Oracles of destruction#
Pre-reading#
Idea/question/discussion point spreadsheet).
Read Isaiah, chapters 13-20
¹ An oracle concerning Babylon; a vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz.
² Upon the bare mountains set up a signal;
cry out to them,
Beckon for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded my consecrated ones,
I have summoned my warriors,
eager and bold to carry out my anger.
⁴ Listen! the rumble on the mountains:
that of an immense throng!
Listen! the noise of kingdoms, nations assembled!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.
⁵ They come from a far-off country,
and from the end of the heavens,
The Lord and the instruments of his wrath,
to destroy all the land.
⁶ Howl, for the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
⁷ Therefore all hands fall helpless,
every human heart melts,
⁸ and they are terrified,
Pangs and sorrows take hold of them,
like a woman in labor they writhe;
They look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.
⁹ Indeed, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and burning anger;
To lay waste the land
and destroy the sinners within it!
¹⁰ The stars of the heavens and their constellations
will send forth no light;
The sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ Thus I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their guilt.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
the insolence of tyrants I will humble.
¹² I will make mortals more rare than pure gold,
human beings, than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ For this I will make the heavens tremble
and the earth shall be shaken from its place,
At the wrath of the Lord of hosts
on the day of his burning anger.
¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
or a flock that no one gathers,
They shall turn each to their own people
and flee each to their own land.
¹⁵ Everyone who is taken shall be run through;
and everyone who is caught shall fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants shall be dashed to pieces in their sight;
their houses shall be plundered
and their wives ravished.
¹⁷ I am stirring up against them the Medes,
who think nothing of silver
and take no delight in gold.
¹⁸ With their bows they shall shatter the young men,
And the fruit of the womb they shall not spare,
nor shall their eye take pity on children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the glory and pride of the Chaldeans,
Shall become like Sodom and Gomorrah,
overthrown by God.
²⁰ It shall never be inhabited,
nor dwelt in, from age to age;
Arabians shall not pitch their tents there,
nor shepherds rest their flocks there.
²¹ But desert demons shall rest there
and owls shall fill the houses;
There ostriches shall dwell,
and satyrs shall dance.
²² Wild dogs shall dwell in its castles,
and jackals in its luxurious palaces.
Its time is near at hand
and its days shall not be prolonged.
¹ But the Lord will take pity on Jacob and again choose Israel, and will settle them on their own land; foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ² The nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves on the Lord’s land; they will take captive their captors and rule over their oppressors.
³ On the day when the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow and turmoil, from the hard service with which you served, ⁴ you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
how the turmoil has ended!
⁵ The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the staff of the tyrants
⁶ That struck the peoples in wrath
with relentless blows;
That ruled the nations in anger,
with boundless persecution.
⁷ The whole earth rests peacefully,
song breaks forth;
⁸ The very cypresses rejoice over you,
the cedars of Lebanon:
“Now that you are laid to rest,
no one comes to cut us down.”
⁹ Below, Sheol is all astir
preparing for your coming;
Awakening the shades to greet you,
all the leaders of the earth;
Making all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
¹⁰ All of them speak out
and say to you,
“You too have become weak like us,
you are just like us!
¹¹ Down to Sheol your pomp is brought,
the sound of your harps.
Maggots are the couch beneath you,
worms your blanket.”
¹² How you have fallen from the heavens,
O Morning Star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the earth,
you who conquered nations!
¹³ In your heart you said:
“I will scale the heavens;
Above the stars of God
I will set up my throne;
I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.
¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High!”
¹⁵ No! Down to Sheol you will be brought
to the depths of the pit!
¹⁶ When they see you they will stare,
pondering over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms?
¹⁷ Who made the world a wilderness,
razed its cities,
and gave captives no release?”
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
¹⁹ But you are cast forth without burial,
like loathsome carrion,
Covered with the slain, with those struck by the sword,
a trampled corpse,
Going down to the very stones of the pit.
²⁰ You will never be together with them in the grave,
For you have ruined your land,
you have slain your people!
Let him never be named,
that offshoot of evil!
