by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and stripped, to a people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation powerful and oppressive, whose land the rivers have spoiled! [1] [2] [3] 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. 4 For so the LORD said to me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. [4] [5] 5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. 6 They shall be left together to the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. 7 In that time shall the present be brought to the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and stripped, and from a people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation powerful and oppressive, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. [6]
CHAP. 19.
The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. [7]
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of her; and I will destroy its counsel: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to the mediums, and to the wizards. [8] [9]
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. [10]
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more . [11]
8 The fishermen also shall mourn, and all they that cast a line into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave fine cloths, shall be confounded. [12]
10 And they shall be broken in its purposes, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. [13] [14]
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become stupid: how say ye to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men ? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the support of its tribes. [15]
14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of it: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work of it, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. [16]
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may perform.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror to Egypt, every one that maketh mention of it shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. [17] [18]
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the LORD.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall offer sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow to the LORD, and perform it .
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it : and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.
CHAP. 20.
In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
2 At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. [19]
3 And the LORD said, As my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Cush;
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Cushites captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their hind parts uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. [20] [21]
5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Cush their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
6 And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape? [22]
CHAP. 21.
The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
2 A grievous vision is declared to me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler plundereth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all its sighing have I made to cease. [23]
3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it ; I was dismayed at the seeing of it .
4 My heart panted, fearfulness terrified me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear to me. [24] [25]
5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
6 For thus hath the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:
8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my post whole nights: [26] [27]
9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And
- ↑ scattered...: or, outspread and polished
- ↑ meted...: or, that meteth out and treadeth down: Heb. of line, line, and treading under foot
- ↑ have...: or, despise
- ↑ consider...: or, regard my set dwelling
- ↑ upon...: or, after rain
- ↑ scattered...: or, outspread and polished
- ↑ set: Heb. mingle
- ↑ fail: Heb. be emptied
- ↑ destroy: Heb. swallow up
- ↑ give...: or, shut up
- ↑ and be...: Heb. and shall not be
- ↑ networks: or, white works
- ↑ purposes: Heb. foundations
- ↑ for fish: Heb. of living things
- ↑ they that...: or, governors: Heb. corners
- ↑ a perverse...: Heb. a spirit of perversities
- ↑ the language: Heb. the lip
- ↑ of destruction: or, of Heres, or, of the sun
- ↑ by: Heb. by the hand of
- ↑ the Egyptians...: Heb. the captivity of Egypt
- ↑ shame: Heb. nakedness
- ↑ isle: or, country
- ↑ grievous: Heb. hard
- ↑ heart...: or, mind wandered
- ↑ turned: Heb. put
- ↑ he...: or, cried as a lion
- ↑ whole...: or, every night
