Home -> Major Sections of the Bible -> Isaiah 13:1 - Isaiah 23:18
Prophecies about the Gentile Nations
Isaiah 13:1 - Isaiah 23:18
Prophecies against Babylon
1
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2
Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3
I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones.
4
The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! the LORD of Hosts is mustering the army for the battle.
5
They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even The LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6
Wail; for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7
Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.
8
They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.
9
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.
10
For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11
I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible.
12
I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the LORD of Hosts' wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14
It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.
15
Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16
Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped.
17
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18
Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
19
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20
It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
21
But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there.
22
Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
God's Merciful Restoration of Israel; Judgment on Assyria and Philistia
1
For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
2
The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in The LORD's land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3
It will happen in the day that the LORD will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
4
that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!"
5
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
6
who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
7
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.
8
Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us."
9
Sheo l from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10
They all will answer and ask you, "Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?"
11
Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
12
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
13
You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
14
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!"
15
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
16
Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms;
17
who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn't release his prisoners to their home?"
18
All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.
19
But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.
20
You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.
21
Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.
22
"I will rise up against them," says the LORD of Hosts, "and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son," says The LORD.
23
"I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of Hosts.
24
The LORD of Armies has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25
that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.
26
This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27
For the LORD of Hosts has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
28
This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.
29
Don't rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
30
The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.
31
Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32
What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
Judgment on Moab
1
The burden of Moab.For in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.
2
They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
3
In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
4
Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them.
5
My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
6
For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
7
Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows.
8
For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim.
9
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.
Prophecy of Calamity for Moab
1
Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2
For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon.
3
Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don't betray the fugitive!
4
Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortionist is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5
A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
6
We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.
7
Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken.
8
For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea.
9
Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.
10
Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop.
11
Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
12
It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.
13
This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past.
14
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."
Prophecy against Damascus
1
The burden of Damascus."Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
2
The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
3
The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says the LORD of Hosts.
4
"It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5
It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.
6
Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says The LORD, the God of Israel.
7
In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8
They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherah poles, or the incense altars.
9
In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.
10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
11
In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12
Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!
13
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
14
At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
Prophecy against Ethiopia
1
Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
2
that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, "Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!"
3
All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!
4
For the LORD said to me, "I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
5
For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.
6
They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.
7
In that time, a present will be brought to the LORD of Hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of Hosts, Mount Zion.
The Burden of Egypt
1
The burden of Egypt."Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt within it.
2
I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3
The spirit of Egypt will fail within it. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.
4
I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
5
The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.
6
The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.
7
The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
8
The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish.
9
Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded.
10
The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul.
11
The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"
12
Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what the LORD of Hosts has purposed concerning Egypt.
13
The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.
14
The LORD has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.
16
In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the LORD of Hosts's hand, which he shakes over them.
17
The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of the LORD of Hosts, which he determines against it.
18
In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of Hosts. One will be called "The city of destruction."
19
In that day, there will be an altar to the LORD in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.
20
It will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.
21
The LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to The LORD, and will perform it.
22
The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to The LORD, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.
23
In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24
In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing within the earth;
25
because the LORD of Hosts has blessed them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."
Prophecy of Captivity for Egypt and Cush
1
In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;
2
at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet." He did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3
The LORD said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,
4
so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5
They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
6
The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, 'Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?'"
Vision of the Fall of Babylon; Prophecies against Edom and Arabia
1
The burden of the wilderness of the sea.As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
2
A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media's sighing.
3
Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can't hear. I so am dismayed that I can't see.
4
My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.
5
They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
6
For the Lord said to me, "Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
7
When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness."
8
He cried like a lion: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.
9
Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs." He answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
10
You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!" That which I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
11
The burden of Dumah.One calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"
12
The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again."
13
The burden on Arabia.In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites.
14
They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.
15
For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.
16
For the Lord said to me, "Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,
17
and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken it."
Prophecy about Jerusalem: The Valley of Vision
1
The burden of the valley of vision.What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2
You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
3
All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.
4
Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
5
For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains."
6
Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.
7
Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8
He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
9
You saw the breaches of David's city, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10
You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11
You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn't look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.
12
In that day, the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
13
and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die."
14
The LORD of Armies revealed himself in my ears, "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
15
Thus says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, "Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
16
'What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?' Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!"
17
Behold, the LORD will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.
18
He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house.
19
I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
20
It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21
and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22
I will lay the key of David's house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
23
I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father's house.
24
They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.
25
"In that day," says the LORD of Hosts, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it."
The Burden of Tyre
1
The burden of Tyre.Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
2
Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
3
On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
4
Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins."
5
When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
6
Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
8
Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
9
The LORD of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10
Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.
11
He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. the LORD has ordered the destruction of Canaan's strongholds.
12
He said, "You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest."
13
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
14
Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
15
It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
16
Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17
It will happen after the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.
18
Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to The LORD. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before The LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