²¹ Make ready to slaughter his sons
for the guilt of their fathers;
Lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the breadth of the world with cities.
²² I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, progeny and offspring, says the Lord. ²³ I will make it a haunt of hoot owls and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, oracle of the Lord of hosts.
²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have resolved,
so shall it be;
As I have planned,
so shall it stand:
²⁵ To break the Assyrian in my land
and trample him on my mountains;
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
and his burden from their shoulder.
²⁶ This is the plan proposed for the whole earth,
and this the hand outstretched over all the nations.
²⁷ The Lord of hosts has planned;
who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out;
who can turn it back?
²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz died, there came this oracle:
²⁹ Do not rejoice, Philistia, not one of you,
that the rod which struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root shall come an adder,
its offspring shall be a flying saraph.
³⁰ In my pastures the poor shall graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with famine
that shall slay even your remnant.
³¹ Howl, O gate; cry out, O city!
Philistia, all of you melts away!
For there comes a smoke from the north,
without a straggler in its ranks.
³² What will one answer the messengers of the nations?
“The Lord has established Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
¹ Oracle on Moab:
Laid waste in a night,
Ar of Moab is destroyed;
Laid waste in a night,
Kir of Moab is destroyed.
² Daughter Dibon has gone up
to the high places to weep;
Over Nebo and over Medeba
Moab is wailing.
Every head is shaved,
every beard sheared off.
³ In the streets they wear sackcloth,
and on the rooftops;
In the squares
everyone wails, streaming with tears.
⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
they are heard as far as Jahaz.
At this the loins of Moab tremble,
his soul quivers within him;
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab,
his fugitives reach Zoar,
Eglath-shelishiyah:
The ascent of Luhith
they ascend weeping;
On the way to Horonaim
they utter rending cries;
⁶ The waters of Nimrim
have become a waste,
The grass is withered,
new growth is gone,
nothing is green.
⁷ So now whatever they have acquired or stored away
they carry across the Wadi of the Poplars.
⁸ The cry has gone round
the territory of Moab;
As far as Eglaim his wailing,
even at Beer-elim his wailing.
⁹ The waters of Dimon are filled with blood,
but I will bring still more upon Dimon:
Lions for those who are fleeing from Moab
and for those who remain in the land!
¹ Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles,
from Sela across the desert,
to the mount of daughter Zion.
² Like flushed birds,
like scattered nestlings,
Are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
³ Offer counsel, take their part;
at high noon make your shade like the night;
Hide the outcasts,
do not betray the fugitives.
⁴ Let the outcasts of Moab live with you,
be their shelter from the destroyer.
When there is an end to the oppressor,
when destruction has ceased,
and the marauders have vanished from the land,
⁵ A throne shall be set up in mercy,
and on it shall sit in fidelity,
in David’s tent,
A judge upholding right,
prompt to do justice.
⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab,
how very proud he is,
Of his haughtiness, pride, and arrogance
that his empty words do not match.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail,
let everyone wail for Moab;
For the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth
let them sigh, stricken with grief.
⁸ The terraced slopes of Heshbon languish,
the vines of Sibmah,
Whose clusters once overpowered
the lords of nations,
Reaching as far as Jazer
winding through the wilderness,
Whose branches spread forth,
crossing over the sea.
⁹ Therefore I weep with Jazer
for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
Heshbon and Elealeh;
For on your summer fruits and harvests
the battle cry has fallen.
¹⁰ From the orchards are taken away
joy and gladness,
In the vineyards there is no singing,
no shout of joy;
In the wine presses no one treads grapes,
the vintage shout is stilled.
¹¹ Therefore for Moab
my heart moans like a lyre,
my inmost being for Kir-hareseth.
¹² When Moab wears himself out on the high places,
and enters his sanctuary to pray,
it shall avail him nothing.
¹³ That is the word the Lord spoke against Moab in times past. ¹⁴ But now the Lord speaks: In three years, like the years of a hired laborer, the glory of Moab shall be empty despite all its great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and weak.
