rsv Isaiah:18-22 SEEK
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Ah ,
land of whirring wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ;
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which sends ambassadors by the Nile ,
in vessels of papyrus upon the waters !
Go ,
you swift messengers ,
to a nation ,
tall and smooth ,
to a people feared near and far ,
a nation mighty and conquering ,
whose land the rivers divide .
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All you inhabitants of the world ,
you who dwell on the earth ,
when a signal is raised on the mountains ,
look !
When a trumpet is blown ,
hear !
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For thus the LORD said to me : "
I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine ,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest ."
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For before the harvest ,
when the blossom is over ,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape ,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks ,
and the spreading branches he will hew away .
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They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth .
And the birds of prey will summer upon them ,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them .
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At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth ,
from a people feared near and far ,
a nation mighty and conquering ,
whose land the rivers divide ,
to Mount Zion ,
the place of the name of the LORD of hosts .
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An oracle concerning Egypt .
Behold ,
the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt ;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence ,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them .
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And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians ,
and they will fight ,
every man against his brother and every man against his neighbor ,
city against city ,
kingdom against kingdom ;
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and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out ,
and I will confound their plans ;
and they will consult the idols and the sorcerers ,
and the mediums and the wizards ;
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and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master ;
and a fierce king will rule over them ,
says the Lord ,
the LORD of hosts .
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And the waters of the Nile will be dried up ,
and the river will be parched and dry ;
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and its canals will become foul ,
and the branches of Egypt '
s Nile will diminish and dry up ,
reeds and rushes will rot away .
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There will be bare places by the Nile ,
on the brink of the Nile ,
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up ,
be driven away ,
and be no more .
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The fishermen will mourn and lament ,
all who cast hook in the Nile ;
and they will languish who spread nets upon the water .
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The workers in combed flax will be in despair ,
and the weavers of white cotton .
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Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed ,
and all who work for hire will be grieved .
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The princes of Zo '
an are utterly foolish ;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel .
How can you say to Pharaoh , "
I am a son of the wise ,
a son of ancient kings "?
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Where then are your wise men ?
Let them tell you and make known what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt .
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The princes of Zo '
an have become fools ,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded ;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray .
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The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion ;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings as a drunken man staggers in his vomit .
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And there will be nothing for Egypt which head or tail ,
palm branch or reed ,
may do .
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In that day the Egyptians will be like women ,
and tremble with fear before the hand which the LORD of hosts shakes over them .
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And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians ;
every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the LORD of hosts has purposed against them .
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In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts .
One of these will be called the City of the Sun .
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In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt ,
and a pillar to the LORD at its border .
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It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt ;
when they cry to the LORD because of oppressors he will send them a savior ,
and will defend and deliver them .
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And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians ;
and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering ,
and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them .
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And the LORD will smite Egypt ,
smiting and healing ,
and they will return to the LORD ,
and he will heed their supplications and heal them .
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In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria ,
and the Assyrian will come into Egypt ,
and the Egyptian into Assyria ,
and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians .
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In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria ,
a blessing in the midst of the earth ,
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whom the LORD of hosts has blessed ,
saying , "
Blessed be Egypt my people ,
and Assyria the work of my hands ,
and Israel my heritage ."
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In the year that the commander in chief ,
who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria ,
came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it ,--
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at that time the LORD had spoken by Isaiah the son of Amoz ,
saying , "
Go ,
and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off your shoes from your feet ,"
and he had done so ,
walking naked and barefoot --
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the LORD said , "
As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia ,
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so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles ,
both the young and the old ,
naked and barefoot ,
with buttocks uncovered ,
to the shame of Egypt .
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Then they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast .
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And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day , `
Behold ,
this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria !
And we ,
how shall we escape ?'"
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The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea .
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on ,
it comes from the desert ,
from a terrible land .
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A stern vision is told to me ;
the plunderer plunders ,
and the destroyer destroys .
Go up ,
O Elam ,
lay siege ,
O Media ;
all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end .
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Therefore my loins are filled with anguish ;
pangs have seized me ,
like the pangs of a woman in travail ;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear ,
I am dismayed so that I cannot see .
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My mind reels ,
horror has appalled me ;
the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling .
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They prepare the table ,
they spread the rugs ,
they eat ,
they drink .
Arise ,
O princes ,
oil the shield !
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For thus the Lord said to me : "
Go ,
set a watchman ,
let him announce what he sees .
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When he sees riders ,
horsemen in pairs ,
riders on asses ,
riders on camels ,
let him listen diligently ,
very diligently ."
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Then he who saw cried : "
Upon a watchtower I stand ,
O Lord ,
continually by day ,
and at my post I am stationed whole nights .
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And ,
behold ,
here come riders ,
horsemen in pairs !"
And he answered , "
Fallen ,
fallen is Babylon ;
and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground ."
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O my threshed and winnowed one ,
what I have heard from the LORD of hosts ,
the God of Israel ,
I announce to you .
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The oracle concerning Dumah .
One is calling to me from Se '
ir , "
Watchman ,
what of the night ?
Watchman ,
what of the night ?"
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The watchman says : "
Morning comes ,
and also the night .
If you will inquire ,
inquire ;
come back again ."
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The oracle concerning Arabia .
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge ,
O caravans of De '
danites .
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To the thirsty bring water ,
meet the fugitive with bread ,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema .
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For they have fled from the swords ,
from the drawn sword ,
from the bent bow ,
and from the press of battle .
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For thus the Lord said to me , "
Within a year ,
according to the years of a hireling ,
all the glory of Kedar will come to an end ;
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and the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few ;
for the LORD ,
the God of Israel ,
has spoken ."
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The oracle concerning the valley of vision .
What do you mean that you have gone up ,
all of you ,
to the housetops ,
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you who are full of shoutings ,
tumultuous city ,
exultant town ?
Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle .
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All your rulers have fled together ,
without the bow they were captured .
All of you who were found were captured ,
though they had fled far away .
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Therefore I said : "
Look away from me ,
let me weep bitter tears ;
do not labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people ."
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For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision ,
a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains .
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And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen ,
and Kir uncovered the shield .
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Your choicest valleys were full of chariots ,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates .
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He has taken away the covering of Judah .
In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest ,
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and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many ,
and you collected the waters of the lower pool ,
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and you counted the houses of Jerusalem ,
and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall .
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You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool .
But you did not look to him who did it ,
or have regard for him who planned it long ago .
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In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping and mourning ,
to baldness and girding with sackcloth ;
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and behold ,
joy and gladness ,
slaying oxen and killing sheep ,
eating flesh and drinking wine . "
Let us eat and drink ,
for tomorrow we die ."
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The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears : "
Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you till you die ,"
says the Lord GOD of hosts .
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Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts , "
Come ,
go to this steward ,
to Shebna ,
who is over the household ,
and say to him :
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What have you to do here and whom have you here ,
that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself ,
you who hew a tomb on the height ,
and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock ?
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Behold ,
the LORD will hurl you away violently ,
O you strong man .
He will seize firm hold on you ,
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and whirl you round and round ,
and throw you like a ball into a wide land ;
there you shall die ,
and there shall be your splendid chariots ,
you shame of your master '
s house .
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I will thrust you from your office ,
and you will be cast down from your station .
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In that day I will call my servant Eli '
akim the son of Hilki '
ah ,
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and I will clothe him with your robe ,
and will bind your girdle on him ,
and will commit your authority to his hand ;
and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah .
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And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David ;
he shall open ,
and none shall shut ;
and he shall shut ,
and none shall open .
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And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place ,
and he will become a throne of honor to his father '
s house .
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And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father '
s house ,
the offspring and issue ,
every small vessel ,
from the cups to all the flagons .
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In that day ,
says the LORD of hosts ,
the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way ;
and it will be cut down and fall ,
and the burden that was upon it will be cut off ,
for the LORD has spoken ."
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The oracle concerning Tyre .
Wail ,
O ships of Tarshish ,
for Tyre is laid waste ,
without house or haven !
From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them .