13That is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab long ago. 14And now the LORD has spoken: In three years, fixed like the years of a hired laborer, Moab’s population, with all its huge multitude, shall shrink. Only a remnant shall be left, of no consequence.
17 The “Damascus” Pronouncement.
Behold,
Damascus shall cease to be a city;
It shall become a heap of ruins.
2a-The towns of Aroer shall be deserted;-a
They shall be a place for flocks
To lie down, with none disturbing.
3Fortresses shall cease from Ephraim,b
And sovereignty from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become
Like the mass of Israelites
—declares the LORD of Hosts.
4In that day,
The mass of Jacob shall dwindle,
And the fatness of his body become lean:
5After being like the standing grain
Harvested by the reaper—
Who reaps ears by the armful—
He shall be like the ears that are gleaned
In the Valley of Rephaim.
6Only gleanings shall be left of him,
As when one beats an olive tree:
Two berries or three on the topmost branch,
Four or five c-on the boughs of the crown-c
—declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
7In that day, men shall turn to their Maker, their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel; 8they shall not turn to the altars that their own hands made, or look to the sacred posts and incense stands that their own fingers wrought.
9In that day, their fortress cities shall be like the deserted sites which d-the Horesh and the Amir-d abandoned because of the Israelites; and there shall be desolation.
10Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you
And have not remembered the Rock who shelters you;
That is why, though you plant a delightfule sapling,
What you sow proves a disappointing slip.
11On the day that you plant, you see it grow;
On the morning you sow, you see it bud—
But the branches wither away
On a day of sickness and mortal agony.
12Ah, the roar of many peoples
That roar as roars the sea,
The rage of nations that rage
As rage the mighty waters—
13Nations raging like massive waters!
But He shouts at them, and they flee far away,
Driven like chaff before winds in the hills,
And like tumbleweed before a gale.
14At eventide, lo, terror!
By morning, it is no more.
Such is the lot of our despoilers,
The portion of them that plunder us.
18 Ah,
a-land in the deep shadow of wings,-a
Beyond the rivers of Nubia!
2Go, swift messengers,
To a nation b-far and remote,
To a people thrust forth and away-b—
A nation of gibber and chatterc—
Whose land is cut off by streams;
d-Which sends out envoys by sea,
In papyrus vessels upon the water!-d
3[Say this:]
“All you who live in the world
And inhabit the earth,
When a flag is raised in the hills, take note!
When a ram’s horn is blown, give heed!”
4For thus the LORD said to me:
“I rest calm and confidente in My habitation—
Like a scorching heat upon sprouts,
f-Like a rain-cloud in the heat of reaping time.”-f
5For before the harvest,g yet after the budding,
When the blossom has hardened into berries,
He will trim away the twigs with pruning hooks,
And lop off the trailing branches.h
6They shall all be left
To the kites of the hills
And to the beasts of the earth;
The kites shall summer on them
And all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
7In that time,
Tribute shall be brought to the LORD of Hosts
[From] a people far and remote,
From a people thrust forth and away—
A nation of gibber and chatter,
Whose land is cut off by streams—
At the place where the name of the LORD of Hosts abides,
At Mount Zion.
19 The “Egypt” Pronouncement.
Mounted on a swift cloud,
The LORD will come to Egypt;
Egypt’s idols shall tremble before Him,
And the heart of the Egyptians shall sink within them.
2“I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian:
They shall war with each other,
Every man with his fellow,
City with city
And kingdom with kingdom.a
3Egypt shall be drained of spirit,
And I will confound its plans;
So they will consult the idols and the shades
And the ghosts and the familiar spirits.
4And I will place the Egyptians
At the mercy of a harsh master,
And a ruthless king shall rule them”
—declares the Sovereign, the LORD of Hosts.
5Water shall fail from the seas,
Rivers dry up and be parched,
6Channels turn foul as they ebb,
And Egypt’s canals run dry.
Reed and rush shall decay,
7b-And the Nile papyrus by the Nile-side-b
And everything sown by the Nile
Shall wither, blow away, and vanish.
8The fishermen shall lament;
All who cast lines in the Nile shall mourn,
And those who spread nets on the water shall languish.
9The flax workers, too, shall be dismayed,
Both carders and weavers chagrined.b
10cHer foundations shall be crushed,
And all who make dams shall be despondent.
11Utter fools are the nobles of Tanis;
The sagest of Pharaoh’s advisers
[Have made] absurd predictions.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a scion of sages,
A scion of Kedemite kings”?d
12Where, indeed, are your sages?
