Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a lofty cloud, and he will enter into Egypt, and the false images of Egypt will be moved before his face, and the heart of Egypt will waste away in its midst.

2 And I will cause Egyptian to rush against Egyptian. And they will fight: a man against his brother, and a man against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3 And the spirit of Egypt will be ruptured to its very core. And I will cast down their plan violently. And they will seek answers from their false images, and their diviners, and those led by demons, and their seers.

4 And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a strong king will dominate them, says the Lord, the God of hosts.

5 And the waters of the sea will dry up, and the river will be desolate and dry.

6 And the rivers will fail. The streams of its banks will diminish and dry up. The reed and the bulrush will wither away.

7 The channel of the river will be stripped down to its source, and everything irrigated by it will dry up and wither and be no more.

8 And the fishermen will grieve. And all who cast a hook into the river will mourn. And those who cast a net upon the surface of its waters will languish.

9 Those who work with linen, combing and weaving fine textiles, will be confounded.

10 And its irrigated places will begin to fail, with all those who make pools to take fish.

11 The leaders of Tanis are foolish. The wise counselors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh: “I am the son of wisemen, the son of the kings of antiquity?”

12 Where are your wisemen now? Let them announce it to you, and let them reveal what the Lord of hosts intends for Egypt.

13 The leaders of Tanis have become foolish. The leaders of Memphis have decayed. They have deceived Egypt, the corner of its people.

14 The Lord has mixed a spirit of giddiness into its midst. And they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, like a drunken man who staggers and vomits.

15 And there will be no work for Egypt that would produce a head or a tail, one who bows down or one who refrains from bowing down.

16 In that day, Egypt will be like women, and they will be stupefied and fearful before the presence of the shaking hand of the Lord of hosts, the hand which he will move over them.

17 And the land of Judah will be a dread to Egypt. Everyone who thinks about it will be terrified before the presence of the plan of the Lord of hosts, the plan which he has decided concerning them.

18 In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan, and which swear by the Lord of hosts. One will be called the City of the Sun.

19 In that day, there will be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a monument of the Lord beside its borders.

20 This shall be a sign and a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they will cry out to the Lord before the face of the tribulation, and he will send them a savior and a defender who will free them.

21 And the Lord will be acknowledged by Egypt, and the Egyptians will recognize the Lord in that day, and they will worship him with sacrifices and gifts. And they will make vows to the Lord, and they will fulfill them.

22 And the Lord will strike Egypt with a scourge, and he will heal them. And they will return to the Lord. And he will be placated toward them, and he will heal them.

23 In that day, there will be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian will enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian will be with the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve Assur.

24 In that day, will Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

25 which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands for the Assyrian, but Israel is my inheritance.

1 In the year in which Tharthan entered into Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of the Assyrians, had sent him, and when he had fought against Ashdod and had captured it,

2 in that same time, the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying: “Go forth, and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take your shoes from your feet.” And he did so, going out naked and barefoot.

3 And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, as a sign and as a portent of three years over Egypt and over Ethiopia,

4 so also will the king of the Assyrians force the captivity of Egypt, and the transmigration of Ethiopia: young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

5 And they will be afraid and confounded over Ethiopia, their hope, and Egypt, their glory.

6 And in that day, the inhabitants of a certain island will say: “Behold, this was our hope, we fled to them for help, to free us from the face of the king of the Assyrians. And now, how will we be able to escape?”

1 The burden of the desert of the sea. Just as the whirlwinds approach from Africa, it approaches from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 A difficult vision has been announced to me: he who is unbelieving, he acts unfaithfully, and he who is a plunderer, he devastates. Ascend, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I have caused all its mourning to cease.

3 Because of this, my lower back has been filled with pain, and anguish has possessed me, like the anguish of a woman in labor. I fell down when I heard it. I was disturbed when I saw it.

4 My heart withered. The darkness stupefied me. Babylon, my beloved, has become a wonder to me.

5 Prepare the table. Contemplate, from a place of observation, those who eat and drink. Rise up, you leaders! Take up the shield!

6 For the Lord has said this to me: “Go and station a watchman. And let him announce whatever he will see.”

7 And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, and a rider on an donkey, and a rider on a camel. And he considered them diligently, with an intense gaze.

8 And a lion cried out: “I am on the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day. And I am at my station, standing throughout the night.

