New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Song of Praise for God’s Favor

1 O Lord, You are my God;

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

For You have worked wonders,

Plansformedlong ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have made a city into a heap,

A fortified city into a ruin;

A palace of strangers is a city no more,

It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore a strong people will glorify You;

Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

4 For You have been a defense for the helpless,

A defense for the needy in his distress,

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

For the breath of the ruthless

Is like arainstormagainsta wall.

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

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

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

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,

Andrefined, aged wine.

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

Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord Godwill wipe tears away from all faces,

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

For the Lordhas spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day,

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

This is the Lordfor whom we have waited;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10 For the hand of the Lordwill rest on this mountain,

And Moab will be trodden down in his place

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

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

As a swimmer spreads outhis handsto swim,

Butthe Lordwill lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

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

Lay lowandcast to the ground, even to the dust.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/25-5a82bb5920e95a22943e1863793813b4.mp3?version_id=100—

Song of Trust in God’s Protection

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

He sets up walls and ramparts for security.

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

The one that remains faithful.

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

Because he trusts in You.

4 “Trust in the Lordforever,

For in Godthe Lord,we havean everlasting Rock.

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

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

6 “The foot will trample it,

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

7 The way of the righteous is smooth;

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

8 Indeed,while followingthe way of Your judgments, O Lord,

We have waited for You eagerly;

Your name, even Your memory, is the desire ofoursouls.

9 At night my soul longs for You,

Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;

For when the earth experiences Your judgments

The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10 Thoughthe wicked is shown favor,

He does not learn righteousness;

He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,

And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.

11 O Lord, Your hand is lifted upyetthey do not see it.

They seeYourzeal for the people and are put to shame;

Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.

12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,

Since You have also performed for us all our works.

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

Butthrough You alone we confess Your name.

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

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,

And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

15 You have increased the nation, O Lord,

You have increased the nation, You are glorified;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 O Lord, they sought You in distress;

They could only whisper a prayer,

Your chastening was upon them.

17 As the pregnant woman approachesthe timeto give birth,

She writhesandcries out in her labor pains,

Thus were we before You, O Lord.

18 We were pregnant, we writhedin labor,

We gave birth, as it seems,onlyto wind.

We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,

Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

19 Your dead will live;

Their corpses will rise.

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

For your dewis asthe dew of the dawn,

And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms

And close your doors behind you;

Hide for a little while

Until indignation runsitscourse.

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

To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

And the earth will reveal her bloodshed

And will no longer cover her slain.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/26-adfc58d634b069615681a1ec325057b2.mp3?version_id=100—

The Deliverance of Israel

1 In that day the Lordwill punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,

With His fierce and great and mighty sword,

Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;

And He will kill the dragon wholivesin the sea.

2 In that day,

“A vineyard of wine, sing of it!

3 “I, the Lord, am its keeper;

I water it every moment.

So that no one will damage it,

I guard it night and day.

4 “I have no wrath.

Should someone give Me briarsandthorns in battle,

ThenI would step on them, I would burn them completely.

5 “Or let him rely on My protection,

Let him make peace with Me,

Let him make peace with Me.”

6 In the days to come Jacob will take root,

Israel will blossom and sprout,

And they will fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?

Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

8 You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.

With His fierce wind He has expelledthemon the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven;

And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;

WhenAsherim and incense altars will not stand.

10 For the fortified city is isolated,

A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert;

There the calf will graze,

And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.

11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off;

Women comeandmake a fire with them,

For they are not a people of discernment,

Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.

And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 In that day the Lordwill startHisthreshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.

13 It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lordin the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/27-a4ebb5ae70973c4ad3827178c43896df.mp3?version_id=100—

Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted

1 Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley

Of those who are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and mightyagent;

As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,

He has castitdown to the earth withHishand.

3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.

4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley,

Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,

Which one sees,

Andas soon as it is in his hand,

He swallows it.

5 In that day the Lordof hosts will become a beautiful crown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,

A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

7 And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;

They reel while having visions,

They totterwhen renderingjudgment.

