God Will Punish Ethiopia

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

²From 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.

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

⁴The 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.

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

⁶The 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.”

⁷A 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.

God Will Punish Egypt

¹This 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.

²The 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.

³I 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.

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

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

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

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

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

⁹Those who make linen cloth will be in despair;

¹⁰weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.

¹¹The 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?

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

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

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

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

Egypt Will Worship the Lord

¹⁶A 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.

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

¹⁸When 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.”

¹⁹When 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.

²⁰They 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.

²¹The 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.

²²The 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.

²³When 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.

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

²⁵The 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.”

The Sign of the Naked Prophet

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

²Three 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.

³When 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.

⁴The 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.

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

⁶When 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?’”

¹This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.

The Lord's Anger against Nineveh

²The Lord God tolerates no rivals; he punishes those who oppose him. In his anger he pays them back.

³The Lord does not easily become angry, but he is powerful and never lets the guilty go unpunished. Where the Lord walks, storms arise; the clouds are the dust raised by his feet!

⁴He commands the sea, and it dries up! He makes the rivers go dry. The fields of Bashan wither, Mount Carmel turns brown, and the flowers of Lebanon fade.

⁵Mountains quake in the presence of the Lord; hills melt before him. The earth shakes when the Lord appears; the world and all its people tremble.

⁶When he is angry, who can survive? Who can survive his terrible fury? He pours out his flaming anger; rocks crumble to dust before him.

⁷The Lord is good; he protects his people in times of trouble; he takes care of those who turn to him.

⁸Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies; he sends to their death those who oppose him.

⁹What are you plotting against the Lord? He will destroy you. No one opposes him more than once.

¹⁰Like tangled thorns and dry straw you drunkards will be burned up!

¹¹From you, Nineveh, there came someone full of wicked schemes, who plotted against the Lord.

¹²This is what the Lord says to his people Israel: “Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again.

¹³I will now end Assyria's power over you and break the chains that bind you.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord has decreed about the Assyrians: “They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians—they don't deserve to live!”

¹⁵Look, a messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is on his way to announce the victory! People of Judah, celebrate your festivals and give God what you solemnly promised him. The wicked will never invade your land again. They have been totally destroyed!

The Fall of Nineveh

¹Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle!

²The Lord is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.

³The enemy soldiers carry red shields and wear uniforms of red. They are preparing to attack! Their chariots flash like fire! Their horses prance!

⁴Chariots dash wildly through the streets, rushing back and forth in the city squares. They flash like torches and dart about like lightning.

⁵The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.

⁶The gates by the river burst open; the palace is filled with terror.

⁷The queen is taken captive; her servants moan like doves and beat their breasts in sorrow.

⁸Like water from a broken dam the people rush from Nineveh! “Stop! Stop!” the cry rings out— but no one turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The city is full of treasure!

¹⁰Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.

¹¹Where now is the city that was like a den of lions, the place where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go and their cubs would be safe?

¹²The lion killed his prey and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs; he filled his den with torn flesh.

¹³“I am your enemy!” says the Lord Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard.”

²⁵Storms come, and the wicked are blown away, but honest people are always safe.

²⁶Never get a lazy person to do something for you; he will be as irritating as vinegar on your teeth or smoke in your eyes.

²⁷Obey the Lord, and you will live longer. The wicked die before their time.

²⁸The hopes of good people lead to joy, but wicked people can look forward to nothing.