58. context – Isaiah 23:1 – 28:29

 

THE BURDEN OF TYRE.

HOWL, YE SHIPS OF TARSHISH;

FOR IT IS LAID WASTE,

SO THAT THERE IS NO HOUSE,

NO ENTERING IN:

FROM THE LAND OF CHITTIM

IT IS REVEALED TO THEM.

 

Be still,

ye inhabitants of the isle;

thou whom the merchants of Zidon,

that pass over the sea,

have replenished.

 

And by great waters the seed of Sihor,

the harvest of the river,

is her revenue;

and she is a mart of nations.

 

Be thou ashamed,

O Zidon:

for the sea hath spoken,

even the strength of the sea,

 

saying,

I travail not,

nor bring forth children,

neither do I nourish up young men,

nor bring up virgins.

 

As at the report concerning Egypt,

so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

 

Pass ye over to Tarshish;

howl,

ye inhabitants of the isle.

 

Is this your joyous city,

whose antiquity is of ancient days?

 

Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

 

WHO HATH TAKEN THIS COUNSEL AGAINST TYRE,

THE CROWNING CITY,

whose merchants are princes,

whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

 

The LORD of hosts hath purposed it,

to stain the pride of all glory,

and to bring into contempt

all the honourable of the earth.

 

Pass through thy land as a river,

O daughter of Tarshish:

there is no more strength.

 

He stretched out his hand over the sea,

he shook the kingdoms:

 

the LORD hath given a commandment

against the merchant city,

to destroy the strong holds thereof.

 

And he said,

Thou shalt no more rejoice,

O thou oppressed virgin,

daughter of Zidon:

arise,

pass over to Chittim;

there also shalt thou have no rest.

 

Behold the land of the Chaldeans;

this people was not,

till the Assyrian founded it

for them that dwell in the wilderness:

 

they set up the towers thereof,

they raised up the palaces thereof;

and he brought it to ruin.

howl, ye ships of Tarshish:

for your strength is laid waste.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,

that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,

according to the days of one king:

after the end of seventy years

shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

 

Take an harp,

go about the city,

thou harlot that hast been forgotten;

make sweet melody,

sing many songs,

that thou mayest be remembered.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS

after the end of seventy years,

that the LORD will visit Tyre,

and she shall turn to her hire,

and shall commit fornication

with all the kingdoms of the world

upon the face of the earth.

 

And her merchandise

and her hire

shall be holiness to the LORD:

 

it shall not be treasured

nor laid up;

for her merchandise shall be

for them that dwell before the LORD,

to eat sufficiently,

and for durable clothing.

 

BEHOLD,

THE LORD MAKETH THE EARTH EMPTY,

and maketh it waste,

and turneth it upside down,

and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

 

And it shall be,

as with the people,

so with the priest;

 

as with the servant,

so with his master;

 

as with the maid,

so with her mistress;

 

as with the buyer,

so with the seller;

 

as with the lender,

so with the borrower;

 

as with the taker of usury,

so with the giver of usury to him.

 

The land shall be utterly emptied,

and utterly spoiled:

 

for the LORD hath spoken this word.

 

The earth mourneth and fadeth away,

the world languisheth and fadeth away,

the haughty people of the earth do languish.

 

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;

because they have transgressed the laws,

changed the ordinance,

broken the everlasting covenant.

 

Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,

and they that dwell therein are desolate:

 

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,

and few men left.

 

The new wine mourneth,

the vine languisheth,

all the merryhearted do sigh.

 

The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,

the noise of them that rejoice endeth,

the joy of the harp ceaseth.

 

They shall not drink wine with a song;

strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

 

The city of confusion is broken down:

every house is shut up,

that no man may come in.

 

There is a crying for wine in the streets;

 

all joy is darkened,

the mirth of the land is gone.

 

In the city is left desolation,

and the gate is smitten with destruction.

 

When thus it shall be

in the midst of the land among the people,

there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree,

and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

 

They shall lift up their voice,

they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD,

they shall cry aloud from the sea.

 

Wherefore glorify ye the LORD

in the fires,

even the name of the LORD God of Israel

in the isles of the sea.

 

From the uttermost part of the earth

have we heard songs,

even glory to the righteous.

 

But I said,

My leanness,

my leanness,

woe unto me!

 

the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously;

yea,

the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

 

Fear,

and the pit,

and the snare,

are upon thee,

O inhabitant of the earth.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS,

that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear

shall fall into the pit;

 

and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit

shall be taken in the snare:

 

for the windows from on high are open,

and the foundations of the earth do shake.

 

The earth is utterly broken down,

the earth is clean dissolved,

the earth is moved exceedingly.

