Song of Praise for God’s Favor

25 Lord, You are (A)my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have (B)worked wonders,
(C)Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
For You have turned a city into a (D)heap,
A (E)fortified city into a ruin;
A (F)palace of strangers is no longer a city,
It will never be rebuilt.
Therefore a strong people will (G)glorify You;
(H)Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
For You have been a (I)stronghold for the helpless,
A stronghold for the poor in his distress,
A (J)refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the (K)ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.
Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the (L)uproar of foreigners;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is [a]silenced.

(M)Now the Lord of armies will prepare a [b]lavish banquet for (N)all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of [c]aged wine, [d]choice pieces with marrow,
And [e]refined, aged wine.
And on this mountain He will destroy the [f](O)covering which is over all peoples,
The veil which is [g]stretched over all nations.
He will [h](P)swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord [i]God will (Q)wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the (R)disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
And it will be said on that day,
“Behold, (S)this is our God for whom we have (T)waited [j]that (U)He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
(V)Let’s rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
And (W)Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the water of a manure pile.
11 And he will (X)spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will (Y)lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
12 The (Z)unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and throw to the ground, to the dust.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 25:5 Lit humbled
  2. Isaiah 25:6 Lit feast of fat things; i.e., abundance
  3. Isaiah 25:6 Lit wine on the lees
  4. Isaiah 25:6 Lit fat pieces
  5. Isaiah 25:6 Lit wine refined on the lees
  6. Isaiah 25:7 Lit face of the covering
  7. Isaiah 25:7 Lit woven
  8. Isaiah 25:8 I.e., destroy
  9. Isaiah 25:8 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  10. Isaiah 25:9 Or and He saved us

Praise to the Victorious God

25 Lord, you are my God;
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have done marvelous things,
        plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth.
For you have made the city a heap of rubble,
    the fortified city into a ruin;
the foreigners’ citadel[a] is no longer a city—
    it will never be rebuilt!
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
    cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
For you have been a stronghold for the poor,
    a stronghold for the needy in distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat—
for the blistering attack[b] from the ruthless
    is like a rainstorm beating against a wall,
and the noise of foreigners is like the heat of the desert.
    Just as you subdue heat by the shade of clouds,
        so the victory songs of violent men will be stilled.

Celebration of the Righteous

“On this mountain,[c] the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will prepare for all peoples
    a banquet of rich food,
a banquet of well-aged wines—
    rich food full of marrow,
        and refined wines of the finest[d] vintage
And on this mountain,[e] he will swallow up
    the burial[f] shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations—
he has swallowed up[g] death forever!
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
    and he will take away the disgrace of his people
        from the entire earth.”
for the Lord has spoken.

“And you[h] will say at that time,[i]
    ‘Look! It’s the Lord![j] This is our God!
We waited for him,
    and he saved us.
This is the Lord!
    We waited for him,
so let us rejoice,
    and we will[k] be glad that he has saved us.”

The Misery of Moab

10 For the Lord’s power[l] will rest on this mountain,[m]
    but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him,
just as straw is trodden down
    in the slime of[n] a manure pit.
11 They will spread out their hands in the thick of it,
    just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
but the Lord will bring down their pride,
    together with the cleverness of their hands.
12 He brings down the high fortifications of your walls
    and lays them low;
he will raze them[o] to the ground,
    right down to the dust.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 25:2 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss LXX read citadel of arrogant people
  2. Isaiah 25:4 1QIsaa MT lack attack
  3. Isaiah 25:6 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
  4. Isaiah 25:6 1QIsaa MT lack the finest
  5. Isaiah 25:7 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
  6. Isaiah 25:7 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks burial
  7. Isaiah 25:8 So 1QIsaa MTms; MT reads And he will swallow up; cf. LXX Syr Theodotian 1Cor 15:54
  8. Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa Syriac; 4QIsac MT read he; LXX reads they
  9. Isaiah 25:9 Lit. say on that day
  10. Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack It’s the Lord
  11. Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and let us
  12. Isaiah 25:10 Lit. hand
  13. Isaiah 25:10 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
  14. Isaiah 25:10 Lit. in the water of; so 1QIsaa MT; MTqere reads in; LXX reads in wagons
  15. Isaiah 25:12 Or reach; so 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT read he casts them