1
This 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.
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The 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.
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I 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.
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I will hand the Egyptians over to a tyrant, to a cruel king who will rule them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken."
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The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up.
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The channels of the river will stink as they slowly go dry. Reeds and rushes will wither,
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and all the crops planted along the banks of the Nile will dry up and be blown away.
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Everyone who earns a living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless.
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Those who make linen cloth will be in despair;
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weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.
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The 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?
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King of Egypt, where are those clever advisers of yours? Perhaps they can tell you what plans the LORD Almighty has for Egypt.
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The leaders of Zoan and Memphis are fools. They were supposed to lead the nation, but they have misled it.
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The LORD has made them give confusing advice. As a result, Egypt does everything wrong and staggers like a drunk slipping on his own vomit.
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No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.
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A 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.
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The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that the LORD Almighty has prepared for them.
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When 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."
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When 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.
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They 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.
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The 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.
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The 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.
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When 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.
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When that time comes, Israel will rank with Egypt and Assyria, and these three nations will be a blessing to all the world.
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The 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."
1
Under the orders of Emperor Sargon of Assyria, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army attacked the Philistine city of Ashdod.
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Three 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.
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When 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.
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The 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.
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Those who have put their trust in Ethiopia and have boasted about Egypt will be disillusioned, their hopes shattered.
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When 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?' "
1
This is a message about Babylonia. Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land.
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I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction. Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering which Babylon has caused.
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What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.
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My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.
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In the vision a banquet is ready; rugs are spread for the guests to sit on. They are eating and drinking. Suddenly the command rings out: "Officers! Prepare your shields!"
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Then the Lord said to me, "Go and post a sentry, and tell him to report what he sees.
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If he sees riders coming on horseback, two by two, and riders on donkeys and camels, he is to observe them carefully."
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The sentry calls out, "Sir, I have been standing guard at my post day and night."
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Suddenly, here they come! Riders on horseback, two by two. The sentry gives the news, "Babylon has fallen! All the idols they worshiped lie shattered on the ground."
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My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news that I have heard from the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel.
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This is a message about Edom. Someone calls to me from Edom, "Sentry, how soon will the night be over? Tell me how soon it will end."
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I answer, "Morning is coming, but night will come again. If you want to ask again, come back and ask."
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This is a message about Arabia. People of Dedan, you whose caravans camp in the barren country of Arabia,
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give water to the thirsty people who come to you. You people of the land of Tema, give food to the refugees.
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People are fleeing to escape from swords that are ready to kill them, from bows that are ready to shoot, from all the dangers of war.
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Then the Lord said to me, "In exactly one year the greatness of the tribes of Kedar will be at an end.
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The archers are the bravest warriors of Kedar, but few of them will be left. I, the LORD God of Israel, have spoken."
1
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
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It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval.
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It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God's word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.
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It was faith that made Abel offer to God a better sacrifice than Cain's. Through his faith he won God's approval as a righteous man, because God himself approved of his gifts. By means of his faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
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It was faith that kept Enoch from dying. Instead, he was taken up to God, and nobody could find him, because God had taken him up. The scripture says that before Enoch was taken up, he had pleased God.
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No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.
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It was faith that made Noah hear God's warnings about things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a boat in which he and his family were saved. As a result, the world was condemned, and Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith.
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It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.
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By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God.
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For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.
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It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children. He trusted God to keep his promise.
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Though Abraham was practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the seashore.
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It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.
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Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.
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They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.
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Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.
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It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
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God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised."
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Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise Isaac from death---and, so to speak, Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.
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It was faith that made Isaac promise blessings for the future to Jacob and Esau.
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It was faith that made Jacob bless each of the sons of Joseph just before he died. He leaned on the top of his walking stick and worshiped God.
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It was faith that made Joseph, when he was about to die, speak of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and leave instructions about what should be done with his body.
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It was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born. They saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's order.
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It was faith that made Moses, when he had grown up, refuse to be called the son of the king's daughter.
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He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while.
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He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.
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It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back.
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It was faith that made him establish the Passover and order the blood to be sprinkled on the doors, so that the Angel of Death would not kill the first-born sons of the Israelites.
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It was faith that made the Israelites able to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land; when the Egyptians tried to do it, the water swallowed them up.
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It was faith that made the walls of Jericho fall down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.
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It was faith that kept the prostitute Rahab from being killed with those who disobeyed God, for she gave the Israelite spies a friendly welcome.
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Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
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Through faith they fought whole countries and won. They did what was right and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions,
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put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners.
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Through faith women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others, refusing to accept freedom, died under torture in order to be raised to a better life.
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Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.
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They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats---poor, persecuted, and mistreated.
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The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.
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What a record all of these have won by their faith! Yet they did not receive what God had promised,
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because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.