¹ Oracle on Damascus:
See, Damascus shall cease to be a city
and become a pile of ruins;
² Her cities shall be forever abandoned,
for flocks to lie in undisturbed.
³ The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim
and dominion from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become like the glory
of the Israelites—
oracle of the Lord of hosts.
⁴ On that day
The glory of Jacob shall fade,
and his full body shall grow thin.
⁵ Like the reaper’s mere armful of stalks,
when he gathers the standing grain;
Or as when one gleans the ears
in the Valley of Rephaim.
⁶ Only gleanings shall be left in it,
as when an olive tree has been beaten—
Two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its most fruitful branches—
oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel.
⁷ On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs or the incense stands.
⁹ On that day his strong cities shall be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites
When faced with the Israelites;
and there shall be desolation.
¹⁰ Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you,
the Rock, your refuge, you have not remembered.
Therefore, though you plant plants for the Pleasant One,
and set out cuttings for a foreign one,
¹¹ Though you make them grow the day you plant them
and make them blossom the morning you set them out,
The harvest shall disappear on a day of sickness
and incurable pain.
¹² Ah! the roaring of many peoples—
a roar like the roar of the seas!
The thundering of nations—
thunder like the thundering of mighty waters!
¹³ But God shall rebuke them,
and they shall flee far away,
Driven like chaff on the mountains before a wind,
like tumbleweed before a storm.
¹⁴ At evening, there is terror,
but before morning, they are gone!
Such is the portion of those who despoil us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
¹ Ah! Land of buzzing insects,
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
² Sending ambassadors by sea,
in papyrus boats on the waters!
Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and bronzed,
To a people dreaded near and far,
a nation strong and conquering,
whose land is washed by rivers.
³ All you who inhabit the world,
who dwell on earth,
When the signal is raised on the mountain, look!
When the trumpet blows, listen!
⁴ For thus says the Lord to me:
I will be quiet, looking on from where I dwell,
Like the shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew at harvest time.
⁵ Before the vintage, when the flowering has ended,
and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes,
Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks,
and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
⁶ They shall all be left to the mountain vultures
and to the beasts of the earth;
The vultures shall summer on them,
all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
⁷ Then will gifts be brought to the Lord of hosts—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Zion—from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.
¹ Oracle on Egypt:
See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
on his way to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.
² I will stir up Egypt against Egypt:
brother will war against brother,
Neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
³ The courage of the Egyptians shall ebb away within them,
and I will bring their counsel to nought;
They shall consult idols and charmers, ghosts and clairvoyants.
⁴ I will deliver Egypt
into the power of a cruel master,
A harsh king who shall rule over them—
oracle of the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
⁵ The waters shall be drained from the sea,
the river shall parch and dry up;
⁶ Its streams shall become foul,
and the canals of Egypt shall dwindle and parch.
Reeds and rushes shall wither away,
⁷ and bulrushes on the bank of the Nile;
All the sown land along the Nile
shall dry up and blow away, and be no more.
⁸ The fishermen shall mourn and lament,
all who cast hook in the Nile;
Those who spread their nets in the water
shall pine away.
⁹ The linen-workers shall be disappointed,
the combers and weavers shall turn pale;
¹⁰ The spinners shall be crushed,
all the hired laborers shall be despondent.
¹¹ Utter fools are the princes of Zoan!
the wisest of Pharaoh’s advisers give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a descendant of wise men, of ancient kings”?
¹² Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and make known
What the Lord of hosts has planned
against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools,
the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of its tribes
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has prepared among them
a spirit of dizziness,
And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ Egypt shall accomplish nothing—
neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed, shall accomplish anything.
¹⁶ On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with fear, because of the Lord of hosts shaking his fist at them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they think of Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan the Lord of hosts has in mind for them.
¹⁸ On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts; one shall be called “City of the Sun.”
¹⁹ On that day there shall be an altar to the Lord at the center of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord near its boundary. ²⁰ This will be a sign and witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them. ²¹ The Lord shall make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; they shall offer sacrifices and oblations, make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. ²² Although the Lord shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them; they shall turn to the Lord and he shall be moved by their entreaty and heal them.
