"Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! "They've abandoned the LORD; they've despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they've walked away from me.

"Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land they've brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors, we would have been as few as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

"How do your voluminous sacrifices benefit me?" the LORD is asking. "I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I don't enjoy the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.

As for your New Moons and your appointed festivals, I abhor them. They've become a burden to me; I've grown weary of carrying that burden.

Their respect for a man's position is a witness against them; and their sin is open to the view of all; like that of Sodom, it is not covered. A curse on their soul! for the measure of their sin is full.

And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought fo

Indeed, a large vineyard will produce just a few gallons, and enough seed to yield several bushels will produce less than a bushel."

Ah! [Those who are] wise in their own eyes and have understanding {in their view}!

In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the mouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones.

And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

At that time, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you've become obese."

Even the cypresses rejoice over you, as do the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Now that you've been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

In answer, all of them will tell you, "You've also become as weak as we are! You have become just like us!'

The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow: "Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen.

"This is what I've planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

"We've heard about Moab's pride so very proud he became! his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; therefore he is alone.

Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards, in the vineyards people will sing no songs, and no cheers are raised. No vintner treads out wine in the presses, because I've put an end to the shouting.

And now Jehovah speaketh saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired servant, and the glory of Moab shall be brought to nothing, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be small, few, of no account.

And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar’s court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!”

and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.

A message concerning the Valley of Vision. "What troubles you, now that you've all gone up to the rooftops,

Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

This is what will happen throughout the earth, among the nations. It will be like when they beat an olive tree, and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest.

“I have no wrath.
Should anyone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
I would step on them, I would set them all on fire.

One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, until the remaining few are as isolated as a flagpole on a mountaintop or a signal flag on a hill."

Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.

"Those who are far away have heard what I've done; and those that are near have acknowledged my power.

"Your eyes will see the king in his elegance, and will view a land that stretches afar.

"Here is what to tell your master," Isaiah told them. "This is what the LORD says: "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me.

""Didn't you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I've made it happen that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps.

Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind.

""I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings and how you've become enraged at me.

"Go tell Hezekiah, "This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David has to say: "I've heard your prayer and I've seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life.

My house has been plucked up and vanishes from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver, I've taken account of my life, and he cuts me off from the loom day and night you make an end of me.

I've been swept bare until morning; just like a lion, he breaks all my bones day and night you make an end of me.

"But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I've chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham

you whom I encouraged from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, and told you, "You're my servant, I've chosen you and haven't cast you aside.'

"Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I delight. I've placed my Spirit upon him; and he'll deliver his justice throughout the world.

"I've called you in righteousness. I'll take hold of your hand. I'll preserve you and appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light for the nations,

"I have certainly stayed silent for a long time; I've kept still and held myself back. Now, like a woman giving birth, I'll cry out. All of a sudden I'll gasp and pant.

You've seen many things, but you pay no attention. His ears are open, but he doesn't listen.

But now this is what the LORD says, the one who created you, Jacob, the one who formed you, Israel: "Do not be afraid, because I've redeemed you. I've called you by name; you are mine.

"I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer And I've given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and the people of Seba in exchange for you.

I've revealed and saved and proclaimed, when there was no foreign god among you and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD.

I've wiped away your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist. Return to me; because I've redeemed you.

For the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen, I've called you, and he has established you with a name, although you have not acknowledged me.

I am calling a bird of prey from the east, and from a far country a man with his purpose. Indeed, I've spoken; I will certainly make it happen; I've planned it; and I will certainly carry it out.

I Yes, I! have spoken; indeed, I've called and I've brought him, and he will make his path successful.

Your descendants would've been like the sand, and your offspring like its numberless grains. Their name wouldn't have been cut off or annihilated out of my reach.

"I said: "I've labored for nothing. I've exhausted my strength on futility and on emptiness.' Yet surely my recompense is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.

Look! I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands, and your walls are forever before me.

For the Lord GOD helps me, so I won't be disgraced. Therefore I've made my face like flint, and I know that I won't be put to shame."

Twain, are the things befalling thee, Who will lament for thee? Wasting and destruction and f famine and sword By whom shall I comfort thee?

I've seen his ways, yet I will heal him, and restore for him comfort to him and for those who mourn for him

they've rebelled in treachery against the LORD, and are turning away from following our God; and they've spoken oppression and revolt, and are conceiving lying words from the heart.

In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?

“No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives only a few days,
Or an old man who does not finish his days;
For the youth who dies at the age of a hundred,
And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred
Will be thought of as accursed.