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Isaiah 25-28
The Message
Isaiah 25-28
The Message
God’s Hand Rests on This Mountain
25 1-5 God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.
6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this mountain!”
10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like trash,
waste shoveled into a cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
like swimmers trying to stay afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
Their pride will pull them under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
those mighty walls reduced to dust.
Stretch the Borders of Life
26 1-6 At that time, this song
will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
build their lives on the reclaimed land.
7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
blind to the splendor of God.
11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
The more life you give, the more glory you display,
and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!
16-18 O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
when your discipline was so heavy
they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
writhing in distress, screaming her pain
as the baby is being born,
That’s how we were because of you, O God.
We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
We produced nothing living.
We couldn’t save the world.
19 But friends, your dead will live,
your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
giving birth to the dead.
20-21 Come, my people, go home
and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
Selected Grain by Grain
27 At that time God will unsheathe his sword,
his merciless, massive, mighty sword.
He’ll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees,
the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight.
He’ll kill that old dragon
that lives in the sea.
2-5 “At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
There’s something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
so that no one can damage it.
I’m not angry. I care.
Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I’ll just pull them out
and burn them up.
Let that vine cling to me for safety,
let it find a good and whole life with me,
let it hold on for a good and whole life.”
6 The days are coming when Jacob
shall put down roots,
Israel blossom and grow fresh branches,
and fill the world with its fruit.
7-11 Has God knocked them to the ground
as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no.
Were they killed
as their killers were killed? Again, no.
He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence.
He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.
But the good news is that through this experience
Jacob’s guilt was taken away.
The evidence that his sin is removed will be this:
He will tear down the alien altars,
take them apart stone by stone,
And then crush the stones into gravel
and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.
For there’s nothing left of that pretentious grandeur.
Nobody lives there anymore. It’s unlivable.
But animals do just fine,
browsing and bedding down.
And it’s not a bad place to get firewood.
Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful.
It’s the remains of a people with no sense of God.
So, the God who made them
Will have nothing to do with them.
He who formed them will turn his back on them.
12-13 At that time God will thresh
from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt,
And you, people of Israel,
will be selected grain by grain.
At that same time a great trumpet will be blown,
calling home the exiles from Assyria,
Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt
to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.
God Will Speak in Baby Talk
28 1-4 Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim,
shabby and washed out and seedy—
Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies
of a proud and handsome past.
Watch closely: God has someone picked out,
someone tough and strong to flatten them.
Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood,
one-handed he’ll throw them to the ground.
Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head,
will be knocked off with one blow.
It will disappear quicker than
a piece of meat tossed to a dog.
5-6 At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be
the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people:
Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide,
strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.
7-8 These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink,
weaving, falling-down drunks,
Besotted with wine and whiskey,
can’t see straight, can’t talk sense.
Every table is covered with vomit.
They live in vomit.
9-10 “Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us?
Who are you to lord it over us?
We’re not babies in diapers
to be talked down to by such as you—
‘Da, da, da, da,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
that’s a good little boy.’”
11-12 But that’s exactly how you will be addressed.
God will speak to this people
In baby talk, one syllable at a time—
and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.
He said before, “This is the time and place to rest,
to give rest to the weary.
This is the place to lay down your burden.”
But they won’t listen.
13 So God will start over with the simple basics
and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—
“Da, da, da, da,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
that’s a good little boy.”
And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,
get bruised and confused and lost.
14-15 Now listen to God’s Message, you scoffers,
you who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You say, “We’ve taken out good life insurance.
We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases.
No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything.
We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.”
The Meaning of the Stone
16-17 But the Master, God, has something to say to this:
“Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,
a solid granite foundation, squared and true.
And this is the meaning of the stone:
a trusting life won’t topple.
I’ll make justice the measuring stick
and righteousness the plumb line for the building.
A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,
and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.
18-22 “Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy
wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Your careful precautions against death
were a pack of illusions and lies.
When the disaster happens,
you’ll be crushed by it.
Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it—
disaster in the morning, disaster at night.”
Every report of disaster
will send you cowering in terror.
There will be no place where you can rest,
nothing to hide under.
God will rise to full stature,
raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim
And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines.
But this time it’s against you.
Hard to believe, but true.
Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming.
Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff.
Scoffing will just make it worse.
I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.
* * *
23-26 Listen to me now.
Give me your closest attention.
Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow?
Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?
After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant?
Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin,
Plant wheat and barley in the fields
and raspberries along the borders?
They know exactly what to do and when to do it.
Their God is their teacher.
27-29 And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices,
the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.
On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly.
The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.
He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who knows everything about when and how and where.
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.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.