Beginning
1 This is the vision that Isaiah (son of Amoz) saw and what he prophesied about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah:
In the time of Isaiah, prophets are known to be astute observers of their particular times and places. They speak what they understand to be God’s words to the people about how their thoughts and actions, especially their actions, relate to God’s expectations for them. When the people fall short of such expectations, prophets tell them what God thinks and what the consequences might be.
2 Listen and take note,
from the farthest reaches to the nearest!
Listen up heaven and earth,
for the Eternal One has spoken.
He is not happy with the children He raised.
Eternal One: Despite all I’ve done,
My children have rebelled against Me.
3 Oxen know their owners;
even donkeys know where their master feeds them,
But Israel is ignorant.
My very own, they ignore Me.
4 Truly this is a wicked nation,
a people fat with wrongdoing,
Like a litter of miscreants,
a pack of wilding adolescents.
They’ve rejected the Eternal,
despised the Holy One of Israel;
they’ve turned their backs on Him.
5-6 Why do you insist on taking a beating?
Why do you persist in such reckless rebellion?
Your bodies already suffer head to toe—
your heads ache and hearts flutter;
Your skin is covered with bruises,
swollen with welts, and gaping with wounds,
with no tending, no healing, no soothing.
7 Your country is a waste.
Your cities are dead, sooty rubble.
Your farms and fields are consumed,
everything you worked for destroyed
by foreign armies as you look on—helplessly.
8 Zion, our portion of heaven on earth, is no longer protected;
Jerusalem stands like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a melon field,
like a city assaulted and besieged.
9 Except for the fraction of us who hang on
by the grace of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
We’d be destroyed and deserted
like Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly done in.[a]
10 Listen to the word of the Eternal One,
you rulers of Sodom!
Attend to God’s instructions,
citizens of Gomorrah!
11 Eternal One: What do I care for all of your slaughter-gifts?
I have had enough of your burnt offerings.
I’m not interested in any more ram meat or fat from your well-fed cattle.
The blood of bulls, lambs, or goats does not please Me.
12 When you come into My presence,
who told you to trample down the courtyard of My temple bringing all of this?
13 Just stop giving Me worthless offerings;
your incense reeks and offends Me!
Your feasts and fasts, your new moons and Sabbaths—
I cannot stand any more of your wicked gatherings.
14 Likewise, I deplore your holidays,
those calendar days marked specially for Me;
They weigh Me down.
I am sick and tired of them!
15 When you summon Me with your hands in the air, I will ignore you.
Even when you pray your whole litany, I won’t be listening
Because your hands are full of blood and violence.
16 Wash yourselves, clean up your lives;
remove every speck of evil in what you do before Me.
Put an end to all your evil.
17 Learn to do good;
commit yourselves to seeking justice.
Make right for the world’s most vulnerable—
the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow.
18 Come on now, let’s walk and talk; let’s work this out.
Your wrongdoings are bloodred,
But they can turn as white as snow.
Your sins are red like crimson,
But they can be made clean again like new wool.
19 If you pay attention now and change your ways,
you can eat good things from a healthy earth.
20 But if you refuse to listen and stubbornly persist,
then, by violence and war, you will be the one devoured.
These things were spoken by the very mouth of the Eternal.
21 O that city, once so loyal, has become a prostitute.
Where there had been perfect justice, equity and compassion,
Now there are murderers.
22 All that once made your community shine like silver is now tarnished,
your best drink watered down like a cheapskate’s wine.
23 Your leaders are liars, running around with thieves,
wheedling for bribes—greedy for “contributions.”
They don’t defend the needy and pay no attention to the weak.
24 Consequently, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, the Mighty One of Israel,
will not keep quiet.
Eternal One: Oh yes, I will get relief from my enemies
and settle the score with My foes!
25 I will take action against you, My sinful children,
burning off whatever is worthless, purging whatever is impure.
26 I will bring back legislators who have integrity,
people like your founding fathers—principled decision-makers.
Then your city will be called honorable and just,
a model of ethics, trustworthy, and strong.
27 In that way, this place Zion will pass the test:
the city restored by justice, her citizens delivered by repentance.
