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Isaiah 25-28
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 25-28
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Salvation and Judgment on That Day
25 Yahweh, You are my God;(A)
I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,
for You have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For You have turned the city into a pile of rocks,(B)
a fortified city, into ruins;
the fortress of barbarians(C) is no longer a city;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, a strong people will honor You.
The cities of violent nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy(D) person in his distress,
a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat.(E)
When the breath of the violent
is like rain against a wall,
5 like heat in a dry land,
You subdue the uproar of barbarians.
As[a] the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,
so He silences the song of the violent.
6 The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast(F)
for all the peoples on this mountain[b](G)—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat,[c] finely aged wine.
7 On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;(H)
8 He will destroy death forever.(I)
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face(J)
and remove His people’s disgrace(K)
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”(L)
10 For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.
But Moab(M) will be trampled in his place[d]
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.
11 He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
along with the trickery of his hands.(N)
12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.(O)
The Song of Judah
26 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city.
Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.(P)
2 Open the gates
so a righteous nation can come in—
one that remains faithful.
3 You will keep the mind that is dependent on You
in perfect peace,(Q)
for it is trusting in You.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!(R)
5 For He has humbled those who live in lofty places—
an inaccessible city.(S)
He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground;
He throws it to the dust.
6 Feet trample it,
the feet of the humble,
the steps of the poor.
God’s People Vindicated
7 The path of the righteous is level;(T)
You clear a straight path for the righteous.
8 Yes, Yahweh, we wait for You
in the path of Your judgments.
Our desire is for Your name and renown.(U)
9 I long for You in the night;(V)
yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You,
for when Your judgments are in the land,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 But if the wicked man is shown favor,
he does not learn righteousness.
In a righteous land he acts unjustly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, Your hand is lifted up to take action,
but they do not see it.
They will see Your zeal for Your people,
and they will be put to shame.
The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!
12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,
for You have also done all our work for us.
13 Yahweh our God, lords other than You have ruled over us,
but we remember Your name alone.(W)
14 The dead do not live;
departed spirits do not rise up.
Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them;
You have wiped out all memory of them.(X)
15 You have added to the nation, Lord.(Y)
You have added to the nation; You are honored.
You have expanded all the borders of the land.(Z)
16 Lord, they went to You in their distress;(AA)
they poured out whispered prayers
because Your discipline fell on them.[e]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,(AB)
so we were before You, Lord.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;
we gave birth to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.
19 Your dead will live; their bodies[f] will rise.(AC)
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,[g]
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and close your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.(AD)
21 For look, the Lord is coming from His place(AE)
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.(AF)
The earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and will no longer conceal her slain.
Leviathan Slain
27 On that day the Lord with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan,(AG) the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.(AH)
The Lord’s Vineyard
2 On that day
sing about a desirable vineyard:(AI)
3 I, Yahweh, watch over it;
I water it regularly.
I guard it night and day
so that no one disturbs it.
4 I am not angry,
but if it produces thorns and briers(AJ) for Me,
I will fight against it, trample it,
and burn it to the ground.
5 Or let it take hold of My strength;
let it make peace with Me—
make peace with Me.
6 In days to come, Jacob will take root.(AK)
Israel will blossom and bloom(AL)
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Did the Lord strike Israel
as He struck the one who struck Israel?(AM)
Was he killed like those killed by Him?
8 You disputed with her
by banishing and driving her away.[h]
He removed her with His severe storm
on the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore Jacob’s iniquity(AN) will be purged in this way,
and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:(AO)
when he makes all the altar stones
like crushed bits of chalk,
no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 For the fortified city will be deserted,
pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there,
and there they will spread out and strip its branches.
11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.(AP)
Therefore their Maker(AQ) will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day(AR)
the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River
as far as the Wadi of Egypt,(AS)
and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.
13 On that day
a great trumpet(AT) will be blown,
and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,
as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;
and they will worship the Lord
at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.
Woe to Samaria
28 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,(AU)
and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley.
Woe to those overcome with wine.
2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one(AV)—
like a devastating hail storm,
like a storm with strong flooding waters.
He will bring it across the land with His hand.
3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley,
will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.(AW)
Whoever sees it will swallow it
while it is still in his hand.
5 On that day
the Lord of Hosts will become a crown of beauty
and a diadem of splendor(AX)
to the remnant of His people,
6 a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,(AY)
and strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 These also stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
priest and prophet stagger because of beer,
they are confused by wine.(AZ)
They stumble because of beer,
they are muddled in their visions,
they stumble in their judgments.
8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
9 Who is he[i] trying to teach?
Who is he[j] trying to instruct?
Infants[k] just weaned from milk?
Babies[l] removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”[m][n]
11 So He will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.(BA)
12 He had said to them:
“This is the place of rest,
let the weary rest;(BB)
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.
