Isaiah 23; Isaiah 24; Isaiah 25; Isaiah 26; Isaiah 27

1 This is the divine revelation about Tyre. Cry loudly, you ships of Tarshish! Your port at Tyre is destroyed. Word has come to the ships from Cyprus.

2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants from Sidon. Your messengers have crossed the sea.

3 The grain of Shihor is on the Mediterranean. The harvest of the Nile River is brought to Tyre. Tyre became the marketplace for the nations.

4 Be ashamed, Sidon, because the stronghold by the sea has spoken, "I've never been in labor or given birth. I've raised no sons. I've brought up no daughters."

5 When the news reaches Egypt, the Egyptians will shudder over the news about Tyre.

6 Travel to Tarshish! Cry loudly, you inhabitants of the seacoast!

7 Is this your bustling city founded in the distant past? Is this the city that sent its people to settle in distant lands?

8 Who planned such a thing against Tyre, the city that produced kings? Its merchants are princes. Its traders are among the honored people of the world.

9 The LORD of Armies planned this in order to dishonor all arrogant people and to humiliate all the honored people of the world.

10 Travel through your country like the Nile, people of Tarshish. You no longer have a harbor.

11 The LORD has stretched his hand over the sea to shake kingdoms. He has commanded that Canaan's fortifications be destroyed.

12 He says, "You will no longer be joyful, my dear abused people Sidon." Get up, and travel to Cyprus. Even there you will find no rest.

13 Look at the land of the Babylonians. These people will be gone. Assyria gave this land to the desert animals. Assyria set up battle towers, stripped palaces bare, and turned these places into ruins.

14 Cry loudly, you ships of Tarshish, because your fortress will be destroyed.

15 When that day comes, Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of the 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song:

16 "Take your lyre. Go around in the city, you forgotten prostitute. Make sweet music. Sing many songs so that you'll be remembered."

17 At the end of 70 years the LORD will come to help Tyre. Then she will go back to earning money as a prostitute. She will become a prostitute for all the world's kingdoms.

18 Her profits and her earnings will be turned over to the LORD for his holy purpose. It won't be stored or hoarded. Her merchandise will belong to those who live in the presence of the LORD so that they will have plenty of food and expensive clothing.

1 The LORD is going to turn the earth into a desolate wasteland. He will mar the face of the earth and scatter the people living on it.

2 The same will happen to people and priests, male slaves and masters, female slaves and masters, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, debtors and creditors.

3 The earth will be completely laid waste and stripped because the LORD has spoken.

4 The earth dries up and withers. The world wastes away and withers. The great leaders of the earth waste away.

5 The earth is polluted by those who live on it because they've disobeyed the LORD's teachings, violated his laws, and rejected the everlasting promise.

6 That is why a curse devours the earth, and its people are punished for their guilt. That is why those who live on the earth are burned up, and only a few people are left.

7 New wine dries up, and grapevines waste away. All happy people groan.

8 Joyful tambourine music stops. Noisy celebrations cease. Joyful harp music stops.

9 People no longer drink wine when they sing. Liquor tastes bad to its drinkers.

10 The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred shut.

11 People in the streets call for wine. All joy passes away, and the earth's happiness is banished.

12 The city is left in ruins. Its gate is battered to pieces.

13 That is the way it will be on earth among the nations. They will be like an olive tree which has been shaken or like what's left after the grape harvest.

14 They raise their voices. They shout for joy. From the sea they sing joyfully about the LORD's majesty.

15 Honor the LORD in the east. Honor the name of the LORD God of Israel along the coastlands.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise that honor the Righteous One. But I kept saying, "I'm wasting away! I'm wasting away! How horrible it is for me! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse."

17 Disasters, pits, and traps are in store for those who live on earth.

18 Whoever flees from news of a disaster will fall into a pit. Whoever climbs out of that pit will be caught in a trap. The floodgates in the sky will be opened, and the foundations of the earth will shake.

19 The earth will be completely broken. The earth will shake back and forth violently. The earth will stagger.

20 The earth will stumble like a drunk and sway like a shack in the wind. Its disobedience weighs heavy on it. It will fall and not get up again.

21 On that day the LORD will punish heaven's armies in heaven and earth's kings on earth.

22 They'll be gathered like prisoners in a jail and locked in prison. After a long time they'll be punished.

23 The moon will be embarrassed. The sun will be ashamed, because the LORD of Armies will rule on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will be glorious in the presence of his respected leaders.

1 O LORD, you are my God. I will highly honor you; I will praise your name. You have done miraculous things. You have been completely reliable in carrying out your plans from long ago.

2 You have turned cities into ruins, fortified cities into piles of rubble, and foreigners' palaces into cities that will never be rebuilt.

