The Berean Pursuit
Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it, the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet."
And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.
Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks-to Egypt's shame.
Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed. And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, 'See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'?"
This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.
A dire vision is declared to me:
"The traitor still betrays,
and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media!
I will put an end to all her groaning."
Therefore my body is filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am bewildered to hear,
I am dismayed to see.
My heart falters;
fear makes me tremble.
The twilight of my desire
has turned to horror.
They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,
they eat, they drink!
Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
For this is what the Lord says to me:
"Go, post a lookout
and have him report what he sees.
When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
he must be alert, fully alert."
Then the lookout shouted:
"Day after day, my lord,
I stand on the watchtower;
night after night
I stay at my post.
Look, here come the riders,
horsemen in pairs."
And one answered, saying:
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground!"
O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,
I tell you what I have heard
from the LORD of Hosts,
the God of Israel.
This is the burden against Dumah:
One calls to me from Seir,
"Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?"
The watchman replies,
"Morning has come, but also the night.
If you would inquire, then inquire.
Come back yet again."
This is the burden against Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water for the thirsty,
O dwellers of Tema;
meet the refugees with food.
For they flee from the sword-
the sword that is drawn-
from the bow that is bent,
and from the stress of battle.
For this is what the Lord says to me: "Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone. The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few."
For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
This is the burden against the Valley of Vision:
What ails you now,
that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
O city of commotion,
O town of revelry?
Your slain did not die by the sword,
nor were they killed in battle.
All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together,
having fled to a distant place.
Therefore I said,
"Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly!
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of the daughter of my people."
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision-
of breaking down the walls
and crying to the mountains.
Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovers the shield.
Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the gates.
He has uncovered
the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest. You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool. You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts
called for weeping and wailing,
for shaven heads
and the wearing of sackcloth.
But look, there is joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine:
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing:
"Until your dying day,
this sin of yours will never be atoned for,"
says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: "Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here-to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain-a disgrace to the house of your master. I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.
On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.
So they will hang on him the whole burden of his father's house: the descendants and the offshoots-all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down."
Indeed, the LORD has spoken.