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Isaiah tells about the future of Moab, Syria, Ethiopia, and Egypt
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| Graphic from www.wikipedia.com |
Isaiah 15
This vision is about the area named Moab. (Moab is the area shaded in purple on the left)
In the night, the city named Ar will be
destroyed. It will be quiet. The city named Kir will also be destroyed
and quiet.
[1] The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste,
and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste,
and brought to silence;
The people in Moab will go to the places where
they worshiped false gods. They will cry. They will cry and howl over the
places named Nebo and Medeba. All of their heads will be bald, and their
beards will be cut off.
[2] He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep:
Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be
baldness, and every beard cut off.
The people in Moab will put on rough clothes.
They will go up on the top of their houses and in their streets and cry
very loudly.
[3] In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the
tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl,
weeping abundantly.
The people in the city of Heshbon will cry. The
people in the city of Elealeh will cry so loudly that the people in the
city of Jahaz will hear them. The soldiers will cry because they are
afraid. The people will wish they were dead.
[4] And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even
unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life
shall be grievous unto him.
Isaiah said the he feels sorry for Moab. The
people will escape Moab and go to the places named Zoar, Luhith, and
Horonaim. They will cry as they travel and will talk about how
Moab is being destroyed.
[5] My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar,
an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with
weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise
up a cry of destruction.
The stream in Moab named Nimrim will be dried
up. The hay will be dried up and withered The grass will not grow.
Everything will be brown.
[6] For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered
away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
| History of Israel around Isaiah's time Assyria was getting bigger and was going to attack Israel and Syria. Israel and Syria joined together to fight Assyria. Israel and Syria wanted Judah to join with them. The king of Judah said no. Then Israel and Syria attacked Judah. They wanted to control Judah and then set up a new king who would help them fight Assyria.
The king of Judah, Ahaz, thought about asking Assyria to help them fight Israel and Syria. Isaiah said that Judah should not ask Assyria for help. They should trust God to protect Judah. But King Ahaz did not listen to Isaiah. He asked for Assyria's help to fight Israel. Assyria helped Judah, and then Assyria took control of Israel's capital, Samaria, and all of Israel. The Assyrians took away the people who lived in Israel. They took them back to Assyria. After Assyria defeated Israel, they were planning to take control of Judah. Judah was thinking about asking Egypt to help them. Isaiah said that Judah should not ask Egypt for help. They should trust God to protect them. Judah's King Hezekiah listened to Isaiah, and he did not ask Egypt for help. Later, though, he did ask Egypt for help. God helped Judah defeat Assyria. Later, King Hezekiah sinned. He showed some people from Babylon the valuable items that Judah had. Isaiah told Hezekiah that his descendants would be taken away to Babylon. King Hezekiah's son was Manesseh. He was a bad king. He encouraged the people in Judah to worship false gods and idols again. He was captured and taken to Babylon. Then he repented and started to follow God's laws. Later, the Babylonians attacked Judah. They took control and then carried all of the Jewish people back to Babylon.
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The people from Moab will take all of their
belongings with them. They will take everything they own.
[7] Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have
laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
There will be crying everywhere in Moab.
There will be crying in the areas of Eglaim and Beer-elim.
[8] For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling
thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.
The waters in the place named Dimon will be
full of blood. Lions will kill the people who escape from Moab.
[9] For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring
more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the
remnant of the land.
Isaiah 16
The people in Moab should send tribute (taxes) to Jerusalem.
[1] Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
The people in Moab will be lost like birds who were put out of their nests.
[2] For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Isaiah tells the people in Judah to watch what happens in Moab. They should help the people who escape from Moab. They should help hide them.
[3] Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
When the Assyrians invade Israel, the people in Moab should help the Israelites who escape. The Assryians will be defeated and leave Israel.
[4] Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
One of David's descendants will be king.
[5] And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
They have heard that the people in Moab are very proud and brag about themselves. But they are telling lies that are not true. The people in Moab will cry loudly for themselves and for the city in Moab named Kir-hareseth.
