Bible in 90 Days
Rebellion of God’s People
1 The vision of [the prophet] Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning [the kingdom of] Judah and [its capital] Jerusalem, which he saw [as revealed by God] during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2
Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have reared and brought up sons,
But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.
3
“The ox [instinctively] knows its owner,
And the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
But Israel does not know [Me as Lord],
My people do not understand.”
4
Ah, sinful nation,
A people loaded down with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing],
Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who behave corruptly!
They have abandoned (rejected) the Lord,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel [provoking Him to anger],
They have turned away from Him.
5
Why should you be stricken and punished again [since no change results from it]?
You [only] continue to rebel.
The whole head is sick
And the whole heart is faint and sick.
6
From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is nothing healthy in the nation’s body,
Only bruises, welts, and raw wounds,
Not pressed out or bandaged,
Nor softened with oil [as a remedy].
7
Your land lies desolate [because of your disobedience],
Your cities are burned with fire,
Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your very presence;
It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8
The Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) is left like a [deserted] shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city [isolated, surrounded by devastation].
9
If the Lord of hosts
Had not left us a few survivors,
We would be like Sodom,
We would be like Gomorrah.(A)
God Has Had Enough
10
Hear the word of the Lord [rulers of Jerusalem],
You rulers of [another] Sodom,
Listen to the law and instruction of our God,
You people of [another] Gomorrah.
11
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience];
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].
12
“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?
13
“Do not bring worthless offerings again,
[Your] incense is repulsive to Me;
[Your] New Moon and Sabbath [observances], the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] and [the squalor of] the festive assembly.
14
“I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15
“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],
I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
16
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,
17
Learn to do good.
Seek justice,
Rebuke the ruthless,
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].
“Let Us Reason”
18
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord.
“[a]Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.
19
“If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the best of the land;
20
But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Zion Corrupted, to Be Redeemed
21
How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
22
Your silver has turned to [b]lead,
Your wine is diluted with water.
23
Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes
And chases after gifts.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the widow’s cause come before them [instead they delay or turn a deaf ear].
24
Therefore the Lord God of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will be freed of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My enemies.
25
“And I will turn My hand against you,
And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye
And remove all your tin (impurity).
26
“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
Afterward you will be called the city of righteousness,
The faithful city.”
27
Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with righteousness.
28
But rebels and sinners will be crushed and destroyed together,
And those who abandon (turn away from) the Lord will be consumed (perish).
29
For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure,
And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].
30
For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies
And like a garden that has no water.
31
The strong man will become tinder,
And his work a spark.
So both will burn together
And there will be none to quench them.
God’s Universal Reign
2 The word [from God] which Isaiah son of Amoz saw [in a vision] concerning [the nation of] Judah and [its capital city] Jerusalem.
2
Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the [c]highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
3
And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.(B)
5
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6
Most certainly [Lord] You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers [who foretell] like the Philistines;
Also they strike bargains with the children of foreigners (pagans).(C)
7
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 horses
And there is no end to their chariots.(D)
8
Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
9
So the common man has been humbled [before idols]
And the man of importance has been degraded,
Therefore do not forgive them [O Lord].
10
Go among the rocks and hide in the dust
From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.
11
The proud look of man will be degraded
And the arrogance of men will be humbled,
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
A Day of Reckoning Coming
12
For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against all who are proud and arrogant
And against all who are lifted up,
That they may be degraded.(E)
13
And the wrath of God will be against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up,
Against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan],
14
Against all the high mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up,
15
Against every high tower,
Against every fortified wall,
16
Against all the ships of Tarshish
And against all the beautiful craft.
17
Then the pride of man will be humbled
And the arrogance of men will be degraded;
The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day,
18
And the idols will completely vanish (be abolished).
19
They [the stricken, deprived of all in which they had trusted] will go into the caves of the rocks
And into the holes of the ground [fleeing]
From the terror and dread of the Lord
And from the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.(F)
20
In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves [as objects] to worship,
21
To go into the caverns of the rocks and into the clefts of the [ragged] cliffs [as they flee]
From the terror and dread of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.
