Chapter 20

¹ In the year when Tanathan came to Azotus, when he was sent by Arna king of the Assyrians, and warred against Azotus, and took it; ² then the Lord spoke to Isaiah the son of Amos, saying, Go and take the sackcloth off thy loins, and loose thy sandals from off thy feet, and do thus, going naked and barefoot. ³ And the Lord said, As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, there shall be three years for signs and wonders to the Egyptians and Ethiopians; ⁴ for thus shall the king of the Assyrians lead the captivity of Egypt and the Ethiopians, young men and old, naked and barefoot, having the shame of Egypt exposed. ⁵ And the Egyptians being defeated shall be ashamed of the Ethiopians, in whom they had trusted; for they were their glory. ⁶ And they that dwell in this island shall say in that day, Behold, we trusted to flee to them for help, who could not save themselves from the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be saved?

Chapter 21

¹ The Vision of the Desert.

As though a whirlwind should pass through the desert, coming from a desert, even from such a land, ² so a fearful and a grievous vision was declared to me: he that is treacherous deals treacherously, the transgressor transgresses. The Elamites are upon me, and the ambassadors of the Persians come against me: now will I groan and comfort myself. ³ Therefore are my loins filled with feebleness, and pangs have seized me as a travailing woman: I dealt wrongfully that I might not hear; I hasted

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that I might not see. ⁴ My heart wanders, and transgression ¹overwhelms me; my soul is occupied with fear. ⁵ Prepare the table, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and prepare your shields. ⁶ For thus said the Lord to me, Go and station a watchman for thyself, and declare whatever thou shalt see. ⁷ And I saw two mounted horsemen, and a rider on an ass, and a rider on a camel. ⁸ Hearken with great attention, and call thou Urias to the watch-tower: the Lord has spoken. I stood continually during the day, and I stood in the camp all night: ⁹ and, behold, he comes riding in a chariot and pair: and he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all her images and her idols have been crushed to the ground. ¹⁰ Hear, ye that are left, and ye that are in pain, hear what things I have heard of the Lord of hosts which the God of Israel has declared to us.

The Vision of Idumea.

¹¹ Call to me out of Seir; guard ye the bulwarks. ¹² I watch in the morning and the night: if thou wouldest enquire, enquire, and dwell by me. ¹³ Thou mayest lodge in the forest ²in the evening, or in the way of Dædan. ¹⁴ Ye that dwell in the country of Thæman, bring water to meet him that is thirsty; ¹⁵ meet the fugitives with bread, because of the multitude of the slain, and because of the multitude of them that lose their way, and because of the multitude of swords, and because of the multitude of bent bows, and because of the multitude of them that have fallen in war. ¹⁶ For thus said the Lord to me, Yet a year, as the year of an hireling, and the glory of the sons of Kedar shall fail: ¹⁷ and the remnant of the strong bows of the sons of Kedar shall be small: for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.