3 That is why strong people will honor you, and cities ruled by the world's tyrants will fear you.

4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rain, and shade from the heat. (A tyrant's breath is like a rainstorm against a wall,

5 like heat in a dry land.) You calm the uproar of foreigners. The song of tyrants is silenced like heat that is [reduced] by the shadow of a cloud.

6 On this mountain the LORD of Armies will prepare for all people a feast with the best foods, a banquet with aged wines, with the best foods and the finest wines.

7 On this mountain he will remove the veil of grief covering all people and the mask covering all nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever. The Almighty LORD will wipe away tears from every face, and he will remove the disgrace of his people from the whole earth. The LORD has spoken.

9 On that day [his people] will say, "This is our God; we have waited for him, and now he will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad because he will save us."

10 The LORD's power will be on this mountain. Moab will be trampled beneath him like straw that is trampled in a pile of manure.

11 The Moabites will stretch out their hands in the manure like swimmers who stretch out their hands to swim. [The LORD] will humble those arrogant people despite the movements of their hands.

12 He will bring down Moab's high fortified walls, level them, and throw them into the dust on the ground.

1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. Its walls and fortifications provide safety.

2 Open the gates, and let the righteous nation come in, the nation that remains faithful.

3 With perfect peace you will protect those whose minds cannot be changed, because they trust you.

4 Trust the LORD always, because the LORD, the LORD alone, is an everlasting rock.

5 He has brought down those who live high in the towering city. He levels it. He levels it to the ground and throws it into the dust.

6 Feet trample it, the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.

7 The path of the righteous is level. O Upright One, you make the road of the righteous smooth.

8 Certainly, we wait with hope for you, O LORD, [as we follow] the path of your guiding principles. We want to remember you and your name.

9 With my soul I long for you at night. Yes, with my spirit I eagerly look for you. When your guiding principles are on earth, those who live in the world learn to do what is right.

10 Although the wicked are shown pity, they do not learn to do what is right. They do what is wrong in the upright land and do not see the majesty of the LORD.

11 O LORD, your power is visible, but they do not see it. They will see how devoted your people are, and they will be put to shame. Your burning anger will destroy your enemies.

12 O LORD, you will establish peace for us, since you have done everything for us.

13 O LORD, our God, you are not the only master to rule us, but we acknowledge only you.

14 The wicked are dead. They are no longer alive. The spirits of the dead won't rise. You have punished them, destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.

15 You have expanded the nation, O LORD. You have expanded the nation. You are honored. You have extended all the land's boundaries.

16 O LORD, the people have come to you in trouble. They were humbled by oppression, by your discipline upon them.

17 O LORD, when we are with you, we are like pregnant women ready to give birth. They writhe and cry out in their labor pains.

18 We were pregnant; we writhed with labor pains only to give birth to the wind. We weren't able to bring salvation to the land, and no new people were born on earth.

19 Your dead will live. Their corpses will rise. Those who lie dead in the dust will wake up and shout for joy, because your dew is a refreshing dew, and the earth will revive the spirits of the dead.

20 My people, go to your rooms, and shut the doors behind you. Hide for a little while until his fury has ended.

21 The LORD is going to come out from his dwelling place to punish those who live on earth for their sins. The earth will uncover the blood shed on it and will no longer cover up its dead bodies.

1 On that day the LORD will use his fierce and powerful sword to punish Leviathan, that slippery snake, Leviathan, that twisting snake. He will kill that monster which lives in the sea.

2 On that day sing about a delightful vineyard.

3 I, the LORD, watch over it. I water it continually. I watch over it day and night so that no one will harm it.

4 I am no longer angry. If only thorns and briars would confront me! I would fight them in battle and set all of them on fire.

5 Or else let them come to me for protection. Let them make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me.

6 In times to come Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom, bud, and fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Will the LORD hurt Israel as he hurt others who hurt them? Will he kill them as he killed others?

8 He punished Israel by sending it away. He removed it with a fierce blast from the east winds.

9 In this way the wrongdoings of the descendants of Jacob are covered up. This is the way they will turn from their sins-- when they turn all the altar stones into powdered chalk and no poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah or incense altars are left standing.

10 The fortified city is isolated. The homestead is left deserted, abandoned like the desert. Calves will graze there. They will lie down. They will feed on the branches.

11 When the branches are dried up, they will be broken off. Women will come and build a fire with them. These people don't understand [these things]. That is why their maker won't have compassion on them, and their Creator won't have pity on them.

12 On that day the LORD will begin his threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt. People of Israel, you will be gathered one by one.

13 On that day a ram's horn will be blown loudly. Those who are dying in Assyria and those who are banished to Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.