Isaiah 17

1 Oracle on Damascus: Lo, Damascus shall cease to be a city and become a ruin;
2 Her cities shall be forever abandoned, given over to flocks to lie in undisturbed.
3 The fortress shall be lost to Ephraim and the kingdom to Damascus; The remnant of Aram shall have the same glory as the Israelites, says the LORD of hosts.
4 On that day The glory of Jacob shall fade, and his full body grow thin,
5 Like the reaper's mere armful of stalks when he gathers the standing grain; Or as when one gleans the ears in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Only a scattering of grapes shall be left! As when an olive tree has been beaten, Two or three olives remain at the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches, says the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 On that day man shall look to his maker, his eyes turned toward the Holy One of Israel.
8 He shall not look to the altars, his handiwork, nor shall he regard what his fingers have made: the sacred poles or the incense stands.
9 On that day his strong cities shall be like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites When faced with the children of Israel: they shall be laid waste.
10 For you have forgotten God, your savior, and remembered not the Rock, your strength. Therefore, though you plant your pagan plants and set out your foreign vine slips,
11 Though you make them grow the day you plant them and make your sprouts blossom on the next morning, The harvest shall disappear on the day of the grievous blow, the incurable blight.
12 Ah! the roaring of many peoples that roar like the roar of the seas! The surging of nations that surge like the surging of mighty waves!
13 But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away; Windswept, like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweed in a storm.
14 In the evening, they spread terror, before morning, they are gone! Such is the portion of those who despoil us, the lot of those who plunder us.

Isaiah 18

1 Ah, land of buzzing insects, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
2 Sending ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed, To a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.
3 All you who inhabit the world, who dwell on earth, When the signal is raised on the mountain, look! When the trumpet blows, listen!
4 For thus says the LORD to me: I will quietly look on from where I dwell, Like the glowing heat of sunshine, like a cloud of dew at harvest time.
5 Before the vintage, when the flowering is ended, and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes, Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
6 They shall all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts in the land; The birds of prey shall summer on them and on them all the beasts of the earth shall winter.
7 Then will gifts be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers-to Mount Zion where dwells the name of the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah 19

1 Oracle on Egypt: See, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud on his way to Egypt; The idols of Egypt tremble before him, the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.
2 I will rouse Egypt against Egypt: brother will war against brother, Neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kindgom.
3 The courage of the Egyptians ebbs away within them, and I will bring to nought their counsel; They shall consult idols and charmers, ghosts and spirits.
4 I will deliver Egypt into the power of a cruel master, A harsh king who shall rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 The waters shall be drained from the sea, the river shall shrivel and dry up;
6 Its streams shall become foul, and the canals of Egypt shall dwindle and dry up. Reeds and rushes shall wither away,
7 and bulrushes on the bank of the Nile; All the sown land along the Nile shall dry up and blow away, and be no more.
8 The fishermen shall mourn and lament, all who cast hook in the Nile; Those who spread their nets in the water shall pine away.
9 The linen-workers shall be disappointed, the combers and weavers shall turn pale;
10 The spinners shall be crushed, all the hired laborers shall be despondent.
11 Utter fools are the princes of Zoan! the wisest of Pharaoh's advisers give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, I am a disciple of wise men, of ancient kings?
12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and make known What the LORD of hosts has planned against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis have been deceived. The chiefs of her tribes have led Egypt astray.
14 The LORD has prepared among them a spirit of dizziness, And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15 Egypt shall have no work to do for head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16 On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with fear, because of the LORD of hosts shaking his fist at them.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they remember Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan which the LORD of hosts has in mind for them.
18 On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing by the LORD of hosts; one shall be called City of the Sun.
19 On that day there shall be an altar to the LORD in the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the LORD near the boundary.
20 It shall be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt, when they cry out to the LORD against their oppressors, and he sends them a savior to defend and deliver them.
21 The LORD shall make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day; they shall offer sacrifices and oblations, and fulfill the vows they make to the LORD.
22 Although the LORD shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them; they shall turn to the LORD and he shall be won over and heal them.
23 On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; the Assyrians shall enter Egypt, and the Egyptians enter Assyria, and Egypt shall serve Assyria.
24 On that day Israel shall be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land,
25 when the LORD of hosts blesses it: Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my inheritance, Israel.

Isaiah 20

1 In the year the general sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, fought against Ashdod and captured it,
2 the LORD gave a warning through Isaiah, the son of Amoz: Go and take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet. This he did, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then the LORD said: Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,
4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away captives from Egypt, and exiles from Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered (the shame of Egypt).
5 They shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and because of Egypt, their boast.
6 The inhabitants of this coastland shall say on that day, Look at our hope! We have fled here for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria; where can we flee now?

Isaiah 21

1 Oracle on the wastelands by the sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping in waves through the Negeb, there comes from the desert, from the fearful land,
2 A cruel sight, revealed to me: the traitor betrays, the despoiler spoils. Go up, Elam; besiege, O Media; I will put an end to all groaning!
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish, pangs have seized me like those of a woman in labor; I am too bewildered to hear, too dismayed to look.
4 My mind reels, shuddering assails me; My yearning for twilight has turned into dread.
5 They set the table, spread out the rugs; they eat, they drink. Rise up, O princes, oil the shield!
6 For thus says my Lord to me: Go, station a watchman, let him tell what he sees.
7 If he sees a chariot, a pair of horses, Someone riding an ass, someone riding a camel, Then let him pay heed, very close heed.
8 Then the watchman cried, On the watchtower, O my Lord, I stand constantly by day; And I stay at my post through all the watches of the night.
9 Here he comes now: a single chariot, a pair of horses; He calls out and says, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon, And all the images of her gods are smashed to the ground.'
10 O my people who have been threshed, beaten on my threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have announced to you.
11 Oracle on Edom: They call to me from Seir, Watchman, how much longer the night? Watchman, how much longer the night?
12 The watchman replies, Morning has come, and again night. If you will ask, ask; come back again.
13 Oracle on Arabia: In the thicket in the nomad country spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.
14 Meet the thirsty, bring them water; you who dwell in the land of Tema, greet the fugitives with bread.
15 They flee from the sword, from the whetted sword; From the taut bow, from the fury of battle.
16 For thus says the Lord to me: In another year, like those of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall come to an end.
17 Few of Kedar's stalwart archers shall remain, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.