15 The pronouncement against Moab: Because in the night it has been despoiled, Ar of Moab itself has been silenced. Because in the night it has been despoiled, Kir of Moab itself has been silenced. 2 He has gone up to The House and to Dibon, to the high places, to a weeping. Over Nebo and over Medeba Moab itself howls. On all heads in it there is baldness; every beard is clipped. 3 In its streets they have girded on sackcloth. Upon the roofs thereof and in the public squares thereof everyone thereof howls, going down with weeping. 4 And Heshbon and Elealeh cry out. As far as Jahaz their voice has been heard. That is why the armed men of Moab themselves keep shouting. His very soul has quivered within him.

5 My own heart cries out over Moab himself. The runaways thereof are as far along as Zoar [and] Eglath-shelishiyah. For on the ascent of Luhith—with weeping [each] one goes up on it; for on the way to Horonaim they arouse the outcry about the catastrophe. 6 For the very waters of Nimrim become sheer desolations. For the green grass has dried up, the grass has come to an end; nothing has become green. 7 That is why the leftovers and their stored goods that they have put up, they keep carrying them away right over the torrent valley of the poplars. 8 For the outcry has gone around the territory of Moab. The howling thereof is clear to Eglaim; the howling thereof is clear to Beer-elim, 9 because the very waters of Dimon have become full of blood. For upon Dimon I shall place additional things, such as a lion for the escapees of Moab who escape and for the remaining ones of the ground.

16 Send a ram, YOU men, to the ruler of the land, from Sela toward the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 And it must occur [that] like a fleeing winged creature, chased away from [its] nest, the daughters of Moab will become at the fords of Arnon.

3 “Bring in counsel, YOU men, execute the decision.

“Make your shadow just like the night in the midst of noontime. Conceal the dispersed ones; do not betray anyone fleeing. 4 May my dispersed ones reside as aliens even in you, O Moab. Become a place of concealment to them because of the despoiler. For the oppressor has reached his end; the despoiling has terminated; those trampling down [others] have been finished off the earth.

5 “And in loving-kindness a throne will certainly be firmly established; and one must sit down upon it in trueness in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and being prompt in righteousness.”

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; his haughtiness and his pride and his fury—his empty talk will not be so. 7 Therefore Moab will howl for Moab; even all of it will howl. For the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth the stricken ones indeed will moan, 8 because the terraces themselves of Heshbon have withered. The vine of Sibmah—the owners of the nations themselves have smitten down its bright-red [branches]. As far as Jazer they had reached; they had wandered about in the wilderness. Its own shoots had been left to luxuriate for themselves; they had gone over to the sea.

9 That is why I shall weep with the weeping of Jazer over the vine of Sibmah. With my tears I shall drench you, O Heshbon and Elealeh, because shouting even over your summer and over your harvest has fallen down. 10 And rejoicing and joyfulness have been taken away from the orchard; and in the vineyards there is no joyful crying out, there is no shouting done. No wine in the presses does the treader tread out. Shouting I have caused to cease.

11 That is why my very inwards are boisterous just like a harp even over Moab, and the midst of me over Kir-hareseth.

12 And it occurred that it was seen that Moab was made weary upon the high place; and he came to his sanctuary to pray, and he could not accomplish anything.

13 This is the word that Jehovah spoke concerning Moab formerly. 14 And now Jehovah has spoken, saying: “Within three years, according to the years of a hired laborer, the glory of Moab must also be disgraced with much commotion of every sort, and those who remain over will be a trifling few, not mighty.”

17 The pronouncement against Damascus: “Look! Damascus removed from being a city, and she has become a heap, a decaying ruin. 2 The cities of Aroer that have been left behind become mere places for droves, where they actually lie down, with no one to make [them] tremble. 3 And the fortified city has been made to cease out of Ephraim, and the kingdom out of Damascus; and those of Syria remaining over will become just like the glory of the sons of Israel,” is the utterance of Jehovah of armies.

4 “And it must occur in that day that the glory of Jacob will become lowly, and even the fatness of his flesh will be made lean. 5 And it must occur that when the harvester is gathering the standing grain and his own arm harvests the ears of grain, he must even become like one gleaning ears of grain in the low plain of Rephaim. 6 And there must remain in it a gleaning as when there is a beating off of the olive tree: two [or] three ripe olives in the top of the branch; four [or] five on the fruit-bearing boughs thereof,” is the utterance of Jehovah the God of Israel.

7 In that day earthling man will look up to his Maker, and his own eyes will gaze at the Holy One of Israel himself. 8 And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; and at what his fingers have made he will not gaze, either at the sacred poles or at the incense stands. 9 In that day his fortress cities will become like a place left entirely in the woodland, even the branch that they have left entirely on account of the sons of Israel; and it must become a desolate waste. 10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation; and the Rock of your fortress you have not remembered. That is why you plant pleasant plantations, and with the shoot of a stranger you set it. 11 In the day you may carefully fence about the plantation of yours, and in the morning you may cause the seed of yours to sprout, [but] the harvest will certainly flee in the day of the disease and incurable pain.

