The Oracle concerning Tyre

231 The word about Tyre. Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish, because your strong place is made waste; on the way back from the land of Kittim the news is given to them. 2 Send out a cry of grief, you men of the sea-land, traders of Zidon, who go over the sea, whose representatives are on great waters; 3 Who get in the seed of Shihor, whose wealth is the trade of the nations. 4 Be shamed, O Zidon: for the sea, the strong place of the sea has said, I have not been with child, or given birth; I have not taken care of young men, or kept watch over the growth of virgins. 5 When the news comes to Egypt they will be bitterly pained at the fate of Tyre. 6 Go over to Tarshish; give cries of sorrow, O men of the sea-land. 7 Is this the town which was full of joy, whose start goes back to times long past, whose wanderings took her into far-off countries? 8 By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land? 9 It was the purpose of the Lord of armies to put pride to shame, to make sport of the glory of those who are honoured in the earth. 10 Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour. 11 His hand is stretched out over the sea, the kingdoms are shaking: the Lord has given orders about Canaan, to make waste its strong places. 12 And he said, There is no more joy for you, O crushed virgin daughter of Zidon: up! go over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest. 13 ... 14 Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish: because your strong place is made waste.

15 And it will be in that day that Tyre will go out of mind for seventy years, that is, the days of one king: after the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre as in the song of the loose woman. 16 Take an instrument of music, go about the town, O loose woman who has gone out from the memory of man; make sweet melody with songs, so that you may come back to men's minds. 17 And it will be after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will have mercy on Tyre, and she will go back to her trade, acting as a loose woman with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 And her goods and her trade will be holy to the Lord: they will not be kept back or stored up; for her produce will be for those living in the Lord's land, to give them food for their needs, and fair clothing.

The LORD's Judgment on the Earth

241 See, the Lord is making the earth waste and unpeopled, he is turning it upside down, and sending the people in all directions. 2 And it will be the same for the people as for the priest; for the servant as for his master; and for the woman-servant as for her owner; the same for the one offering goods for a price as for him who takes them; the same for him who gives money at interest and for him who takes it; the same for him who lets others have the use of his property as for those who make use of it. 3 The earth will be completely waste and without men; for this is the word of the Lord. 4 The earth is sorrowing and wasting away, the world is full of grief and wasting away, the high ones of the earth come to nothing. 5 The earth has been made unclean by those living in it; because the laws have not been kept by them, the orders have been changed, and the eternal agreement has been broken. 6 For this cause the earth is given up to the curse, and those in it are judged as sinners: for this cause those living on the earth are burned up, and the rest are small in number. 7 The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief. 8 The pleasing sound of all instruments of music has come to an end, and the voices of those who are glad. 9 There is no more drinking of wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who take it. 10 The town is waste and broken down: every house is shut up, so that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; there is an end of all delight, the joy of the land is gone. 12 In the town all is waste, and in the public place is destruction.

13 For it will be in the heart of the earth among the peoples, like the shaking of an olive-tree, as the last of the grapes after the getting-in is done. 14 But those will be making sounds of joy; they will be crying loudly from the sea for the glory of the Lord. 15 Give praise to the Lord in the east, to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the sea-lands.

16 From the farthest part of the earth comes the sound of songs, glory to the upright. But I said, I am wasting away, wasting away, the curse is on me! The false ones go on in their false way, yes, they go on acting falsely. 17 Fear, and death, and the net, are come on you, O people of the earth. 18 And it will be that he who goes in flight from the sound of fear will be overtaken by death; and he who gets free from death will be taken in the net: for the windows on high are open, and the bases of the earth are shaking. 19 The earth is completely broken, it is parted in two, it is violently moved. 20 The earth will be moving uncertainly, like a man overcome by drink; it will be shaking like a tent; and the weight of its sin will be on it, crushing it down so that it will not get up again. 21 And in that day the Lord will send punishment on the army of the high ones on high, and on the kings of the earth on the earth. 22 And they will be got together, like prisoners in the prison-house; and after a long time they will have their punishment. 23 Then the moon will be veiled, and the sun put to shame; for the Lord of armies will be ruling in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his judges he will let his glory be seen.

