31 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead;
those who rely on war horses
and trust in Egypt’s many chariots
and in their many, many horsemen.
But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel
and do not seek help from the Lord.
2 Yet he too is wise and he will bring disaster;
he does not retract his decree.
He will attack the wicked nation
and the nation that helps those who commit sin.
3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;
their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.
The Lord will strike with his hand;
the one who helps will stumble
and the one being helped will fall.
Together they will perish.
4 Indeed, this is what the Lord has said to me:
“The Lord will be like a growling lion,
like a young lion growling over its prey.
Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,
it is not afraid of their shouts
or intimidated by their yelling.
In this same way the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will descend
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 Just as birds hover over a nest,
so the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
as he passes over he will rescue it.”
6 You Israelites! Return to the one you have so blatantly rebelled against! 7 For at that time every one will get rid of the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.
8 “Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human made;
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them.
They will run away from this sword
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
9 They will surrender their stronghold because of fear;
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.”
This is what the Lord says—
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem.
32 Look, a king will promote fairness;
officials will promote justice.
2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
3 Eyes will no longer be blind
and ears will be attentive.
4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment,
and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.
5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;
a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things;
his mind plans out sinful deeds.
He commits godless deeds
and says misleading things about the Lord;
he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite
and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.
7 A deceiver’s methods are evil;
he dreams up evil plans
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right.
8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security.
9 You complacent women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
10 In a year’s time
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves—
put sackcloth around your waists.
12 Mourn over the field,
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine.
13 Mourn over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses
in the city filled with revelry.
14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded city is abandoned.
Hill and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited.
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there.
15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become an orchard
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
16 Justice will settle down in the wilderness
and fairness will live in the orchard.
17 Fairness will produce peace
and result in lasting security.
18 My people will live in peaceful settlements,
in secure homes,
and in safe, quiet places.
19 Even if the forest is destroyed
and the city is annihilated,
20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,
you who let your ox and donkey graze.
33 The destroyer is as good as dead,
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead,
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you!
2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning.
Deliver us when distress comes.
3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;
the nations scatter when you spring into action!
4 Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it;
they swarm over it like locusts.
5 The Lord is exalted,
indeed, he lives in heaven;
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
6 He is your constant source of stability;
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;
he gives all this to those who fear him.
7 Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets;
messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly.
8 Highways are empty;
there are no travelers.
Treaties are broken;
witnesses are despised;
human life is treated with disrespect.
9 The land dries up and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up and decays.
Sharon is like the arid rift valley;
Bashan and Carmel are parched.
10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“Now I will exalt myself;
now I will magnify myself.
11 You conceive straw,
you give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you.
12 The nations will be burned to ashes;
like thornbushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!
You who are close by, recognize my strength.”
14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
panic grips the godless.
They say, “Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?
Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?”
15 The one who lives uprightly
and speaks honestly,
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe,
the one who does not plot violent crimes
and does not seek to harm others—
16 this is the person who will live in a secure place;
he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds;
he will have food
and a constant supply of water.
17 You will see a king in his splendor;
you will see a wide land.
18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,
and you will ask yourselves, “Where is the scribe?
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?”
19 You will no longer see a defiant people
whose language you do not comprehend,
whose derisive speech you do not understand.
20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!
You will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful settlement,
a tent that stays put;
its stakes will never be pulled up;
none of its ropes will snap in two.
21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;
no war galley will enter;
no large ships will sail through.
22 For the Lord, our ruler,
the Lord, our commander,
the Lord, our king—
he will deliver us.
23 Though at this time your ropes are slack,
the mast is not secured,
and the sail is not unfurled,
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;
even the lame will drag off plunder.
24 No resident of Zion will say, “I am ill”;
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.
34 Come near, you nations, and listen!
Pay attention, you people!
The earth and everything it contains must listen,
the world and everything that lives in it.
2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations
and furious with all their armies.
He will annihilate them and slaughter them.
3 Their slain will be left unburied,
their corpses will stink;
the hills will soak up their blood.
4 All the stars in the sky will fade away,
the sky will roll up like a scroll;
all its stars will wither,
like a leaf withers and falls from a vine
or a fig withers and falls from a tree.
5 He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers.
Look, it now descends on Edom,
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,
it is covered with fat;
it drips with the blood of young rams and goats
and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them,
as well as strong bulls.
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge,
a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch
and her soil into brimstone;
her land will become burning pitch.
10 Night and day it will burn;
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland,
and no one will ever pass through it again.
11 Owls and wild animals will live there,
all kinds of wild birds will settle in it.
The Lord will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line of destruction.
12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom,
and all her officials will disappear.
13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;
thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities.
Jackals will settle there;
ostriches will live there.
14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there;
wild goats will bleat to one another.
Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there
and make for themselves a nest.
15 Owls will make nests and lay eggs there;
they will hatch them and protect them.
Yes, hawks will gather there,
each with its mate.
16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord!
Not one of these creatures will be missing,
none will lack a mate.
For the Lord has issued the decree,
and his own Spirit gathers them.
17 He assigns them their allotment;
he measures out their assigned place.
They will live there permanently;
they will settle in it through successive generations.
35 Let the wilderness and desert be happy;
let the arid rift valley rejoice and bloom like a lily!
2 Let it richly bloom;
let it rejoice and shout with delight!
It is given the grandeur of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the grandeur of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake.
4 Tell those who panic,
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge;
with divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”
5 Then blind eyes will open,
deaf ears will hear.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
the mute tongue will shout for joy;
for water will burst forth in the wilderness,
streams in the arid rift valley.
7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,
the parched ground springs of water.
Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,
grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
8 A thoroughfare will be there—
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it—
fools will not stray into it.
9 No lions will be there,
no ferocious wild animals will be on it—
they will not be found there.
Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,
10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way.
They will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them,
happiness and joy will overwhelm them;
grief and suffering will disappear.