God’s Universal Reign

The word which (A)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

Now it will come about that
(B)In the last days
The (C)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established [a]as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And (D)all the nations will stream to it.
And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
So that He may teach us [b]about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For [c]the law will go out (E)from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate for many peoples;
And (F)they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives.
(G)Nation will not lift up a sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

Come, (H)house of Jacob, and let’s walk in the (I)light of the Lord.
For You have (J)abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers (K)like the Philistines.
They also [d](L)strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with (M)horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
Their land has also been (N)filled with idols;
They worship the (O)work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.
So (P)the common person has been humbled
And the person of importance has been brought low,
But (Q)do not forgive them.
10 (R)Enter the rocky place and hide in the dust
(S)From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.
11 The [e](T)proud look of humanity will be brought low,
And the (U)arrogance of people will be humbled;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

12 For the Lord of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against (V)everyone who is arrogant and haughty,
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be brought low.
13 And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up,
Against all the (W)oaks of Bashan,
14 Against all the (X)lofty mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up,
15 Against every (Y)high tower,
Against every fortified wall,
16 Against all the (Z)ships of Tarshish
And against all the delightful ships.
17 And the pride of humanity will be humbled
And the arrogance of people will be brought low;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day,
18 And the (AA)idols will completely vanish.
19 People will (AB)go into caves of the rocks
And into holes in the [f]ground
Away from the terror of the Lord
And the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises (AC)to terrify the earth.
20 On that day people will (AD)throw away to the moles and the (AE)bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves to worship,
21 In order to (AF)go into the clefts of the rocks and the crannies of the cliffs
Before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.
22 [g](AG)Take no account of man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;
For [h](AH)why should he be esteemed?

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 2:2 Lit on
  2. Isaiah 2:3 Or some of
  3. Isaiah 2:3 Or instruction
  4. Isaiah 2:6 Lit clap their hands
  5. Isaiah 2:11 Lit eyes of the pride of man
  6. Isaiah 2:19 Lit dust
  7. Isaiah 2:22 Or Stop caring about
  8. Isaiah 2:22 Lit in what

The Lord’s Future Reign

This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house
    will be the highest of all—
    the most important place on earth.
It will be raised above the other hills,
    and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.
People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
    and we will walk in his paths.”
For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;
    his word will go out from Jerusalem.
The Lord will mediate between nations
    and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
    nor train for war anymore.

A Warning of Judgment

Come, descendants of Jacob,
    let us walk in the light of the Lord!
For the Lord has rejected his people,
    the descendants of Jacob,
because they have filled their land with practices from the East
    and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do.
    They have made alliances with pagans.
Israel is full of silver and gold;
    there is no end to its treasures.
Their land is full of warhorses;
    there is no end to its chariots.
Their land is full of idols;
    the people worship things they have made
    with their own hands.
So now they will be humbled,
    and all will be brought low—
    do not forgive them.
10 Crawl into caves in the rocks.
    Hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord
    and the glory of his majesty.
11 Human pride will be brought down,
    and human arrogance will be humbled.
Only the Lord will be exalted
    on that day of judgment.

12 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    has a day of reckoning.
He will punish the proud and mighty
    and bring down everything that is exalted.
13 He will cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon
    and all the mighty oaks of Bashan.
14 He will level all the high mountains
    and all the lofty hills.
15 He will break down every high tower
    and every fortified wall.
16 He will destroy all the great trading ships[a]
    and every magnificent vessel.
17 Human pride will be humbled,
    and human arrogance will be brought down.
Only the Lord will be exalted
    on that day of judgment.

18 Idols will completely disappear.
19 When the Lord rises to shake the earth,
    his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground.
They will hide in caves in the rocks
    from the terror of the Lord
    and the glory of his majesty.
20 On that day of judgment they will abandon the gold and silver idols
    they made for themselves to worship.
They will leave their gods to the rodents and bats,
21     while they crawl away into caverns
    and hide among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.
They will try to escape the terror of the Lord
    and the glory of his majesty
    as he rises to shake the earth.
22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans.
    They are as frail as breath.
    What good are they?

Footnotes

  1. 2:16 Hebrew every ship of Tarshish.