Job 14:14, Isa 13-14, 21:1-10, Isa 47, Jer 25:11-12, Dan 9:2 | ESV | STEP | If a man dies , shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait , till my renewal should come .

1 The oracle concerning ^dBabylon which ^eIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2 On a bare hill ^fraise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ^gthem to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones. ^{▼▼Or those who exult in my majesty}
4 The sound ⁱof a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
^jThe Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 ^kThey come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land. ^{▼▼Or earth; also verse 9}
6 ^mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for destruction and almighty sound alike} it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart ^pwill melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
^qpangs and agony will seize them;
^rthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, ^sthe day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and ^tto destroy its sinners from it.
10 ^uFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
^vthe sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish ^wthe world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will ^xput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
^yand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make ^zpeople more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ^aagold of Ophir.
13 Therefore ^abI will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
^aceach will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 ^adTheir infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, ^aeI am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 ^afTheir bows will slaughter ^{▼▼Hebrew dash in pieces} the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, ^ahthe glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^ailike Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20 ^ajIt will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no ^akArab will pitch his tent there;
no ^alshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But ^amwild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^anostriches ^{▼▼Or owls} will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas ^{▼▼Or foxes} will cry in its towers,
and ^aqjackals in ^arthe pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14

The Restoration of Jacob

1 ^asFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and ^atwill set them in their own land, and ^ausojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And ^avthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ^awas male and female slaves. ^{▼▼Or servants} ^ayThey will take captive those who were their captors, ^azand rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon

3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this ^bataunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
^bbthe insolent fury ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain} ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the ^bdstaff of the wicked,
the ^bescepter of rulers,
6 ^bfthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
^bgthey break forth into singing.
8 ^bh, ^biThe cypresses rejoice at you,
^bjthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 ^bkAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
12 “How ^blyou are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, ^bmson of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
^bn‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
^boI will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north; ^{▼▼Or in the remote parts of Zaphon}
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 ^bqBut you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ^brthe man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
^bswho did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb; ^{▼▼Hebrew house}
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
^buclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May ^bvthe offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
^bwbecause of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and ^bxremnant, ^bydescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the ^bzhedgehog, ^{▼▼Possibly porcupine, or owl} and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
^cb“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
25 that ^ccI will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and ^cdhis yoke shall depart from them,
and ^cehis burden from their shoulder.”
26 This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is ^cfthe hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27 ^cgFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
^chHis hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

28 In the year that ^ciKing Ahaz died came this ^cjoracle:

29 Rejoice not, ^ckO Philistia, all of you,
that ^clthe rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a ^cmflying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of ^cnthe poor will graze,
and ^cothe needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
31 ^cpWail, O ^cqgate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, ^crO Philistia, all of you!
^csFor smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
^ct“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Isaiah 21:1-10

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

1 The ^cuoracle concerning the wilderness of ^cvthe sea.

^cwAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
^cxthe traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^cyElam;
lay siege, O ^czMedia;
all the ^dasighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
^dbpangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
^dcthe twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5 ^ddThey prepare the table,
they spread the rugs, ^{▼▼Or they set the watchman}
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
^dfoil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8 Then he who saw cried out: ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion}
^dh“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
^diAnd he answered,
^dj“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^dkand all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10 O ^dlmy threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.

Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon

1 ^dmCome down and sit in the dust,
O virgin ^dndaughter of Babylon;
^dosit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of ^dpthe Chaldeans!
^dqFor you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and ^drgrind flour,
^dsput off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
4 ^dtOur Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 ^duSit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of ^dvthe Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
^dwthe mistress of kingdoms.
6 ^dxI was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
^dyyou showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be ^dzmistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, ^eayou lover of pleasures,
^ebwho sit securely,
who say in your heart,
^ec“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^edI shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 ^eeThese two things shall come to you
in a moment, ^efin one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
^egin spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
^eh“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
^eiand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
12 ^ejStand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
^ekthose who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, ^elthey are like stubble;
^emthe fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.

Jeremiah 25:11-12

11 ^enThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^eothese nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^epseventy years. 12 Then after ^eqseventy years are completed, ^erI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^esthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^etmaking the land an everlasting waste.

Daniel 9:2

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to ^euthe word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.