12 Ha for the commotion of many peoples, who are boisterous as with the boisterousness of the seas! And for the noise of national groups, who make a din just like the noise of mighty waters! 13 The national groups themselves will make a din just like the noise of many waters. And He will certainly rebuke it, and it must flee far away and be chased like the chaff of the mountains before a wind and like a thistle whirl before a storm wind. 14 At evening time, why, look! there is sudden terror. Before morning—it is no more. This is the share of those pillaging us, and the lot belonging to those plundering us.


18 Ha for the land of the whirring insects with wings, which is in the region of the rivers of Ethiopia! 2 It is the one sending forth envoys by means of the sea, and by means of vessels of papyrus upon the surface of the waters, [saying:] “Go, YOU swift messengers, to a nation drawn out and scoured, to a people fear-inspiring everywhere, a nation of tensile strength and of treading down, whose land the rivers have washed away.”

3 All YOU inhabitants of the productive land and YOU residents of the earth, YOU will see a sight just as when there is the raising up of a signal upon the mountains, and YOU will hear a sound just as when there is the blowing of a horn. 4 For this is what Jehovah has said to me: “I will keep undisturbed and look upon my established place, like the dazzling heat along with the light, like the cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5 For before the harvest, when the blossom comes to perfection and the bloom becomes a ripening grape, one must also cut off the sprigs with pruning shears and must remove the tendrils, must lop [them] off. 6 They will be left all together for the bird of prey of the mountains and for the beast of the earth. And upon it the bird of prey will certainly pass the summer, and upon it even every beast of the earth will pass the harvesttime.

7 “In that time a gift will be brought to Jehovah of armies, [from] a people drawn out and scoured, even from a people fear-inspiring everywhere, a nation of tensile strength and of treading down, whose land the rivers have washed away, to the place of the name of Jehovah of armies, Mount Zion.”

19 The pronouncement against Egypt: Look! Jehovah is riding on a swift cloud and coming into Egypt. And the valueless gods of Egypt will certainly quiver because of him, and the very heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it.

2 “And I will goad Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will certainly war each one against his brother, and each one against his companion, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt must become bewildered in the midst of it, and I shall confuse its own counsel. And they will be certain to resort to the valueless gods and to the charmers and to the spirit mediums and to the professional foretellers of events. 4 And I will deliver up Egypt into the hand of a hard master, and strong will be the king that will rule over them,” is the utterance of the [true] Lord, Jehovah of armies.

5 And the water will certainly be dried up from the sea, and the river itself will become parched and actually run dry. 6 And the rivers must stink; the Nile canals of Egypt must become low and parched. The reed and the rush themselves must molder. 7 The bare places by the Nile River, at the mouth of the Nile River, and every seedland of the Nile River will dry up. It will certainly be driven away, and it will be no more. 8 And the fishers will have to mourn, and all those casting fishhooks into the Nile River must express sorrow, and even those spreading fishing nets upon the surface of the water will actually fade away. 9 And the workers in carded flax must become ashamed; also the loom workers on white fabrics. 10 And her weavers must become crushed, all the wage workers grieved in soul.

11 The princes of Zoan are indeed foolish. As regards the wise ones of Pharaoh’s counselors, [their] counsel is something unreasonable. How will YOU men say to Pharaoh: “I am the son of wise ones, the son of kings of ancient time”? 12 Where, then, are they—the wise men of yours—that they may now tell you and that they may know what Jehovah of armies has counseled concerning Egypt? 13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, the princes of Noph have been deceived, the keymen of her tribes have caused Egypt to wander about. 14 Jehovah himself has mingled in the midst of her the spirit of disconcertedness; and they have caused Egypt to wander about in all its work, just as someone drunk is made to wander about in his vomit. 15 And Egypt will not come to have any work that the head or the tail, the shoot or the rush, can do.

16 In that day Egypt will become like women, and it will certainly tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of Jehovah of armies which he is waving against it. 17 And the ground of Judah must become to Egypt a cause for reeling. Everybody to whom one mentions it is in dread because of the counsel of Jehovah of armies that he is counseling against him.

18 In that day there will prove to be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to Jehovah of armies. The City of Tearing Down will one [city] be called.

19 In that day there will prove to be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah beside its boundary. 20 And it must prove to be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and he will send them a savior, even a grand one, who will actually deliver them. 21 And Jehovah will certainly become known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians must know Jehovah in that day, and they must render sacrifice and gift and must make a vow to Jehovah and pay it. 22 And Jehovah will certainly deal Egypt a blow. There will be a dealing of a blow and a healing; and they must return to Jehovah, and he must let himself be entreated by them and must heal them.

23 In that day there will come to be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will actually come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria; and they will certainly render service, Egypt with Assyria. 24 In that day Israel will come to be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, namely, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 because Jehovah of armies will have blessed it, saying: “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my inheritance, Israel.”

20 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he proceeded to war against Ashdod and to capture it; 2 at that time Jehovah spoke by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying: “Go, and you must loosen the sackcloth from off your hips; and your sandals you should draw from off your feet.” And he proceeded to do so, walking about naked and barefoot.

3 And Jehovah went on to say: “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked about naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and against Ethiopia, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead the body of captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, boys and old men, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks stripped, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 And they will certainly be terrified and be ashamed of Ethiopia their looked-for hope and of Egypt their beauty. 6 And the inhabitant of this coastland will be certain to say in that day, ‘There is how our looked-for hope is, to which we fled for assistance, in order to be delivered because of the king of Assyria! And how shall we ourselves escape?’”