[6] We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
[7] Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.
The farms and grapevines in the places named Heshbon and Sibmah do not grow well. The enemies have broken the plants. They destroyed farms as far as the place named Jazer. The grapevines were spread out over the whole area, all the way to the sea.
[8] For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Isaiah said that he will cry for the people crying in Jazer and Sibmah. His tears will cover the areas of Heshbon and Elealeh. Their farms will not grow food.
[9] Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
There will be no grapes to harvest. In the past, harvest time had singing, shouting, and happiness. Now, there is no happiness or shouting.
[10] And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Isaiah said that he will feel sad for Moab and the place named
Kir-haresh.
[11] Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine
inward parts for Kir-haresh.
Moab will pray to God, but it will be too
late.
[12] And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on
the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he
shall not prevail.
This is what God said about Moab. God compares
Moab's time to a man who is hired for work. The man is hired for three
years. God says that Moab will be gone in the same time. Moab will
be gone in 3 years. Only a few of the people in Moab will be living.
[13] This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since
that time.
[14] But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the
years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all
that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
Isaiah 17
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| Graphic from www.wikipedia.com |
This is Isaiah's vision of the future of Syria
(country in green on the map to the left).
Isaiah talks about Syria's city,
Damascus. Isaiah says that Damascus will be destroyed and will be a pile
of rocks.
[1] The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away
from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Aroer was a city near Moab. Aroer and the cities around it will be
empty. The people will leave. Flocks of sheep will be there. They
will lie down, and they won't be afraid.
[2] The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which
shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
The strong cities from the Israelite land named
Ephraim will be gone. The city of Damascus will also be gone. The
people who are left in Syria will be like the Israelites. They will be
carried away. Their glory will be gone.
[3] The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from
Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the
children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
When that day comes, the Israelites (the
descendants of Jacob) will lose their glory. They will become poor
and thin.
[4] And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall
be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
It will be like harvest time when a man picks
corn and puts the ears in his other arm. It will be like a man picking
corn in the valley named Rephaim.
[5] And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and
reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears
in the valley of Rephaim.
A few Israelites will be left like a few grapes
are left after the workers pick the grapes in a vineyard. It will be
like shaking an olive tree that has a few berries left on it. This is
what the Lord God said.
[6] Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive
tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or
five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of
Israel.
When these things happen on that day, people
will look to God. They will respect God. He is the Holy One of Israel.
The people will not look to false gods that other men have made.
[7] At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have
respect to the Holy One of Israel.
[8] And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither
shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or
the images.
On that day, the Israelite cities will be empty
like a dead branch on the top of a tree. There will be nothing left
because they forgot God. They forgot that God saved them. They forgot
that God was their strong rock. They might plant foreign kinds of seeds.
The seeds will grow in the morning, but when the day comes, the plants
will die the same day.
[9] In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an
uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and
there shall be desolation.
[10] Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not
been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant
pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
[11] In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning
shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in
the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Many people will have big trouble from other
nations. They will be rushing and will make a noise like the seas
and rushing water. God will rebuke them, and they will run away.
They will be gone like chaff blows in the wind. They will roll away in
front of a whirlwind.
[12] Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the
noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing
like the rushing of mighty waters!
[13] The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God
shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as
the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing
before the whirlwind.
They cause trouble in the evening, but by the
morning, they are gone. This is what will happen to the people who
attack and rob us.
[14] And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is
not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that
rob us.
Isaiah 18
At this time, Ethiopia was much larger than it is now. It had taken control of Egypt. |
Isaiah warns Ethiopia.
The land that has many wings making shadows on
it (many bugs) will have big trouble. This is the land over the rivers
of Ethiopia.
[1] Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia:
They send people in boats or boats made of
reeds. They send them to other countries. They tell them to go quickly
to a nation that is scattered and wounded (he is talking about Judah).
They are a nation that has had trouble since their beginning. They
have been attacked by other countries, and they have had floods.
[2] That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes
upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered
and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation
meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Everyone on the earth should watch. You will
see Him lift up a flag on the mountains. They should listen for Him to
blow a trumpet.
