Isaiah 24–27

Judgment on the Whole Earth

24Behold, ^cthe Lord will empty the earth¹ and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

^2dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

^eas with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

^fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.

^3gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

^hfor the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴ⁱThe earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish.

⁵The earth lies ^jdefiled

under its inhabitants;

for ^kthey have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore ^la curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants ^msuffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

⁷ⁿThe wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

^8oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

⁹No more do they drink wine ^pwith singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

^10qThe wasted city is broken down;

^revery house is shut up so that none can enter.

^11sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

^tall joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

¹²Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins.

¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

^uas when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.²

^15vTherefore in the east³ give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

^16wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to ^xthe Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For ^ythe traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

^17zTerror and the pit and the snare⁴

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

^18zHe who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For ^athe windows of heaven are opened,

and ^bthe foundations of the earth tremble.

¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth ^cstaggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

^dits transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

²¹On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and ^ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.

^22fThey will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days ^gthey will be punished.

^23hThen the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for ⁱthe Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

25O Lord, ^jyou are my God;

^kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

^lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.

²For you have made the city ^ma heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

³ⁿTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

^4oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

^pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

^qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

^5rlike heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.

^6sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

^tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

⁷And he will swallow up ^son this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

^uthe veil that is spread over all nations.

^8vHe will swallow up death forever;

and ^wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and ^xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

^yfor the Lord has spoken.

⁹It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; ^zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

^alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

¹⁰For the hand of the Lord will rest ^son this mountain,

and ^bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.¹

^11cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord ^dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill² of his hands.

¹²And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

You Keep Him in Perfect Peace

26In that day ^ethis song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

he sets up ^fsalvation

as walls and bulwarks.

^2gOpen the gates,

that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

^3hYou keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

⁴Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

⁵ⁱFor he has humbled

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

⁶The foot tramples it,

the feet of ^jthe poor,

the steps of ^jthe needy.”

⁷The path of the righteous is level;

^kyou make level the way of the righteous.

⁸In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

^lyour name and ^lremembrance

are the desire of our soul.

⁹My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

^mFor when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰ⁿIf favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹O Lord, ^oyour hand is lifted up,

but ^pthey do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let ^qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.

¹²O Lord, you will ordain ^rpeace for us,

for you have indeed done for us all our works.

¹³O Lord our God,

^sother lords besides you have ruled over us,

^tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.

¹⁴They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

^15uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

^vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶O Lord, ^win distress they sought you;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when your discipline was upon them.

^17xLike a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

^18xwe were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

^19yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For ^zyour dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.

²⁰Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves ^afor a little while

until the fury has passed by.

^21bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of ^cthe earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

The Redemption of Israel

27In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong ^dsword will punish ^eLeviathan the fleeing serpent, ^eLeviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay ^fthe dragon that is in the sea.

²In that day,

^g“A pleasant vineyard,^{1 h}sing of it!

³I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

⁴I have no wrath.

ⁱWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

⁵Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

^6jIn days to come² Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

^7kHas he struck them ^las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain ^mas their slayers were slain?

⁸ⁿMeasure by measure,³ by exile you contended with them;

^ohe removed them with his fierce breath⁴ in the day of the east wind.

⁹Therefore by this ^pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:⁵

^qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no ^rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

^10sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

¹¹When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

^tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.

¹²In that day ^ufrom the river Euphrates⁶ to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. ¹³And in that day ^va great trumpet will be blown, ^wand those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt ^xwill come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.