9 Behold, a certain man approaches, a man riding on a two-horse chariot.” And he responded, and he said: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! And all its graven gods have been crushed into the earth!

10 O my threshed grain! O sons of my threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced to you.”

11 The burden of Dumah, cried out to me from Seir: “Watchman, how goes the night? Watchman, how goes the night?”

12 The watchman said: “Morning approaches with the night. If you are seeking: seek, and convert, and approach.”

13 The burden in Arabia. In the forest you shall sleep, in the evening on the paths of Dedanim.

14 You who inhabit the land of the south: upon meeting the thirsty, bring water; meet the fugitive with bread.

15 For they are fleeing before the face of swords, before the face of a sword hanging over them, before the face of a bent bow, before the face of a grievous battle.

16 For the Lord said this to me: “After one more year, just like one year for a hired hand, all the glory of Kedar will be taken away.

17 And the remainder of the multitude of strong archers from the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

1 The burden of the valley of vision. What does it mean to you, then, that each of you have even climbed to the rooftops?

2 Filled with clamor, a busy city, an exultant city: your dead have not been slain by the sword, nor did they die in battle.

3 All your leaders have fled together, and they have been bound by hardship. All who were found were chained together. They have fled far away.

4 For this reason, I said: “Depart from me. I will weep bitterly. Make no attempt to console me, over the devastation of the daughter of my people.”

5 For it is a day of death, and of trampling, and of weeping to the Lord, the God of hosts, in the valley of vision: examining the wall and the magnificence above the mountain.

6 And Elam took up the quiver and the chariot of the horseman; and he stripped the wall of the shield.

7 And your elect valleys will be filled with chariots, and the horsemen will position themselves at the gates.

8 And the covering of Judah will be exposed, and in that day, you will see the weaponry of the forest house.

9 And you will see breaches in the city of David, for these have been multiplied. But you have gathered together the waters of the lower fish-pool.

10 And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem. And you have destroyed the houses in order to fortify the wall.

11 And you have made a pit between two walls for the waters of the ancient fish-pool. But you have not gazed upward to him who made it, and you have not considered, even from a distance, its Maker.

12 And in that day, the Lord, the God of hosts, will call to weeping and mourning, to baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But behold: gladness and rejoicing, the killing of calves and the slaughter of rams, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

14 And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you, until you die,” says the Lord, the God of hosts.

15 Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: Go forth and enter to him who lives in the tabernacle, to Shebna, who is in charge of the temple, and you shall say to him:

16 “What are you here, or who are you claiming to be here? For you have hewn a sepulcher for yourself here. You have diligently hewn a memorial in a rock, as a tabernacle to yourself.

17 Behold, the Lord will cause you to be carried away, like a domesticated rooster, and he will remove you, like an outer garment.

18 He will crown you with a crown of tribulation. He will toss you like a ball into a broad and spacious land. There you will die, and there the chariot of your glory will be, for it is a shame to the house of your Lord.”

19 And I will expel you from your station, and I will depose you from your ministry.

20 And this shall be in that day: I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

21 And I will clothe him with your vestment, and I will strengthen him with your belt, and I will give your authority to his hand. And he shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 And I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder. And when he opens, no one will close. And when he closes, no one will open.

23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a trustworthy place. And he will be upon a throne of glory in the house of his father.

24 And they will suspend over him all the glory of his father’s house: various kinds of vessels and every little article, from the vessels of bowls even to every instrument of music.

25 In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg which was fastened in a trustworthy place shall be taken away. And he will be broken, and he will fall, and he will perish, along with all that had depended upon him, because the Lord has spoken it.

1 The burden of Tyre. Wail, you ships of the sea! For the house, from which they were accustomed to go forth, has been laid waste. From the land of Kittim, this has been revealed to them.

2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the island! The merchants of Sidon, crossing over the sea, have filled you.

3 The offspring of the Nile is in the midst of many waters. The harvest of the river is her crop. And she has become the marketplace of the nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon! For the sea speaks, the strength of the sea, saying: “I have not been in labor, and I have not given birth, and I have not raised young men, nor have I promoted the development of virgins.”

5 When it has been heard in Egypt, they will be in anguish, when they hear of Tyre.

6 Cross over the seas. Wail, you inhabitants of the island!

7 Is this not your place, which from its earliest days has gloried in its antiquity? Her feet will lead her to a sojourn far away.

