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 Vision”-a Pronouncement.
bWhat can have happened to you
That you have gone, all of you, up on the roofs,
2O you who were full of tumult,
You clamorous town,
You city so gay?
Your slain are not the slain of the sword
Nor the dead of battle.c
3Your officers have all departed,
They fled far away;
Your survivors were all taken captive,
a-Taken captive without their bows.-a
4That is why I say, “Let me be,
I will weep bitterly.
Press not to comfort me
For the ruin of d-my poor people.”-d
5For my Lord GOD of Hosts had a day
Of tumult and din and confusion—
e-Kir raged in the Valley of Vision,
And Shoa on the hill;-e
6While Elam bore the quiver
In troops of mounted men,
And Kir bared the shield—
7And your choicest lowlands
Were filled with chariots and horsemen:
They stormed at Judah’sf gateway
8And pressed beyond its screen.g
You gave thought on that day
To the arms in the Forest House,h
9And you took note of the many breaches
In the City of David.
10i-And you collected the water of the Lower Pool;-i and you counted the houses of Jerusalem and pulled houses down to fortify the wall; 11and you constructed a basin between the two walls for the water of the old pool.
But you gave no thought to Him who planned it,
You took no note of Him who designed it long before.
12My Lord GOD of Hosts summoned on that day
To weeping and lamenting,
To tonsuring and girding with sackcloth.
13Instead, there was rejoicing and merriment,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14Then the LORD of Hosts revealed Himself to my ears:
“This iniquity shall never be forgiven you
Until you die,” said my Lord GOD of Hosts.
15Thus said my Lord GOD of Hosts: Go in to see that steward, that Shebna, in charge of the palace:
16What have you here, and whom have you here,
That you have hewn out a tomb for yourself here?—
O you who have hewn yourj tomb on high;
O you who have hollowed out for yourselfj an abode in the cliff!
17The LORD is about to shake you
k-Severely, fellow,-k and then wrap you around Himself.l
18Indeed, He will wind you about Him m-as a headdress, a turban.-m
Off to a broad land!
There shall you die, and there shall be the n-chariots bearing your body,-n
O shame of your master’s house!
19For I will hurl you from your station
And you shall be torn down from your stand.
20And in that day, I will summon My servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, 21and I will invest him with your tunic, gird him with your sash, and deliver your authority into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah. 22I will place the keys of David’s palace on his shoulders; and what he unlocks none may shut, and what he locks none may open. 23He shall be a seat of honor to his father’so household. I will fix him as a peg in a firm place, 24on which all the substance of his father’so household shall be hung: a-the sprouts and the leaves-a—all the small vessels, from bowls to all sorts of jars.
25pIn that day—declares the LORD of Hosts—the peg fixed in a firm place shall give way: it shall be cut down and shall fall, and the weight it supports shall be destroyed. For it is the LORD who has spoken.
23 The “Tyre” Pronouncement.
Howl, you a-ships of Tarshish!-a
For havoc has been wrought, not a house is left;
As they came from the land of Kittim,
This was revealed to them.
2Moan, you coastland dwellers,
You traders of Sidon,
Once thronged by seafarers,
3Over many waters
Yourb revenue came:
From the trade of nations,
From the grain of Shihor,
The harvest of the Nile.
4Be ashamed, O Sidon!
For the sea—this stronghold of the sea—declares,
c-“I am as one who has-cnever labored,
Never given birth,
Never raised youths
Or reared maidens!”
5When the Egyptians heard it, they quailed
As when they heard about Tyre.
6Pass on to Tarshish—
Howl, you coastland dwellers!
7Was such your merry city
In former times, of yore?
Did her feet carry her off
To sojourn far away?
8Who was it that planned this
For crown-wearing Tyre,
Whose merchants were nobles,
Whose traders the world honored?
9The LORD of Hosts planned it—
To defile all glorious beauty,
To shame all the honored of the world.
10d-Traverse your land like the Nile,
Fair Tarshish;-d
This is a harbore no more.
11The LORD poised His arm o’er the sea
And made kingdoms quake;
It was He decreed destruction
For Phoenicia’sf strongholds,
12And said,
“You shall be gay no more,
O plundered one, Fair Maiden Sidon.
Up, cross over to Kittim—
Even there you shall have no rest.”
13gBehold the land of Chaldea—
This is the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria, which founded it for ships,
Which raised its watchtowers,
Erected its ramparts,
Has turned it into a ruin.
14Howl, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed!
15In that day, Tyre shall remain forgotten for seventy years, equaling the lifetime of one king. After a lapse of seventy years, it shall go with Tyre as with the harlot in the ditty:
16Take a lyre, go about the town,
Harlot long forgotten;
Sweetly play, make much music,
To bring you back to mind.
17For after a lapse of seventy years, the LORD will take note of Tyre, and she shall resume her h-“fee-taking” and “play the harlot”-h with all the kingdoms of the world, on the face of the earth. 18But her profits and “hire” shall be consecrated to the LORD. They shall not be treasured or stored; rather shall her profits go to those who abide before the LORD, that they may eat their fill and clothe themselves elegantly.
24 Behold,
The LORD will strip the earth bare,
And lay it waste,
And
