Isaiah 29-33

Isaiah 29

¹Ho! Ariel, Ariel, the town against which David made war; put year to year, let the feasts come round:

²And I will send trouble on Ariel, and there will be weeping and cries of grief; and she will be to me as Ariel.

³And I will make war on you like David, and you will be shut in by earthworks, and I will make towers round you.

⁴And you will be made low, and your voice will come out of the earth, and your words will be low out of the dust; and your voice will come out of the earth like that of a spirit, making bird-like noises out of the dust.

⁵And the army of your attackers will be like small dust, and all the cruel ones like dry stems gone before the wind; suddenly it will come about.

⁶The Lord of armies will come in with thunder and earth-shaking and great noise, with rushing wind and storm, and the flame of burning fire.

⁷And all the nations making war on Ariel, and all those who are fighting against her and shutting her in with their towers, will be like a dream, like a vision of the night.

⁸And it will be like a man desiring food, and dreaming that he is feasting; but when he is awake there is nothing in his mouth: or like a man in need of water, dreaming that he is drinking; but when he is awake he is feeble and his soul is full of desire: so will all the nations be which make war on Mount Zion.

⁹Be surprised and full of wonder; let your eyes be covered and be blind: be overcome, but not with wine; go with uncertain steps, but not because of strong drink.

¹⁰For the Lord has sent on you a spirit of deep sleep; and by him your eyes, the prophets, are shut, and your heads, the seers, are covered.

¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book which is shut, which men give to one who has knowledge of writing, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I am not able to, for the book is shut:

¹²And they give it to one without learning, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I have no knowledge of writing.

¹³And the Lord said, because this people come near to me with their mouths, and give honour to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is false, a rule given them by the teaching of men;

¹⁴For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.

¹⁵Cursed are those who go deep to keep their designs secret from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who has knowledge of our acts?

¹⁶You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?

¹⁷In a very short time Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will seem like a wood.

¹⁸And in that day those whose ears are stopped will be hearing the words of the book; and the eyes of the blind will see through the mist and the dark.

¹⁹And the poor will have their joy in the Lord increased, and those in need will be glad in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the cruel one has come to nothing; and those who make sport of the Lord are gone; and those who are watching to do evil are cut off:

²¹Who give help to a man in a wrong cause, and who put a net for the feet of him who gives decisions in the public place, taking away a man's right without cause.

²²For this reason the Lord, the saviour of Abraham, says about the family of Jacob, Jacob will not now be put to shame, or his face be clouded with fear.

²³But when they, the children of Jacob, see the work of my hands among them, they will give honour to my name; yes, they will give honour to the Holy One of Jacob, and go in fear of the God of Israel.

²⁴Those whose hearts were turned away from him will get knowledge, and those who made an outcry against him will give attention to his teaching.

Isaiah 30

¹Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

²Who make a move to go down into Egypt, without authority from me; who are looking to the strength of Pharaoh for help, and whose hope is in the shade of Egypt.

³And the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and your hope in the shade of Egypt will come to nothing.

⁴For his chiefs are at Zoan, and his representatives have come to Hanes.

⁵For they have all come with offerings to a people of no use to them, in whom is no help or profit, but only shame and a bad name.

⁶The word about the Beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and grief, the land of the she-lion and the voice of the lion, of the snake and the burning winged snake, they take their wealth on the backs of young asses, and their stores on camels, to a people in whom is no profit.

⁷For there is no use or purpose in the help of Egypt: so I have said about her, She is Rahab, who has come to an end.

⁸Now go, put it in writing before them on a board, and make a record of it in a book, so that it may be for the future, a witness for all time to come.

⁹For they are an uncontrolled people, false-hearted, who will not give ear to the teaching of the Lord:

¹⁰Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not give us word of what is true, but say false things to give us pleasure:

¹¹Get out of the good way, turning from the right road; do not keep the Holy One of Israel before our minds.

¹²For this cause the Holy One of Israel says, Because you will not give ear to this word, and are looking for help in ways of deceit and evil, and are putting your hope in them:

¹³This sin will be to you like a crack in a high wall, causing its fall suddenly and in a minute.

¹⁴And he will let it be broken as a potter's vessel is broken: it will be smashed to bits without mercy; so that there will not be a bit in which one may take fire from the fireplace, or water from the spring.

¹⁵For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, said, In quiet and rest is your salvation: peace and hope are your strength: but you would not have it so.

¹⁶Saying, No, for we will go in flight on horses; so you will certainly go in flight: and, We will go on the backs of quick-running beasts; so those who go after you will be quick-footed.

¹⁷A thousand will go in fear before one; even before five you will go in flight: till you are like a pillar by itself on the top of a mountain, and like a flag on a hill.

¹⁸For this cause the Lord will be waiting, so that he may be kind to you; and he will be lifted up, so that he may have mercy on you; for the Lord is a God of righteousness: there is a blessing on all whose hope is in him.

¹⁹O people, living in Zion, at Jerusalem, your weeping will be ended; he will certainly have mercy on you at the sound of your cry; when it comes to his ear, he will give you an answer.

²⁰And though the Lord will give you the bread of trouble and the water of grief, you will no longer put your teacher on one side, but you will see your teacher:

²¹And at your back, when you are turning to the right hand or to the left, a voice will be sounding in your ears, saying, This is the way in which you are to go.

