Song of Solomon 7
1How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince’s daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2Your body is like a round goblet,
no mixed wine is wanting.
Your waist is like a heap of wheat,
set about with lilies.
3Your two breasts are like two fawns,
that are twins of a roe.
4Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.
5Your head on you is like Carmel.
The hair of your head like purple.
The king is held captive in its tresses.
6How beautiful and how pleasant you are,
love, for delights!
7This, your stature, is like a palm tree,
your breasts like its fruit.
8I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree.
I will take hold of its fruit.”
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
the smell of your breath like apples.
9Your mouth is like the best wine,
that goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.
Beloved
10I am my beloved’s.
His desire is toward me.
11Come, my beloved! Let’s go out into the field.
Let’s lodge in the villages.
12Let’s go early up to the vineyards.
Let’s see whether the vine has budded,
its blossom is open,
and the pomegranates are in flower.
There I will give you my love.
13The mandrakes produce fragrance.
At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old,
which I have stored up for you, my beloved.
Song of Solomon 8
1Oh that you were like my brother,
who nursed from the breasts of my mother!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
yes, and no one would despise me.
2I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother,
who would instruct me.
I would have you drink spiced wine,
of the juice of my pomegranate.
3His left hand would be under my head.
His right hand would embrace me.
I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.
Friends
Beloved
5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother conceived you.
There she was in labor and bore you.
Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm;
for love is strong as death.
Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a very flame of the LORD.
7Many waters can’t quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would be utterly scorned.
Brothers
8We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
in the day when she is to be spoken for?
If she is a wall,
we will build on her a turret of silver.
If she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
Beloved
10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers,
then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.
11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon.
He leased out the vineyard to keepers.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
12My own vineyard is before me.
The thousand are for you, Solomon,
two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
Lover
13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!
Beloved
14Come away, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
Isaiah 1
1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2Hear, heavens,
and listen, earth; for the LORD has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children
and they have rebelled against me.
3The ox knows his owner,
and the donkey his master’s crib;
but Israel doesn’t know.
My people don’t consider.”
4Ah sinful nation,
a people loaded with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
They are estranged and backward.
5Why should you be beaten more,
that you revolt more and more?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it,
but wounds, welts, and open sores.
They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
7Your country is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Strangers devour your land in your presence
and it is desolate,
as overthrown by strangers.
8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
like a besieged city.
9Unless the LORD of Armies had left to us a very small remnant,
we would have been as Sodom.
We would have been like Gomorrah.
Hear the LORD’s word, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD.
“I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed animals.
I don’t delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs,
or of male goats.
12When you come to appear before me,
who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
13Bring no more vain offerings.
Incense is an abomination to me.
New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—
I can’t stand evil assemblies.
14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts.
They are a burden to me.
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean.
Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil.
17Learn to do well.
Seek justice.
Relieve the oppressed.
Defend the fatherless.
Plead for the widow.”
“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD:
“Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good of the land;
20but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword;
for the LORD’s mouth has spoken it.”
How the faithful city has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice.
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now there are murderers.
22Your silver has become dross,
your wine mixed with water.
23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards.
They don’t defend the fatherless,
neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says:
“Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries,
and avenge myself on my enemies.
25I will turn my hand on you,
thoroughly purge away your dross,
and will take away all your tin.
26I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness,
a faithful town.’
27Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
and her converts with righteousness.
28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together,
and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,
and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades,
and as a garden that has no water.
31The strong will be like tinder,
and his work like a spark.
They will both burn together,
and no one will quench them.”
Isaiah 2
1This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all nations shall flow to it.
3Many peoples shall go and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the law shall go out of Zion,
and the LORD’s word from Jerusalem.
4He will judge between the nations,
and will decide concerning many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of the LORD.
6For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,
because they are filled from the east,
with those who practice divination like the Philistines,
and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.
7Their land is full of silver and gold,
neither is there any end of their treasures.
Their land also is full of horses,
neither is there any end of their chariots.
8Their land also is full of idols.
They worship the work of their own hands,
that which their own fingers have made.
9Man is brought low,
and mankind is humbled;
therefore don’t forgive them.
10Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty.
11The lofty looks of man will be brought low,
the arrogance of men will be bowed down,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
For there will be a day of the LORD of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant,
and for all that is lifted up,
and it shall be brought low—
13for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,
for all the oaks of Bashan,
14for all the high mountains,
for all the hills that are lifted up,
15for every lofty tower,
for every fortified wall,
16for all the ships of Tarshish,
and for all pleasant imagery.
17The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the arrogance of men shall be brought low;
and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
18The idols shall utterly pass away.
19Men shall go into the caves of the rocks,
and into the holes of the earth,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
20In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver
and their idols of gold,
which have been made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the bats,
21to go into the caverns of the rocks,
and into the clefts of the ragged rocks,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils;
for of what account is he?
Isaiah 3
1For, behold, the Lord, GOD of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support,
the whole supply of bread,
and the whole supply of water;
2the mighty man,
the man of war,
the judge,
the prophet,
the diviner,
the elder,
3the captain of fifty,
the honorable man,
the counselor,
the skilled craftsman,
and the clever enchanter.
4I will give boys to be their princes,
and children shall rule over them.
5The people will be oppressed,
everyone by another,
and everyone by his neighbor.
The child will behave himself proudly against the old man,
and the wicked against the honorable.
6Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,
“You have clothing, you be our ruler,
and let this ruin be under your hand.”
7In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer;
for in my house is neither bread nor clothing.
You shall not make me ruler of the people.”
8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen;
because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD,
to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9The look of their faces testify against them.
They parade their sin like Sodom.
They don’t hide it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
10Tell the righteous that it will be well with them,
for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.
11Woe to the wicked!
Disaster is upon them,
for the deeds of their hands will be paid back to them.
12As for my people, children are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
My people, those who lead you cause you to err,
and destroy the way of your paths.
The LORD stands up to contend,
and stands to judge the peoples.
14The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders of his people
and their leaders:
“It is you who have eaten up the vineyard.
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15What do you mean that you crush my people,
and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, GOD of Armies.
Moreover the LORD said, “Because the daughters of Zion are arrogant,
and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes,
walking daintily as they go,
jingling ornaments on their feet;
17therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion,
and the LORD will make their scalps bald.”
18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, 19the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, 20the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume containers, the charms, 21the signet rings, the nose rings, 22the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, 23the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.
24It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of well set hair, baldness;
instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth;
and branding instead of beauty.
25Your men shall fall by the sword,
and your mighty in the war.
26Her gates shall lament and mourn.
She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
Isaiah 4
1Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
2In that day, the LORD’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3It will happen that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem, 4when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning. 5The LORD will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 5
1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2He dug it up,
gathered out its stones,
planted it with the choicest vine,
built a tower in the middle of it,
and also cut out a wine press in it.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
please judge between me and my vineyard.
4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6I will lay it a wasteland.
It won’t be pruned or hoed,
but it will grow briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
7For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
Woe to those who join house to house,
who lay field to field, until there is no room,
and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
9In my ears, the LORD of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,
even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”
11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink,
who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;
but they don’t respect the work of the LORD,
neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.
Their honorable men are famished,
and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire,
and opened its mouth without measure;
and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
15So man is brought low,
mankind is humbled,
and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
16but the LORD of Armies is exalted in justice,
and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
and wickedness as with cart rope,
19who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light,
and light for darkness;
who put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
and champions at mixing strong drink;
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust,
because they have rejected the law of the LORD of Armies,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people,
and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them.
The mountains tremble,
and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is still stretched out.
He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away,
and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27No one shall be weary nor stumble among them;
no one shall slumber nor sleep,
neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,
nor the strap of their sandals be broken,
28whose arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring will be like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
and seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to deliver.
30They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress.
The light is darkened in its clouds.
Isaiah 6
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 3One called to another, and said,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9He said, “Go, and tell this people,
‘You hear indeed,
but don’t understand.
You see indeed,
but don’t perceive.’
10Make the heart of this people fat.
Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and turn again, and be healed.”
11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered,
“Until cities are waste without inhabitant,
houses without man,
the land becomes utterly waste,
12and the LORD has removed men far away,
and the forsaken places are many within the land.
13If there is a tenth left in it,
that also will in turn be consumed,
as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down,
so the holy seed is its stump.”
Isaiah 7
1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field. 4Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying, 6“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.” 7This is what the Lord GOD says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.” 8For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people. 9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’”
10The LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
12But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt the LORD.”
13He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken. 17The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
18It will happen in that day that the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.
20In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
21It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep. 22It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter, for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.
23It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, will be for briers and thorns. 24People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns. 25All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
Isaiah 8
1The LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; 2and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
3I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ 4For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5The LORD spoke to me yet again, saying, 6“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 7now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. 8It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, O Immanuel.
9Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! 10Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand, for God is with us.”
11For the LORD spoke this to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12“Don’t call a conspiracy all that this people call a conspiracy. Don’t fear their threats or be terrorized. 13The LORD of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. 14He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a stumbling stone and a rock that makes them fall. For the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare. 15Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”
16Wrap up the covenant. Seal the law among my disciples. 17I will wait for the LORD, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20Turn to the law and to the covenant! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. 21They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, 22then look to the earth and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
Isaiah 9
1But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death.
3You have multiplied the nation.
You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder. 4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. 5For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. 6For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will perform this.
8The Lord sent a word into Jacob,
and it falls on Israel.
9All the people will know,
including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,
10“The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with cut stone.
The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11Therefore the LORD will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin,
and will stir up his enemies,
12The Syrians in front,
and the Philistines behind;
and they will devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them,
neither have they sought the LORD of Armies.
14Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed, in one day.
15The elder and the honorable man is the head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
16For those who lead this people lead them astray;
and those who are led by them are destroyed.
17Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,
neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is profane and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
For wickedness burns like a fire.
It devours the briers and thorns;
yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19Through the LORD of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up;
and the people are the fuel for the fire.
No one spares his brother.
20One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry;
and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied.
Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:
21Manasseh eating Ephraim and Ephraim eating Manasseh, and they together will be against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Isaiah 10
1Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees 2to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 3What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
4They will only bow down under the prisoners,
and will fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! 6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7However, he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. 8For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? 9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” 10As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, 11shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. 13For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. 14My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
15Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. 16Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. 17The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 18He will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. 19The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
20It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. 23For the Lord, GOD of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, throughout all the earth.
24Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, says, “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. 25For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.” 26The LORD of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt. 27It will happen in that day that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
28He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. 29They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! 31Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 32This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold, the Lord, GOD of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. 34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.