World English Bible · Under Assyria
Isaiah 19
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The burden of . "Behold, rides on a swift cloud, and comes to . The idols of will tremble at his ; and of will melt within it. I will stir up the against the , and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. of the will fail within them. I will destroy their . They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards. I will give over the into the hand of a cruel . A fierce king will them," , of Armies. The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry. The rivers will become foul. The streams of will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away. The meadows by , by the brink of , and all the sown fields of , will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. The fishermen will , and all those who fish in will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish. Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded. The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in . The princes of are utterly foolish. The of the wisest of has become stupid. How do you say to , "I am the son of , the son of ancient kings"? Where then are your men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what of Armies has purposed concerning . The princes of have become fools. The princes of are deceived. They have caused to go astray, those who are the of her tribes. has mixed a of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit. Neither shall there be any work for , which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do. In that day the will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of of Armies's hand, which he shakes over them. The land of Judah will become a terror to . Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of of Armies, which he determines against it. In that day, there will be five cities in the land of that speak the language of , and to of Armies. One will be called "The city of ." In that day, there will be an to in the middle of the land of , and a pillar to at its border. It will be for a sign and for a to of Armies in the land of ; for they will because of oppressors, and he will send them a and a defender, and he will them. will be known to , and the will know in that day. Yes, they will with and , and will a to , and will perform it. will strike , striking and healing. They will , and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them. In that day there will be a highway out of to , and the shall come into , and the into ; and the will with the . In that day, Israel will be the third with and with , a within the earth; because of Armies has them, saying, " be my people, the work of my hands, and Israel my ."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.
All of Isaiah