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Isaiah 25-28
New Living Translation
Isaiah 25-28
New Living Translation
Praise for Judgment and Salvation
25 O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.
2 You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins.
Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble.
Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear
and will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory;
ruthless nations will fear you.
4 But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord,
a tower of refuge to the needy in distress.
You are a refuge from the storm
and a shelter from the heat.
For the oppressive acts of ruthless people
are like a storm beating against a wall,
5 or like the relentless heat of the desert.
But you silence the roar of foreign nations.
As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat,
so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.
6 In Jerusalem,[a] the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will spread a wonderful feast
for all the people of the world.
It will be a delicious banquet
with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.
7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom,
the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.
8 He will swallow up death forever!
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and mockery
against his land and people.
The Lord has spoken!
9 In that day the people will proclaim,
“This is our God!
We trusted in him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord, in whom we trusted.
Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”
10 For the Lord’s hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem.
But Moab will be crushed.
It will be like straw trampled down and left to rot.
11 God will push down Moab’s people
as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands.
He will end their pride
and all their evil works.
12 The high walls of Moab will be demolished.
They will be brought down to the ground,
down into the dust.
A Song of Praise to the Lord
26 In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song:
Our city is strong!
We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation.
2 Open the gates to all who are righteous;
allow the faithful to enter.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles the proud
and brings down the arrogant city.
He brings it down to the dust.
6 The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot,
and the needy walk all over it.
7 But for those who are righteous,
the way is not steep and rough.
You are a God who does what is right,
and you smooth out the path ahead of them.
8 Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
9 In the night I search for you;
in the morning[b] I earnestly seek you.
For only when you come to judge the earth
will people learn what is right.
10 Your kindness to the wicked
does not make them do good.
Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong
and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty.
11 O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist.
Show them your eagerness to defend your people.
Then they will be ashamed.
Let your fire consume your enemies.
12 Lord, you will grant us peace;
all we have accomplished is really from you.
13 O Lord our God, others have ruled us,
but you alone are the one we worship.
14 Those we served before are dead and gone.
Their departed spirits will never return!
You attacked them and destroyed them,
and they are long forgotten.
15 O Lord, you have made our nation great;
yes, you have made us great.
You have extended our borders,
and we give you the glory!
16 Lord, in distress we searched for you.
We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
17 Just as a pregnant woman
writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,
so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We, too, writhe in agony,
but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the earth,
nor brought life into the world.
19 But those who die in the Lord will live;
their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth
will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew
on your people in the place of the dead!
Restoration for Israel
20 Go home, my people,
and lock your doors!
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the Lord’s anger has passed.
21 Look! The Lord is coming from heaven
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed.
They will be brought out for all to see.
27 In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan,[c] the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.
2 “In that day,
sing about the fruitful vineyard.
3 I, the Lord, will watch over it,
watering it carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.
4 My anger will be gone.
If I find briers and thorns growing,
I will attack them;
I will burn them up—
5 unless they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
yes, let them make peace with me.”
6 The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root.
Israel will bud and blossom
and fill the whole earth with fruit!
7 Has the Lord struck Israel
as he struck her enemies?
Has he punished her
as he punished them?
8 No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account.
She was exiled from her land
as though blown away in a storm from the east.
9 The Lord did this to purge Israel’s[d] wickedness,
to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
10 The fortified towns will be silent and empty,
the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze there,
chewing on twigs and branches.
11 The people are like the dead branches of a tree,
broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,
for its people have turned away from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
will show them no pity or mercy.
12 Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River[e] in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. 13 In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.
A Message about Samaria
28 What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel.[f]
It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
It is the pride of a people
brought down by wine.
2 For the Lord will send a mighty army against it.
Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain,
they will burst upon it like a surging flood
and smash it to the ground.
3 The proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel[g]—
will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.
4 It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
Whoever sees it will snatch it up,
as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
5 Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
of the remnant of his people.
6 He will give a longing for justice
to their judges.
He will give great courage
to their warriors who stand at the gates.
7 Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
and stagger as they render decisions.
8 Their tables are covered with vomit;
filth is everywhere.
9 “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
“Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
just recently weaned?
10 He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there!”
11 So now God will have to speak to his people
through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12 God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
But they would not listen.
13 So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
14 Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death
and have made a deal to dodge the grave.[h]
The coming destruction can never touch us,
for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”
16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,[i]
a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.[j]
17 I will test you with the measuring line of justice
and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
a flood will sweep it away.
18 I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,
and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
you will be trampled into the ground.
19 Again and again that flood will come,
morning after morning,
day and night,
until you are carried away.”
This message will bring terror to your people.
20 The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
21 The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
and against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange thing;
he will come to do an unusual deed:
22 For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no more,
or your punishment will be even greater.
23 Listen to me;
listen, and pay close attention.
24 Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
25 Does he not finally plant his seeds—
black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
and each in its proper place?
26 The farmer knows just what to do,
for God has given him understanding.
27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;
rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;
instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
28 Grain for bread is easily crushed,
so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,
but he doesn’t pulverize it.
29 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
Footnotes
- 25:6 Hebrew On this mountain; also in 25:10.
- 26:9 Hebrew within me.
- 27:1 The identification of Leviathan is disputed, ranging from an earthly creature to a mythical sea monster in ancient literature.
- 27:9 Hebrew Jacob’s. See note on 14:1.
- 27:12 Hebrew the river.
- 28:1 Hebrew What sorrow awaits the crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim, referring to Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 28:3 Hebrew The crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim; see note on 28:1.
- 28:15 Hebrew Sheol; also in 28:18.
- 28:16a Hebrew in Zion.
- 28:16b Greek version reads Look! I am placing a stone in the foundation of Jerusalem [literally Zion], / a precious cornerstone for its foundation, chosen for great honor. / Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Compare Rom 9:33; 1 Pet 2:6.
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.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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.