8 Who has made this plan against Tyre, which formerly was crowned, whose merchants were leaders, whose traders were illustrious on the earth?

9 The Lord of hosts has planned this, so that he may tear down the arrogance of all glory, and may bring disgrace to all the illustrious of the earth.

10 Cross through your land, as through a river, O daughter of the sea. You no longer have a belt.

11 He has extended his hand over the sea. He has stirred up kingdoms. The Lord has given an order against Canaan, so that he may crush its strong.

12 And he said: “You shall no longer increase so as to glory, while enduring calumny, O virgin daughter of Sidon. Rise up and set sail for Kittim; in that place, too, there will be no rest for you.”

13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans: never before was there such a people! Assur founded it. They have led away its strong ones into captivity. They have dug under its houses. They have left it in ruins.

14 Wail, you ships of the sea! For your strength has been devastated.

15 And this shall be in that day: you, O Tyre, will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Then, after seventy years, there will be, for Tyre, something like the canticle of a harlot.

16 Take up a stringed instrument. Circulate through the city, you harlot who had been forgotten. Sing many canticles well, so that you may be remembered.

17 And this shall be after seventy years: the Lord will visit Tyre, and he will lead her back to her profits. And she will fornicate again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

18 And her businesses and her profits will be sanctified to the Lord. They will not be locked away and they will not be stored. For her business will be for those who will live in the presence of the Lord, so that they may eat until satisfied, and may be well-clothed even into old age.

1 Behold, the Lord will lay waste to the earth, and he will strip it, and he will afflict its surface, and he will scatter its inhabitants.

2 And this shall be: as with the people, so with the priest; and as with the servant, so with his master; as with the handmaid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3 The earth will be utterly devastated and utterly plundered. For the Lord has spoken this word.

4 The earth mourned, and slipped away, and languished. The world slipped away; the loftiness of the people of the earth was weakened.

5 And the earth was corrupted by its inhabitants. For they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have dissipated the everlasting covenant.

6 Because of this, a curse will devour the earth, and its inhabitants will sin. And for this reason, its caretakers will become crazed, and few men will be left behind.

7 The vintage has mourned. The vine has languished. All those who were rejoicing in their hearts have groaned.

8 The gladness of the drums has ceased. The sound of rejoicing has quieted. The sweetness of stringed instruments has been silenced.

9 They will not drink wine with a song. The drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of vanity has been worn away. Every house has been closed up; no one enters.

11 There will be a clamor for wine in the streets. All rejoicing has been abandoned. The gladness of the earth has been carried away.

12 Solitude is what remains in the city, and calamity will overwhelm its gates.

13 For so shall it be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people: it is as if the few remaining olives are being shaken from the olive tree, and it is like a few clusters of grapes, when the grape harvest has already ended.

14 These few shall lift up their voice and give praise. When the Lord will have been glorified, they will make a joyful noise from the sea.

15 Because of this, glorify the Lord in doctrine: the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.

16 From the ends of the earth, we have heard the praises of the glory of the Just One. And I said: “My secret is for myself! My secret is for myself! Woe to me! Those who would betray us have betrayed us, and they have betrayed us with the betrayal of transgression.”

17 Dread, and the pit, and the snare are over you, O inhabitant of the earth!

18 And this shall be: whoever will flee from the voice of dread will fall into the pit. And whoever will extricate himself from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the floodgates from above have been opened, and the foundations of the earth will be shaken.

19 The earth will be utterly broken! The earth will be utterly crushed! The earth will be utterly shaken!

20 The earth will stagger greatly, like a drunken man, and will be carried away, like the tent of a single night. And its iniquity will be heavy upon it, and it will fall and not rise up again.

21 And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will visit upon the armies of the sky above, and upon the kings of the earth who are on the ground.

22 And they will be gathered together like the gathering of one bundle into a pit. And they will be enclosed in that place, as in a prison. And after many days, they will be visited.

23 And the moon will be ashamed, and the sun will be confounded, when the Lord of hosts will reign on mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and when he will have been glorified in the sight of his elders.

1 O Lord, you are my God! I will exalt you, and I will confess your name. For you have accomplished miracles. Your plan, from antiquity, is faithful. Amen.

2 For you have appointed a city as a tomb, a strong city for ruination, a house of foreigners: so that it may not be a city, and so that it may not be rebuilt forever.

