Font Size
Isaiah 24-27
The Message
Isaiah 24-27
The Message
The Landscape Will Be a Moonscape
24 1-3 Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth
and leave it in ruins,
Rip everything out by the roots
and send everyone scurrying:
priests and laypeople alike,
owners and workers alike,
celebrities and nobodies alike,
buyers and sellers alike,
bankers and beggars alike,
the haves and have-nots alike.
The landscape will be a moonscape,
totally wasted.
And why? Because God says so.
He’s issued the orders.
4 The earth turns gaunt and gray,
the world silent and sad,
sky and land lifeless, colorless.
Earth Polluted by Its Very Own People
5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,
who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
They dwindle away, dying out one by one.
No more wine, no more vineyards,
no more songs or singers.
The laughter of castanets is gone,
the shouts of celebrants, gone,
the laughter of fiddles, gone.
No more parties with toasts of champagne.
Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.
The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns.
Every house is boarded up, condemned.
People riot in the streets for wine,
but the good times are gone forever—
no more joy for this old world.
The city is dead and deserted,
bulldozed into piles of rubble.
That’s the way it will be on this earth.
This is the fate of all nations:
An olive tree shaken clean of its olives,
a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.
14-16 But there are some who will break into glad song.
Out of the west they’ll shout of God’s majesty.
Yes, from the east God’s glory will ascend.
Every island of the sea
Will broadcast God’s fame,
the fame of the God of Israel.
From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing:
“All praise to the Righteous One!”
16-20 But I said, “That’s all well and good for somebody,
but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom.”
All of them at one another’s throats,
yes, all of them at one another’s throats.
Terror and pits and booby traps
are everywhere, whoever you are.
If you run from the terror,
you’ll fall into the pit.
If you climb out of the pit,
you’ll get caught in the trap.
Chaos pours out of the skies.
The foundations of earth are crumbling.
Earth is smashed to pieces,
earth is ripped to shreds,
earth is wobbling out of control,
Earth staggers like a drunk,
sways like a shack in a high wind.
Its piled-up sins are too much for it.
It collapses and won’t get up again.
21-23 That’s when God will call on the carpet
rebel powers in the skies and
Rebel kings on earth.
They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail,
Corralled and locked up in a jail,
and then sentenced and put to hard labor.
Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated,
red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced,
Because God-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over,
ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem,
Splendid and glorious
before all his leaders.
God’s Hand Rests on This Mountain
25 1-5 God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.
6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this mountain!”
10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like trash,
waste shoveled into a cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
like swimmers trying to stay afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
Their pride will pull them under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
those mighty walls reduced to dust.
Stretch the Borders of Life
26 1-6 At that time, this song
will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
build their lives on the reclaimed land.
7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
blind to the splendor of God.
11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
The more life you give, the more glory you display,
and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!
16-18 O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
when your discipline was so heavy
they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
writhing in distress, screaming her pain
as the baby is being born,
That’s how we were because of you, O God.
We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
We produced nothing living.
We couldn’t save the world.
19 But friends, your dead will live,
your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
giving birth to the dead.
20-21 Come, my people, go home
and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
Selected Grain by Grain
27 At that time God will unsheathe his sword,
his merciless, massive, mighty sword.
He’ll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees,
the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight.
He’ll kill that old dragon
that lives in the sea.
2-5 “At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
There’s something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
so that no one can damage it.
I’m not angry. I care.
Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I’ll just pull them out
and burn them up.
Let that vine cling to me for safety,
let it find a good and whole life with me,
let it hold on for a good and whole life.”
6 The days are coming when Jacob
shall put down roots,
Israel blossom and grow fresh branches,
and fill the world with its fruit.
7-11 Has God knocked them to the ground
as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no.
Were they killed
as their killers were killed? Again, no.
He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence.
He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.
But the good news is that through this experience
Jacob’s guilt was taken away.
The evidence that his sin is removed will be this:
He will tear down the alien altars,
take them apart stone by stone,
And then crush the stones into gravel
and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.
For there’s nothing left of that pretentious grandeur.
