Isaiah 5:16-30

16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture, fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins.
18 Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood, who drag sin along as with cart ropes,
19 who say, "Let him make haste, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment, that we may know it!"
20 Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes, and shrewd in your own sight!
22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant at mixing drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights!
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will become rotten, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will raise a signal for a nation far away, and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth; Here they come, swiftly, speedily!
27 None of them is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a loincloth is loose, not a sandal-thong broken;
28 their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey, they carry it off, and no one can rescue.
30 They will roar over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea. And if one look to the land— only darkness and distress; and the light grows dark with clouds.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Cn Compare Gk: Heb [aliens]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.