Chapter 2

The Lord’s Future Reign

This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house

will be the highest of all—

the most important place on earth.

It will be raised above the other hills,

and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

3 People from many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of Jacob’s God.

There he will teach us his ways,

and we will walk in his paths.”

For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;

his word will go out from Jerusalem.

4 The Lord will mediate between nations

and will settle international disputes.

They will hammer their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will no longer fight against nation,

nor train for war anymore.

A Warning of Judgment

5 Come, descendants of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the Lord!

6 For the Lord has rejected his people,

the descendants of Jacob,

because they have filled their land with practices from the East

and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do.

They have made alliances with pagans.

7 Israel is full of silver and gold;

there is no end to its treasures.

Their land is full of warhorses;

there is no end to its chariots.

8 Their land is full of idols;

the people worship things they have made

with their own hands.

9 So now they will be humbled,

and all will be brought low—

do not forgive them.

10 Crawl into caves in the rocks.

Hide in the dust

from the terror of the Lord

and the glory of his majesty.

11 Human pride will be brought down,

and human arrogance will be humbled.

Only the Lord will be exalted

on that day of judgment.

12 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

has a day of reckoning.

He will punish the proud and mighty

and bring down everything that is exalted.

13 He will cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon

and all the mighty oaks of Bashan.

14 He will level all the high mountains

and all the lofty hills.

15 He will break down every high tower

and every fortified wall.

16 He will destroy all the great trading ships*

and every magnificent vessel.

17 Human pride will be humbled,

and human arrogance will be brought down.

Only the Lord will be exalted

on that day of judgment.

18 Idols will completely disappear.

19 When the Lord rises to shake the earth,

his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground.

They will hide in caves in the rocks

from the terror of the Lord

and the glory of his majesty.

20 On that day of judgment they will abandon the gold and silver idols

they made for themselves to worship.

They will leave their gods to the rodents and bats,

21 while they crawl away into caverns

and hide among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.

They will try to escape the terror of the Lord

and the glory of his majesty

as he rises to shake the earth.

22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans.

They are as frail as breath.

What good are they?