Good News Translation (GNT)

Moab’s Hopeless Situation

1 From the city of Sela in the desert the people of Moab send a lamb as a present to the one who rules in Jerusalem.

2 They wait on the banks of the Arnon River and move aimlessly back and forth, like birds driven from their nest.

3 They say to the people of Judah, “Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us.

4 Let us stay in your land. Protect us from those who want to destroy us.”

(Oppression and destruction will end, and those who are devastating the country will be gone.

5 Then one of David’s descendants will be king, and he will rule the people with faithfulness and love. He will be quick to do what is right, and he will see that justice is done.)

6 The people of Judah say, “We have heard how proud the people of Moab are. We know that they are arrogant and conceited, but their boasts are empty.”

7 The people of Moab will weep because of the troubles they suffer. They will all weep when they remember the fine food they used to eat in the city of Kir Heres. They will be driven to despair.

8 The farms near Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah are destroyed—those vineyards whose wine used to make the rulers of the nations drunk. At one time the vines spread as far as the city of Jazer, and eastward into the desert, and westward to the other side of the Dead Sea.

9 Now I weep for Sibmah’s vines as I weep for Jazer. My tears fall for Heshbon and Elealeh, because there is no harvest to make the people glad.

10 No one is happy now in the fertile fields. No one shouts or sings in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes to make wine; the shouts of joy are ended.

11 I groan with sadness for Moab, with grief for Kir Heres.

12 The people of Moab wear themselves out going to their mountain shrines and to their temples to pray, but it will do them no good.

13 That is the message the Lord gave earlier about Moab.

14 And now the Lord says, “In exactly three years Moab’s great wealth will disappear. Of its many people, only a few will survive, and they will be weak.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/16-37c3e5c7d963c4f28691453c83e28b37.mp3?version_id=68—

God Will Punish Syria and Israel

1 The Lord said, “Damascus will not be a city any longer; it will be only a pile of ruins.

2 The cities of Syria will be deserted forever.They will be a pasture for sheep and cattle, and no one will drive them away.

3 Israel will be defenseless, and Damascus will lose its independence. Those Syrians who survive will be in disgrace like the people of Israel. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

4 The Lord said, “A day is coming when Israel’s greatness will come to an end, and its wealth will be replaced by poverty.

5 Israel will be like a field where the grain has been cut and harvested, as desolate as a field in Rephaim Valley when it has been picked bare.

6 Only a few people will survive, and Israel will be like an olive tree from which all the olives have been picked except two or three at the very top, or a few that are left on the lower branches. I, the Lord God of Israel, have spoken.”

7 When that day comes, people will turn for help to their Creator, the holy God of Israel.

8 They will no longer rely on the altars they made with their own hands, or trust in their own handiwork—symbols of the goddess Asherah and altars for burning incense.

9 When that day comes, well-defended cities will be deserted and left in ruins like the cities that the Hivites and the Amoritesabandoned as they fled from the people of Israel.

10 Israel, you have forgotten the God who rescues you and protects you like a mighty rock. Instead, you plant sacred gardensin order to worship a foreign god.

11 But even if they sprouted and blossomed the very morning you planted them, there would still be no harvest. There would be only trouble and incurable pain.

Enemy Nations Are Defeated

12 Powerful nations are in commotion with a sound like the roar of the sea, like the crashing of huge waves.

13 The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a mountainside, like straw in a whirlwind.

14 At evening they cause terror, but by morning they are gone. That is the fate of everyone who plunders our land.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/17-62d9774449d6bde576fb5cfe730b2b61.mp3?version_id=68—

God Will Punish Ethiopia

1 Beyond the rivers of Ethiopiathere is a land where the sound of wings is heard.

2 From that land ambassadors come down the Nile in boats made of reeds. Go back home, swift messengers! Take a message back to your land divided by rivers, to your strong and powerful nation, to your tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world.

3 Listen, everyone who lives on earth! Look for a signal flag to be raised on the mountaintops! Listen for the blowing of the bugle!

4 The Lord said to me, “I will look down from heaven as quietly as the dew forms in the warm nights of harvest time, as serenely as the sun shines in the heat of the day.

5 Before the grapes are gathered, when the blossoms have all fallen and the grapes are ripening, the enemy will destroy the Ethiopiansas easily as a knife cuts branches from a vine.

