Isa 22:1-9, Jer 50:2-3, 21-46, 51:11, 27-28, Eze 38:3-23, Joe 3:14 | ESV | STEP | The oracle concerning the valley of vision . What do you mean that you have gone up , all of you, to the housetops ,

1 The ^aoracle concerning ^bthe valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, ^cexultant town?
Your slain are ^dnot slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 ^eAll your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
^flet me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 ^gFor the Lord God of hosts has ^ha day
of tumult and ⁱtrampling and ^jconfusion
in ^kthe valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And ^lElam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and ^mKir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away ⁿthe covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to ^othe weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that ^pthe breaches of the city of David were many. ^qYou collected the waters of the lower pool,

Jeremiah 50:2-3

2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
set up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
^r‘Babylon is taken,
^sBel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
^tHer images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.’
3 “For ^uout of the north a nation has come up against her, ^vwhich shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; ^wboth man and beast shall flee away.

Jeremiah 50:21-46

21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, ^{▼▼ Merathaim means double rebellion}
and against the inhabitants of Pekod. ^{▼▼ Pekod means punishment}
Kill, ^zand devote them to destruction, ^{▼▼That is, set apart ( devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)}

declares the Lord,
and do all that I have commanded you.
22 ^abThe noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!
23 ^acHow the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
^adHow Babylon ^aehas become
a horror among the nations!
24 ^afI set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and ^agyou did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out ^ahthe weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
^aipile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
let nothing be left of her.
27 Kill all ^ajher bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
^akthe time of their punishment.
28 “A voice! They ^alflee and escape from the land of Babylon, ^amto declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for ^anhis temple.

29 ^ao“Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. ^apEncamp around her; let no one escape. ^aqRepay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has ^arproudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 30 ^asTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.

31 “Behold, I am against you, O ^atproud one,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
^aufor your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 ^avThe proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
^awand I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.
33 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^axThe people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; ^aythey refuse to let them go. 34 ^azTheir Redeemer is strong; ^bathe Lord of hosts is his name. ^bbHe will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against ^bcher officials and her ^bdwise men!
36 A sword against the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword against her ^bewarriors,
that they may be destroyed!
37 A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
and against all ^bfthe foreign troops in her midst,
that ^bgthey may become women!
^bhA sword against all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!
38 ^biA drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
^bjFor it is a land of images,
and they are mad over idols.
39 ^bk“Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 ^blAs when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, ^bmso no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

41 ^bn“Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
42 They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Babylon!
43 “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.
44 ^bo“Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd ^bpcan stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ^bqthe plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, ^brand the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: ^bsSurely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 ^btAt the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”

Jeremiah 51:11

11 ^bu“Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!
^bvThe Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of ^bwthe Medes, because ^bxhis purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, ^byfor that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for ^bzhis temple.

Jeremiah 51:27-28

27 ^ca“Set up a standard on the earth;
^cbblow the trumpet among the nations;
^ccprepare ^cdthe nations for war against her;
summon against her ^cethe kingdoms,
^cfArarat, Minni, and ^cgAshkenaz;
appoint a ^chmarshal against her;
^cibring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 ^cjPrepare ^ckthe nations for war against her,
the kings of ^clthe Medes, ^cmwith their governors ^cnand deputies,
and every ^coland under their dominion.

Ezekiel 38:3-23

3 and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^cpI am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech ^{▼▼Or Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech} and Tubal. 4 ^crAnd I will turn you about and ^csput hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and ^ctall your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 ^cuPersia, ^cvCush, and ^cwPut are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 ^cxGomer and all his ^cyhordes; ^czBeth-togarmah from ^dathe uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes— ^dbmany peoples are with you.

7 ^dc“Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 ^ddAfter many days you will be mustered. ^deIn the latter years you will go against ^dfthe land that is restored from war, the land whose people ^dgwere gathered from many peoples upon ^dhthe mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and ^dinow dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on ^djlike a storm. You will be ^dklike a cloud covering the land, you and all your ^dlhordes, and many peoples with you.

10 “Thus says the Lord God: On that day, ^dmthoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against ^dnthe land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon ^dothe quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against ^dpthe waste places that are now inhabited, and ^dqthe people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, ^drwho dwell at the center of the earth. 13 ^dsSheba and ^dtDedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all ^duits leaders ^{▼▼Hebrew young lions} will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

14 “Therefore, ^dwson of man, prophesy, and say to ^dxGog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are ^dydwelling securely, ^dzwill you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of ^eathe uttermost parts of the north, you and ^ebmany peoples with you, ^ecall of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, ^edlike a cloud covering the land. ^eeIn the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, ^efI vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

17 “Thus says the Lord God: Are you ^eghe of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, ^ehmy wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For ^eiin my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day ^ejthere shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 ^ekThe fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, ^elshall quake at my presence. And ^emthe mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 ^enI will summon a sword against Gog ^{▼▼Hebrew against him} on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. ^epEvery man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed ^eqI will enter into judgment with him, and ^erI will rain upon him and ^eshis hordes and the many peoples who are with him ^ettorrential rains and hailstones, ^eufire and sulfur. 23 So I will show my greatness and my ^evholiness and ^ewmake myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then ^exthey will know that I am the Lord.

Joel 3:14

14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For ^eythe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.