Isaiah 11

The King of Peace Is Coming

1 A new branch will grow from a stump of a tree;
so a new king will come from the family of Jesse. 

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon that king. The Spirit will give him wisdom and understanding, guidance and power. The Spirit will teach him to know and respect the Lord.

3 This king will be glad to obey the Lord.
He will not judge by the way things look or decide by what he hears.

4 But he will judge the poor honestly; he will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land.
At his command evil people will be punished, and by his words the wicked will be put to death.

5 Goodness and fairness will give him strength, like a belt around his waist.

6 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down to rest with goats.
Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together, and a little child will lead them.

7 Cows and bears will eat together in peace. Their young will lie down to rest together. Lions will eat hay as oxen do.

8 A baby will be able to play near a cobra’s hole, and a child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake.

9 They will not hurt or destroy each other on all my holy mountain,
because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the sea is full of water.
10 At that time the new king from the family of Jesse will stand as a banner for all peoples. The nations will come together around him, and the place where he lives will be filled with glory.

11 At that time the Lord will again reach out and take his people who are left alive in Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Cush, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the islands of the sea.

12 God will raise a banner as a sign for all nations, and he will gather the people of Israel who were forced from their country.
He will gather the scattered people of Judah from all parts of the earth.

13 At that time Israel will not be jealous anymore, and Judah will have no more enemies.
Israel will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not hate Israel.

14 But Israel and Judah will attack the Philistines on the west. Together they will take the riches from the people of the east.
They will conquer Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will be under their control.

15 The Lord will dry up the Red Sea of Egypt.
He will wave his arm over the Euphrates River and dry it up with a scorching wind.
He will divide it into seven small rivers so that people can walk across them with their sandals on.

16 So God’s people who are left alive will have a way to leave Assyria,
just like the time the Israelites came out of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

A Song of Praise to God

1 At that time you will say:
“I praise you, Lord! You were angry with me,
but you are not angry with me now! You have comforted me.

2 God is the one who saves me; I will trust him and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord gives me strength and makes me sing. He has saved me.”

3 You will receive your salvation with joy as you would draw water from a well.

4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord and worship him. Tell everyone what he has done and how great he is.

5 Sing praise to the Lord, because he has done great things. Let all the world know what he has done.
6 Shout and sing for joy, you people of Jerusalem, because the Holy One of Israel does great things before your eyes.”

Isaiah 13

God’s Message to Babylon

1 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this message about Babylon:

2 Raise a flag on the bare mountain. Call out to the men.
Raise your hand to signal them to enter through the gates for important people.

3 I myself have commanded those people whom I have separated as mine.
I have called those warriors to carry out my anger. They rejoice and are glad to do my will.

4 Listen to the loud noise in the mountains, the sound of many people.
Listen to the noise among the kingdoms, the sound of nations gathering together.
The Lord All-Powerful is calling his army together for battle.

5 This army is coming from a faraway land, from the edge of the horizon.
In anger the Lord is using this army like a weapon to destroy the whole country.

6 Cry, because the Lord’s day of judging is near; the Almighty is sending destruction.

7 People will be weak with fear, and their courage will melt away.

8 Everyone will be afraid. Pain and hurt will grab them; they will hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby.
They will look at each other in fear, with their faces red like fire.

God’s Judgment Against Babylon

9 Look, the Lord’s day of judging is coming— a terrible day, a day of God’s anger.
He will destroy the land and the sinners who live in it.

10 The stars will not show their light; the skies will be dark.
The sun will grow dark as it rises, and the moon will not give its light.

11 The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil and wicked people for their sins.
I will cause proud people to lose their pride, and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.

12 People will be harder to find than pure gold; there will be fewer people than there is fine gold in Ophir.

13 I will make the sky shake, and the earth will be moved from its place
by the anger of the Lord All-Powerful at the time of his burning anger.

14 “Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted deer or like sheep who have no shepherd.
Everyone will turn back to his own people; each will run back to his own land.

15 Everyone who is captured will be killed; everyone who is caught will be killed with a sword.

16 Their little children will be beaten to death in front of them. Their houses will be robbed and their wives raped.

17 “Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon. They do not care about silver or delight in gold.

18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows; they will show no mercy on children, nor will they feel sorry for little ones.

19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms, and the Babylonians are very proud of it.
But God will destroy it like Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 No one will ever live there or settle there again.
No Arab will put a tent there; no shepherd will bring sheep there.

21 Only desert animals will live there, and their houses will be full of wild dogs.
Owls will live there, and wild goats will leap about in the houses.

22 Wolves will howl within the strong walls, and wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings.
The end of Babylon is near; its time is almost over.”