22
Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils [for so little time];
For why should he be esteemed?
God Will Remove the Leaders
3 Listen carefully, the Lord God of hosts is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;
2
The brave man and the warrior [He is also removing],
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
3
The captain of fifty and the man of honor,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
4
And I will make mere boys their princes,
And capricious (impulsive, unpredictable) children will rule over them.
5
And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The boy will be arrogant and insolent toward the elder
And the vulgar (common) toward the honorable [person of rank].
6
When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,
“You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler,
And this pile of ruins will be under your control,”
7
He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be a [d]governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people.”
8
For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their words and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.
9
Their partiality testifies against them,
They display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even hide it.
Woe (judgment is coming) to [e]them!
For they have brought evil on themselves [as a reward].
10
Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.
11
Woe (judgment is coming) to the wicked! It shall go badly with him,
For what his hand has done shall be done to him.
12
O My people! Children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Your leaders lead you astray
And confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.
God Will Judge
13
The Lord rises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
14
The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes,
“For it is you who have devoured the vineyard [with your oppression, you have robbed the people and ruined the country];
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15
“What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of hosts.
Judah’s Women Denounced
16
Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
And walk with outstretched necks and seductive (flirtatious, alluring) eyes,
And trip along with mincing steps and an affected gait
And walk with jingling [f]anklets on their feet,
17
Therefore the Lord will afflict the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion with scabs [making them bald],
And the Lord will expose their foreheads (send them into captivity).”
18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, [braided] caps, crescent [head] ornaments, 19 dangling earrings, bracelets, and the hanging veils and scarves, 20 head wraps (turbans), [short, jingling] ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets (charms), 21 signet [finger] rings, nose rings, 22 festival robes, outer tunics, shawls, handbags, 23 hand mirrors, [fine linen] undergarments, headbands, and veils [covering the entire body].
24
Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet fragrance of spices there will be [the stench of] rottenness;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth;
And branding [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
25
Your men will fall by the sword
And your mighty men in battle.
26
And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];
And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.
A Remnant Prepared
4 And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own food and wear [and provide] our own clothes; only let us be called by your name; take away our shame [of being unmarried].”
2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be splendid and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be excellent and lovely to those of Israel who have survived.(G) 3 It will come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy (set apart for God)—everyone who is recorded for [eternal] life in Jerusalem.(H) 4 When the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion and has cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then the Lord will create over the entire site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory and brilliance will be a canopy [a defense, a covering of His divine love and protection]. 6 And there will be a pavilion for shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain.
Parable of the Vineyard
5 Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [Lord]
A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people).
My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).(I)
2
He dug it all around and cleared away its stones,
And planted it with [g]the choicest vine (the people of Judah).
And He built a tower in the center of it;
And also hewed out a [h]wine vat in it.
Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.
3
“And now, says the Lord, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).
4
“What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?
5
“So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its thorn-hedge, and it will be burned up;
I will break down its [i]stone wall and it will be trampled down [by enemies].
6
“I will turn it into a wasteland;
It will not be pruned or cultivated,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”
7
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel
And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves].
So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness;
[He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.
Woes for the Wicked
8
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others],
Until there is no more room [for others],
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
9
In my ears the Lord of hosts said, “Be assured that many houses will become desolate,
Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.
10
“For ten [j]acres of vineyard will yield [only] [k]one bath of wine,
And a homer ([l]six bushels) of seed will produce [only] one ephah of grain.”
11
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!
12
They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts;
But they do not regard nor even pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
13
Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge [of God];
And their honorable men are famished,
And their common people are parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And [m]Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.
15
So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance degraded,
And the eyes of the proud (arrogant) will be degraded.
16
But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in justice,
And God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].
17
Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture,
And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.
18
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood,
And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];
19
Who say, “Let Him move speedily, let Him expedite His work [His promised vengeance], so that we may see it;
And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
20
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever and shrewd in their own sight!