13 Then the word of the Lord came to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”[o][p]
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.(BC)
A Deal with Death
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,(BD) you mockers(BE)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 For you said, “We have cut a deal with Death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,(BF)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”
16 Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone(BG) in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;(BH)
the one who believes will be unshakable.[q](BI)
17 And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”(BJ)
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
18 Your deal with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be trampled.
19 Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror(BK) will cause you
to understand the message.[r]
20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim.(BL)
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,(BM)
to do His work, His strange work,
and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
22 So now, do not mock,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts
a decree of destruction for the whole land.(BN)
God’s Wonderful Advice
23 Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
26 His God teaches him order;
He instructs him.
27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of Hosts.
He gives wonderful advice;
He gives great wisdom.(BO)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 25:5 Lit In
- Isaiah 25:6 = Mount Zion
- Isaiah 25:6 Lit wine, fat full of marrow
- Isaiah 25:10 Or trampled under Him
- Isaiah 26:16 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 26:19 Lit live; my body they
- Isaiah 26:19 Lit For your dew is a dew of lights
- Isaiah 27:8 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 28:9 Or He
- Isaiah 28:9 Or He
- Isaiah 28:9 Lit Those
- Isaiah 28:9 Lit Those
- Isaiah 28:10 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 28:10 Perhaps the mockers of v. 9 are mimicking the prophet’s words as baby talk.
- Isaiah 28:13 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 28:13 The Lord quotes the mockers' words in v. 10 to represent the unintelligible language of the Assyrian invaders.
- Isaiah 28:16 Lit will not hurry
- Isaiah 28:19 Or The understanding of the message will cause sheer terror
Isaiah 25-28
New International Version
Isaiah 25-28
New International Version
Praise to the Lord
25 Lord, you are my God;(A)
I will exalt you and praise your name,(B)
for in perfect faithfulness(C)
you have done wonderful things,(D)
things planned(E) long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,(F)
the fortified(G) town a ruin,(H)
the foreigners’ stronghold(I) a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.(J)
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;(K)
cities of ruthless(L) nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge(M) for the poor,(N)
a refuge for the needy(O) in their distress,
a shelter from the storm(P)
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless(Q)
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence(R) the uproar of foreigners;(S)
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless(T) is stilled.
6 On this mountain(U) the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast(V) of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.(W)
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud(X) that enfolds all peoples,(Y)
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death(Z) forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears(AA)
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace(AB)
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.(AC)
9 In that day(AD) they will say,
“Surely this is our God;(AE)
we trusted(AF) in him, and he saved(AG) us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice(AH) and be glad in his salvation.”(AI)
10 The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain;(AJ)
but Moab(AK) will be trampled in their land
as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will stretch out their hands in it,
as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down(AL) their pride(AM)
despite the cleverness[a] of their hands.
12 He will bring down your high fortified walls(AN)
and lay them low;(AO)
he will bring them down to the ground,
to the very dust.
A Song of Praise
26 In that day(AP) this song will be sung(AQ) in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;(AR)
God makes salvation
its walls(AS) and ramparts.(AT)
2 Open the gates(AU)
that the righteous(AV) nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace(AW)
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust(AX) in you.
4 Trust(AY) in the Lord forever,(AZ)
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock(BA) eternal.
5 He humbles those who dwell on high,
he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground(BB)
and casts it down to the dust.(BC)
6 Feet trample(BD) it down—
the feet of the oppressed,(BE)
the footsteps of the poor.(BF)
7 The path of the righteous is level;(BG)
you, the Upright One,(BH) make the way of the righteous smooth.(BI)
8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,[b](BJ)
we wait(BK) for you;
your name(BL) and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;(BM)
in the morning my spirit longs(BN) for you.
When your judgments(BO) come upon the earth,
the people of the world learn righteousness.(BP)
10 But when grace is shown to the wicked,(BQ)
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil(BR)
and do not regard(BS) the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted high,(BT)
but they do not see(BU) it.
Let them see your zeal(BV) for your people and be put to shame;(BW)
let the fire(BX) reserved for your enemies consume them.
12 Lord, you establish peace(BY) for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done(BZ) for us.
13 Lord our God, other lords(CA) besides you have ruled over us,
but your name(CB) alone do we honor.(CC)
14 They are now dead,(CD) they live no more;
their spirits(CE) do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;(CF)
you wiped out all memory of them.(CG)
15 You have enlarged the nation, Lord;
you have enlarged the nation.(CH)
You have gained glory for yourself;
you have extended all the borders(CI) of the land.