[3] All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye,
when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a
trumpet, hear ye.
The Lord told me this. He said He will rest. He
will be in His dwelling place. He said He will be like heat on plants
and like clouds of dew on the heat at harvest time.
[4] For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will
consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a
cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Before harvest time when the flowers and grapes
are perfect, He will cut off the branches with His pruning hooks.
He will take away the branches.
[5] For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape
is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning
hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
The branches will be left for the birds of the
mountains and the animals. The birds will walk on them in the summer,
and the animals will walk on them in the winter.
[6] They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to
the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all
the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
At that time, Judah (the people who have been
scattered and wounded, the nation who has had troubles from the
beginning, the nation attacked by others, and the place where there have
been floods) will be taken up to Mount Zion to God's place.
[7] In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of
a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their
beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose
land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of
hosts, the mount Zion.
Isaiah 19
Isaiah tells about what will happen to Egypt.
This will happen to Egypt. The Lord rides on a fast cloud. He will go into Egypt. The idols of Egypt will move when He gets there. The heart of Egypt will melt. [1] The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
God says that He will make the Egyptians fight with each other. They will fight against their own brothers and neighbors. Cities will fight against cities. Kingdoms will fight against kingdoms.
[2] And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
The spirit of Egypt will fail. They will not have hope. They will try to get advice from idols and fortune tellers and wizards. But God said that He will destroy these.
[3] And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
God said that He will give the Egyptians to another king. "A cruel and fierce king will rule over them," said God, the Lord of everyone.
[4] And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
The waters will stop coming from the sea. The river will dry up.
[5] And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
The rivers will turn and be empty and dry. The reeds and plants will wither and be dried up. The reeds in the river and all of the plants by the river will wither and die.
[6] And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
[7] The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
People who fish will mourn. There won't by any fish in the dry river.
[8] The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
People who make flax cloth and weave will be confused and lost.
[9] Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
People who make fish ponds and work in the river will not have work to do.
[10] And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
The princes in the area of Zoan are foolish. Pharaoh's advisors don't give smart advice. They tell Pharaoh they are smart, but if they are smart, let them tell him what God has planned for Egypt.
[11] Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellers of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
[12] Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes in the area of Noph have been tricked. They have given bad advice by the leaders of the tribes.
[13] The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
God has put a spirit in Egypt that causes it to do everything wrong. Egypt is like a drunken man who staggers around in his vomit.
[14] The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
There will not be anything that anyone can do.
[15] Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
When that time comes, Egypt will be very afraid. They will be afraid because God will shake His hand over it. The land of Judah will make Egypt afraid. Everyone that talks about it will be afraid. This is because this is what God says He will do to Egypt.
[16] In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
[17] And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
When that happens, 5 cities will speak the
same language as Canaan. They will swear to the God of all. One of the
cities will be called "the city of destruction."
[18] In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the
language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called,
The city of destruction.
At that time, there will be an altar to the Lord
God in the middle of Egypt. There will be a monument to God at the
border. The monument will be a witness to the Lord God in the land
of Egypt. The people in Egypt will cry to God when it is
attacked. He will send them a saviour. He will send a great one,
and He will save them.
[19] In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the
land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
[20] And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts
in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the
oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he
shall deliver them.
The Lord God will known to the people in Egypt at that time. They
will make sacrifices and offerings. They will make a promise to
God and keep their promise.
[21] And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know
the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they
shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
God will destroy Egypt, and He will heal it.
The people will return to God. They will ask for His help, and He will heal
them.
[22] And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and
they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them,
and shall heal them.
At that time, there will be a road out of Egypt
to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt , and the Egyptians will
go into Assyria. The Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
[23] In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and
the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and
the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
At that time, Israel will be with Egypt and
Assyria. God will bless them. He will say, "Blessed be My people,
Egypt, the work of My hands, Assyria, and My inheritance, Israel.
[24] In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria,
even a blessing in the midst of the land:
[25] Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my
people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
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