ISAIAH 23-26

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An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon  23:1 The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!

From the land of Cyprus

it is revealed to them. 2

Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;

the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you. 3

And on many waters

your revenue was the grain of Shihor,

the harvest of the Nile;

you were the merchant of the nations. 4

Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,

the stronghold of the sea, saying:

“I have neither labored nor given birth,

I have neither reared young men

nor brought up young women.” 5

When the report comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre. 6

Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, O inhabitants of the coast! 7

Is this your exultant city

whose origin is from days of old,

whose feet carried her

to settle far away? 8

Who has purposed this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth? 9

The Lord of hosts has purposed it,

to defile the pompous pride of all glory,

to dishonor all the honored of the earth. 10

Cross over your land like the Nile,

O daughter of Tarshish;

there is no restraint anymore. 11

He has stretched out his hand over the sea;

he has shaken the kingdoms;

the Lord has given command concerning Canaan

to destroy its strongholds. 12

And he said:

“You will no more exult,

O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;

arise, cross over to Cyprus,

even there you will have no rest.”
    13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your stronghold is laid waste. 15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16

“Take a harp;

go about the city,

O forgotten prostitute!

Make sweet melody;

sing many songs,

that you may be remembered.” 17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord. Judgment on the Whole Earth24:1

Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. 2

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

as with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 3

The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

for the Lord has spoken this word.
4

The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish. 5

The earth lies defiled

under its inhabitants;

for they have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant. 6

Therefore a curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left. 7

The wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh. 8

The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled. 9

No more do they drink wine with singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. 10

The wasted city is broken down;

every house is shut up so that none can enter. 11

There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

all joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished. 12

Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins. 13

For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
14

They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. 15

Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 16

From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For the traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
17

Terror and the pit and the snare

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! 18

He who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are opened,

and the foundations of the earth tremble. 19

The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken. 20

The earth staggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

its transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.
21

On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 22

They will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days they will be punished. 23

Then the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for the Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders. God Will Swallow Up Death Forever25:1

O Lord, you are my God;

I will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 2

For you have made the city a heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt. 3

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 4

For you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5

like heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.
6

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

the veil that is spread over all nations. 8

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken. 9

It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” 10

For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,

and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill. 11

And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. 12

And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust. You Keep Him in Perfect Peace  26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

he sets up salvation

as walls and bulwarks. 2

Open the gates,

that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 3

You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you. 4

Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 5

For he has humbled

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust. 6

The foot tramples it,

the feet of the poor,

the steps of the needy.”
7

The path of the righteous is level;

you make level the way of the righteous. 8

In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

your name and remembrance

are the desire of our soul. 9

My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

For when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10

If favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord. 11

O Lord, your hand is lifted up,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. 12

O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,

for you have indeed done for us all our works. 13

O Lord our God,

other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone we bring to remembrance. 14

They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them. 15

But you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16

O Lord, in distress they sought you;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when your discipline was upon them. 17

Like a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord; 18

we were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 19

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For your dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20

Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until the fury has passed by. 21

For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

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