3 Concerning this, a strong people will praise you; a city with a robust people will fear you.

4 For you have been the strength of the poor, the strength of the indigent in his tribulation, a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the spirit of the mighty is like a whirlwind striking against a wall.

5 You will bring low the uprising of foreigners, just as heat brings thirst. And like heat under a torrential cloud, you will cause the offshoot of the strong to wither away.

6 And the Lord of hosts will cause all the peoples on this mountain to feast on fatness, to feast on wine, a fatness full of marrow, a purified wine.

7 And he will cast down violently, on this mountain, the face of the chains, with which all peoples had been bound, and the net, with which all nations had been covered.

8 He will violently cast down death forever. And the Lord God will take away the tears from every face, and he will take away the disgrace of his people from the entire earth. For the Lord has spoken it.

9 And they will say in that day: “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord! We have endured for him. We will exult and rejoice in his salvation.”

10 For the hand of the Lord will rest upon this mountain. And Moab will be trampled under him, just as stubble is worn away by a wagon.

11 And he will extend his hands under him, like a swimmer extending his hands to swim. And he will bring down his glory with a clap of his hands.

12 And the fortifications of your sublime walls will fall, and be brought low, and be torn down to the ground, even to the dust.

1 In that day, this canticle will be sung in the land of Judah. Within it will be set the city of our strength: Zion, a savior, a wall with a bulwark.

2 Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.

3 The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.

4 You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.

5 For he will bend down those living in the heights. He will bring low the lofty city. He will lower it, even to the ground. He will tear it down, even to the dust.

6 The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.

7 The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.

8 And in the path of your judgments, O Lord, we have endured for you. Your name and your remembrance are the desire of the soul.

9 My soul has desired you in the night. But I will also watch for you with my spirit, in my inmost heart, from the morning. When you accomplish your judgments upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn justice.

10 Let us take pity on the impious one, but he will not learn justice. In the land of the holy ones, he has done iniquity, and so he will not see the glory of the Lord.

11 Lord, let your hand be exalted, and let them not see it. May the envious people see and be confounded. And may fire devour your enemies.

12 Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.

13 O Lord our God, other lords have possessed us apart from you, but in you alone let us remember your name.

14 Let not the dead live; let not the giants rise up again. For this reason, you have visited and destroyed them, and you have perished all remembrance of them.

15 You have been lenient to the people, O Lord, lenient to the people. But have you been glorified? You have removed all the limits of the earth.

16 Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.

17 Like a woman who has conceived and is approaching the time for delivery, who, in anguish, cries out in her pains, so have we become before your face, O Lord.

18 We have conceived, and it is as if we were in labor, but we have given birth to wind. We have not brought forth salvation on the earth. For this reason, the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

19 Your dead shall live. My slain will rise again. Be awakened, and give praise, you who live in the dust! For your dew is the dew of the light, and you shall be dragged down to the land of the giants, to ruination.

20 Go, my people! Enter your chambers. Close your doors behind you. Conceal yourselves for a very brief time, until the indignation has passed over you.

21 For behold, the Lord will go forth from his place, so that he may visit the iniquity of each inhabitant of the earth against him. And the earth will reveal its blood, and it will no longer cover its slain.

1 In that day, the Lord will visit, with his harsh and great and strong sword, against Leviathan, the barred serpent, and against Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he will slay the whale that is in the sea.

2 In that day, the vineyard of pure wine will sing to them.

3 I am the Lord, who watches over it. I will suddenly give drink to it. I will watch over it, night and day, lest perhaps someone visit against it.

4 Indignation is not mine. Who will be a thorn and a brier to me in battle? I will advance against them. I set them on fire together.

5 Or will he, instead, take hold of my strength? Will he make peace with me? Will she make peace with me?

6 As they advance with violence against Jacob, Israel will flourish and spring forth, and they will fill the face of the world with offspring.

7 Has he struck him with the scourge that he himself used to strike others? Or has he killed in the manner that he himself used to kill his victims?

8 You will judge this by comparing one measure to another, when he has been cast out. He has decided this, by his stern spirit, for the day of heat.

9 Therefore, concerning this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven. And this is the reward of all: that their sin be taken away, when he will have made all the stones of the altar to be like crushed cinders. For the sacred groves and the shrines shall not stand.

10 For the fortified city will be desolate. The shining city will be abandoned and will be left behind like a desert. In that place, the calf will pasture, and in that place, he will lie down, and he will feed from its summits.