6 The corpses of their soldiers will be left exposed to the birds and the wild animals. In summer the birds will feed on them, and in winter, the animals.”

7 A time is coming when the Lord Almighty will receive offerings from this land divided by rivers, this strong and powerful nation, this tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world. They will come to Mount Zion, where the Lord Almighty is worshiped.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/18-c7fd7ee8abe15735a72e88cf906145b6.mp3?version_id=68—

God Will Punish Egypt

1 This is a message about Egypt.

The Lord is coming to Egypt, riding swiftly on a cloud. The Egyptian idols tremble before him, and the people of Egypt lose their courage.

2 The Lord says, “I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power.

3 I am going to frustrate the plans of the Egyptians and destroy their morale. They will ask their idols to help them, and they will go and consult mediums and ask the spirits of the dead for advice.

4 I will hand the Egyptians over to a tyrant, to a cruel king who will rule them. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

5 The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up.

6 The channels of the river will stink as they slowly go dry. Reeds and rushes will wither,

7 and all the crops planted along the banks of the Nile will dry up and be blown away.

8 Everyone who earns a living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless.

9 Those who make linen cloth will be in despair;

10 weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.

11 The leaders of the city of Zoan are fools! Egypt’s wisest people give stupid advice! How do they dare to tell the king that they are successors to the ancient scholars and kings?

12 King of Egypt, where are those clever advisers of yours? Perhaps they can tell you what plans the Lord Almighty has for Egypt.

13 The leaders of Zoan and Memphis are fools. They were supposed to lead the nation, but they have misled it.

14 The Lord has made them give confusing advice. As a result, Egypt does everything wrong and staggers like a drunk slipping on his own vomit.

15 No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.

Egypt Will Worship the Lord

16 A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that the Lord Almighty has stretched out his hand to punish them.

17 The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that the Lord Almighty has prepared for them.

18 When that time comes, the Hebrew language will be spoken in five Egyptian cities. The people there will take their oaths in the name of the Lord Almighty. One of the cities will be called, “City of the Sun.”

19 When that time comes, there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt and a stone pillar dedicated to him at the Egyptian border.

20 They will be symbols of the Lord Almighty’s presence in Egypt. When the people there are oppressed and call out to the Lord for help, he will send someone to rescue them.

21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptian people, and then they will acknowledge and worship him, and bring him sacrifices and offerings. They will make solemn promises to him and do what they promise.

22 The Lord will punish the Egyptians, but then he will heal them. They will turn to him, and he will hear their prayers and heal them.

23 When that time comes, there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria. The people of these two countries will travel back and forth between them, and the two nations will worship together.

24 When that time comes, Israel will rank with Egypt and Assyria, and these three nations will be a blessing to all the world.

25 The Lord Almighty will bless them and say, “I will bless you, Egypt, my people; you, Assyria, whom I created; and you, Israel, my chosen people.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/19-9668662596a2b4c4636c06eaf2ec49f5.mp3?version_id=68—

The Sign of the Naked Prophet

1 Under the orders of Emperor Sargon of Assyria, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army attacked the Philistine city of Ashdod.

2 Three years earlier the Lord had told Isaiah son of Amoz to take off his sandals and the sackcloth he was wearing. He obeyed and went around naked and barefoot.

3 When Ashdod was captured, the Lord said, “My servant Isaiah has been going around naked and barefoot for three years. This is a sign of what will happen to Egypt and Ethiopia.

4 The emperor of Assyria will lead away naked the prisoners he captures from those two countries. Young and old, they will walk barefoot and naked, with their buttocks exposed, bringing shame on Egypt.

5 Those who have put their trust in Ethiopiaand have boasted about Egypt will be disillusioned, their hopes shattered.

6 When that time comes, the people who live along the coast of Philistia will say, ‘Look at what has happened to the people we relied on to protect us from the emperor of Assyria! How will we ever survive?’”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/20-6e3615c98796ce16040553e87b53c44b.mp3?version_id=68—

A Vision of the Fall of Babylon

1 This is a message about Babylonia.

Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land.

2 I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction.

Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering which Babylon has caused.

3 What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.

4 My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.

5 In the vision a banquet is ready; rugs are spread for the guests to sit on. They are eating and drinking. Suddenly the command rings out: “Officers! Prepare your shields!”

6 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and post a sentry, and tell him to report what he sees.