 

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,

and shall be removed like a cottage;

and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;

 

and it shall fall,

and not rise again.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS

IN THAT DAY,

that the LORD shall punish

the host of the high ones

that are on high,

and the kings of the earth

upon the earth.

 

And they shall be gathered together,

as prisoners are gathered in the pit,

and shall be shut up in the prison,

and after many days shall they be visited.

 

Then the moon shall be confounded,

and the sun ashamed,

when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion,

and in Jerusalem,

and before his ancients gloriously.

 

O LORD,

THOU ART MY GOD;

I will exalt thee,

I will praise thy name;

for thou hast done wonderful things;

thy counsels of old are faithfulness

and truth.

 

For thou hast made of a city an heap;

of a defenced city a ruin:

a palace of strangers to be no city;

it shall never be built.

 

Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,

the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

 

For thou hast been a strength to the poor,

a strength to the needy in his distress,

a refuge from the storm,

a shadow from the heat,

when the blast of the terrible ones

is as a storm against the wall.

 

Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers,

as the heat in a dry place;

even the heat with the shadow of a cloud:

the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

 

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts

make unto all people a feast of fat things,

a feast of wines on the lees,

of fat things full of marrow,

of wines on the lees well refined.

 

And he will destroy in this mountain

the face of the covering cast over all people,

and the vail that is spread over all nations.

 

He will swallow up death in victory;

and

the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces;

and

the rebuke of his people

shall he take away

from off all the earth:

for the LORD hath spoken it.

 

AND IT SHALL BE SAID IN THAT DAY,

Lo, this is our God;

we have waited for him,

and he will save us:

this is the LORD;

we have waited for him,

we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

 

For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest,

and Moab shall be trodden down under him,

even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

 

And he shall spread forth his hands

in the midst of them,

as he that swimmeth

spreadeth forth his hands to swim:

and he shall bring down their pride together

with the spoils of their hands.

 

And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls

shall he bring down,

lay low,

and bring to the ground,

even to the dust.

 

IN THAT DAY SHALL THIS SONG BE SUNG

IN THE LAND OF JUDAH;

 

We have a strong city;

salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

 

Open ye the gates,

that the righteous nation

which keepeth the truth

may enter in.

 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee.

 

Trust ye in the LORD for ever:

for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

 

For he bringeth down them that dwell on high;

the lofty city,

he layeth it low;

 

he layeth it low,

even to the ground;

 

he bringeth it even to the dust.

 

The foot shall tread it down,

even the feet of the poor,

and the steps of the needy.

 

The way of the just is uprightness:

thou,

most upright,

dost weigh the path of the just.

 

Yea,

in the way of thy judgments,

O LORD,

have we waited for thee;

 

the desire of our soul is to thy name,

and to the remembrance of thee.

 

With my soul have I desired thee in the night;

yea,

with my spirit within me will I seek thee early:

 

for when thy judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

 

Let favour be shewed to the wicked,

yet will he not learn righteousness:

in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly,

and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

 

LORD,

WHEN THY HAND IS LIFTED UP,

THEY WILL NOT SEE:

but they shall see,

and be ashamed for their envy at the people;

yea,

the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

 

LORD,

thou wilt ordain peace for us:

for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

 

O LORD our God,

other lords beside thee have had dominion over us:

but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

 

They are dead,

they shall not live;

 

they are deceased,

they shall not rise:

 

therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them,

and made all their memory to perish.

 

Thou hast increased the nation,

O LORD,

thou hast increased the nation:

 

thou art glorified:

thou hadst removed it

far unto all the ends of the earth.

 

LORD,

in trouble have they visited thee,

they poured out a prayer

when thy chastening was upon them.

 

Like as a woman with child,

that draweth near the time of her delivery,

is in pain,

and crieth out in her pangs;

so have we been in thy sight,

O LORD.

 

We have been with child,

we have been in pain,

we have as it were brought forth wind;

 

we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;

neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

 

Thy dead men shall live,

together with my dead body shall they arise.

 

Awake and sing,

ye that dwell in dust:

 

for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,

and the earth shall cast out the dead.

 

COME, MY PEOPLE,

ENTER THOU INTO THY CHAMBERS,

and shut thy doors about thee:

 

hide thyself as it were for a little moment,

until the indignation be overpast.

 

For,

behold,

the LORD cometh out of his place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth

for their iniquity:

 

the earth also shall disclose her blood,

and shall no more cover her slain.

 

IN THAT DAY THE LORD

with his sore and great and strong sword

shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,

even leviathan that crooked serpent;

and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

 

IN THAT DAY SING YE UNTO HER,

A vineyard of red wine.

I the LORD do keep it;

 

I will water it every moment:

lest any hurt it,

I will keep it night and day.

 

Fury is not in me:

who would set the briers and thorns

against me in battle?

 

I would go through them,

I would burn them together.