28 But those who arrogantly persist in doing wrong will be crushed.
Whoever abandons the Eternal will be done in.
29 You will be ashamed because you found pleasure in idols and oaks;
you will suffer disgrace because you bowed before images in gardens.
30 Like a tree that withers, like a garden without rain,
you will fall apart, fade, and dry up.
31 And those who seem strong among you will become dry straw,
their work the spark that sets it all ablaze,
Burning everything to the ground
and there won’t be anyone around to stop it.
2 This is what Isaiah (son of Amoz) prophesied about Judah and its capital Jerusalem:
2 There will come a time in the last days
when the mountain where the Eternal’s house stands
Will become the highest, most magnificent—
grander than any of the mountains around it.
And all the nations of the world will run there,
wanting to see it, feel it, fully experience it.
3 Many people of all languages, colors, and creeds will come.
People: Come! Let’s go to the Eternal’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that we might learn from Him how best to be,
to go along in life as He would have us go.
After all, the law will pour out from Zion,
the word of the Eternal, from Jerusalem.
4 God will decide what’s fair among nations
and settle disputes among all sorts of people.
Meanwhile, they will hammer their swords into sickles,
reshape their spears into pruning hooks.
One nation will not attack another.
They will not practice war anymore.
Isaiah sees an amazing picture of the future, a future which only God can create. In that vision, Jerusalem and the temple of the only God will sit on the highest mountain at the center of the world. In that day, all the nations of the world will stream to the holy city and seek God’s guidance and instruction. God will sit as King and Judge, dispensing real justice—not some man-made counterfeit—not only in international but also local matters. Perhaps, most amazingly for a world weary of war, this will be a time when war is a thing of the past and its lethal instruments are turned into tools for life and peace.
5 O house of Jacob—people of the promise—come, come walk with me
by the light of the Eternal.
6 See, You have abandoned Your people,[b]
the house of Jacob!
For they have taken on attitudes and postures of other cultures,
imitating anyone and anything that crosses their path
Practicing divination like the Philistines,
making deals with outsiders.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
rich with mind-boggling wealth.
Their countryside is full of warhorses;
there are more chariots than you can count.
8 Their land is full of worthless idols.
They worship their own creations;
They bow down to what they have made, bought, and sold.
9 But now the people will be humbled, reminded of their simplicity and limits—
don’t just absolve them!
10 Get into the caves, hide in the dust,
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
in the face of His dread and enormous majesty.
11 The bubble of human pride will be burst;
the arrogant will be pulled down from their pedestals.
Then, finally, the Eternal, no one and nothing else,
will be the center of attention, lifted up in high esteem.
12 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has identified a time for assault
against the arrogant and proud, against all who think they’re so indomitable.
They will be humbled.
13 Against all the high and lofty:
against the cedars of Lebanon
and the oaks of Bashan,
14 Against the tallest mountains
and the highest hills,
15 Against every watchtower
and every defended border,
16 Against all the trading ships of Tarshish,
against all the luxury vessels.
17 On that day, humankind’s false pride will be shattered and pulled down.[c]
Then the Eternal, no one and nothing else, will be the center of attention,
Lifted up in high esteem.
18 As for all the idols, they will vanish.
19 People will hide themselves away in rocky caves and dusty holes in the ground
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
In the face of His dread and enormous majesty,
when He comes forth to overwhelm the earth.
20 When that day arrives, people will leave behind
the idols they made to worship—even those made of silver and gold,
The things they felt were so important—
to the moles and the bats.
21 They hide themselves away in rocky caves and clefts,
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
In the face of His dread and enormous majesty,
when He comes forth to overwhelm the earth.
22 Stop believing in human beings as so amazing, so capable!
We are short-lived, only a breath from death and worth as much.
What makes us think we’re so special?
3 See here! The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
will take away the supply of bread and water—
the whole supply—from Jerusalem and Judah.
2 He will take away their heroes and warriors,
judges and prophets, fortune-tellers and elders,
3 He will take away their military officers and high-ranking officials,
advisers and skilled workers, and experts with charms and amulets.
4 In the chaos of their absence, I will make mere kids rule.
Even infants will govern them,
5 Leaving people to take advantage of each other,
making their lives miserable.