²³ On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; the Assyrians shall enter Egypt, and the Egyptians enter Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ On that day Israel shall be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ when the Lord of hosts gives this blessing: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my heritage, Israel.”
¹ In the year the general sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, came to Ashdod, fought against it, and captured it— ² at that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah, the son of Amoz: Go and take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet. This he did, walking naked and barefoot. ³ Then the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, ⁴ so shall the king of Assyria lead away captives from Egypt, and exiles from Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the shame of Egypt. ⁵ They shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and because of Egypt, their boast. ⁶ The inhabitants of this coastland shall say on that day, “See what has happened to those we hoped in, to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! What escape is there for us now?”
¹ The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
² On a bare hill raise a signal,
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.
⁴ Hark, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Hark, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
⁵ They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole earth.
⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every man’s heart will melt,
⁸ and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in travail.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising
and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.
¹² I will make men more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
every man will turn to his own people,
and every man will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
¹⁷ Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will slaughter the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pride of the Chalde′ans,
will be like Sodom and Gomor′rah
when God overthrew them.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited
or dwelt in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹ But wild beasts will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will dwell,
and there satyrs will dance.
²² Hyenas will cry in its towers,
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
¹ The Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and aliens will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob. ² And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land as male and female slaves; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.
³ When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, ⁴ you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
⁶ that smote the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
⁸ The cypresses rejoice at you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no hewer comes up against us.’
⁹ Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come,
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
¹⁰ All of them will speak
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.
¹² “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
¹³ You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.’
¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you,
and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?’
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
¹⁹ but you are cast out, away from your sepulchre,
like a loathed untimely birth,
clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit,
like a dead body trodden under foot.
²⁰ You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May the descendants of evildoers
nevermore be named!
²¹ Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”
²² “I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the Lord. ²³ And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.”
²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn:
“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
²⁵ that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and upon my mountains trample him under foot;
and his yoke shall depart from them,
and his burden from their shoulder.”
²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:
²⁹ “Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that the rod which smote you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
³⁰ And the first-born of the poor will feed,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant I will slay.
³¹ Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.”
³² What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
¹ An oracle concerning Moab.
Because Ar is laid waste in a night
Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night
Moab is undone.
² The daughter of Dibon has gone up
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Med′eba
Moab wails.
On every head is baldness,
every beard is shorn;
³ in the streets they gird on sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
every one wails and melts in tears.
⁴ Heshbon and Elea′leh cry out,
their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
his fugitives flee to Zo′ar,
to Eg′lath-shelish′iyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horona′im
they raise a cry of destruction;
⁶ the waters of Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the new growth fails,
the verdure is no more.
⁷ Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
⁸ For a cry has gone
round the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Egla′im,
the wailing reaches to Beer-e′lim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon are full of blood;
yet I will bring upon Dibon even more,
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
¹ They have sent lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
² Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
³ “Give counsel,
grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
betray not the fugitive;
⁴ let the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples under foot
has vanished from the land,
⁵ then a throne will be established in steadfast love
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”
⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab,
how proud he was;
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence—
his boasts are false.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail,
let every one wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the raisin-cakes of Kir-har′eseth.
⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elea′leh;
for upon your fruit and your harvest
the battle shout has fallen.
¹⁰ And joy and gladness are taken away
from the fruitful field;
and in the vineyards no songs are sung,
no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
the vintage shout is hushed.
¹¹ Therefore my soul moans like a lyre for Moab,
and my heart for Kir-he′res.
¹² And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
¹³ This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. ¹⁴ But now the Lord says, “In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble.”
¹ An oracle concerning Damascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city,
and will become a heap of ruins.
² Her cities will be deserted for ever;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from E′phraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like the glory of the children of Israel,
says the Lord of hosts.
⁵ And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Reph′aim.
⁶ Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
says the Lord God of Israel.
⁴ And in that day
the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁷ In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; ⁸ they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe′rim or the altars of incense.