22
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are heroes at drinking wine
And men of strength in mixing intoxicating drinks,
23
Who justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe,
And take away the rights of those who are in the right!
24
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.
And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
26
He will lift up a flag to [call] the distant nations [to bring His judgment on Judah],
And will whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
And indeed, they will come with great speed swiftly.
27
No one among them is weary or stumbles,
No one slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the belt at their waist undone [as if unprepared for action],
Nor is the strap of their sandal broken.
28
Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent;
Their horses’ hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29
Their roaring is like a lioness, they roar like young lions;
They growl and seize their prey
And carry it off and there is no one to save it.
30
And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.
Isaiah’s Vision
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple.(J) 2 Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings: with two wings he covered his face, with two wings he covered his feet, and with two wings he flew. 3 And one called out to another, saying,
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is filled with His glory.”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! For I am ruined,
Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Listen carefully, this has touched your lips; your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] is taken away and your sin atoned for and forgiven.”
Isaiah’s Commission
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;
Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.’
10
“Make the heart of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,
“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12
The Lord has removed [His] people far away,
And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.
13
“And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land,
It will again be subject to destruction [consumed and burned],
Like a massive terebinth tree or like an oak
Whose stump remains when it is chopped down.
The holy seed [the elect remnant] is its stump [the substance of Israel].”
War against Jerusalem
7 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of [n]Aram (Syria) and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. 2 When the house of David (Judah) was told, “Aram is allied with Ephraim (Israel),” the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz [king of Judah], you and your son [o]Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the highway to the [p]Fuller’s Field; 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, do not fear and be weak-hearted because of these two stumps of smoldering logs, on account of the fierce anger of [King] Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah (Pekah, usurper of the throne of Israel). 5 Because Aram, along with Ephraim (Israel) and the son of Remaliah, have planned evil against you (Judah), saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it; and let us breach its wall and tear it apart [each of us taking a portion] and set up the son of Tabeel over it as its [puppet] king,” 7 for this is what the Lord God says, “It shall not stand nor shall it happen. 8 For the head (capital) of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is [King] Rezin (now within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces and will no longer be a people). 9 And the head (capital) of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son [King Pekah]. If you will not [q]believe [and trust in God and His message], be assured that you will not be established.”’”
The Child Immanuel
10 Then the Lord spoke again to [King] Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “[r]I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too small a thing for you to try the patience of men, but will you try the patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the [s]virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).(K) 15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16 For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram].(L)
Trials to Come for Judah
17 The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim (the ten northern tribes) separated from Judah—[He will call for] the king of Assyria.”
18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the [t]mouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.
20 In that day [when foreign armies swarm the land] the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from the regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), [that razor will shave] the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard [leaving Judah stripped, shamed and scorned].(M)
21 Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep; 22 and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat [only] curds and [wild] honey.
23 And it will come to pass in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briars and thorns. 24 People will come there [to hunt] with arrows and with bows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.
Damascus and Samaria Fall
8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet [for public display] and write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to [u]Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will get faithful witnesses to attest [to this prophecy] for me, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So I approached [my wife] the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz [to remind the people of the prophecy]; 4 for before the boy knows how to say, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus (Aram’s capital) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel’s capital) [v]will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me, saying,
6
“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of [w]Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],
7
Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.(N)
8
“Then it will [x]sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through [the hills],
Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head],
And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.(O)
A Believing Remnant
9
“Be broken [in pieces], O peoples, and be shattered!
Listen, all you [our enemies from the] far countries.
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered;
Prepare yourselves [for war], and be shattered.
10
“Take counsel together [against Judah], but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us (Immanuel).”
11 For in this way the Lord spoke to me with His strong hand [upon me] and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people [behaving as they do], saying,
12
“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.
13
“It is the Lord of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome.
He shall be your [source of] fear,
He shall be your [source of] dread [not man].
