ISAIAH 23-26

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The Fall of Tyre  23:1 The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor;

It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.

2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon;

Your messengers crossed the sea

3 And were on many waters.

The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;

And she was the market of nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon;

For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,

“I have neither travailed nor given birth,

I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”

5 When the report reaches Egypt,

They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.

6 Pass over to Tarshish;

Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

7 Is this your jubilant city,

Whose origin is from antiquity,

Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?

8 Who has planned 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 planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,

To despise all the honored of the earth.

10 Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish,

There is no more restraint.

11 He has stretched His hand out over the sea,

He has made the kingdoms tremble;

The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.

12 He has said, “You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.

Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

    13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans--this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures--they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

For your stronghold is destroyed.

15 Now 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 harlot:

16 Take your harp, walk about the city,

O forgotten harlot;

Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.

17 It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.
Judgment on the Earth  24:1 Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
7 The new wine mourns,

The vine decays,

All the merry-hearted sigh.

8 The gaiety of tambourines ceases,

The noise of revelers stops,

The gaiety of the harp ceases.

9 They do not drink wine with song;

Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of chaos is broken down;

Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;

All joy turns to gloom.

The gaiety of the earth is banished.

12 Desolation is left in the city

And the gate is battered to ruins.

13 For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,

As the shaking of an olive tree,

As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east,

The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,

In the coastlands of the sea.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”

But I say, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!

The treacherous deal treacherously,

And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

17 Terror and pit and snare

Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,

And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;

For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

19 The earth is broken asunder,

The earth is split through,

The earth is shaken violently.

20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard

And it totters like a shack,

For its transgression is heavy upon it,

And it will fall, never to rise again.

21 So it will happen in that day,

That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high,

And the kings of the earth on earth.

22 They will be gathered together

Like prisoners in the dungeon,

And will be confined in prison;

And after many days they will be punished.

23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,

For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

And His glory will be before His elders.

Song of Praise for God’s Favor25:1 O LORD, You are my God;

I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;

For You have worked wonders,

Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have made a city into a heap,

A fortified city into a ruin;

A palace of strangers is a city no more,

It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore a strong people will glorify You;

Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

4 For You have been a defense for the helpless,

A defense for the needy in his distress,

A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;

For the breath of the ruthless

Is like a rain storm against a wall.

5 Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens;

Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.

6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,

And refined, aged wine.

7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,

Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,

And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;

For the LORD has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day,

“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,

And Moab will be trodden down in his place

As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.

11 And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it

As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,

But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

12 The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,

Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

Song of Trust in God’s Protection  26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

He sets up walls and ramparts for security.

2 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,

The one that remains faithful.

3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,

Because he trusts in You.

4 “Trust in the LORD forever,

For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

5 “For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city;

He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

6 “The foot will trample it,

The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless.”

7 The way of the righteous is smooth;

O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.

8 Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD,

We have waited for You eagerly;

Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.

9 At night my soul longs for You,

Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;

For when the earth experiences Your judgments

The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10 Though the wicked is shown favor,

He does not learn righteousness;

He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,

And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.

11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.

They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;

Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.

12 LORD, You will establish peace for us,

Since You have also performed for us all our works.

13 O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled us;

But through You alone we confess Your name.

14 The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise;

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,

And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

15 You have increased the nation, O LORD,

You have increased the nation, You are glorified;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 O LORD, they sought You in distress;

They could only whisper a prayer,

Your chastening was upon them.

17 As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,

She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,

Thus were we before You, O LORD.

18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,

We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.

We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,

Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

19 Your dead will live;

Their corpses will rise.

You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,

For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,

And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms

And close your doors behind you;

Hide for a little while

Until indignation runs its course.

21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place

To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

And the earth will reveal her bloodshed

And will no longer cover her slain.

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