Isaiah 25-28

American Standard Version

25 O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth. ² For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. ³ Therefore shall a strong people glorify thee; a city of terrible nations shall fear thee. ⁴ For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. ⁵ As the heat in a dry place wilt thou bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

⁶ And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. ⁷ And he will ^[a]destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. ⁸ He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it.

⁹ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. ¹⁰ For in this mountain will the hand of Jehovah rest; and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down ^[b]in the water of the dunghill. ¹¹ And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst ^[c]thereof, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; but Jehovah will lay low ^[d]his pride ^[e]together with the craft of ^[f]his hands. ¹² And the high fortress of thy walls ^[g]hath he brought down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

26 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will he appoint for walls and bulwarks. ² Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth faith may enter in. ^3 [h]Thou wilt keep him ^[i]in perfect peace, whose ^[j]mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. ⁴ Trust ye in Jehovah for ever; for in ^[k]Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an ^[l]everlasting rock. ⁵ For he hath brought down them that dwell on high, the lofty city: he layeth it low, he layeth it low even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. ⁶ The foot shall tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. ⁷ The way of the just is ^[m]uprightness: thou that art upright dost ^[n]direct the path of the just.

⁸ Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; to thy name, even to thy memorial name, is the desire of our soul. ⁹ With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee earnestly: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. ¹⁰ Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.

¹¹ Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see ^[o]thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yea, ^[p]fire shall devour thine adversaries. ¹² Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou hast also wrought all our works for us. ¹³ O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. ^14 [q]They are dead, they shall not live; they are ^[r]deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish. ¹⁵ Thou hast increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; ^[s]thou hast enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ Jehovah, in trouble have they ^[t]visited thee; they poured out a ^[u]prayer when thy chastening was upon them. ¹⁷ Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs; so we have been ^[v]before thee, O Jehovah. ¹⁸ We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; ^[w]neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. ¹⁹ Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of ^[x]herbs, and the earth shall cast forth ^[y]the dead.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ²¹ For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

27 In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the ^[z]swift serpent, and leviathan the ^[aa]crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.

² In that day: A vineyard of wine, sing ye ^[ab]unto it. ³ I Jehovah am its keeper; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. ⁴ Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together. ⁵ Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; yea, let him make peace with me. ^6 [ac]In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.

⁷ Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter ^[ad]of them that were slain by them? ^8 [ae]In measure, ^[af]when thou sendest them away, thou dost contend with them; he hath removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. ⁹ Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be ^[ag]forgiven, and this is all the fruit ^[ah]of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more. ¹⁰ For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. ¹¹ When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.

¹² And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will ^[ai]beat off his fruit from the flood of the River unto the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be ^[aj]gathered ^[ak]one by one, O ye children of Israel.

¹³ And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come that were ^[al]ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

28 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are ^[am]overcome with wine! ² Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, will he cast down to the earth ^[an]with the hand. ³ The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot: ⁴ and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. ⁵ In that day will Jehovah of hosts become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people; ⁶ and a spirit of justice to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that turn back the battle ^[ao]at the gate.

⁷ And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. ⁸ For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

^9 [ap]Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the ^[aq]message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? ¹⁰ For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; ^[ar]line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.

^11 [as]Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people; ¹² to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. ¹³ Therefore shall the word of Jehovah be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

¹⁴ Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem: ¹⁵ Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: ¹⁶ therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ^[at]lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste. ¹⁷ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. ¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. ¹⁹ As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be nought but terror to understand the message. ²⁰ For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. ²¹ For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. ²² Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for ^[au]a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole ^[av]earth.

²³ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. ²⁴ Doth he that ploweth to sow plow continually? doth he continually open and harrow his ground? ²⁵ When he hath levelled the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the ^[aw]fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in the border thereof? ^26 [ax]For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him. ²⁷ For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. ^28 [ay]Bread grain is ground; for he will not be always threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it. ²⁹ This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in ^[az]wisdom.