Praise for the LORD's Favor

251 O Lord, you are my God; I will give praise to you, I will give honour to your name; for you have done great acts of power; your purposes in the past have been made true and certain in effect. 2 For you have made a town a waste place: a strong town a mass of broken walls; the tower of the men of pride has come to an end; it will never be put up again. 3 For this cause will the strong people give glory to you, the town of the cruel ones will be in fear of you. 4 For you have been a strong place for the poor and the crushed in their trouble, a safe place from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the wrath of the cruel ones is like a winter storm. 5 As heat by the shade of a cloud, the noise of the men of pride has been made quiet by you; as heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the cruel ones has been stopped.

6 And in this mountain will the Lord of armies make for all peoples a feast of good things, a feast of wines long stored, of good things sweet to the taste, of wines long kept and tested. 7 And in this mountain he will put an end to the shade covering the face of all peoples, and the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He has put an end to death for ever; and the Lord God will take away all weeping; and he will put an end to the shame of his people in all the earth: for the Lord has said it.

9 And in that day it will be said, See, this is our God; we have been waiting for him, and he will be our saviour: this is the Lord in whom is our hope; we will be glad and have delight in his salvation. 10 For in this mountain will the hand of the Lord come to rest, and Moab will be crushed down in his place, even as the dry stems of the grain are crushed under foot in the waste place. 11 And if he puts out his hands, like a man stretching out his hands in swimming, the Lord will make low his pride, however expert his designs. 12 And the strong tower of your walls has been broken by him, made low, and crushed even to the dust.

A Song of Trust in the LORD's Protection

261 In that day will this song be made in the land of Judah: We have a strong town; he will make salvation our walls and towers. 2 Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in. 3 The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you. 4 Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock.

5 For he has made low those who are lifted up, all the people of the town of pride: he makes it low, crushing it down to the earth; he makes it low in the dust. 6 It will be crushed under the feet of the poor and the steps of those who are in need. 7 The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you. 8 We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name. 9 In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness. 10 Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord. 11 Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see: let them see ... yes, your haters will be burned up in the fire.

12 Lord, you will give us peace: for all our works are the outcome of your purpose. 13 O Lord, our God, other lords than you have had rule over us; but in you only is our salvation, and no other name will we take on our lips. 14 The dead will not come back to life: their spirits will not come back to earth; for this cause you have sent destruction on them, so that the memory of them is dead. 15 You have made the nation great, O Lord, you have made it great; glory is yours: you have made wide the limits of the land. 16 Lord, in trouble our eyes have been turned to you, we sent up a prayer when your punishment was on us. 17 As a woman with child, whose time is near, is troubled, crying out in her pain; so have we been before you, O Lord. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have given birth to wind; no salvation has come to the earth through us, and no children have come into the world. 19 Your dead will come back; their dead bodies will come to life again. Those in the dust, awaking from their sleep, will send out a song; for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the shades.

20 Come, my people, into your secret places, and let your doors be shut: keep yourself safe for a short time, till his wrath is over. 21 For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

The Deliverance and Ingathering of Israel

271 In that day the Lord, with his great and strong and cruel sword, will send punishment on Leviathan, the quick-moving snake, and on Leviathan, the twisted snake; and he will put to death the dragon which is in the sea. 2 In that day it will be said, A vine-garden of delight, make a song about it. 3 I, the Lord, am watching it; I will give it water at all times: I will keep it night and day, for fear that any damage comes to it. 4 My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together. 5 Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me. 6 In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers; and the face of the world will be full of fruit.

7 Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword? 8 Your anger against her has been made clear by driving her away; he has taken her away with his storm-wind in the day of his east wind. 9 So by this will the sin of Jacob be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his punishment; when all the stones of the altar are crushed together, so that the wood pillars and the sun-images will not be put up again. 10 For the strong town is without men, an unpeopled living-place; and she has become a waste land: there the young ox will take his rest, and its branches will be food for him. 11 When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them. 12 And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel. 13 And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.