14
“Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust Him];
But to both the houses of Israel [both the northern and southern kingdoms—Israel and Judah, He will be] a stone on which to stumble and a rock on which to trip,
A trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.(P)
15
“Many [among them] will stumble over them;
Then they will fall and be broken,
They will even be snared and trapped.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my (Isaiah’s) disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him. 18 Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are [y]for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, “Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 [Direct those people] to the law and to the testimony! If their teachings are not in accord with this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.
Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace
9 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2
The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness
[z]Will see a great Light;
Those who live in the dark land,
The Light will shine on them.(Q)
3
You [O God] will increase the nation,
You will multiply their joy;
They will rejoice before You
Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].
4
For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the [aa]battle of Midian.(R)
5
For every boot of the marching warrior in the battle tumult,
And [every soldier’s] garment rolled in blood, will be used for burning, fuel for the fire.
6
For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.(S)
7
There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace,
[He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From that time forward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.(T)
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8
The Lord sends a word (message) against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel [the ten northern tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim].
9
And all the people know it,
That is, [ab]Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria [its capital],
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10
“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild [all the better] with ashlar (hewed stones);
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with [expensive] cedars.”
11
Therefore the Lord raises against Ephraim adversaries from Rezin [king of Aram]
And spurs their enemies on,
12
The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;
And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
13
Yet the people do not turn back [in repentance] to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts [as their most essential need].
14
Therefore the Lord cuts off head and tail [the highest and the lowest] from Israel,
Both [the high] palm branch and [the low] bulrush in one day.
15
The elderly and honorable man, he is the head;
And the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16
For those who lead this people are causing them to go astray;
And those who are led [astray] by them are swallowed up.
17
Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
Nor does He have compassion on their fatherless or their widows;
For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,
And every mouth is speaking foolishness.
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
18
For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns,
It even sets the forest thickets ablaze;
And it swirls upward in a column of smoke.
19
By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up,
And the people are like fuel for the fire;
No man spares his brother.
20
They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;
Each eats the flesh of his own arm.
21
[The tribe of] Manasseh devours [the tribe of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
And together they are against Judah (the southern kingdom, the house of David).
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
Assyria Is God’s Instrument
10 Woe (judgment is coming) to those [judges] who issue evil statutes,
And to those [magistrates] who constantly record unjust and oppressive decisions,
2
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of rightful claims,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the fatherless.
3
Now what will you do in the day of [God’s] punishment,
And in the storm of devastation which will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth [for safekeeping]?
4
Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives
Or fall [dead] among the slain [on the battlefield].
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel],
The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!
6
I send Assyria against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My wrath
To take the spoil and to seize the plunder,
And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7
Yet it is not Assyria’s intention [to do My will],
Nor does it plan so in its heart,
But instead it is its purpose to destroy
And to cut off many nations.
8
For Assyria says, “Are not my princes all kings?
9
“Is not Calno [conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]?
Is not Hamath [subdued] like Arpad [her neighbor]?
Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Aram]?
10
“As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater and more feared than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11
Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” [declares Assyria].
12 So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.” 13 For the Assyrian king has said,
“I have done this by the power of my [own] hand and by my wisdom,
For I have understanding and skill.
I have removed the boundaries of the peoples
And have plundered their treasures;
Like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.
14
“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,
And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”
15
Is the axe able to lift itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw able to magnify itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a club moving those who lift it,
Or like a staff raising him who is not [made of] wood [like itself]!
16
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria;
And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
17
And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame,
And it will [ac]burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and briars in a single day.(U)
18
The Lord will consume the glory of Assyria’s forest and of its fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19
And the remaining trees of Assyria’s forest will be so few in number
That a child could write them down.
