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A Prayer of Thanks to God

25 You, Lord, are my God!
    I will praise you
for doing the wonderful things
you had planned and promised
    since ancient times.
You have destroyed the fortress
of our enemies,
    leaving their city in ruins.
Nothing in that foreign city
    will ever be rebuilt.
Now strong and cruel nations
    will fear and honor you.

You have been a place of safety
for the poor and needy
    in times of trouble.
Brutal enemies pounded us
    like a heavy rain
or the heat of the sun at noon,
    but you were our shelter.
Those wild foreigners struck
    like scorching desert heat.
But you were like a cloud,
    protecting us from the sun.
You kept our enemies from singing
    songs of victory.

The Lord Has Saved Us

On this mountain
    the Lord All-Powerful
will prepare for all nations
    a feast of the finest foods.
Choice wines and the best meats
    will be served.
Here the Lord will strip away
the burial clothes
    that cover the nations.
(A) The Lord All-Powerful
will destroy the power of death
    and wipe away all tears.
No longer will his people
be insulted everywhere.
    The Lord has spoken!

At that time, people will say,
“The Lord has saved us!
    Let's celebrate.
We waited and hoped—
    now our God is here.”
10 (B) The powerful arm of the Lord
    will protect this mountain.

The Moabites will be put down
and trampled on like straw
    in a pit of manure.
11 They will struggle to get out,
but God will humiliate them
    no matter how hard they try.[a]
12 The walls of their fortresses
will be knocked down
    and scattered in the dirt.

A Song of Victory

26 The time is coming when the people of Judah will sing this song:

“Our city[b] is protected.
The Lord is our fortress,
    and he gives us victory.
Open the city gates
for a law-abiding nation
    that is faithful to God.
The Lord gives perfect peace
    to those whose faith is firm.
So always trust the Lord
because he is forever
    our mighty rock.[c]
God has put down our enemies
in their mountain city[d]
    and rubbed it in the dirt.
Now the poor and abused
    trample all over that city.”

The Lord Can Be Trusted

Our Lord, you always do right,
and you make the path smooth
    for those who obey you.
You are the one we trust
    to bring about justice;
above all else we want
    your name to be honored.
Throughout the night,
    my heart searches for you,
because your decisions
show everyone on this earth
    how to live right.

10 Even when the wicked
are treated with mercy
    in this land of justice,
they do wrong and are blind
    to your glory, our Lord.
11 (C) Your hand is raised and ready
    to punish them,
but they don't see it.
    Put them to shame!
Show how much you care for us
and throw them into the fire
    intended for your enemies.

12 You will give us peace, Lord,
because everything we have done
    was by your power.
13 Others have ruled over us
besides you, our Lord God,
    but we obey only you.
14 Those enemies are now dead
    and can never live again.
You have punished them—
they are destroyed,
    completely forgotten.
15 Our nation has grown
    because of you, our Lord.
We have more land than before,
    and you are honored.

The Lord Gives Life to the Dead

16 When you punished our people,
they turned and prayed
    to you, our Lord.[e]
17 Because of what you did to us,
we suffered like a woman
    about to give birth.
18 But instead of having a child,
our terrible pain
    produced only wind.
We have won no victories,
and we have no descendants
    to take over the earth.

19 Your people will rise to life!
Tell them to leave their graves
    and celebrate with shouts.
You refresh the earth
like morning dew;
    you give life to the dead.

20 Go inside and lock the doors,
    my people.
Hide there for a little while,
until the Lord
    is no longer angry.

The Earth and the Sea Will Be Punished

21 The Lord will come out
to punish everyone on earth
    for their sins.
And when he does,
those who did violent crimes
    will be known and punished.

27 (D) On that day, Leviathan,[f]
    the sea monster,
will squirm and try to escape,
but the Lord will kill him
    with a cruel, sharp sword.

Protection and Forgiveness

The Lord said:

At that time you must sing
    about a fruitful[g] vineyard.
I, the Lord, will protect it
    and always keep it watered.
I will guard it day and night
    to keep it from harm.
I am no longer angry.
    But if it produces thorns,
I will go to war against it
    and burn it to the ground.
Yet if the vineyard depends
    on me for protection,
it will become my friend
    and be at peace with me.

Someday Israel will take root
    like a vine.
It will blossom and bear fruit
    that covers the earth.

I, the Lord, didn't punish and kill
    the people of Israel
as fiercely as I punished
    and killed their enemies.
I carefully measured out
    Israel's punishment[h]
and sent the scorching heat
    to chase them far away.

There's only one way
that Israel's sin and guilt
    can be completely forgiven:
They must crush the stones
of every pagan altar
    and place of worship.

The Lord Will Bring His People Together

10 Fortress cities are left
like a desert
    where no one lives.
Cattle walk through the ruins,
    stripping the trees bare.
11 When broken branches
    fall to the ground,
women pick them up
    to feed the fire.
But these people are so stupid
that the God who created them
    will show them no mercy.