 

Or let him take hold of my strength,

that he may make peace with me;

and he shall make peace with me.

 

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:

Israel shall blossom and bud,

and fill the face of the world with fruit.

 

Hath he smitten him,

as he smote those that smote him?

or is he slain according to the slaughter

of them that are slain by him?

 

In measure,

when it shooteth forth,

thou wilt debate with it:

he stayeth his rough wind

in the day of the east wind.

 

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;

and this is all the fruit to take away his sin;

when he maketh all the stones of the altar

as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder,

the groves and images shall not stand up.

 

Yet the defenced city shall be desolate,

and the habitation forsaken,

and left like a wilderness:

 

there shall the calf feed,

and there shall he lie down,

and consume the branches thereof.

When the boughs thereof are withered,

they shall be broken off:

 

the women come,

and set them on fire:

 

for it is a people of no understanding:

therefore he that made them

will not have mercy on them,

and he that formed them

will shew them no favour.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,

that the LORD shall beat off

from the channel of the river

unto the stream of Egypt,

and ye shall be gathered one by one,

O ye children of Israel.

 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,

that the great trumpet shall be blown,

and they shall come which were ready to perish

in the land of Assyria,

and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,

and shall worship the LORD

in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

 

WOE TO THE CROWN OF PRIDE,

TO THE DRUNKARDS OF EPHRAIM,

whose glorious beauty is a fading flower,

which are on the head of the fat valleys

of them that are overcome with wine!

 

Behold,

the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,

which as a tempest of hail

and a destroying storm,

as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,

shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

 

The crown of pride,

the drunkards of Ephraim,

shall be trodden under feet:

And the glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the fat valley,

shall be a fading flower,

 

and as the hasty fruit before the summer;

which when he that looketh upon it seeth,

while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

 

IN THAT DAY SHALL THE LORD OF HOSTS

BE FOR A CROWN OF GLORY,

and for a diadem of beauty,

unto the residue of his people,

 

And for a spirit of judgment

to him that sitteth in judgment,

and for strength

to them that turn the battle to the gate.

 

But they also have erred through wine,

and through strong drink are out of the way;

t

he priest and the prophet

have erred through strong drink,

they are swallowed up of wine,

they are out of the way through strong drink;

 

they err in vision,

they stumble in judgment.

 

For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness,

so that there is no place clean.

 

WHOM SHALL HE TEACH KNOWLEDGE?

AND WHOM SHALL HE MAKE

TO UNDERSTAND DOCTRINE?

 

them that are weaned from the milk,

and drawn from the breasts.

 

For precept must be upon precept,

precept upon precept;

line upon line,

line upon line;

here a little,

and there a little:

 

For with stammering lips

and another tongue

will he speak to this people.

 

To whom he said,

This is the rest

wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest;

and this is the refreshing:

yet they would not hear.

 

But the word of the LORD was unto them

precept upon precept,

precept upon precept;

line upon line,

line upon line;

here a little,

and there a little;

 

that they might go,

and fall backward,

and be broken,

and snared,

and taken.

 

WHEREFORE HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD,

YE SCORNFUL MEN,

that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

 

Because ye have said,

We have made a covenant with death,

and with hell are we at agreement;

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,

it shall not come unto us:

for we have made lies our refuge,

and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

 

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,

Behold,

I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone,

a tried stone,

a precious corner stone,

a sure foundation:

he that believeth shall not make haste.

 

Judgment also will I lay to the line,

and righteousness to the plummet:

and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,

and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

 

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,

and your agreement with hell shall not stand;

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,

then ye shall be trodden down by it.

 

From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you:

for morning by morning shall it pass over,

by day and by night:

and it shall be a vexation only

to understand the report.

 

For the bed is shorter

than that a man can stretch himself on it:

and the covering narrower

than that he can wrap himself in it.

 

For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim,

he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,

that he may do his work,

his strange work;

and bring to pass his act,

his strange act.

 

Now therefore be ye not mockers,

lest your bands be made strong:

for I have heard

from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption,

even determined upon the whole earth.

 

Give ye ear,

and hear my voice;

hearken,

and hear my speech.

 

Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?

doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

 

When he hath made plain the face thereof,

doth he not cast abroad the fitches,

and scatter the cummin,

and cast in the principal wheat

and the appointed barley

and the rie in their place?

 

For his God doth instruct him to discretion,

and doth teach him.

 

For the fitches are not threshed

with a threshing instrument,

neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin;

but the fitches are beaten out with a staff,

and the cummin with a rod.

 

Bread corn is bruised;

because he will not ever be threshing it,

nor break it with the wheel of his cart,

nor bruise it with his horsemen.

 

This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts,

which is wonderful in counsel,

and excellent in working.

Isaiah 23:1-28:29

 

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