Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

1 In the earlier time, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were lifted up. But in the later time, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, the Galilee of the Gentiles, was weighed down.

2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. A light has risen for the inhabitants of the region of the shadow of death.

3 You have increased the nation, but you have not increased the rejoicing. They will rejoice before you, like those who rejoice at the harvest, like the victorious exulting after capturing the prey, when they divide the spoils.

4 For you have prevailed over the yoke of their burden, and over the rod of their shoulder, and over the scepter of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

5 For every violent plunder with a tumult, and every garment mixed with blood, will be burned up and will become fuel for the fire.

6 For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. And leadership is placed upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called: wonderful Counselor, mighty God, father of the future age, Prince of Peace.

7 His reign will be increased, and there will be no end to his peace. He will sit upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to confirm and strengthen it, in judgment and justice, from now even unto eternity. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall accomplish this.

8 The Lord sent a word to Jacob, and it fell upon Israel.

9 And all the people of Ephraim will know it. And the inhabitants of Samaria will say it, in the arrogance and haughtiness of their heart:

10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with squared stones. They have cut down the sycamores, but we will replace them with cedars.”

11 And the Lord will raise up the enemies of Rezin over him, and he will turn his adversaries into a tumult:

12 the Syrians from the east and the Philistines from the west. And they will devour Israel with their whole mouth. After all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.

13 And the people did not return to the One who struck them, and they did not seek the Lord of hosts.

14 And so, the Lord will disperse, away from Israel, the head and the tail, he who bows down and he who refrains, in one day.

15 The long-lived and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

16 And those who deceitfully praise this people, and those who are praised, will be thrown down violently.

17 For this reason, the Lord will not rejoice over their youths. And he will not take pity on their orphans and widows. For each one is a hypocrite, and each one is wicked, and every mouth has spoken foolishness. After all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.

18 For impiety has been kindled like a fire: it will devour brier and thorn, and it will burn in the dense forest, and it will be interwoven with the ascending smoke.

19 The earth has been shaken by the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and the people will become like fuel for the fire. A man will not spare his own brother.

20 And he will turn toward the right, and he will be hungry. And he will eat toward the left, and he will not be satisfied. Each one will eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they will be against Judah.

21 After all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.

1 Woe to those who make unfair laws, and who, when writing, write injustice:

2 in order to oppress the poor in judgment, and to do violence to the case of the humble of my people, in order that widows may be their prey, and that they might plunder the orphan.

3 What will you do on the day of visitation and calamity which is approaching from afar? To whom will you flee for assistance? And where will you leave behind your own glory,

4 so that you may not be bowed down under the chains, and fall with the slain? Concerning all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.

5 Woe to Assur! He is the rod and the staff of my fury, and my indignation is in their hands.

6 I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will order him against the people of my fury, so that he may take away the plunder, and tear apart the prey, and place it to be trampled like the mud of the streets.

7 But he will not consider it to be so, and his heart will not suppose it to be this way. Instead, his heart will be set to crush and to exterminate more than a few nations.

8 For he will say:

9 “Are not my princes like many kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish, and Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

10 In the same manner as my hand reached the kingdoms of the idol, so also will it reach their false images, those of Jerusalem and of Samaria.

11 Should I not do to Jerusalem and her false images, just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

12 And this shall be: when the Lord will have completed each of his works on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will act against the fruit of the exalted heart of king Assur, and against the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

13 For he has said: “I have acted with the strength of my own hand, and I have understood with my own wisdom, and I have removed the limits of the people, and I have plundered their leaders, and, like one with power, I have pulled down those residing on high.

14 And my hand has reached to the strength of the people, as to a nest. And, just as the eggs which have been left behind are gathered, so have I gathered the entire earth. And there was no one who moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or uttered a snarl.”

15 Should the axe glorify itself over him who wields it? Or can the saw exalt itself over him who pulls it? How can a rod lift itself up against him who wields it, or a staff exalt itself, though it is only wood?