16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;(CJ)
when you disciplined(CK) them,
they could barely whisper(CL) a prayer.[c]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(CM)
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,
but we gave birth(CN) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(CO) to the earth,
and the people of the world have not come to life.(CP)
19 But your dead(CQ) will live, Lord;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust(CR)
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew(CS) is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.(CT)
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors(CU) behind you;
hide(CV) yourselves for a little while
until his wrath(CW) has passed by.(CX)
21 See, the Lord is coming(CY) out of his dwelling(CZ)
to punish(DA) the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood(DB) shed on it;
the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Deliverance of Israel
27 In that day,(DC)
the Lord will punish with his sword(DD)—
his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan(DE) the gliding serpent,(DF)
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster(DG) of the sea.
2 In that day(DH)—
“Sing(DI) about a fruitful vineyard:(DJ)
3 I, the Lord, watch over it;
I water(DK) it continually.
I guard(DL) it day and night
so that no one may harm(DM) it.
4 I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
I would march against them in battle;
I would set them all on fire.(DN)
5 Or else let them come to me for refuge;(DO)
let them make peace(DP) with me,
yes, let them make peace with me.”
6 In days to come Jacob will take root,(DQ)
Israel will bud and blossom(DR)
and fill all the world with fruit.(DS)
7 Has the Lord struck her
as he struck(DT) down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
as those were killed who killed her?
8 By warfare[d] and exile(DU) you contend with her—
with his fierce blast he drives her out,
as on a day the east wind(DV) blows.
9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned(DW) for,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:(DX)
When he makes all the altar stones(DY)
to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles[e](DZ) or incense altars(EA)
will be left standing.
10 The fortified city stands desolate,(EB)
an abandoned settlement, forsaken(EC) like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,(ED)
there they lie down;(EE)
they strip its branches bare.
11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off(EF)
and women come and make fires(EG) with them.
For this is a people without understanding;(EH)
so their Maker has no compassion on them,
and their Creator(EI) shows them no favor.(EJ)
12 In that day the Lord will thresh(EK) from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,(EL) and you, Israel, will be gathered(EM) up one by one. 13 And in that day(EN) a great trumpet(EO) will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled(EP) in Egypt(EQ) will come and worship(ER) the Lord on the holy mountain(ES) in Jerusalem.
Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah
28 Woe(ET) to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s(EU) drunkards,
to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley(EV)—
to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!(EW)
2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful(EX) and strong.
Like a hailstorm(EY) and a destructive wind,(EZ)
like a driving rain and a flooding(FA) downpour,
he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s(FB) drunkards,
will be trampled(FC) underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley,(FD)
will be like figs(FE) ripe before harvest—
as soon as people see them and take them in hand,
they swallow them.
5 In that day(FF) the Lord Almighty
will be a glorious(FG) crown,(FH)
a beautiful wreath
for the remnant(FI) of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice(FJ)
to the one who sits in judgment,(FK)
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle(FL) at the gate.
7 And these also stagger(FM) from wine(FN)
and reel(FO) from beer:
Priests(FP) and prophets(FQ) stagger from beer
and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
they stagger when seeing visions,(FR)
they stumble when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit(FS)
and there is not a spot without filth.
9 “Who is it he is trying to teach?(FT)
To whom is he explaining his message?(FU)
To children weaned(FV) from their milk,(FW)
to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that[f];
a little here, a little there.(FX)”
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues(FY)
God will speak to this people,(FZ)
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;(GA)
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there(GB)—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured(GC) and snared and captured.(GD)
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,(GE) you scoffers(GF)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,(GG)
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,(GH)
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie(GI) our refuge
and falsehood[g] our hiding place.(GJ)”
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,(GK) a tested stone,(GL)
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;(GM)
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.(GN)
17 I will make justice(GO) the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;(GP)
hail(GQ) will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow(GR) your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.(GS)
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,(GT)
you will be beaten down(GU) by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away;(GV)
morning after morning,(GW) by day and by night,
it will sweep through.”
The understanding of this message
will bring sheer terror.(GX)
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on,
the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.(GY)
21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,(GZ)
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon(HA)—
to do his work,(HB) his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking,(HC)
or your chains will become heavier;
the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me
of the destruction decreed(HD) against the whole land.(HE)
23 Listen(HF) and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting,(HG) does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?(HH)
Does he not plant wheat in its place,[h]
barley(HI) in its plot,[i]
and spelt(HJ) in its field?
26 His God instructs him
and teaches(HK) him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed(HL) with a sledge,(HM)
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,(HN)
and cumin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart(HO) may be rolled over it,
but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
whose plan is wonderful,(HP)
whose wisdom is magnificent.(HQ)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 25:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 26:8 Or judgments
- Isaiah 26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Isaiah 27:8 See Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 27:9 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
- Isaiah 28:10 Hebrew / sav lasav sav lasav / kav lakav kav lakav (probably meaningless sounds mimicking the prophet’s words); also in verse 13
- Isaiah 28:15 Or false gods
- Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
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