8 For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without asingle cleanplace.

9 “To whom would He teach knowledge,

And to whom would He interpret the message?

Thosejustweaned from milk?

Thosejusttaken from the breast?

10 “ForHe says,

‘Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.'”

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12 He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

13 So the word of the Lordto them will be,

“Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

And with Sheol we have made a pact.

The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstoneforthe foundation, firmly placed.

He who believesin itwill not be disturbed.

17 “I will make justice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 “Your covenant with death will be canceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its tramplingplace.

19 “As often as it passes through, it will seize you;

For morning after morning it will pass through,anytimeduring the day or night,

And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.

21 For the Lordwill rise up asatMount Perazim,

He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,

To do His task, His unusual task,

And to work His work, His extraordinary work.

22 And now do not carry on as scoffers,

Or your fetters will be made stronger;

For I have heard from the Lord Godof hosts

Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice,

Listen and hear my words.

24 Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?

Does hecontinuallyturn and harrow the ground?

25 Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter cummin

And plant wheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its area?

26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin;

But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.

28 Grain forbread is crushed,

Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.

Because the wheel ofhiscart and his horseseventuallydamageit,

He does not thresh it longer.

29 This also comes from the Lordof hosts,

Whohas madeHiscounsel wonderful andHiswisdom great.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/28-fedf13a34b9e5bfb299df6ce644f08f6.mp3?version_id=100—

Jerusalem Is Warned

1 Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the citywhereDavidoncecamped!

Add year to year, observeyourfeasts on schedule.

2 I will bring distress to Ariel,

And she will bea city oflamenting and mourning;

And she will be like an Ariel to me.

3 I will camp against you encirclingyou,

And I will set siegeworks against you,

And I will raise up battle towers against you.

4 Then you will be brought low;

From the earth you will speak,

And from the dustwhereyou are prostrate

Your wordswill come.

Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground,

And your speech will whisper from the dust.

5 But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust,

And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away;

And it will happen instantly, suddenly.

6 From the Lordof hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

Withwhirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

7 And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel,

Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,

Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8 It will be as when a hungry man dreams-

And behold, he is eating;

But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied,

Or as when a thirsty man dreams-

And behold, he is drinking,

But when he awakens, behold, he is faint

And his thirst is not quenched.

Thus the multitude of all the nations will be

Who wage war against Mount Zion.

9 Be delayed and wait,

Blind yourselves and be blind;

They become drunk, but not with wine,

They stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the Lordhas poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,

He has shut your eyes, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, the seers.

11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

12 Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”

13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learnedby rote,

14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;

And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,

And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

15 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord,

And whose deeds aredonein a dark place,

And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

16 You turnthingsaround!

Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,

That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Blessing after Discipline

17 Is it not yet just a little while

Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,

And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?

18 On that day the deaf will hear words of a book,

And out oftheirgloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord,

And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished,

Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;

21 Who cause a person to be indicted by a word,

And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,

And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;

23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,

They will sanctify My name;

Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24 “Those who err in mind will know the truth,

And those who criticize will accept instruction.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/29-ca140eda9f425b2eec50fcfcd6af733c.mp3?version_id=100—

Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance

1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,

“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,

And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,

In order to add sin to sin;

2 Who proceed down to Egypt

Without consulting Me,

To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh

And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

3 “Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame

And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.

4 “For their princes are at Zoan

And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.

5 “Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,

Who arenot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

6 The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev. Through a land of distress and anguish, From wherecomelioness and lion, viper and flying serpent, They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys And their treasures on camels’ humps, To a people who cannot profitthem;

7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.

Therefore, I have called her

“Rahab who has been exterminated.”

8 Now go, write it on a tablet before them

And inscribe it on a scroll,

That it may serve in the time to come

As a witness forever.

9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons,

Sons who refuse to listen

To the instruction of the Lord;

10 Who say to the seers, “You must not seevisions”;

And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right,

Speak to us pleasant words,

Prophesy illusions.