Let them tell you, let them discover
What the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
13The nobles of Tanis have been fools,
The nobles of Memphis deluded;
Egypt has been led astray
By the chiefs of her tribes.
14The LORD has mixed within her
A spirit of distortion,
Which shall lead Egypt astray in all her undertakings
As a vomiting drunkard goes astray;
15Nothing shall be achieved in Egypt
By either head or tail,
Palm branch or reed.e
16In that day, the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling and terrified because the LORD of Hosts will raise His hand against them. 17And the land of Judah shall also be the dread of the Egyptians; they shall quake whenever anybody mentions it to them, because of what the LORD of Hosts is planning against them. 18In that day, there shall be severalf towns in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing loyalty to the LORD of Hosts; oneg shall be called Town of Heres.h
19In that day, there shall be an altar to the LORD inside the land of Egypt and a pillar to the LORD at its border.i 20They shall serve as a symbol and reminder of the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when [the Egyptians] cry out to the LORD against oppressors, He will send them a savior and champion to deliver them. 21For the LORD will make Himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall acknowledge the LORD in that day, and they shall serve [Him] with sacrifice and oblation and shall make vows to the LORD and fulfill them. 22The LORD will first afflict and then heal the Egyptians; when they turn back to the LORD, He will respond to their entreaties and heal them.
23In that day, there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians shall join with the Egyptians and Egyptians with the Assyrians, and then the Egyptians together with the Assyrians shall serve [the LORD].
24In that day, Israel shall be a third partner with Egypt and Assyria as a blessingj on earth; 25for the LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be My people Egypt, My handiwork Assyria, and My very own Israel.”
20 It was the year that the Tartana came to Ashdod—being sent by King Sargon of Assyria—and attacked Ashdod and took it. 2Previously,b the LORD had spoken to Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, untie the sackcloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet,” which he had done, going naked and barefoot. 3And now the LORD said, “It is a sign and a portent for Egypt and Nubia. Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years, 4so shall the king of Assyria drive off the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Nubia, young and old, naked and barefoot and with bared buttocks—to the shame of Egypt! 5And they shall be dismayed and chagrined because of Nubia their hope and Egypt their boast. 6In that day, the dwellers of this coastland shall say, ‘If this could happen to those we looked to, to whom we fled for help and rescue from the king of Assyria, how can we ourselves escape?’ ”
21 a-The “Desert of the Sea” Pronouncement.-a
Like the gales
That race through the Negeb,
It comes from the desert,
The terrible land.
2A harsh prophecy
Has been announced to me:
“The betrayer is b-betraying,
The ravager ravaging.-b
Advance, Elam!
Lay siege, Media!
c-I have put an end
To all her sighing.”-c
3Therefore my loins
Are seized with trembling;
I am gripped by pangs
Like a woman in travail,
Too anguished to hear,
Too frightened to see.
4My mind is confused,
I shudder in panic.
My night of pleasure
He has turned to terror:
5“Set the table!”
To “Let the watchman watch!”
“Eat and drink!”
To “Up, officers! greased the shields!”
6For thus my LORD said to me:
“Go, set up a sentry;
Let him announce what he sees.
7He will see mounted men,
Horsemen in pairs—
Riders on asses,
Riders on camels—
And he will listen closely,
Most attentively.”
8And e-[like] a lion he-ecalled out:
f-“On my Lord’s lookout-f I stand
Ever by day,
And at my post I watch
Every night.
9And there they come, mounted men—
Horsemen in pairs!”
Then he spoke up and said,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
And all the images of her gods
Have crashed to the ground!”
10g-My threshing, the product of my threshing floor:-g
What I have heard from the LORD of Hosts,
The God of Israel—
That I have told to you.
11The “Dumah”h Pronouncement.
A call comes to me from Seir:
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman replied,
“Morning came, and so did night.
If you would inquire, inquire.
Come back again.”
13The “In the Steppe” Pronouncement.
In the scrub, in the steppe, you will lodge,
O caravans of the Dedanites!
14Meet the thirsty with water,
You who dwell in the land of Tema;
Greet the fugitive with bread.
15For they have fled before swords:
Before the whetted sword,
Before the bow that was drawn,
Before the stress of war.
16For thus my Lord has said to me: “In another year, fixed like the years of a hired laborer, all the multitude of Kedar shall vanish; 17the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors shall be few in number; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
22 The a-“Valley of
