Impending Judgment on the Earth

24 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,
Distorts its surface
And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
And it shall be:
As with the people, so with the (A)priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress;
(B)As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the creditor, so with the debtor.
The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,
For the Lord has spoken this word.

The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The (C)haughty[a] people of the earth languish.
(D)The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have (E)transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the (F)everlasting covenant.
Therefore (G)the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are [b]desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are (H)burned,
And few men are left.

(I)The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
The mirth (J)of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11 There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
(K)It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore (L)glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
(M)The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, [c]“I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
(N)The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

17 (O)Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be [d]caught in the snare;
For (P)the windows from on high are open,
And (Q)the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 (R)The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
20 The earth shall (S)reel[e] to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall totter like a hut;
Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,
And it will fall, and not rise again.

21 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth (T)the kings of the earth.
22 They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the [f]pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
23 Then the (U)moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will (V)reign
On (W)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.

Praise to God

25 O Lord, You are my God.
(X)I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
(Y)For You have done wonderful things;
(Z)Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
For You have made (AA)a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
Therefore the strong people will (AB)glorify You;
The city of the [g]terrible nations will fear You.
For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
(AC)A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be [h]diminished.

And in (AD)this mountain
(AE)The Lord of hosts will make for (AF)all people
A feast of [i]choice pieces,
A feast of [j]wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And (AG)the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will (AH)swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will (AI)wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.

And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
(AJ)We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
(AK)We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

10 For on this mountain the hand of the Lord will rest,
And (AL)Moab shall be trampled down under Him,
As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap.
11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst
As a swimmer reaches out to swim,
And He will bring down their (AM)pride
Together with the trickery of their hands.
12 The (AN)fortress of the high fort of your walls
He will bring down, lay low,
And bring to the ground, down to the dust.

A Song of Salvation

26 In (AO)that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
(AP)God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
(AQ)Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which [k]keeps the truth may enter in.
You will keep him in perfect (AR)peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
(AS)For in Yah, the Lord, is [l]everlasting strength.
For He brings [m]down those who dwell on high,
(AT)The lofty city;
He lays it low,
He lays it low to the ground,
He brings it down to the dust.
The foot shall [n]tread it down—
The feet of the poor
And the steps of the needy.”

The way of the just is uprightness;
(AU)O Most Upright,
You [o]weigh the path of the just.
Yes, (AV)in the way of Your judgments,
O Lord, we have (AW)waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
(AX)With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 (AY)Let grace be shown to the wicked,
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In (AZ)the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, (BA)they will not see.
But they will see and be ashamed
For [p]their envy of people;
Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.

12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works [q]in us.
13 O Lord our God, (BB)masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to (BC)perish.
15 You have increased the nation, O Lord,
You have (BD)increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the [r]borders of the land.

16 Lord, (BE)in trouble they have visited You,
They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
17 As (BF)a woman with child
Is in pain and cries out in her [s]pangs,
When she draws near the time of her delivery,
So have we been in Your sight, O Lord.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain;
We have, as it were, [t]brought forth wind;
We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
Nor have (BG)the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 (BH)Your dead shall live;
Together with [u]my dead body they shall arise.
(BI)Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.

Take Refuge from the Coming Judgment

20 Come, my people, (BJ)enter your chambers,
And shut your doors behind you;
Hide yourself, as it were, (BK)for a little moment,
Until the indignation is past.
21 For behold, the Lord (BL)comes out of His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
The earth will also disclose her [v]blood,
And will no more cover her slain.

Israel Will Be Restored

27 In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong,
Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
(BM)Leviathan that twisted serpent;
And He will slay (BN)the reptile that is in the sea.

The Restoration of Israel

In that day (BO)sing to her,
(BP)“A vineyard of [w]red wine!
(BQ)I, the Lord, keep it,
I water it every moment;
Lest any hurt it,
I keep it night and day.
Fury is not in Me.
Who would set (BR)briers and thorns
Against Me in battle?
I would go through them,
I would burn them together.
Or let him take hold (BS)of My strength,
That he may (BT)make peace with Me;
And he shall make peace with Me.”

Those who come He shall cause (BU)to take root in Jacob;
Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.

(BV)Has He struck [x]Israel as He struck those who struck him?
Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?
(BW)In measure, by sending it away,
You contended with it.
(BX)He removes it by His rough wind
In the day of the east wind.
Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered;
And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin:
When he makes all the stones of the altar
Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust,
[y]Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

10 Yet the fortified city will be (BY)desolate,
The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness;
There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down
And consume its branches.
11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off;
The women come and set them on fire.
For (BZ)it is a people of no understanding;
Therefore He who made them will (CA)not have mercy on them,
And (CB)He who formed them will show them no favor.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will thresh,
From the channel of [z]the River to the Brook of Egypt;
And you will be (CC)gathered one by one,
O you children of Israel.

13 (CD)So it shall be in that day:
(CE)The great trumpet will be blown;
They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria,
And they who are outcasts in the land of (CF)Egypt,
And shall (CG)worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 24:4 proud
  2. Isaiah 24:6 Or held guilty
  3. Isaiah 24:16 Lit. Leanness to me, leanness to me
  4. Isaiah 24:18 Lit. taken
  5. Isaiah 24:20 stagger
  6. Isaiah 24:22 dungeon
  7. Isaiah 25:3 terrifying
  8. Isaiah 25:5 humbled
  9. Isaiah 25:6 Lit. fat things
  10. Isaiah 25:6 wines matured on the sediment
  11. Isaiah 26:2 Or remains faithful
  12. Isaiah 26:4 Or Rock of Ages
  13. Isaiah 26:5 low
  14. Isaiah 26:6 trample
  15. Isaiah 26:7 Or make level
  16. Isaiah 26:11 Or Your zeal for the people
  17. Isaiah 26:12 Or for us
  18. Isaiah 26:15 Or ends
  19. Isaiah 26:17 sharp pains
  20. Isaiah 26:18 given birth to
  21. Isaiah 26:19 So with MT, Vg.; Syr., Tg. their dead bodies; LXX those in the tombs
  22. Isaiah 26:21 Or bloodshed
  23. Isaiah 27:2 So with MT (Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica), Bg., Vg.; MT (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), some Heb. mss., LXX delight; Tg. choice vineyard
  24. Isaiah 27:7 Lit. him
  25. Isaiah 27:9 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
  26. Isaiah 27:12 The Euphrates

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