
33
1 Woe to you who destroy,
