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17 For wickedness burns like fire,
    devouring brier and thorn;
It kindles the forest thickets,
    which go up in columns of smoke.(A)
18 At the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land quakes,
    and the people are like fuel for fire;
    no one spares his brother.(B)

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17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,(A)
    nor will he pity(B) the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly(C) and wicked,(D)
    every mouth speaks folly.(E)

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
    his hand is still upraised.(F)

18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire;(G)
    it consumes briers and thorns,(H)
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,(I)
    so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

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Divine Judgment on Assyria[a]

27 See, the name of the Lord is coming from afar,
    burning with anger, heavy with threat,
His lips filled with fury,
    tongue like a consuming fire,(A)
28 Breath like an overflowing torrent
    that reaches up to the neck!
He will winnow the nations with a destructive winnowing
    and bridle the jaws of the peoples to send them astray.(B)
29 For you, there will be singing
    as on a night when a feast is observed,
And joy of heart
    as when one marches along with a flute
Going to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will make his glorious voice heard,
    and reveal his arm coming down
In raging fury and flame of consuming fire,
    in tempest, and rainstorm, and hail.(C)
31 For at the voice of the Lord, Assyria will be shattered,
    as he strikes with the rod;
32 And every sweep of the rod of his punishment,
    which the Lord will bring down on him,
Will be accompanied by timbrels and lyres,
    while he wages war against him.(D)
33 For his tophet[b] has long been ready,
    truly it is prepared for the king;
His firepit made both deep and wide,
    with fire and firewood in abundance,
And the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur,
    setting it afire.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 30:27–33 God’s punishment of Assyria. The name of the Lord: here, God himself; cf. Ps 20:2.
  2. 30:33 Tophet: a site, near Jerusalem, where children were sacrificed by fire to Molech (2 Kgs 23:10), and where, probably, Ahaz sacrificed his son (2 Kgs 16:3). Here, Isaiah speaks of “his tophet,” the site prepared for burning up the king of Assyria. King: there seems to be a play on words between the Heb. word for king (melek) and the name Molech. This defeat of Assyria becomes the occasion for Israel’s festal rejoicing (v. 32).

27 See, the Name(A) of the Lord comes from afar,
    with burning anger(B) and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,(C)
    and his tongue is a consuming fire.(D)
28 His breath(E) is like a rushing torrent,(F)
    rising up to the neck.(G)
He shakes the nations in the sieve(H) of destruction;
    he places in the jaws of the peoples
    a bit(I) that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
    as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;(J)
your hearts will rejoice(K)
    as when people playing pipes(L) go up
to the mountain(M) of the Lord,
    to the Rock(N) of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice(O)
    and will make them see his arm(P) coming down
with raging anger(Q) and consuming fire,(R)
    with cloudburst, thunderstorm(S) and hail.(T)
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;(U)
    with his rod he will strike(V) them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
    with his punishing club(W)
will be to the music of timbrels(X) and harps,
    as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.(Y)
33 Topheth(Z) has long been prepared;
    it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
    with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath(AA) of the Lord,
    like a stream of burning sulfur,(AB)
    sets it ablaze.(AC)

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He shall rush past his crag[a] in panic,
    and his princes desert the standard in terror,
Says the Lord who has a fire in Zion
    and a furnace in Jerusalem.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 31:9 Crag: the king as the rallying point of the princes. Panic: terror is an element of Israel’s holy war tradition, in which defeat of the enemy is accomplished by the Lord rather than by human means (cf. v. 8).

Their stronghold(A) will fall because of terror;
    at the sight of the battle standard(B) their commanders will panic,(C)
declares the Lord,
    whose fire(D) is in Zion,
    whose furnace(E) is in Jerusalem.

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14 In Zion sinners are in dread,
    trembling grips the impious:
“Who of us can live with consuming fire?
    who of us can live with everlasting flames?”(A)

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14 The sinners(A) in Zion are terrified;
    trembling(B) grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?(C)
    Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”

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