Youngsters will terrorize the elderly,
and the most despicable will bully the upstanding.
6 Desperate people will grab anyone who seems the least bit ordinary.
People: You managed to hold on to your coat, so you must be our leader;
this heap of rubble will be under your command!
7 Chosen Leader: I will not play the nurse for your wounds.
Do not elect me to lead the people—I can barely feed and clothe my own.
8 O how this precious city, this Jerusalem, has gone wrong,
and Judah is in shambles.
For all they say and do is an affront to the Eternal,
resisting His glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces tells the true story;
they flaunt their sins like Sodom.
They don’t even try to hide them—how terrible it will be for them,
for they will pay for their self-serving carelessness.
10 Tell those who have done right in the eyes of God
that all will be well for them,
For they will be rightly rewarded.
11 But whoever persists in wrongdoing will rue the day—
everything will go wrong for him—
Whatever he’s done will come back to him.
12 Oh, how I ache for my people! They are oppressed by children,
ruled by women, naïve and inexperienced.
O my people, your leaders are misleading you,
guiding you down the path to disaster.
13 But now the Eternal is taking the bench; He’s ready to judge;
He rises to lay out the people’s case.
14 The Eternal will bring charges
against those in positions of authority over His people.
Eternal One: You are charged with devouring everything in the vineyard,
and leaving nothing for the needy.
You’ve ransacked the poor to fill your houses.
15 How dare you! How dare you crush My people,
and grind the faces of the poor into the ground!
This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies has to say.
16 Eternal One: Because the daughters of Zion are so proud,
so preoccupied with themselves—strutting and flirting,
Skipping and dancing, winking and giggling for attention—
17 I will shame them with unsightly scabs on their heads,
these daughters who should be the pride of Zion, God’s precious place.
I will make them feel naked
when I uncover their foreheads and make them bald.
Under God’s judgment they will lose all the things they have that make others notice, desire, or envy them.
18-23 When the time comes, the Lord will simply take away the jewelry for their ankles, heads, noses, arms, ears, wrists, and fingers; these chains and gems, baubles and bangles, sashes and veils, perfume bottles and lucky charms, festive clothes and undergarments, purses and mirrors—everything that consumed their attention to get attention.
24 Then instead of a lovely scent—they’ll smell of decay;
instead of leather belts—they’ll don a rope;
Instead of a cut and style—they’ll have bald heads;
instead of silky-soft fabric—they’ll put on scratchy burlap sacks;
Instead of beauty—they’ll be branded with shame.
25 Jerusalem, your fathers and sons will be slaughtered,
your valiant protectors killed in battle,
26 And your gates will cry out in grief.
The city will sit in a heap on the ground, desolate and empty.
4 On that day, seven women will beg the same man:
Women: Please, take away our shame. We will support ourselves—eat our own bread, make our own clothes—just let us be called by your name.
The prophet warns of a time when only a few of God’s people will be left. The shredded fabric of families will leave the most vulnerable exposed and desperate. Women, who in this ancient Israelite society depend on relationships to men for social and financial security, will resort to doing whatever they can to survive beyond the deaths of their fathers, brothers, and husbands. Although the framework of their culture will seem to have crumbled, the story will move forward as the God of Israel remembers His own. There will always be a remnant of those who follow the Lord. Utter despair gives way to hope.
2 Then, oh then, a tiny shoot cultivated and nurtured by the Eternal will emerge new and green, promising beauty and glory. Everything that comes from the earth will offer itself, lovely and magnificent, to those who escaped Israel’s demise. 3 Those who survived in precious Zion, all who remain in that special city, Jerusalem, will be called holy. They are destined to be alive, these remaining few, in Jerusalem. 4 Then the Lord will wash away the filth that clung to the daughters of Zion and clean up the blood that stained Jerusalem’s streets with a spirit of justice and the breath of fire. 5 And the Eternal will create wonders over the whole of Mount Zion and those who gather there—cloud and smoke to dim the day, bright shining fire to light the night, all billowing over Zion’s glory like a satin canopy. 6 And it will be a resting place, protected from the heat of the day, a place of shelter and retreat amid storms and rain.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.