16 Because of this, the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones. And under the influence of his glory, a burning ardor will rage, like a consuming fire.

17 And the light of Israel will be like a fire, and the Holy One of Israel will be like a flame. And his thorns and briers will be set ablaze and devoured, in one day.

18 And the glory of his forest and of his beautiful hill will be consumed, from the soul even to the flesh. And he will flee away in terror.

19 And what remain of the trees of his forest will be so few, and so easily numbered, that even a child could write them down.

20 And this shall be in that day: those not added to the remnant of Israel, and those who escape of the house of Jacob, will not lean upon him who strikes them. Instead, they will lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 The remnant of Jacob, again I say the remnant, will be converted to the mighty God.

22 For though your people, O Israel, will be like the sand of the sea, yet only a remnant of them will be converted. The consummation, having been shortened, will be inundated with justice.

23 For the Lord, the God of hosts, will accomplish an abbreviation and a consummation, in the midst of all the earth.

24 For this reason, the Lord, the God of hosts, says this: “My people, who inhabit Zion: do not be afraid of Assur. He will strike you with his rod, and he will lift up his staff over you, on the way of Egypt.

25 But after a little while and a brief time, my indignation will be consumed, and my fury will turn to their wickedness.”

26 And the Lord of hosts will raise up a scourge over him, like the scourge of Midian at the rock of Oreb, and he will raise up his rod over the sea, and he will lift it up against the way of Egypt.

27 And this shall be in that day: his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke will be taken away from your neck, and the yoke will decay at the appearance of the oil.

28 He will approach Aiath; he will cross into Migron; he will entrust his vessels to Michmash.

29 They have passed through in haste; Geba is our seat; Ramah was stupefied; Gibeah of Saul fled.

30 Neigh with your voice, daughter of Gallim; pay attention, Laishah, impoverished woman of Anathoth.

31 Madmenah has moved away; be strengthened, you inhabitants of Gebim.

32 It is still daylight, so stand at Nob. He will shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the sovereign Lord of hosts will crush the little bottle of wine with terror, and the exalted in stature will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.

34 And the dense forest will be overturned with iron. And Lebanon, with its exalted ones, will fall.

1 And a rod will go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will ascend from his root.

2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety.

3 And he will be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He will not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.

4 Instead, he will judge the poor with justice, and he will reprove the meek of the earth with fairness. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he will slay the impious with the spirit of his lips.

5 And justice will be the belt around his waist. And faith will be the warrior’s belt at his side.

6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb; and the leopard will lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion and the sheep will abide together; and a little boy will drive them.

7 The calf and the bear will feed together; their young ones will rest together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 And a breastfeeding infant will play above the lair of the asp. And a child who has been weaned will thrust his hand into the den of the king snake.

9 They will not harm, and they will not kill, on all my holy mountain. For the earth has been filled with the knowledge of the Lord, like the waters covering the sea.

10 In that day, the root of Jesse, who stands as a sign among the people, the same the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulcher will be glorious.

11 And this shall be in that day: the Lord will send forth his hand a second time to take possession of the remnant of his people who will be left behind: from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

12 And he will lift up a sign to the nations, and he will gather together the fugitives of Israel, and he will collect the dispersed of Judah from the four regions of the earth.

13 And the envy of Ephraim will be taken away, and the enemies of Judah will perish. Ephraim will not be a rival to Judah, and Judah will not fight against Ephraim.

14 And they will fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines through the sea; together they will plunder the sons of the east. Idumea and Moab will be under the rule of their hand, and the sons of Ammon will be obedient.

15 And the Lord will desolate the tongue of the sea of Egypt. And he will lift up his hand over the river, with the strength of his Spirit; and he will strike it, in its seven streams, so that they may cross through it in their shoes.

16 And there will be a way for the remnant of my people, who will be left behind by the Assyrians: just as there was for Israel in the day that he ascended from the land of Egypt.

1 And you will say in that day: “I will confess to you, O Lord, because you have been angry with me; but your fury has been turned away, and you have consoled me.