7 If he sees riders coming on horseback, two by two, and riders on donkeys and camels, he is to observe them carefully.”

8 The sentry calls out, “Sir, I have been standing guard at my post day and night.”

9 Suddenly, here they come! Riders on horseback, two by two. The sentry gives the news, “Babylon has fallen! All the idols they worshiped lie shattered on the ground.”

10 My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news that I have heard from the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel.

A Message about Edom

11 This is a message about Edom.

Someone calls to me from Edom, “Sentry, how soon will the night be over? Tell me how soon it will end.”

12 I answer, “Morning is coming, but night will come again. If you want to ask again, come back and ask.”

A Message about Arabia

13 This is a message about Arabia.

People of Dedan, you whose caravans camp in the barren country of Arabia,

14 give water to the thirsty people who come to you. You people of the land of Tema, give food to the refugees.

15 People are fleeing to escape from swords that are ready to kill them, from bows that are ready to shoot, from all the dangers of war.

16 Then the Lord said to me, “In exactly one year the greatness of the tribes of Kedar will be at an end.

17 The archers are the bravest warriors of Kedar, but few of them will be left. I, the Lord God of Israel, have spoken.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/21-4bf3c37de0049d6447a138e3b5ff8f6a.mp3?version_id=68—

A Message about Jerusalem

1 This is a message about the Valley of Vision.

What is happening? Why are all the people of the city celebrating on the roofs of the houses?

2 The whole city is in an uproar, filled with noise and excitement.

Your people who died in this war did not die fighting.

3 All your leaders ran away and were captured before they shot a single arrow.

4 Now leave me alone to weep bitterly over all those of my people who have died. Don’t try to comfort me.

5 This is a time of panic, defeat, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the Sovereign Lord Almighty has sent it on us. The walls of our city have been battered down, and cries for help have echoed among the hills.

6 The soldiers from the land of Elam came riding on horseback, armed with bows and arrows. Soldiers from the land of Kir had their shields ready.

7 The fertile valleys of Judah were filled with chariots; soldiers on horseback stood in front of Jerusalem’s gates.

8 All of Judah’s defenses crumbled.

When that happened, you brought weapons out of the arsenal.

9-10 You found the places where the walls of Jerusalem needed repair. You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls. In order to store water,

11 you built a reservoir inside the city to hold the water flowing down from the old pool. But you paid no attention to God, who planned all this long ago and who caused it to happen.

12 The Sovereign Lord Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.

13 Instead, you laughed and celebrated. You killed sheep and cattle to eat, and you drank wine. You said, “We might as well eat and drink! Tomorrow we’ll be dead.”

14 The Sovereign Lord Almighty himself spoke to me and said, “This evil will never be forgiven them as long as they live. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

A Warning to Shebna

15 The Sovereign Lord Almighty told me to go to Shebna, the manager of the royal household, and say to him,

16 “Who do you think you are? What right do you have to carve a tomb for yourself out of the rocky hillside?

17 You may be important, but the Lord will pick you up and throw you away.

18 He will pick you up like a ball and throw you into a much larger country. You will die there beside the chariots you were so proud of. You are a disgrace to your master’s household.

19 The Lord will remove you from office and bring you down from your high position.”

20 The Lord said to Shebna, “When that happens, I will send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 I will put your official robe and belt on him and give him all the authority you have had. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

22 I will give him complete authority under the king, the descendant of David. He will have the keys of office; what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open.

23 I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honor to his whole family.

24 “But all his relatives and dependents will become a burden to him. They will hang on him like pots and bowls hanging from a peg!

25 When that happens, the peg that was firmly fastened will pull loose and fall. And that will be the end of everything that was hanging on it.” The Lord has spoken.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/22-5640ac1f44050b8bc2c8661fc5a0c777.mp3?version_id=68—

A Message about Phoenicia

1 This is a message about Tyre.

Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbor are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news.

2 Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent agents

3 across the sea to buy and sell the grain that grew in Egypt and to do business with all the nations.

4 City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, “I never had any children. I never raised sons or daughters.”

5 Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed.

6 Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain!

7 Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies?

8 Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth?

9 The Lord Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones.

10 Go and farm the land, you people in the colonies in Spain! There is no one to protect you any more.

11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea and overthrown kingdoms. He has commanded that the Phoenician centers of commerce be destroyed.

12 City of Sidon, your happiness has ended, and your people are oppressed. Even if they escape to Cyprus, they will still not be safe.

