Come, let’s consider your options,” says the Lord. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem.

O descendants of Jacob, come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.

The worthless idols will be completely eliminated.

A Coming Leadership Crisis

Look, the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security, including all the food and water,

The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, “It is you who have ruined the vineyard! You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor.

At that time the Lord will wash the excrement from Zion’s women, he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, as he comes to judge and to bring devastation.

Disaster is Coming

Beware, those who accumulate houses, who also accumulate field after field until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.

They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!”

Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel.

He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth. Look, they come quickly and swiftly.

Their roar is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.

Isaiah’s Commission

In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned.

All of them will come and make their home in the ravines between the cliffs and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes.

Because of the anger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the land was scorched, and the people became fuel for the fire. People had no compassion on one another.

The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man’s life ebbs away.

A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.

They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.

There is a loud noise on the mountains— it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms— nations are being assembled! The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is mustering forces for battle.

They come from a distant land, from the horizon. It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, coming to destroy the whole earth.

Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the Sovereign One.

Look, the Lord’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners.

Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person’s offspring; they will not look with pity on children.