Scrolls from Qumran Cave I

A photograph of a manuscript column from the Great Isaiah Scroll. The parchment is tanned and shows significant wear, with jagged, irregular edges at the top and bottom. The Hebrew text is written in black ink in a formal square script. Vertical and horizontal ruling lines are faintly visible. Small fragments of text from the preceding column are visible on the far left edge.

And He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah He will gather from the four corners of the earth. And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines to the west, together they shall plunder the people of the east; Edom and Moab shall be the objects of their grasp, and the children of Ammon their subjects. And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and He will wave His hand over the River with the strength of His wind, and He will strike it into seven streams, and will make men tread it in sandals. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who will remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel in the day when he went up from the land of Egypt.

And you will say in that day: I will give thanks to You, O LORD, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away and You comforted me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid; for the LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. And you shall draw water with joy from the wells of salvation. And you shall say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for He has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Cry aloud and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. Upon a bare mountain raise a signal, lift up a voice to them, wave the hand that they may enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have also called My mighty men for My anger, those who rejoice in My pride. A voice of a multitude on the mountains, like that of a great people; a voice of an uproar of kingdoms of nations gathering together; the LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They are coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it shall come. Therefore all hands shall grow weak, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be dismayed; pangs and distress shall seize them, they shall writhe like a woman in labor. They shall look in astonishment at one another, their faces shall be faces of flames. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash their light; the sun shall be dark in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and will lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mankind more rare than fine gold, and people than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the fury of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His burning anger. And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land. Everyone who is found shall be thrust through, and everyone who is caught shall fall by the sword. And their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered and their wives ravished.

Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like the overthrow of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, nor shall it be settled from generation to generation; nor shall the Arab pitch his tent there, nor shall shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But wild beasts shall lie down there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; there ostriches shall dwell, and there satyrs shall dance. And hyenas shall cry in its towers, and jackals in its pleasant palaces; its time is near to come, and its days will not be prolonged. For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob.