Study Desk

The ^(C1)pronouncement concerning ^(C2)Babylon which ^(C3)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

^(C1)Lift up a flag on the ^(F1)(C2)bare hill, Raise your voice to them, ^(C3)Wave the hand that they may ^(C4)enter the doors of the nobles.

I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have also called for My ^(C1)warriors Who boast in My eminence, To execute My anger.

A ^(C1)sound of a roar on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of an uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of armies is mustering the army for battle.

They are coming from a distant country, From the ^(F1)(C1)farthest horizons, The LORD and the weapons of His ^(C2)indignation, To ^(C3)destroy the whole land.

Wail, for the ^(C1)day of the LORD is near! It will come as ^(C2)destruction from ^(F1)the Almighty.

Therefore ^(C1)all hands will fall limp, And every human ^(C2)heart will melt.

They will be ^(C1)terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will ^(C2)writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame.

Behold, ^(C1)the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

For the ^(C1)stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash their light; The ^(C2)sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light.

So I will ^(C1)punish the world for its evil And the ^(C2)wicked for their wrongdoing; I will also put an end to the ^(C3)audacity of the proud And humiliate the ^(C4)arrogance of the ^(F1)(C5)tyrants.

I will make mortal man ^(C1)scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the ^(C2)gold of Ophir.

Therefore I will make the ^(C1)heavens tremble, And ^(C2)the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of armies In ^(C3)the day of His burning anger.

And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle, Or like ^(C1)sheep with no one to gather them, Each of them will turn to his own people, And each of them will flee to his own land.

Anyone who is found will be ^(C1)thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

Their ^(C1)little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives raped.

Behold, I am going to ^(C1)stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or ^(C2)take pleasure in gold.

And their bows will ^(F1)mow down the ^(C1)young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their ^(C2)eye pity ^(F2)children.

And ^(C1)Babylon, the ^(C2)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God ^(C3)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

It will ^(C1)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the ^(C2)Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.

But ^(C1)desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of ^(F1)owls; Ostriches also will live there, and ^(F2)shaggy goats will frolic there.

^(F1)Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious ^(C1)palaces. Her fateful time also ^(F2)will soon come, And her days will not be prolonged.

When the LORD ^(C1)has compassion on Jacob and again ^(C2)chooses Israel, and settles them on their own land, then ^(C3)strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ^(C1)house of Israel will make them their own possession in the land of the LORD ^(C2)as male and female servants; and ^(F1)they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

And it will be on the day when the LORD gives you ^(C1)rest from your hardship, your turmoil, and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

that you will ^(C1)take up this ^(F1)taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How ^(C2)the oppressor has ceased, And how the ^(F2)onslaught has ceased!

-"The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers,

^(C1)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which ^(F1)subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

-"The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; They ^(C1)break forth into shouts of joy.

-"Even the ^(C1)juniper trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you have been laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.'

-"^(C1)Sheol below is excited about you, to meet you when you come; It stirs the ^(F1)spirits of the dead for you, all the ^(F2)leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

-"^(C1)They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have become weak as we, You have become like us.

-'Your ^(C1)pride and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.'

-"How you have ^(C1)fallen from heaven, You ^(F1)(C2)star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who defeated the nations!

-"But you said in your heart, 'I will ^(C1)ascend to heaven; I will ^(C2)raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.

-'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; ^(C1)I will make myself like the Most High.'

-"Nevertheless you ^(C1)will be brought down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

-"Those who see you will stare at you, They will ^(F1)closely examine you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

Who made the world like a ^(C1)wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who ^(C2)did not ^(F1)allow his prisoners to go home?'

-"All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own ^(F1)tomb.

-"But you have been ^(C1)hurled out of your tomb Like ^(F1)a rejected branch, ^(F2)Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the ^(C2)pit Like a ^(C3)trampled corpse.

-"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have killed your people. May the ^(C1)descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.

-"Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons Because of the ^(C1)wrongdoing of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth, And fill the surface of the world with cities."

"I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of armies, "and eliminate from Babylon ^(C1)name and survivors, ^(C2)offspring and descendants," declares the LORD.

"I will also make it the property of the ^(C1)hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of ^(C2)destruction," declares the LORD of armies.

The LORD of armies has sworn, saying, "Certainly, ^(C1)just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand,

to ^(C1)break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his ^(C2)yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.

"This is the ^(C1)plan ^(F1)devised against the entire earth; and this is the ^(C2)hand that is stretched out against all the nations.

"For ^(C1)the LORD of armies has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"

In the ^(C1)year that King Ahaz died, this ^(C2)pronouncement came:

"Do not rejoice, ^(C1)Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that ^(C2)struck you is broken; For from the serpent's root a ^(C3)viper will come out, And its fruit will be a ^(C4)winged serpent.

-"^(F1)Those who are most ^(C1)helpless will eat, And the poor will lie down in security; I will kill your root with ^(C2)famine, And it will kill your survivors.

-"Wail, you ^(C1)gate; cry, you city; ^(F1)Melt away, ^(C2)Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes from the ^(C3)north, And ^(C4)there is no straggler in his ranks.

-"What answer will one give the ^(C1)messengers of the nation? That ^(C2)the LORD has founded Zion, And ^(C3)the poor of His people will take refuge in it."

The pronouncement concerning ^(C1)Moab: Certainly in a night ^(C2)Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

^(F1)The people have gone up to the ^(F2)temple and to ^(C1)Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone's head is ^(C2)bald and every beard is cut off.

In their streets they have put on ^(C1)sackcloth; ^(C2)On their housetops and in their public squares Everyone is wailing, ^(F1)(C3)overcome with weeping.

^(C1)Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the ^(F1)armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.

My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as ^(C1)Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ^(C2)ascent of Luhith weeping; Indeed, on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress ^(C3)over their collapse.

For the ^(C1)waters of Nimrim are ^(F1)desolate. Indeed, the grass is withered, the new growth has died, There is ^(C2)no greenery.

Therefore the ^(C1)abundance which they have acquired and stored up, They carry it off over the brook of ^(F1)Arabim.

For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its howling to Beer-elim.

For the waters of Dimon are full of ^(F1)blood; I will certainly bring added woes upon Dimon, A ^(C1)lion upon the fugitives of Moab and the remnant of the land.