Jesaja (RSV) 1







Book of


ISAIAH


1 1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


The Wickedness of Judah

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
3
The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand."
4
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
5
Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6
From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil.
7
Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens.
8
And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
9
If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
10
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
12
"When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts?
13
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
15
When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
16
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
17
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
19
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
20
But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


The Degenerate City

21 How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
22
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
23
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.
24
Therefore the Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes.
25
I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.
26
And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."
27
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28
But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29
For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen.
30
For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.
31
And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.


The Future House of God

2 1 The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
3
and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.


Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance

5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6
For thou hast rejected thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of diviners from the east and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with foreigners.
7
Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
8
Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
9
So man is humbled, and men are brought low -- forgive them not!
10
Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty.
11
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
12
For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high;
13
against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14
against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills;
15
against every high tower, and against every fortified wall;
16
against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.
17
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
18
And the idols shall utterly pass away.
19
And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
20
In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,
21
to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
22
Turn away from man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?


3 1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;
2
the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
3
the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skilful magician and the expert in charms.
4
And I will make boys their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5
And the people will oppress one another, every man his fellow and every man his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the base fellow to the honorable.
6
When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a mantle; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";
7
in that day he will speak out, saying: "I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor mantle; you shall not make me leader of the people."
8
For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen; because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.
9
Their partiality witnesses against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
11
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have done shall be done to him.
12
My people -- children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your leaders mislead you, and confuse the course of your paths.
13
The LORD has taken his place to contend, he stands to judge his people.
14
The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: "It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" says the Lord GOD of hosts.
16
The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet;
17
the Lord will smite with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.
18
In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;
19
the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs;
20
the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;
21
the signet rings and nose rings;
22
the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;
23
the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24
Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.
25
Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.
26
And her gates shall lament and mourn; ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground.


4 1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach."


The Future Glory of the Survivors in Zion

2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel.
3
And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, every one who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,
4
when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
5
Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy and a pavilion.
6
It will be for a shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.


The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard

5 1 Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2
He digged it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
4
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry!


Social Injustice Denounced

8 Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
9
The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."
11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening till wine inflames them!
12
They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts; but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands.
13
Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge; their honored men are dying of hunger, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down, her throng and he who exults in her.
15
Man is bowed down, and men are brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins.
18
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19
who say: "Let him make haste, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!"
20
Woe to those 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
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
22
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!


Foreign Invasion Predicted

24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law 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 smote them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.
26
He will raise a signal for a nation afar off, and whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!
27
None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistcloth 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 none can rescue.
30
They will growl over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea. And if one look to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.


A Vision of God in the Temple

6 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5
And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6 Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
8
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
9
And he said, "Go, and say to this people: `Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.'
10
Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
11
Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without men, and the land is utterly desolate,
12
and the LORD removes men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13
And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.


Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz

7 1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. 2 When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3
And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field,
4
and say to him, `Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
5
Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,
6
"Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"
7
thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.
8
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)
9
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.'"


Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."
13
And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16
For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
17
The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah -- the king of Assyria."
18
In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly which is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.
19
And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
20
In that day the Lord will shave with a razor which is hired beyond the River -- with the king of Assyria -- the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
21
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
22
and because of the abundance of milk which they give, he will eat curds; for every one that is left in the land will eat curds and honey.
23
In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.
24
With bow and arrows men will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns;
25
and as for all the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.


Isaiah's Son a Sign of the Assyrian Invasion

8 1 Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write upon it in common characters, `Belonging to Mahershalalhashbaz.'" 2 And I got reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me. 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz; 4 for before the child knows how to cry `My father' or `My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."
5
The LORD spoke to me again:
6
"Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
7
therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks;
8
and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."
9
Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed; give ear, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed.
10
Take counsel together, but it will come to nought; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
11
For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:
12
"Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.
13
But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14
And he will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15
And many shall stumble thereon; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken."


Disciples of Isaiah

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples.
17
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
18
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19
And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
20
To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn.
21
They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward;
22
and they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.


The Righteous Reign of the Coming King

9 1 But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
3
Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased its joy; they rejoice before thee as with joy at the harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as on the day of Midian.
5
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
7
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.


Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will light upon Israel;
9
and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10
"The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."
11
So the LORD raises adversaries against them, and stirs up their enemies.
12
The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.
13
The people did not turn to him who smote them, nor seek the LORD of hosts.
14
So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day --
15
the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16
for those who lead this people lead them astray, and those who are led by them are swallowed up.
17
Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.
18
For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19
Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother.
20
They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbor's flesh, 21 Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they are against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


10 1 Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, 2 to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 3 What will you do on the day of punishment, in the storm which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? 4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff of my fury! 6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 But he does not so intend, and his mind does not so think; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; 8 for he says: "Are not my commanders all kings? 9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? 10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?" 12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. 13 For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones. 14 My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as men gather eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped." 15 Shall the axe vaunt itself over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! 16 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. 17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. 18 The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away. 19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.


The Repentant Remnant of Israel

20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth. 24 Therefore thus says the Lord, the LORD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck." He has gone up from Rimmon,
28
he has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron, at Michmash he stores his baggage; 29 they have crossed over the pass, at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles, Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30 Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah! Answer her, O Anathoth! 31 Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 32 This very day he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. 34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.


The Peaceful Kingdom

11 1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.


Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

10 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. 12 He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 14 But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. 15 And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind, and smite it into seven channels that men may cross dryshod. 16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant which is left of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.



Jesaja (RSV) 1