Nobody lives there anymore. It’s unlivable.
But animals do just fine,
browsing and bedding down.
And it’s not a bad place to get firewood.
Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful.
It’s the remains of a people with no sense of God.
So, the God who made them
Will have nothing to do with them.
He who formed them will turn his back on them.
12-13 At that time God will thresh
from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt,
And you, people of Israel,
will be selected grain by grain.
At that same time a great trumpet will be blown,
calling home the exiles from Assyria,
Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt
to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.
Isaiah 24-27
New International Version
Isaiah 24-27
New International Version
The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth
24 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth(A)
and devastate(B) it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter(C) its inhabitants—
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,(D)
for the master as for his servant,
for the mistress as for her servant,
for seller as for buyer,(E)
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.(F)
3 The earth will be completely laid waste(G)
and totally plundered.(H)
The Lord has spoken(I) this word.
4 The earth dries up(J) and withers,(K)
the world languishes and withers,
the heavens(L) languish with the earth.(M)
5 The earth is defiled(N) by its people;
they have disobeyed(O) the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.(P)
6 Therefore a curse(Q) consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,(R)
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up(S) and the vine withers;(T)
all the merrymakers groan.(U)
8 The joyful timbrels(V) are stilled,
the noise(W) of the revelers(X) has stopped,
the joyful harp(Y) is silent.(Z)
9 No longer do they drink wine(AA) with a song;
the beer is bitter(AB) to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city(AC) lies desolate;(AD)
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out(AE) for wine;(AF)
all joy turns to gloom,(AG)
all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,(AH)
its gate(AI) is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,(AJ)
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.(AK)
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;(AL)
from the west(AM) they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east(AN) give glory(AO) to the Lord;
exalt(AP) the name(AQ) of the Lord, the God of Israel,
in the islands(AR) of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth(AS) we hear singing:(AT)
“Glory(AU) to the Righteous One.”(AV)
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!(AW)
Woe(AX) to me!
The treacherous(AY) betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!(AZ)”
17 Terror(BA) and pit and snare(BB) await you,
people of the earth.(BC)
18 Whoever flees(BD) at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;(BE)
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.(BF)
The floodgates of the heavens(BG) are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.(BH)
19 The earth is broken up,(BI)
the earth is split asunder,(BJ)
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,(BK)
it sways like a hut(BL) in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion(BM)
that it falls(BN)—never to rise again.(BO)
21 In that day(BP) the Lord will punish(BQ)
the powers(BR) in the heavens above
and the kings(BS) on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners(BT) bound in a dungeon;(BU)
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished[a] after many days.(BV)
23 The moon will be dismayed,
the sun(BW) ashamed;
for the Lord Almighty will reign(BX)
on Mount Zion(BY) and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.(BZ)
Praise to the Lord
25 Lord, you are my God;(CA)
I will exalt you and praise your name,(CB)
for in perfect faithfulness(CC)
you have done wonderful things,(CD)
things planned(CE) long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,(CF)
the fortified(CG) town a ruin,(CH)
the foreigners’ stronghold(CI) a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.(CJ)
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;(CK)
cities of ruthless(CL) nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge(CM) for the poor,(CN)
a refuge for the needy(CO) in their distress,
a shelter from the storm(CP)
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless(CQ)
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence(CR) the uproar of foreigners;(CS)
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless(CT) is stilled.
6 On this mountain(CU) the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast(CV) of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.(CW)
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud(CX) that enfolds all peoples,(CY)
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death(CZ) forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears(DA)
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace(DB)
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.(DC)
9 In that day(DD) they will say,
“Surely this is our God;(DE)
we trusted(DF) in him, and he saved(DG) us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice(DH) and be glad in his salvation.”(DI)
10 The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain;(DJ)
but Moab(DK) will be trampled in their land
as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will stretch out their hands in it,
as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down(DL) their pride(DM)
despite the cleverness[b] of their hands.
12 He will bring down your high fortified walls(DN)
and lay them low;(DO)
he will bring them down to the ground,
to the very dust.