⁹ In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and set out slips of an alien god,
¹¹ though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow;
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
¹² Ah, the thunder of many peoples,
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations,
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
¹³ The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
¹⁴ At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who despoil us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
¹ Ah, land of whirring wings
which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
² which sends ambassadors by the Nile,
in vessels of papyrus upon the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation, tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
³ All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴ For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.
⁶ They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer upon them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them,
⁷ At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts.
¹ An oracle concerning Egypt.
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
² And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, every man against his brother
and every man against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³ and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound their plans;
and they will consult the idols and the sorcerers,
and the mediums and the wizards;
⁴ and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master;
and a fierce king will rule over them,
says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
⁵ And the waters of the Nile will be dried up,
and the river will be parched and dry;
⁶ and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷ There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
be driven away, and be no more.
⁸ The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets upon the water.
⁹ The workers in combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
¹⁰ Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who work for hire will be grieved.
¹¹ The princes of Zo′an are utterly foolish;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
¹² Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and make known
what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zo′an have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ And there will be nothing for Egypt
which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
¹⁸ In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
¹⁹ In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰ It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. ²¹ And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²² And the Lord will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will heed their supplications and heal them.
²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
¹ In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it,— ² at that time the Lord had spoken by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off your shoes from your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot— ³ the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, ⁴ so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵ Then they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶ And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
Discussion points#
God’s paired justice and mercy#
²⁶ This is the plan proposed for the whole earth,
and this the hand outstretched over all the nations.
²⁷ The Lord of hosts has planned;
who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out;
who can turn it back?
⁷ The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it falls upon Israel;
⁸ And all the people know it—
Ephraim and those who dwell in Samaria—
those who say in arrogance and pride of heart,
⁹ “Bricks have fallen,
but we will rebuild with cut stone;
Sycamores have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
¹⁰ So the Lord raises up their foes against them
and stirs up their enemies to action—
¹¹ Aram from the east and the Philistines from the west—
they devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this, his wrath is not turned back,
and his hand is still outstretched!
¹² The people do not turn back to the one who struck them,
nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹³ So the Lord cuts off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day.
¹⁴ (The elder and the noble are the head,
the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.)
¹⁵ Those who lead this people lead them astray,
and those who are led are swallowed up.
¹⁶ That is why the Lord does not spare their young men,
and their orphans and widows he does not pity;
For they are totally impious and wicked,
and every mouth speaks folly.
For all this, his wrath is not turned back,
his hand is still outstretched!
¹⁷ For wickedness burns like fire,
devouring brier and thorn;
It kindles the forest thickets,
which go up in columns of smoke.
¹⁸ At the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land quakes,
and the people are like fuel for fire;
no one spares his brother.
¹⁹ They hack on the right, but remain hungry;
they devour on the left, but are not filled.
Each devours the flesh of the neighbor;
²⁰ Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
together they turn on Judah.
For all this, his wrath is not turned back,
his hand is still outstretched!
¹⁸ They will listen to you. Then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us. So now, let us go a three days’ journey in the wilderness to offer sacrifice to the Lord, our God. ¹⁹ Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless his hand is forced. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wondrous deeds I will do in its midst. After that he will let you go.
²³ After their release they went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them. ²⁴ And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, ²⁵ you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant:
‘Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples entertain folly?
²⁶ The kings of the earth took their stand
and the princes gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed.’
²⁹ And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ as you stretch forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹ As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
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.
⁸ The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will light upon Israel;
⁹ and all the people will know,
E′phraim and the inhabitants of Samar′ia,
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,
¹⁸ And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all the wonders which I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
²³ When they were released they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, ²⁵ who by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say by the Holy Spirit,
‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?
²⁶ The kings of the earth set themselves in array,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
²⁹ And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, ³⁰ while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
Questions:
In Acts and Exodus, God’s hand outstretches to perform miracles, but outstretches here in Isaiah in judgement. How does the continued destruction of judgement on Judah and the surrounding nations lay the groundwork for later revival?
Moab is used as an example of this combined justice and mercy:
¹ King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites— ² from nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites: You shall not join with them and they shall not join with you, lest they turn your hearts to their gods. But Solomon held them close in love. ³ He had as wives seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and they turned his heart.