11 Its harvest will be crushed by dryness. Women will arrive and teach it, for it is not a wise people. Because of this, he who made it will not take pity on it, and he who formed it will not spare it.

12 And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will strike, from the channel of the river, even to the torrent of Egypt. And you shall be gathered together, one by one, O sons of Israel.

13 And this shall be: in that day, a noise will be made with a great trumpet. And those who had been lost will approach from the land of the Assyrians, with those who had been outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they will adore the Lord, on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

1 Woe to the crown of arrogance, to the inebriated of Ephraim, and to the falling flower, the glory of his exultation, to those who were at the top of the very fat valley, staggering from wine.

2 Behold, the Lord is powerful and steadfast, like a storm of hail, like a crushing whirlwind, like the force of many waters, inundating, sent forth over a spacious land.

3 The arrogant crown of the inebriated of Ephraim will be trampled under foot.

4 And the falling flower, the glory of his exultation, who is at the summit of the fat valley, will be like a premature fruit before the ripeness of autumn, which, when the onlooker beholds it, as soon he takes it in his hand, he will devour it.

5 In that day, the Lord of hosts will be the crown of glory and the wreath of exultation for the remnant of his people.

6 And he will be the spirit of judgment for those who sit in judgment, and the strength of those who return from war to the gates.

7 Yet truly, these also have been ignorant due to wine, and they have gone astray due to inebriation. The priest and the prophet have been ignorant because of inebriation. They have been absorbed by wine. They have staggered in drunkenness. They have not known the One who sees. They have been ignorant of judgment.

8 For all the tables have been filled with vomit and filth, so much so that there was no place left.

9 To whom will he teach knowledge? And to whom will he grant an understanding of what is heard? To those who have been weaned from the milk, who have been pulled away from the breasts.

10 So then: command, and command again; command, and command again; expect, and expect again; a little here, and a little there.

11 For with the speech of lips and with a different language, he will speak to this people.

12 He said to them: “This is my rest. Refresh the weary,” and, “This is my refreshment.” And yet they were unwilling to listen.

13 And so, the word of the Lord to them will be: “Command, and command again; command, and command again; expect, and expect again; a little here, and a little there,” so that they may go forward and fall backward, and so that they may be broken and ensnared and captured.

14 Because of this, listen to the word of the Lord, you mocking men, who lord it over my people who are at Jerusalem.

15 For you have said: “We struck a deal with death, and we formed a pact with Hell. When the inundating scourge passes through, it will not overwhelm us. For we have placed our hope in lies, and we are protected by what is false.”

16 For this reason, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will set a stone within the foundations of Zion, a tested stone, a cornerstone, a precious stone, which has been established in the foundation: whoever trusts in him need not hurry.

17 And I will establish judgment in weights, and justice in measures. And a hailstorm will overturn hope in what is false; and waters will inundate its protection.

18 And your deal with death will be abolished, and your pact with Hell will not stand. When the inundating scourge passes through, you will be trampled down by it.

19 Whenever it passes through, it will take you away. For, at first light of morning, it will pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone will make you understand what you hear.

20 For the bed has been narrowed, so much so that one alone would fall out, and the short blanket is not able to cover two.

21 For the Lord will stand, just as at the mountain of divisions. He will be angry, just as in the valley which is in Gibeon, so that he may accomplish his work, his strange work, so that he may complete his work, his work which is foreign even to him.

22 And now, do not be willing to mock, lest your chains be tightened. For I have heard, from the Lord, the God of hosts, about the consummation and the abridgement concerning the entire earth.

23 Pay close attention, and listen to my voice! Attend and hear my eloquence!

24 Would the plowman, after plowing all day so that he may sow, instead cut open and hoe his soil?

25 Will he not, when he has made the surface level, sow coriander, and scatter cumin, and plant wheat in rows, and barley, and millet, and vetch in their places?

26 For he will be instructed in judgment; his God will teach him.

27 For coriander cannot be threshed with a saw, and a cartwheel cannot revolve over cumin. Instead, coriander is shaken out with a stick, and cumin with a staff.

28 But grain for bread must be crushed. Truly, the thresher cannot thresh it unceasingly, and the cartwheel can neither disrupt it, nor break it with its surface.

29 And this has gone forth from the Lord, the God of hosts, so that he may accomplish his miraculous plan and magnify justice.