1 The burden of
Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice
unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of
the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my
mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great
people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered
together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even
the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the
whole land.
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come
as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart
shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold
of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they
shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath
and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy
the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall
not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going
forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked
for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud
to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man
than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove
out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in
the day of his fierce anger.
14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no
man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people,
and flee every one into his own land.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every
one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their
eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall
not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in
it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they
shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall
not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'
excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in
from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch
tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their
houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell
there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate
houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time
is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Chapter 14
1 For the LORD
will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set
them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with
them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place:
and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the
LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives,
whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give
thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard
bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,
and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre
of the rulers.
6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none
hindereth.
7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth
into singing.
8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon,
saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against
us.
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming:
it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of
the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings
of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become
weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy
viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider
thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory,
every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch,
and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with
a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase
trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou
hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers
shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their
fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill
the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts,
and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and
nephew, saith the LORD.
23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools
of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction,
saith the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it
stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains
tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them,
and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth:
and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul
it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him
that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall
come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying
serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall
lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and
he shall slay thy remnant.
31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved:
for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall
be alone in his appointed times.
32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?
That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people
shall trust in it.
Chapter 15
1 The burden of
Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought
to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste,
and brought to silence;
2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to
weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their
heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth:
on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one
shall howl, weeping abundantly.
4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard
even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall
cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him.
5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee
unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting
up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way
of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is
withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they
have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling
thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will
bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab,
and upon the remnant of the land. |