Isaiah 20-22

Isaiah 20

¹In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;

²at that time the LORD spake by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

³And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

⁴so shall the king of Assyria 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.

⁵And they shall be dismayed and ashamed, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

⁶And the inhabitant of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and we, how shall we escape?

Isaiah 21

¹The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land.

²A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

³Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

⁴My heart panteth, horror hath affrighted me: the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.

⁵They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield.

⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman; let him declare what he seeth:

⁷and when he seeth a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of asses, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed.

⁸And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights:

⁹and, behold, here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground.

¹⁰O thou my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

¹¹The burden of Dumah. One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

¹²The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come.

¹³The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanites.

¹⁴Unto him that was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread.

¹⁵For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

¹⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:

¹⁷and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few: for the LORD, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.

Isaiah 22

¹The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

²O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

³All thy rulers fled away together, they were bound by the archers: all that were found of thee were bound together, they fled afar off.

⁴Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me, for the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

⁵For it is a day of discomfiture, 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.

⁶And Elam bare the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷And it came to pass, that thy choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.

⁸And he took away the covering of Judah; and thou didst look in that day to the armour in the house of the forest.

⁹And ye saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰and ye numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and ye brake down the houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹ye made also a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye looked not unto him that had done this, neither had ye respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

¹²And in that day did the Lord, the LORD of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

¹³and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

¹⁴And the LORD of hosts revealed himself in mine ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

¹⁵Thus saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,

¹⁶What doest thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graving an habitation for himself in the rock!

¹⁷Behold, the LORD will hurl thee away violently as a strong man; yea, he will wrap thee up closely.

¹⁸He will surely turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country; there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of thy lord’s house.

¹⁹And I will thrust thee from thine office, and from thy station shall he pull thee down.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

²¹and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

²²And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

²³And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father’s house.

²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons.

²⁵In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that was fastened in a sure place give way; and it shall be hewn down, and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; for the LORD hath spoken it.