⁴ When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to follow other gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not follow the Lord unreservedly as David his father had done. ⁷ Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and commanded him not to do this very thing, not to follow other gods. But he did not observe what the Lord commanded.
²⁶ Solomon had a servant, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother named Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. ²⁷ This is how he came to rebel. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of the City of David, his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a very able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was also a good worker, he put him in charge of all the carriers conscripted from the house of Joseph.
²⁹ At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The prophet was wearing a new cloak, and when the two were alone in the open country, ³⁰ Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, ³¹ and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and will give you ten of the tribes. ³² He shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³ For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways or done what is right in my eyes, according to my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
¹ Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles,
from Sela across the desert,
to the mount of daughter Zion.
² Like flushed birds,
like scattered nestlings,
Are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
³ Offer counsel, take their part;
at high noon make your shade like the night;
Hide the outcasts,
do not betray the fugitives.
⁴ Let the outcasts of Moab live with you,
be their shelter from the destroyer.
When there is an end to the oppressor,
when destruction has ceased,
and the marauders have vanished from the land,
⁵ A throne shall be set up in mercy,
and on it shall sit in fidelity,
in David’s tent,
A judge upholding right,
prompt to do justice.
¹ Now King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, and Moabite, Ammonite, E′domite, Sido′nian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods”; Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after Ash′toreth the goddess of the Sido′nians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
⁹ And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord commanded.
²⁶ Jerobo′am the son of Nebat, an E′phraimite of Zer′edah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeru′ah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷ And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸ The man Jerobo′am was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ And at that time, when Jerobo′am went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahi′jah the Shi′lonite found him on the road. Now Ahi′jah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰ Then Ahi′jah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jerobo′am, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes ³² (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because he has forsaken me, and worshiped Ash′toreth the goddess of the Sido′nians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
¹ They have sent lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
² Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
³ “Give counsel,
grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
betray not the fugitive;
⁴ let the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples under foot
has vanished from the land,
⁵ then a throne will be established in steadfast love
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”
Questions:
How are the Moabites treated differently than Moab, the political entity? For what purpose are the refugees taken in?
A more explicit pairing of justice and mercy occurs in Chapter 18:
³ All you who inhabit the world,
who dwell on earth,
When the signal is raised on the mountain, look!
When the trumpet blows, listen!
⁴ For thus says the Lord to me:
I will be quiet, looking on from where I dwell,
Like the shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew at harvest time.
⁵ Before the vintage, when the flowering has ended,
and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes,
Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks,
and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
⁶ They shall all be left to the mountain vultures
and to the beasts of the earth;
The vultures shall summer on them,
all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
³ All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴ For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.
⁶ They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer upon them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them,
The divine plan#
God is described as the Rock across the OT:
⁷ On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs or the incense stands.
⁹ On that day his strong cities shall be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites
When faced with the Israelites;
and there shall be desolation.
¹⁰ Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you,
the Rock, your refuge, you have not remembered.
Therefore, though you plant plants for the Pleasant One,
and set out cuttings for a foreign one,
¹¹ Though you make them grow the day you plant them
and make them blossom the morning you set them out,
The harvest shall disappear on a day of sickness
and incurable pain.
¹ Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth!
² May my teaching soak in like the rain,
and my utterance drench like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
like a shower upon the crops.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord,
praise the greatness of our God!
⁴ The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he!
⁵ Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
a twisted and crooked generation!
⁶ Is this how you repay the Lord,
so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
the one who made and established you?
⁸ The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
⁹ The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eye.
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The statutes of the Lord are true,
all of them just;
¹¹ More desirable than gold,
than a hoard of purest gold,
Sweeter also than honey
or drippings from the comb.
¹² By them your servant is warned;
obeying them brings much reward.
¹³ Who can detect trespasses?
Cleanse me from my inadvertent sins.
¹⁴ Also from arrogant ones restrain your servant;
let them never control me.
Then shall I be blameless,
innocent of grave sin.