A Remnant Will Return
20 Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21
A [ad]remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22
For though your people, O Israel, may be as the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return;
The destruction is determined [it is decided and destined for completion], overflowing with justice (righteous punishment).(V)
23 For the Lord, the God of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.(W) 25 For yet a very little while and My indignation [against you] will be fulfilled and My anger will be directed toward the destruction of the Assyrian.” 26 The Lord of hosts will brandish a whip against them like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the [Red] Sea and He will lift it up the way He did in [the flight from] Egypt.(X) 27 So it will be in that day, that the burden of the Assyrian will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of the fat.(Y)
28
The Assyrian has come against Aiath [in Judah],
He has passed through Migron [with his army];
At Michmash he stored his equipment.
29
They have gone through the pass, saying,
“Geba will be our lodging place for the night.”
Ramah trembles, and Gibeah [the city] of Saul has fled.
30
Cry aloud with your voice [in consternation], O Daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!
31
Madmenah has fled;
The inhabitants of Gebim have fled [with their belongings] to safety.
32
Yet today the Assyrian will halt at Nob [the city of priests];
He shakes his fist at the mountain of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
33
Listen carefully, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force;
The tall in stature will be cut down
And the lofty will be abased and humiliated.
34
He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And Lebanon (the Assyrian) will fall by the Mighty One.(Z)
Righteous Reign of the Branch
11 Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father],
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.(AA)
2
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and strength,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the Lord—
3
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
4
But with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth;
And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5
And righteousness will be the belt around His loins,
And faithfulness the belt around His waist.
6
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatted steer together;
And a little child will lead them.
7
And the cow and the bear will graze [together],
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8
And the nursing child will [safely] play over the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den [and not be hurt].
9
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10
Then in that day
The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.(AB)
The Restored Remnant
11
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again acquire with His hand a second time
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, from [Lower] Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush (Ethiopia), from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Aram],
And from the coastlands bordering the [Mediterranean] Sea.(AC)
12
And He will lift up a signal for the nations
And assemble the [ae]outcasts of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13
Then the jealousy of [af]Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass [ag]Judah will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14
Ephraim and Judah will [unite and] swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they will plunder the sons (Arabs) of the east.
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
15
And the Lord will utterly destroy
The tongue of the [ah]Sea of Egypt;
And with His scorching wind
He will wave His hand over the River;
He will strike and divide it into seven channels
And make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.
16
And there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Thanksgiving Expressed
12 And on that day you will say,
“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;
For though You were angry with me,
Your anger has turned away,
And You comfort me.
2
“Behold, God, my salvation!
I will trust and not be afraid,
For the Lord God is my strength and song;
Yes, He has become my salvation.”
3
Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the springs of salvation.
4
And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name [in prayer].
Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth];
Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!”
5
Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent and glorious things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6
Rejoice and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Prophecies about Babylon
13 The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([ai]a burden to be carried) concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw [in a prophetic vision]:
2
Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain,
Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice,
Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.
3
I [the Lord] have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My great warriors,
My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]—
To execute My anger.
4
A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
5
They are coming from a distant country,
From the end of heaven [the farthest horizon]—
The Lord and the weapons of His indignation—
To destroy the whole land.(AD)
Judgment on the Day of the Lord
6
Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as [aj]destruction from the [ak]Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!(AE)
7
Therefore [al]all hands will fall limp,
And every man’s heart will melt.
8
They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified,
Pains and anguish will grip them;
They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth.
They will stare aghast and horrified at one another,
Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].
9
Listen carefully, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with wrath and raging anger,
To make the land a horror [of devastation];
And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.(AF)
10
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash with their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11
In this way I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.
12
I will make mortal man more rare than fine gold,
And mankind [scarcer] than the pure gold of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the wrath of the Lord of hosts
In the day of His burning anger.
14
And like the hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep that no man gathers,
Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.
15
Anyone who is found will be pierced through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16
Their children also will be smashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be looted
And their wives ravished.
Babylon Will Fall to the Medes
17
Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them,
Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].
18
Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon];
They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb,
Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.
19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the [am]Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
20
Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will the shepherds let their sheep lie down there.
21
But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and [an]wild goats will dance there.
22
[ao]Hyenas will howl in their castles,
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time has nearly come,
And her days will not be prolonged.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.