11 “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,

Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Since you have rejected this word

And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,

13 Therefore this iniquity will be to you

Like a breach about to fall,

A bulge in a high wall,

Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,

14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,

So ruthlessly shattered

That a sherd will not be found among its pieces

To take fire from a hearth

Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

15 For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said,

“In repentance and rest you will be saved,

In quietness and trust is your strength.”

But you were not willing,

16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,”

Therefore you shall flee!

“And we will ride on swifthorses,”

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

17 One thousandwill fleeat the threat of oneman;

You will flee at the threat of five,

Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top

And as a signal on a hill.

God Is Gracious and Just

18 Therefore the Lordlongs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the Lordis a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long for Him.

19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.

20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression,He,your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher.

21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

22 And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing,andsay to them, “Be gone!”

23 Then He will giveyourain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and breadfromthe yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

25 On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven timesbrighter,like the light of seven days, on the day the Lordbinds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

27 Behold, the name of the Lordcomes from a remote place;

Burning is His anger and dense isHissmoke;

His lips are filled with indignation

And His tongue is like a consuming fire;

28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent,

Which reaches to the neck,

To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve,

And toputin the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.

29 You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival,

And gladness of heart as when one marches tothe sound ofthe flute,

To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.

30 And the Lordwill cause His voice of authority to be heard,

And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,

Andinthe flame of a consuming fire

In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.

31 For at the voice of the LordAssyria will be terrified,

WhenHe strikes with the rod.

32 And every blow of the rod of punishment,

Which the Lordwill lay on him,

Will be withthe music oftambourines and lyres;

And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.

33 ForTopheth has long been ready,

Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.

He has made it deep and large,

A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;

The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/30-c02bc1da223ea590bc074cc5a67ade9d.mp3?version_id=100—

Help Not in Egypt but in God

1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

Andrely on horses,

And trust in chariots because they are many

And in horsemen because they are very strong,

But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!

2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster

And does not retract His words,

But will arise against the house of evildoers

And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God,

And their horses are flesh and not spirit;

So the Lordwill stretch out His hand,

And he who helps will stumble

And he who is helped will fall,

And all of them will come to an end together.

4 For thus says the Lordto me, “As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against which a band of shepherds is called out,Andhe will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise, So will the Lordof hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

5 Like flying birds so the Lordof hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will protect and deliverit;

He will pass over and rescueit.

6 Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel.

7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.

8 And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,

And a sword not of man will devour him.

So he will not escape the sword,

And his young men will become forced laborers.

9 “His rock will pass away because of panic,

And his princes will be terrified at the standard,”

Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/31-89dd3d81da214b76cd4f9256e54ee206.mp3?version_id=100—

The Glorious Future

1 Behold, a king will reign righteously

And princes will rule justly.

2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind

And a shelter from the storm,

Like streams of water in a dry country,

Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,

And the ears of those who hear will listen.

4 The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,

And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

5 No longer will the fool be called noble,

Or the rogue be spoken ofasgenerous.

6 For a fool speaks nonsense,

And his heart inclines toward wickedness:

To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord,

To keep the hungry person unsatisfied

And to withhold drink from the thirsty.

7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;

He devises wicked schemes

To destroytheafflicted with slander,

Even thoughtheneedy one speaks what is right.

8 But the noble man devises noble plans;

And by noble plans he stands.

9 Rise up, you women who are at ease,

Andhear my voice;

Give ear to my word,

You complacent daughters.

10 Within a year anda fewdays

You will be troubled, O complacentdaughters;

For the vintage is ended,

Andthefruitgathering will not come.

11 Tremble, youwomenwho are at ease;

Be troubled, you complacentdaughters;

Strip, undress and putsackclothonyourwaist,

12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

13 For the land of my peoplein whichthornsandbriars shall come up;

Yea, for all the joyful housesand forthe jubilant city.

14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.

Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,

A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;

15 Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,

And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,

And the fertile field is considered as a forest.

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness

And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.

