And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.

It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.

But desert creatures will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.

Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.

The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!

You said to yourself:
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.

I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.

Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,

You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be remembered.

“I will rise up against them”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

“I will make her a swampland and a region for screech owls, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

The Lord of Hosts has sworn:

As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.

I will break Assyria in My land;
I will tread him down on My mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you is broken.
For a viper will come from the root of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.

What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,
and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

The waters of Dibon are full of blood,
but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.

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Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.

Then in the tent of David
a throne will be established by faithful love.
A judge who seeks what is right
and is quick to execute justice
will sit on the throne forever.

When Moab appears on the high place,
when he tires himself out
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.

And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”

The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.

The fortress disappears from Ephraim,
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

On that day
the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and his healthy body will become emaciated.

It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain—
his arm harvesting the heads of grain—
and as if one had gleaned heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.

Only gleanings will be left in Israel,
as if an olive tree had been beaten—
two or three berries at the very top of the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches.
This is the declaration of the Lord,
the God of Israel.

On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they made with their fingers.

On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength;
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.

On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.

For, the Lord said to me:

I will quietly look out from My place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.

They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds will spend the summer on them,
and all the animals, the winter on them.

At that time a gift will be brought to Yahweh of Hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the name of Yahweh of Hosts.

An oracle against Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s idols will tremble before Him,
and Egypt’s heart will melt within it.

I will provoke Egypt against Egypt;
each will fight against his brother
and each against his friend,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,
and I will frustrate its plans.
Then they will seek idols, ghosts,
spirits of the dead, and spiritists.

I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters,
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.

The waters of the sea will dry up,
and the river will be parched and dry.

The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will die.

The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,
and all the cultivated areas of the Nile
will wither, blow away, and vanish.

Then the fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.

Those who work with flax will be dismayed;
the combers and weavers will turn pale.

Egypt’s weavers will be dejected;
all her wage earners will be demoralized.

No head or tail, palm or reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.

On that day Egypt will be like women. She will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Hosts when He raises it against her.

The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the Lord of Hosts has planned against it.

On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the Lord of Hosts. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.

On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near her border.

It will be a sign and witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.

The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the Lord and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.

On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing within the land.

The Lord of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance are blessed.”

so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”

A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”

An oracle against Arabia:

In the desert brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.

For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number.” For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

The Lord of Hosts has directly revealed to me:
“This sin of yours will never be wiped out.”
The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

Look, you strong man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be—a disgrace to the house of your lord.

I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

“On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.

I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s house.

They will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

On that day”—the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.

He said,
“You will not rejoice anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will have no rest!”

Look at the land of the Chaldeans—
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.

On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

Pick up your lyre,
stroll through the city,
prostitute forgotten by men.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song,
and you will be thought of again.

And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.

Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare
and making it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.

For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the windows are opened from heaven,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven above
and kings of the earth below.

They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon;
after many days they will be punished.

The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and He will display His glory
in the presence of His elders.

Yahweh, You are my God;
I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,
for You have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

For You have turned the city into a pile of rocks,
a fortified city, into ruins;
the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city;
it will never be rebuilt.

Therefore, a strong people will honor You.
The cities of violent nations will fear You.

The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast
for all the peoples on this mountain—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine.

On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;

He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people’s disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moab will be trampled in his place
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
along with the trickery of his hands.

The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.