13 (It was the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who let the wild animals overrun Tyre. It was the Babylonians who put up siege towers, tore down the fortifications of Tyre, and left the city in ruins.)

14 Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! The city you relied on has been destroyed.

15 A time is coming when Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of a king. When those years are over, Tyre will be like the prostitute in the song:

16 Take your harp, go round the town,

you poor forgotten whore!

Play and sing your songs again

to bring men back once more.

17 When the seventy years are over, the Lord will let Tyre go back to her old trade, and she will hire herself out to all the kingdoms of the world.

18 The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to the Lord. She will not store it away, but those who worship the Lord will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/23-2b781e0582be3b6b9de630c0cd8e0c39.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord Will Punish the Earth

1 The Lord is going to devastate the earth and leave it desolate. He will twist the earth’s surface and scatter its people.

2 Everyone will meet the same fate—the priests and the people, slaves and masters, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, rich and poor.

3 The earth will lie shattered and ruined. The Lord has spoken and it will be done.

4 The earth dries up and withers; the whole world grows weak; both earth and sky decay.

5 The people have defiled the earth by breaking God’s laws and by violating the covenant he made to last forever.

6 So God has pronounced a curse on the earth. Its people are paying for what they have done. Fewer and fewer remain alive.

7 The grapevines wither, and wine is becoming scarce. Everyone who was once happy is now sad,

8 and the joyful music of their harps and drums has ceased.

9 There is no more happy singing over wine; no one enjoys its taste any more.

10 In the city everything is in chaos, and people lock themselves in their houses for safety.

11 People shout in the streets because there is no more wine. Happiness is gone forever; it has been banished from the land.

12 The city is in ruins, and its gates have been broken down.

13 This is what will happen in every nation all over the world. It will be like the end of harvest, when the olives have been beaten off every tree and the last grapes picked from the vines.

14 Those who survive will sing for joy. Those in the West will tell how great the Lord is,

15 and those in the East will praise him. The people who live along the sea will praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

16 From the most distant parts of the world we will hear songs in praise of Israel, the righteous nation.

But there is no hope for me! I am wasting away! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse.

17 Listen to me, everyone! There are terrors, pits, and traps waiting for you.

18 Anyone who tries to escape from the terror will fall in a pit, and anyone who escapes from the pit will be caught in a trap. Torrents of rain will pour from the sky, and earth’s foundations will shake.

19 The earth will crack and shatter and split open.

20 The earth itself will stagger like a drunk, sway like a hut in a storm. The world is weighed down by its sins; it will collapse and never rise again.

21 A time is coming when the Lord will punish the powers above and the rulers of the earth.

22 God will crowd kings together like prisoners in a pit. He will shut them in prison until the time of their punishment comes.

23 The moon will grow dark, and the sun will no longer shine, for the Lord Almighty will be king. He will rule in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and the leaders of the people will see his glory.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/24-ba0deddcf53e355f0f4ac315a13d45bc.mp3?version_id=68—

A Hymn of Praise

1 Lord, you are my God;

I will honor you and praise your name.

You have done amazing things;

you have faithfully carried out

the plans you made long ago.

2 You have turned cities into ruins

and destroyed their fortifications.

The palaces which our enemies built

are gone forever.

3 The people of powerful nations will praise you;

you will be feared in the cities of cruel nations.

4 The poor and the helpless have fled to you

and have been safe in times of trouble.

You give them shelter from storms

and shade from the burning heat.

Cruel enemies attack like a winter storm,

5 like drought in a dry land.

But you, Lord, have silenced our enemies;

you silence the shouts of cruel people,

as a cloud cools a hot day.

God Prepares a Banquet

6 Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world—a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine.

7 Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations.

8 The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone’s eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord himself has spoken.

9 When it happens, everyone will say, “He is our God! We have put our trust in him, and he has rescued us. He is the Lord! We have put our trust in him, and now we are happy and joyful because he has saved us.”

God Will Punish Moab

10 The Lord will protect Mount Zion, but the people of Moab will be trampled down the way straw is trampled in manure.

11 They will reach out their hands as if they were trying to swim, but God will humiliate them, and their hands will sink helplessly.

12 He will destroy the fortresses of Moab with their high walls and bring them tumbling down into the dust.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/ISA/25-faf896a99f18259f10a8ec985c211156.mp3?version_id=68—