17 And the work of righteousness will be peace,

And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,

And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;

19 And it will hail when the forest comes down,

And the city will be utterly laid low.

20 How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,

Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/32-c153b92c306caa78caaa7e19cf86f948.mp3?version_id=100—

The Judgment of God

1 Woe to you, O destroyer,

While you were not destroyed;

And he who is treacherous, whileothersdid not deal treacherously with him.

As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed;

As soon as you cease to deal treacherously,otherswill deal treacherously with you.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.

Be their strength every morning,

Our salvation also in the time of distress.

3 At the sound of the tumult peoples flee;

At the lifting up of Yourself nations disperse.

4 Your spoil is gatheredasthe caterpillar gathers;

As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.

5 The Lordis exalted, for He dwells on high;

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 And He will be the stability of your times,

A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;

The fear of the Lordis his treasure.

7 Behold, their brave men cry in the streets,

The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

8 The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased,

He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,

He has no regard for man.

9 The land mournsandpines away,

Lebanon is shamedandwithers;

Sharon is like a desert plain,

And Bashan and Carmel losetheir foliage.

10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,

“Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.

11 “You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble;

My breath will consume you like a fire.

12 “The peoples will be burned to lime,

Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.

13 “You who are far away, hear what I have done;

And you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

14 Sinners in Zion are terrified;

Trembling has seized the godless.

“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?

Who among us can live with continual burning?”

15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,

He who rejects unjust gain

And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;

He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed

And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;

16 He will dwell on the heights,

His refuge will be the impregnable rock;

His bread will be givenhim,

His water will be sure.

17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;

They will behold a far-distant land.

18 Your heart will meditate on terror:

“Where is he who counts?

Where is he who weighs?

Where is he who counts the towers?”

19 You will no longer see a fierce people,

A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends,

Of a stammering tongue which no one understands.

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;

Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation,

A tent which will not be folded;

Its stakes will never be pulled up,

Nor any of its cords be torn apart.

21 But there the majesticOne,the Lord, will be for us

A place of riversandwide canals

On which no boat with oars will go,

And on which no mighty ship will pass-

22 For the Lordis our judge,

The Lordis our lawgiver,

The Lordis our king;

He will save us-

23 Your tackle hangs slack;

It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly,

Nor spread out the sail.

Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided;

The lame will take the plunder.

24 And no resident will say, “I am sick”;

The people who dwell there will be forgiventheiriniquity.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/33-3ff4d0a2cba64badd21694a7f8395007.mp3?version_id=100—

God’s Wrath against Nations

1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!

Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

2 For the Lord’sindignation is against all the nations,

AndHiswrath against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

He has given them over to slaughter.

3 So their slain will be thrown out,

And their corpses will give off their stench,

And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

4 And all the host of heaven will wear away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or asonewithers from the fig tree.

5 For My sword is satiated in heaven,

Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom

And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

6 The sword of the Lordis filled with blood,

It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lordhas a sacrifice in Bozrah

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 Wild oxen will also fall with them

And young bulls with strong ones;

Thus their land will be soaked with blood,

And their dust become greasy with fat.

8 For the Lordhas a day of vengeance,

A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Its streams will be turned into pitch,

And its loose earth into brimstone,

And its land will become burning pitch.

10 It will not be quenched night or day;

Its smoke will go up forever.

From generation to generation it will be desolate;

None will pass through it forever and ever.

11 But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,

And owl and raven will dwell in it;

And He will stretch over it the line of desolation

And the plumb line of emptiness.

12 Its nobles-there is no one there

Whomthey may proclaim king-

And all its princes will be nothing.

13 Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,

Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;

It will also be a haunt of jackals

Andan abode of ostriches.

14 The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,

The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;

Yes, the night monster will settle there

And will find herself a resting place.

15 The tree snake will make its nest and layeggsthere,

And it will hatch and gatherthemunder its protection.

Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,

Every one with its kind.

16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.

17 He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it to them by line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/ISA/34-413d8a046ada1653f0878e6eaba78e60.mp3?version_id=100—