2 Behold, God is my savior, I will act faithfully, and I will not be afraid. For the Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation.”

3 You will draw water with gladness from the fountains of the Savior.

4 And you will say in that day: “Confess the Lord, and invoke his name! Make his plans known among the peoples! Remember that his name is exalted!

5 Sing to the Lord, for he has acted magnificently! Announce it to the whole world!

6 Exult and give praise, O habitation of Zion! For the Great One, the Holy One of Israel, is in your midst!”

1 The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.

2 Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!

3 In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory.

4 On the mountains, there is the voice of a multitude, as if of a numerous people, a voice with the sound of kings, of nations gathered together. For the Lord of hosts has given orders to soldiers of war,

5 to those who are arriving from a far off land, from the heights of the heavens. It is the Lord and the instruments of his fury, so that he may bring ruin to all the earth.

6 Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.

7 Because of it, every hand will fail, and every heart of man will waste away and be crushed.

8 Writhing and pain will seize them. They will be in pain, like a woman in labor. Each one will appear stupefied to his neighbor. Their countenances will be like faces which have been burned up.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord approaches: a cruel day, full of indignation and wrath and fury, which will place the earth in solitude and crush the sinners from it.

10 For the stars of the heavens, in their splendor, will not display their light. The sun will be obscured at its rising, and the moon will not shine in her brightness.

11 And I will act against the evils of the world, and against the impious for their iniquity. And I will cause the pride of the unfaithful to cease, and I will bring down the arrogance of the strong.

12 A man will be more precious than gold, and mankind will become like pure refined gold.

13 For this purpose, I will stir up heaven, and the earth will be moved from its place, because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, because of the day of his furious wrath.

14 And they will be like a doe fleeing away, or like sheep; and there will be no one who may gather them together. Each one will turn to his own people, and every one will flee to his own land.

15 All who are found will be killed, and all who are caught unaware will fall by the sword.

16 Their infants will be thrown down violently before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.

18 Instead, with their arrows, they will put the little children to death, and they will take no pity on breastfeeding women, and their eye will not spare their children.

19 And then Babylon, the glorious one among kingdoms, that famous pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It will not be inhabited, even unto the end, and it will not be reestablished, even from generation to generation. The Arab will not pitch his tents there, nor will the shepherds take rest there.

21 Instead, the wild beasts will rest there, and their houses will be filled with serpents, and ostriches will live there, and the hairy ones will leap about there.

22 And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.

1 Her time is drawing near, and her days will not be prolonged. For the Lord will take pity on Jacob, and he will still choose from Israel, and he will cause them to rest upon their own soil. And the new arrival will be joined to them, and he will adhere to the house of Jacob.

2 And the people will take them, and lead them to their place. And the house of Israel will possess them, in the land of the Lord, as men and women servants. And they will take captive those who had taken them captive. And they will subjugate their oppressors.

3 And this shall be in that day: when God will have given you rest from your labor, and from your oppression, and from the difficult servitude under which you served before,

4 you will accept this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How is it that the oppressor has ceased, along with his tribute?

5 The Lord has crushed the staff of the impious, the scepter of despots,

6 which struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, which subjugated the nations in fury, which persecuted with cruelty.

7 All the earth has become quiet and still; it has been gladdened and has rejoiced.

8 The evergreens, too, have rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying: ‘Since you have slept, no one has ascended who would cut us down.’

9 Hell below was stirred up to meet you at your advent; it has awakened the giants for you. All the leaders of the earth have risen from their thrones, all the leaders among the nations.”

10 Everyone will respond and will say to you: “Now you are wounded, just as we were; you have become like us.

11 Your arrogance has been dragged down to Hell. Your body has fallen dead. The moths will be strewn beneath you, and the worms will be your covering.

12 How is it that you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who used to rise like the sun? How is it that you have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the peoples?

