Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”
Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.
Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.
How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning 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.
For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.
Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.
Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty.
The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low:
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up,
For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,
For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.
The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
The idols shall utterly pass away.
Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
To go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?
I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them.
The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable.
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet;
In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces,
the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,
the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms,
the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.
Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
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!
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!
Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”
It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.
For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!
“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.
and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
“The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”
For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:
Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.
For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.
For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, throughout all the earth.
Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them.
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle.
Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.
For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger.
It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.
Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there.
Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”
Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms;
who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”