A Song of Praise
26 In that day(DP) this song will be sung(DQ) in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;(DR)
God makes salvation
its walls(DS) and ramparts.(DT)
2 Open the gates(DU)
that the righteous(DV) nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace(DW)
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust(DX) in you.
4 Trust(DY) in the Lord forever,(DZ)
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock(EA) eternal.
5 He humbles those who dwell on high,
he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground(EB)
and casts it down to the dust.(EC)
6 Feet trample(ED) it down—
the feet of the oppressed,(EE)
the footsteps of the poor.(EF)
7 The path of the righteous is level;(EG)
you, the Upright One,(EH) make the way of the righteous smooth.(EI)
8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,[c](EJ)
we wait(EK) for you;
your name(EL) and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;(EM)
in the morning my spirit longs(EN) for you.
When your judgments(EO) come upon the earth,
the people of the world learn righteousness.(EP)
10 But when grace is shown to the wicked,(EQ)
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil(ER)
and do not regard(ES) the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted high,(ET)
but they do not see(EU) it.
Let them see your zeal(EV) for your people and be put to shame;(EW)
let the fire(EX) reserved for your enemies consume them.
12 Lord, you establish peace(EY) for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done(EZ) for us.
13 Lord our God, other lords(FA) besides you have ruled over us,
but your name(FB) alone do we honor.(FC)
14 They are now dead,(FD) they live no more;
their spirits(FE) do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;(FF)
you wiped out all memory of them.(FG)
15 You have enlarged the nation, Lord;
you have enlarged the nation.(FH)
You have gained glory for yourself;
you have extended all the borders(FI) of the land.
16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;(FJ)
when you disciplined(FK) them,
they could barely whisper(FL) a prayer.[d]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(FM)
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,
but we gave birth(FN) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(FO) to the earth,
and the people of the world have not come to life.(FP)
19 But your dead(FQ) will live, Lord;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust(FR)
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew(FS) is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.(FT)
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors(FU) behind you;
hide(FV) yourselves for a little while
until his wrath(FW) has passed by.(FX)
21 See, the Lord is coming(FY) out of his dwelling(FZ)
to punish(GA) the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood(GB) shed on it;
the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Deliverance of Israel
27 In that day,(GC)
the Lord will punish with his sword(GD)—
his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan(GE) the gliding serpent,(GF)
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster(GG) of the sea.
2 In that day(GH)—
“Sing(GI) about a fruitful vineyard:(GJ)
3 I, the Lord, watch over it;
I water(GK) it continually.
I guard(GL) it day and night
so that no one may harm(GM) it.
4 I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
I would march against them in battle;
I would set them all on fire.(GN)
5 Or else let them come to me for refuge;(GO)
let them make peace(GP) with me,
yes, let them make peace with me.”
6 In days to come Jacob will take root,(GQ)
Israel will bud and blossom(GR)
and fill all the world with fruit.(GS)
7 Has the Lord struck her
as he struck(GT) down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
as those were killed who killed her?
8 By warfare[e] and exile(GU) you contend with her—
with his fierce blast he drives her out,
as on a day the east wind(GV) blows.
9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned(GW) for,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:(GX)
When he makes all the altar stones(GY)
to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles[f](GZ) or incense altars(HA)
will be left standing.
10 The fortified city stands desolate,(HB)
an abandoned settlement, forsaken(HC) like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,(HD)
there they lie down;(HE)
they strip its branches bare.
11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off(HF)
and women come and make fires(HG) with them.
For this is a people without understanding;(HH)
so their Maker has no compassion on them,
and their Creator(HI) shows them no favor.(HJ)
12 In that day the Lord will thresh(HK) from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,(HL) and you, Israel, will be gathered(HM) up one by one. 13 And in that day(HN) a great trumpet(HO) will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled(HP) in Egypt(HQ) will come and worship(HR) the Lord on the holy mountain(HS) in Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:22 Or released
- Isaiah 25:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 26:8 Or judgments
- Isaiah 26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Isaiah 27:8 See Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 27:9 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.