1 This is an oracle about Damascus:

“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,

it is a heap of ruins!

2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned.

They will be used for herds,

which will lie down there in peace.

3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,

and Damascus will lose its kingdom.

The survivors in Syria

will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,”

says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

4 “At that time

Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished,

and he will become skin and bones.

5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest

and his hand gleans the ear of grain.

It will be like one gathering the ears of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 There will be some left behind,

as when an olive tree is beaten—

two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top,

four or five on its fruitful branches,”

says the Lord God of Israel.

7 At that time men will trust in their Creator;

they will depend on the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made,

or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.

9 At that time their fortified cities will be

like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,

which they abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

10 For you ignore the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector.

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines.

11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;

the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.

Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease

and incurable pain.

12 Beware, you many nations massing together,

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.

Beware, you people making such an uproar,

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.

13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,

when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills

or like dead thistles before a strong gale.

14 In the evening there is sudden terror;

by morning they vanish.

This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,

the destiny of those who try to loot us!

18:1 Beware, land of buzzing wings,

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

2 that sends messengers by sea,

who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,

to a people that are feared far and wide,

to a nation strong and victorious,

whose land rivers divide.

3 All you who live in the world,

who reside on the earth,

you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;

you will hear a trumpet being blown.

4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight,

like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest.”

5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted

and the ripening fruit appears,

he will cut off the unproductive shoots with pruning knives;

he will prune the tendrils.

6 They will all be left for the birds of the hills

and the wild animals;

the birds will eat them during the summer,

and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.

7 At that time

tribute will be brought to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,

a people that are feared far and wide,

a nation strong and victorious,

whose land rivers divide.

The tribute will be brought to the place where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.

19:1 This is an oracle about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage.

2 “I will provoke civil strife in Egypt:

brothers will fight with one another,

as will neighbors,

cities, and kingdoms.

3 The Egyptians will panic,

and I will confuse their strategy.

They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,

from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.

4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;

a powerful king will rule over them,”

says the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

5 The water of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will dry up and be empty.

6 The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river.

All the cultivated land near the river

will turn to dust and be blown away.

8 The fishermen will mourn and lament;

all those who cast a fishhook into the river,

and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve.

9 Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed;

those who weave will turn pale.

10 Those who make cloth will be demoralized;

all the hired workers will be depressed.

11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;

Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.

How dare you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the sages,

one well versed in the writings of the ancient kings”?

12 But where, oh where, are your wise men?

Let them tell you, let them find out

what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has planned for Egypt.

13 The officials of Zoan are fools,

the officials of Memphis are misled;

the rulers of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has made them undiscerning;

they lead Egypt astray in all she does,

so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit.

15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,

head or tail, shoots or stalk.

16 At that time the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because the Lord of Heaven’s Armies brandishes his fist against them. 17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is planning to do to them.

18 At that time five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. 19 At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar dedicated to the Lord at its border. 20 It will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. When they cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender who will rescue them. 21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they will acknowledge the Lord’s authority at that time. They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.

23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing in the earth. 25 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!”

20:1 The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it. 2 At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot. 3 Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. 5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. 6 At that time those who live on this coast will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”