²²And you will make unclean what is covering your pictured images of silver, and the plating of your images of gold: you will send them away as an unclean thing, saying, Be gone!

²³And he will give rain for your seed, so that you may put it in the earth; and you will have bread from the produce of the earth, good and more than enough for your needs: in that day the cattle will get their food in wide grass-lands.

²⁴And the oxen and the young asses which are used for ploughing, will have salted grain which has been made free from the waste with fork and basket.

²⁵And there will be rivers and streams of water on every tall mountain and on every high hill, in the day when great numbers are put to the sword, when the towers come down.

²⁶And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times greater, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord puts oil on the wounds of his people, and makes them well from the blows they have undergone.

²⁷See, the name of the Lord is coming from far, burning with his wrath, with thick smoke going up: his lips are full of passion, and his tongue is like a burning fire:

²⁸And his breath is as an overflowing stream, coming up even to the neck, shaking the nations for their destruction, like the shaking of grain in a basket: and he will put a cord in the mouths of the people, turning them out of their way.

²⁹You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and you will be glad in heart, as when they go with music of the pipe to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock of Israel.

³⁰And the Lord will send out the sound of his great voice, and they will see his arm stretched out, with the heat of his wrath, and the flame of a burning fire; with a cloud-burst, and storm, and a rain of ice.

³¹For through the voice of the Lord the Assyrian will be broken, and the Lord's rod will be lifted up against him.

³²And every blow of the rod of his punishment, which the Lord will send on him, will be with the sound of music: and with the waving of his sword the Lord will make war against him.

³³For a place of fire has long been ready; yes, it has been made ready for the king; he has made it deep and wide: it is massed with fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of fire, puts a light to it.

Isaiah 31

¹Cursed are those who go down to Egypt for help, and who put their faith in horses; looking to war-carriages for salvation, because of their numbers; and to horsemen, because they are very strong; but they are not looking to the Holy One of Israel, or turning their hearts to the Lord;

²Though he is wise, and able to send evil, and his purpose will not be changed; but he will go against the house of the evil-doers, and against those to whom they are looking for help.

³For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.

⁴For the Lord has said to me, As a lion, or a young lion, makes an angry noise over his food, and if a band of herdsmen come out against him, he will not be in fear of their voices, or give up his food for their noise: so the Lord of armies will come down to make war against Mount Zion and its hill.

⁵Like birds with outstretched wings, so will the Lord of armies be a cover to Jerusalem; he will be a cover and salvation for it, going over it he will keep it from danger.

⁶Come back to him who has been so deeply sinned against by the children of Israel.

⁷For in that day they will all give up their images of silver and of gold, the sin which they made for themselves.

⁸Then the Assyrian will come down by the sword, but not of man; the sword, not of men, will be the cause of his destruction: and he will go in flight from the sword, and his young men will be put to forced work.

⁹And his rock will come to nothing because of fear, and his chiefs will go in flight from the flag, says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his altar in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

¹See, a king will be ruling in righteousness, and chiefs will give right decisions.

²And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land.

³And the eyes of those who see will not be shut, and those who have hearing will give ear to the word.

⁴The man of sudden impulses will become wise in heart, and he whose tongue is slow will get the power of talking clearly.

⁵The foolish man will no longer be named noble, and they will not say of the false man that he is a man of honour.

⁶For the foolish man will say foolish things, having evil thoughts in his heart, working what is unclean, and talking falsely about the Lord, to keep food from him who is in need of it, and water from him whose soul is desiring it.

⁷The designs of the false are evil, purposing the destruction of the poor man by false words, even when he is in the right.

⁸But the noble-hearted man has noble purposes, and by these he will be guided.

⁹Give ear to my voice, you women who are living in comfort; give attention to my words, you daughters who have no fear of danger.

¹⁰In not much more than a year, you, who are not looking for evil, will be troubled: for the produce of the vine-gardens will be cut off, and there will be no getting in of the grapes.

¹¹Be shaking with fear, you women who are living in comfort; be troubled, you who have no fear of danger: take off your robes and put on clothing of grief.

¹²Have sorrow for the fields, the pleasing fields, the fertile vine;

¹³And for the land of my people, where thorns will come up; even for all the houses of joy in the glad town.

¹⁴For the fair houses will have no man living in them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place of food for the flocks;

¹⁵Till the spirit comes on us from on high, and the waste land becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is changed into a wood.

¹⁶Then in the waste land there will be an upright rule, and righteousness will have its place in the fertile field.

¹⁷And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever.

¹⁸And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.

¹⁹But the tall trees will come down with a great fall, and the town will be low in a low place.

²⁰Happy are you who are planting seed by all the waters, and sending out the ox and the ass.

Isaiah 33

¹Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you.

²O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.

³At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.

⁴And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.

⁵The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.

⁶And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth.

⁷See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.

⁸The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.

⁹The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.

¹⁰Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.

¹¹Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.

¹²And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.

¹³Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings?

¹⁵He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;

¹⁶He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.

¹⁸Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?

¹⁹Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.

²⁰Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken.

²¹But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing.

²²For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.

²³Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war.

²⁴And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.