13 And you said in your heart: ‘I will climb up to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be enthroned upon the mountain of the covenant, on the northern parts.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’

15 Yet truly, you shall be dragged down to Hell, into the depths of the pit.

16 Those who see you, will lean toward you, and will gaze upon you, saying: ‘Could this be the man who disturbed the earth, who shook kingdoms,

17 who made the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who would not even open a prison for his prisoners?’ “

18 All the kings of the nations throughout the whole world have slept in glory, each man in his own house.

19 But you have been rejected from your grave, like a useless polluted plant, and you have been bound up with those who were slain by the sword, and who descended to the bottom of the pit, like a rotting carcass.

20 You will not be associated with them, even in the grave. For you have destroyed your own land; you have slain your own people. The offspring of the wicked ones will not be called upon for eternity.

21 Prepare his sons for the slaughter, according to the iniquity of their fathers. They will not rise up, nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

22 But I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts. And I will perish the name of Babylon and its remnants: both the plant and its progeny, says the Lord.

23 And I will appoint it as a possession for the hedgehog, with swamps of water. And I will sweep it out and wear it away with a brush, says the Lord of hosts.

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: Surely, just as I have considered it, so shall it be, and in the same manner as I have drawn it through my mind,

25 so shall it occur. So shall I crush the Assyrian in my land, and I will trample him upon my mountains, and his yoke will be taken away from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulder.

26 This is the plan that I have decided, concerning the entire earth, and this is the hand which is extended over all the nations.

27 For the Lord of hosts has decreed it, and who is able to weaken it? And his hand is extended, so who can avert it?

28 In the year in which king Ahaz died, this burden was given:

29 You should not rejoice, all you of Philistia, that the rod of him who struck you has been crushed. For from the root of the serpent will go forth a king snake, and his offspring will engulf that which flies.

30 And the firstborn of the poor will be pastured, and the poor will rest in faithfulness. And I will cause your root to pass away by famine, and I will put to death your remnant.

31 Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! All of Philistia has been prostrated. For a smoke will arrive from the north, and there is no one who will escape his army.

32 And what will be the response to this news among the nations? It will be that the Lord has established Zion, and that the poor of his people will hope in him.

1 The burden of Moab. Because Ar of Moab has been destroyed by night, it is utterly silent. Because the wall of Moab has been destroyed by night, it is utterly silent.

2 The house has ascended with Dibon to the heights, in mourning over Nebo and over Medeba. Moab has wailed. There will be baldness on all of their heads, and every beard will be shaven.

3 At their crossroads, they have been wrapped with sackcloth. On their rooftops and in their streets, everyone descends, wailing and weeping.

4 Heshbon will cry out with Elealeh. Their voice has been heard as far as Jahaz. Over this, the well-equipped men of Moab wail; each soul will wail to itself.

5 My heart will cry out to Moab; its bars will cry out even to Zoar, like a three-year-old calf. For they will ascend weeping, by way of the ascent of Luhith. And along the way of Horonaim, they will lift up a cry of contrition.

6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate, because the plants have withered, and the seedling has failed, and all the greenery has passed away.

7 This is in accord with the magnitude of their works and of their visitation. They will lead them to the torrent of the willows.

8 For an outcry has circulated along the border of Moab; its wailing even to Eglaim, and its clamor even to the well of Elim.

9 Because the waters of Dibon have been filled with blood, I will place even more upon Dibon: those from Moab who flee the lion, and the survivors of the earth.

1 O Lord, send forth the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth, from the Rock of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 And this shall be: like a bird fleeing away, and like fledglings flying from the nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the passage of Arnon.

3 Form a plan. Call a council. Let your shadow be as if it were night, even at midday. Conceal the fugitives, and do not betray the wanderers.

4 My fugitives will live with you. Become a hiding place, O Moab, from the face of the destroyer. For the dust is at its end; the miserable one has been consumed. He who trampled the earth has failed.

5 And a throne will be prepared in mercy, and One shall sit upon it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and quickly repaying what is just.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud. His pride and his arrogance and his indignation is more than his strength.

7 For this reason, Moab will wail to Moab; each one will wail. Speak of their wounds to those who rejoice upon the brick walls.