¹⁵ Let the words of my mouth be acceptable,
the thoughts of my heart before you,
Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
¹ For the leader. A psalm of David.
² In you, Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me;
³ incline your ear to me;
make haste to rescue me!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to save me.
⁴ For you are my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
⁵ Free me from the net they have set for me,
for you are my refuge.
⁶ Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, Lord, God of truth.
⁷ You hate those who serve worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
⁸ I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy,
once you have seen my misery,
[and] gotten to know the distress of my soul.
⁹ You will not abandon me into enemy hands,
but will set my feet in a free and open space.
⁷ In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; ⁸ they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe′rim or the altars of incense.
⁹ In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and set out slips of an alien god,
¹¹ though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow;
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
¹ “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
² May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distil as the dew,
as the gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and as the showers upon the herb.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
⁴ “The Rock, his work is perfect;
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and right is he.
⁵ They have dealt corruptly with him,
they are no longer his children because of their blemish;
they are a perverse and crooked generation.
⁶ Do you thus requite the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
⁹ the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹ Moreover by them is thy servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern his errors?
Clear thou me from hidden faults.
¹³ Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
¹ In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in thy righteousness deliver me!
² Incline thy ear to me,
rescue me speedily!
Be thou a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
³ Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress;
for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
⁴ take me out of the net which is hidden for me,
for thou art my refuge.
⁵ Into thy hand I commit my spirit;
thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
⁶ Thou hatest those who pay regard to vain idols;
but I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will rejoice and be glad for thy steadfast love,
because thou hast seen my affliction,
thou hast taken heed of my adversities,
⁸ and hast not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
thou hast set my feet in a broad place.
⁹ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye is wasted from grief,
my soul and my body also.
Questions:
What different personalities of God do we see in these passages?
Which of these OT traits do we attribute to Jesus?
In our first week, we read the prediction that all nations would come to Zion.
² In days to come,
The mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it.
³ Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from 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.
We see several further oracles to this end this week. We already read a passage from the oracles for Damascus, representing Syria:
⁷ On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs or the incense stands.
⁷ In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; ⁸ they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe′rim or the altars of incense.
History notes on Philistine, and Kush/Egypt#
A map of the relevant places and cities during this time period.#
Kush, also known as Nubia, and also here as Ethiopia, was Assyria’s rival power in the region:
The second half of the 8th century BC saw the kingdom of Kush (also known as Nubia) rise to a new prominence as its rulers gradually extended their control into Egypt. Their new-found power enabled them to play an influential role in the politics of the Near East, particularly vis-à-vis the Neo-Assyrian empire, whose military expansion brought them within striking distance of the Kushites.
At that time, under the leadership of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC), Assyria greatly expanded its western borders. The Kushite rule over Egypt provided the opportunity to try and revive Egypt’s political and military heritage in the Levant: increasingly under pressure from Assyria, the kingdoms of the region welcomed Kush as a supporter and alternative overlord.
In retrospect, the scene seemed set for direct conflict between the two powers. But during the reigns of Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC) and Sargon II (721-705 BC), relations were peaceful: diplomatic gifts were exchanged and, in 711 BC, Kush even volunteered to extradite an important refugee, the rebel king of Ashdod, to Assyria.
A map with the outer borders of Egypt during Kush rule.#
Ashdod was the center of the Philistine revolt mentioned here:
Almost a decade after Sargon’s defeat of Hanunu, events in another Philistine city, Ashdod, acted as a catalyst in international politics and led to an unprecedented interaction between Assyria and Kush, now in control of a largely united Egypt (see Kush). The episode probably dates to 711 BC and is described in detail in Sargon’s so-called Great Summary Inscription, found in his capital city of Dur-Šarruken. The inscription records that Azuri, king of Ashdod, refused to pay tribute to Assyria, in direct contravention of his duty as a vassal king, and moreover plotted against Assyria with neighbouring rulers. As a result, the Assyrian king had the insubordinate Azuri replaced with his more compliant brother Ahi-miti. In this, Sargon followed Assyria’s usual practice of supporting a sympathetic but legitimate claimant to the throne of a vassal kingdom. But this interference in their affairs was not well received by the inhabitants of Ashdod who overthrew Ahi-miti almost immediately after his appointment in favour of one Yamani, a man with no claim to the throne but certainly a leading role among the insurgents.
