Isaiah 17; Isaiah 18; Isaiah 19

1 An oracle about Damascus. Look! Damascus is finished as a city; it will become a fallen ruin.

2 The villages of Aroer are abandoned forever. They will be pastures for flocks, which will lie down undisturbed.

3 Ephraim's security will cease, as will Damascus' rule. What's left of Aram will resemble the glory of the Israelites, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

4 On that day, Jacob's glory will dwindle; his sleek body will waste away.

5 It will be as when harvesters gather grain. God will harvest armfuls at a time, like one who gathers grain in the Rephaim Valley.

6 Only remaining bits are left, like an olive tree that has been shaken: two or three olives on the highest branch; four or five on a fruitful twig, says the LORD God of Israel.

7 On that day, people will have regard for their maker, and their eyes will look to the holy one of Israel.

8 They will have no regard for altars, the work of their hands, or look to what their fingers made: sacred poles and incense stands.

9 On that day, their strong cities will be like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites; abandoned because of the Israelites. They will be a wasteland,

10 because you forgot the God who saves you, and didn't remember the rock who shelters you. Therefore, plant your pleasant plants, and set out exotic sprouts;

11 make them grow the day you plant them, and make them bloom the morning you start them. But the harvest will disappear on a day of sickness and incurable pain.

12 Doom to the raging of many peoples; like the thundering seas they thunder. Doom to the roar of nations, like the roaring of mighty waters.

13 Nations roar like the roaring of rushing waters. But God will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, pursued like chaff by wind in the mountains, like tumbleweeds before a storm.

14 In the evening, there is terror; but before morning it is gone. This is the fate of those who loot us, the destiny of those who rob us.

1 Doom to the land of winged ships, beyond the rivers of Cush

2 that sends messengers by sea, reed vessels on the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and clean-shaven, to a people feared near and far, a nation barbaric and oppressive, whose land the rivers divide.

3 All you who inhabit the world, who live on earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, you will see! When the trumpet blasts, you will hear!

4 The LORD said to me: I will quietly watch from my own place, like the shimmering heat of sunshine, like a cloud's shade in the harvest heat.

5 Before the harvest, when the bloom is finished, when the blossom is becoming a ripening fruit, God will cut the shoots with a pruning knife, and lop off the spreading branches.

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds and to the beasts of the land. The birds will eat them in summer, all the beasts of the land in winter.

7 At that time, gifts will be brought to the LORD of heavenly forces from a tall and clean-shaven people and from a people feared near and far, a nation barbaric and oppressive, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of heavenly forces, to Mount Zion.

1 An oracle about Egypt. Look! The LORD is riding upon a swift cloud, and is coming to Egypt. Egypt's idols will tremble before God; the Egyptians' hearts will melt within them.

2 I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian, and they will fight, one against another, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3 Egypt's spirit will fail from within; I will frustrate their plans. They will consult the idols and spirits and ghosts and fortune-tellers.

4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master; a strong king will rule them, says the LORD God of heavenly forces.

5 The waters of the sea will dry up; the river will be parched and bare.

6 The rivers will stink; the streams will shrink and dry; reeds and rushes will decay.

7 Grass around the Nile, the grass at the mouth of the Nile, and all the sown land of the Nile will dry up, blow away, and be no more.

8 Those who fish will lament; all who cast fishhooks in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the water will pine away.

9 Workers with flax will be dismayed; carders and weavers will grow pale.

10 Makers of cloth will be crushed; all who earn money will become distressed.

11 The officials of Tanis are fools; the wisest of Pharaoh's counselors give stupid advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I'm a wise person, one of the ancient kings"?

12 Where now are your wise ones? Let them tell you, let them inform you what the LORD of heavenly forces has planned concerning Egypt.

13 The officials of Tanis have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deluded; the tribal chiefs have led Egypt astray.

14 The LORD has poured into them a spirit of confusion. They will make Egypt stumble in everything it does, just as a drunk stumbles in his vomit.

15 Neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed will be able to do anything for Egypt.

16 On that day, the Egyptians will be like women and will tremble with terror before the hand that the LORD of heavenly forces will raise against them.

17 Judah's land will become what the Egyptians dread; whenever anyone mentions it, they will be terrified because of the plans that the LORD of heavenly forces is making against them.

18 On that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the LORD of heavenly forces. One of them will be called "the city of the sun."

19 On that day, there will be an altar to the LORD within the land of Egypt, and a standing stone for the LORD at its border.

20 It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of heavenly forces in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of oppressors, God will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

21 The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; the Egyptians will know the LORD on that day. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings, making solemn promises to the LORD and fulfilling them.

22 The LORD will strike Egypt; striking and then healing. They will return to the LORD, who will hear their pleas and heal them.

23 On that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 On that day, Israel will be the third along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing at the center of the world.

25 The LORD of heavenly forces will pronounce this blessing: Bless Egypt my people, and Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.