8 For the suburbs of Heshbon are deserted, and the lords of the Gentiles have cut down the vineyard of Sibmah. Its vines have arrived even at Jazer. They have wandered in the desert. Its seedlings have been abandoned. They have crossed over the sea.

9 I will weep with the tears of Jazer over this, the vineyard of Sibmah. I will inebriate you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh! For the sound of those who trample has rushed over your vintage and over your harvest.

10 And so, rejoicing and exultation will be taken away from Carmel, and there will be no jubilation or exultation in the vineyards. He who was accustomed to tread will not tread out the wine in the winepress. I have taken away the sound of those who tread.

11 Over this, my heart will resonate like a harp for Moab, and my inner most being for the brick wall.

12 And this shall be: when it is seen that Moab has struggled upon his high places, he will enter his holy places to pray, but he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that the Lord has spoken to Moab concerning that time.

14 And now the Lord has spoken, saying: In three years, like the years of a hired hand, the glory of Moab concerning the entire multitude of the people will be taken away, and what is left behind will be small and weak and not so numerous.

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and it will be like a heap of stones in ruin.

2 The cities in ruin will be left for the flocks, and they will take rest there, and there will be no one who may terrify them.

3 And assistance will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom will cease from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the sons of Israel, says the Lord of hosts.

4 And this shall be in that day: the glory of Jacob will be thinned, and the fatness of his flesh will be reduced.

5 And it shall be like the gathering of the harvest which remains, and his arm will pick the ears of grain. And it shall be like a search for grain in the valley of Rephaim.

6 And what is left behind in it will be like one cluster of grapes, or like a shaken olive tree with two or three olives at the top of a branch, or like four or five olives at the top of a tree, says the Lord God of Israel.

7 In that day, a man will bow before his Maker, and his eyes will consider the Holy One of Israel.

8 And he will not bow before the altars that his hands have made. And he will not consider the things that his fingers have made, the sacred groves and the shrines.

9 In that day, his strong cities will be abandoned, like the plows and the grain fields which were left behind before the face of the sons of Israel, and you shall be deserted.

10 For you have forgotten God your Savior, and you have not remembered your strong Helper. Because of this, you will plant trustworthy plants, but you will sow a foreign seed.

11 In the day of your planting, the wild grapevine and your morning seed will flourish. The harvest has been taken away to the day of inheritance, and you will grieve heavily.

12 Woe to the multitude of many peoples, like the multitude of the roaring sea! Woe to the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters!

13 The peoples will make a noise, like the noise of waters overflowing, but he will rebuke him, and so he will flee far away. And he will be quickly taken away, like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind, and like a whirlwind before a tempest.

14 In the time of the evening, behold: there will be a disturbance. When it is early morning, he will not remain. This is the portion of those who have devastated us, and this is the lot of those who have plundered us.

1 Woe to the land, that winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2 which sends ambassadors by sea and in vessels of papyrus above the waters. Go forth, O swift Angels, to a nation which has been convulsed and torn apart, to a terrible people, after whom there is no other, to a nation apprehensive and downtrodden, whose land the rivers have spoiled.

3 All inhabitants of the world, you who dwell upon the earth: when the sign will have been elevated on the mountains, you will see, and you will hear the blast of the trumpet.

4 For the Lord says this to me: I will be quiet, and I will consider in my place, as the light at midday is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of the harvest.

5 For before the harvest, all was flourishing. And it will spring forth with an untimely completion, and its little branches will be pruned with a curved blade. And what is left over will be cut away and shaken off.

6 And together they will be abandoned to the birds of the mountains and to the wild beasts of the earth. And the birds will be continuously on them in the summer, and all the wild beasts of the earth will winter over them.

7 In that time, a gift will be carried to the Lord of hosts, from a people divided and torn apart, from a terrible people, after whom there has been no other, from an apprehensive nation, apprehensive and downtrodden, whose land the rivers have ruined, and it will be carried to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Zion.