Yamani attempted to form an anti-Assyrian coalition, approaching other Philistine cities as well as the rulers of Judah, Moab and Edom. He also repeatedly contacted the Delta ruler Bakenranef of Saïs, Tefnakhte’s successor, but his appeals went unanswered. When Sargon marched on Ashdod in retaliation, Yamani wasted no time and, in a scene reminiscent of Hanunu’s flight from Gaza before the advancing Tiglath-pileser III, he too fled to territory outside Assyria’s reach, into the Kushite sphere of influence. Sargon invaded Ashdod and ended its independence, turning it into an Assyrian province and the new southwestern boundary of the empire.
As an Assyrian vassal, the oracle for Philistia does not spare them. The reference to the “rod which struck you” has been taken as referring to the death of an unnamed Assyrian king.
²⁹ Do not rejoice, Philistia, not one of you,
that the rod which struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root shall come an adder,
its offspring shall be a flying saraph.
³⁰ In my pastures the poor shall graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with famine
that shall slay even your remnant.
³¹ Howl, O gate; cry out, O city!
Philistia, all of you melts away!
For there comes a smoke from the north,
without a straggler in its ranks.
³² What will one answer the messengers of the nations?
“The Lord has established Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
²⁹ “Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that the rod which smote you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
³⁰ And the first-born of the poor will feed,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant I will slay.
³¹ Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.”
³² What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
For the land of Ethiopia (Kush), we’re given a beautiful imagery of pruning leading to worship of the Lord:
⁵ Before the vintage, when the flowering has ended,
and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes,
Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks,
and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
⁶ They shall all be left to the mountain vultures
and to the beasts of the earth;
The vultures shall summer on them,
all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
⁷ Then will gifts be brought to the Lord of hosts—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Zion—from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.
⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.
⁶ They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer upon them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them,
⁷ At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts.
Egypt is not spared, and this destruction similarly leads to worship:
¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools,
the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of its tribes
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has prepared among them
a spirit of dizziness,
And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ Egypt shall accomplish nothing—
neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed, shall accomplish anything.
¹⁶ On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with fear, because of the Lord of hosts shaking his fist at them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they think of Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan the Lord of hosts has in mind for them.
¹⁸ On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts; one shall be called “City of the Sun.”
¹⁹ On that day there shall be an altar to the Lord at the center of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord near its boundary. ²⁰ This will be a sign and witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them. ²¹ The Lord shall make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; they shall offer sacrifices and oblations, make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. ²² Although the Lord shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them; they shall turn to the Lord and he shall be moved by their entreaty and heal them.
²³ On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; the Assyrians shall enter Egypt, and the Egyptians enter Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ On that day Israel shall be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ when the Lord of hosts gives this blessing: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my heritage, Israel.”
¹³ The princes of Zo′an have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ And there will be nothing for Egypt
which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
¹⁸ In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
¹⁹ In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰ It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. ²¹ And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²² And the Lord will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will heed their supplications and heal them.
²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
Questions:
What does the “spirit of dizziness” prepared by the Lord remind us of?
What are the unifying and separating features between these oracles?
Multiple fulfillment, again#
¹⁰ All of them speak out
and say to you,
“You too have become weak like us,
you are just like us!
¹¹ Down to Sheol your pomp is brought,
the sound of your harps.
Maggots are the couch beneath you,
worms your blanket.”
¹² How you have fallen from the heavens,
O Morning Star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the earth,
you who conquered nations!
¹⁶ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
¹⁷ The seventy[-two] returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” ¹⁸ Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
⁷ Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, ⁸ but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.
¹⁸ In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
¹⁹ In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰ It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. ²¹ And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²² And the Lord will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will heed their supplications and heal them.
²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
How many fulfillments of Isaiah’s prediction of the morning star, translated as Lucifer do we see referenced?