12 The time is coming when the Lord will shake the land between the Euphrates River and the border of Egypt, and one by one he will bring all of his people together. 13 A loud trumpet will be heard. Then the people of Israel who were dragged away to Assyria and Egypt will return to worship the Lord on his holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Samaria Will Be Punished

28 The city of Samaria
above a fertile valley
    is in for trouble!
Its leaders are drunkards,
who stuff themselves
    with food and wine.
But they will be like flowers
    that dry up and wilt.
Only the Lord is strong
    and powerful!
His mighty hand
    will strike them down
with the force of a hailstorm
or a mighty whirlwind
    or an overwhelming flood.

Every drunkard in Ephraim[i]
takes pride in Samaria,
    but it will be crushed.
Samaria above a fertile valley
    will quickly lose its glory.
It will be gobbled up
like the first ripe fig
    at harvest season.

When this time comes,
    the Lord All-Powerful
will be a glorious crown
    for his people who survive.
He will see that justice rules
and that his people are able
    to defend their cities.

Corrupt Leaders Will Be Punished

Priests and prophets stumble
    because they are drunk.
Their minds are too confused
to receive God's messages
    or give honest decisions.
Their tables are covered,
completely covered,
    with their stinking vomit.

You drunken leaders
    are like babies!
How can you possibly understand
    or teach the Lord's message?
10 You don't even listen—
all you hear is senseless sound
    after senseless sound.[j]

11 (E) So, the Lord will speak
    to his people
in strange sounds
    and foreign languages.[k]
12 He promised you
perfect peace and rest,
    but you refused to listen.
13 Now his message to you
will be senseless sound
    after senseless sound.[l]
Then you will fall backwards,
    injured and trapped.

False Security Is Fatal

14 You rulers of Jerusalem
    do nothing but sneer;
now you must listen
    to what the Lord says.
15 (F) Do you think you have
an agreement with death
    and the world of the dead?
Why do you trust in your lies
to keep you safe from danger
    and the mighty flood?

16 (G) And so the Lord says,
“I'm laying a firm foundation
    for the city of Zion.
It's a valuable cornerstone
    proven to be trustworthy;
no one who trusts it
    will ever be disappointed.
17 Justice and fairness
will be the measuring lines
    that help me build.”

Hailstones and floods
will destroy and wash away
    your shelter of lies.
18 Your agreement with death
and the world of the dead
    will be broken.
Then angry, roaring waves
    will sweep over you.
19 Morning, noon, and night
an overwhelming flood
    will wash you away.
The terrible things that happen
    will teach you this lesson:
20 Your bed is too short,
    your blanket too skimpy.[m]

21 (H) The Lord will fiercely attack
as he did at Mount Perazim[n]
    and in Gibeon Valley.[o]
But this time the Lord
will do something surprising,
    not what you expect.
22 So you had better stop sneering
or you will be in worse shape
    than ever before.
I heard the Lord All-Powerful
threaten the whole country
    with destruction.

All Wisdom Comes from the Lord

23 Pay close attention
    to what I am saying.
24 Farmers don't just plow
    and break up the ground.
25 When a field is ready,
they scatter the seeds
    of dill and cumin;
they plant the seeds
of wheat and barley
    in the proper places
and sow other grains
    around the edges.
26 They learn this from their God.

27 After dill and cumin
    have been harvested,
the stalks are pounded,
    not run over with a wagon.
28 Wheat and barley are pounded,
    but not beaten to pulp;
they are run over with a wagon,
    but not ground to dust.
29 This wonderful knowledge comes
from the Lord All-Powerful,
    who has such great wisdom.

Footnotes

  1. 25.11 no matter … try: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  2. 26.1 city: Probably Jerusalem.
  3. 26.4 mighty rock: See the note at 17.10.
  4. 26.5 our enemies … city: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  5. 26.16 Lord: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 16.
  6. 27.1 Leviathan: God's victory over this monster sometimes stands for God's power over all creation and sometimes for his defeat of his enemies, especially Egypt.
  7. 27.2 fruitful: Some Hebrew manuscripts have “lovely.”
  8. 27.8 I … punishment: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  9. 28.3 Ephraim: The northern kingdom of Israel; Samaria was its capital.
  10. 28.10 sound: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verses 9,10.
  11. 28.11 in … foreign languages: This probably refers to the language of the Assyrians.
  12. 28.13 Now … sound: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  13. 28.20 Your bed … skimpy: Isaiah quotes a popular saying to teach that the treaty made with Egypt (verse 18) cannot give the nation security from its enemies.
  14. 28.21 Mount Perazim: This may refer to David's defeat of the Philistines at Baal Perazim (2 Samuel 5.17-21).
  15. 28.21 Gibeon Valley: This refers to Joshua's victory at Gibeon (Joshua 10.1-11).

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