Isaiah 2-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 2
1 [a]This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Zion, the Royal City of God
2 [b]In days to come,
The mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it.(A)
3 Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”(B)
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 [c]He shall judge between the nations,
and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;(C)
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.(D)
5 [d]House of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!
The Lord’s Day of Judgment on Pride
6 You have abandoned your people,
the house of Jacob!
Because they are filled with diviners,
and soothsayers, like the Philistines;
with foreigners they clasp hands.(E)
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is full of horses,
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the works of their hands,
what their fingers have made.(F)
9 So all shall be abased,
each one brought low.[e]
Do not pardon them!
10 Get behind the rocks,
hide in the dust,
From the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The eyes of human pride shall be lowered,
the arrogance of mortals shall be abased,
and the Lord alone will be exalted, on that day.[f]
12 For the Lord of hosts will have his day
against all that is proud and arrogant,
against all that is high, and it will be brought low;
13 Yes, against all the cedars of Lebanon[g]
and against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 Against all the lofty mountains
and all the high hills,
15 Against every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 Against all the ships of Tarshish
and all stately vessels.
17 Then human pride shall be abased,
the arrogance of mortals brought low,
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18 The idols will vanish completely.
19 People will go into caves in the rocks
and into holes in the earth,
At the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
as he rises to overawe the earth.
20 On that day people shall throw to moles and bats
their idols of silver and their idols of gold
which they made for themselves to worship.
21 And they shall go into caverns in the rocks
and into crevices in the cliffs,
At the terror of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
as he rises to overawe the earth.
22 [h]As for you, stop worrying about mortals,
in whose nostrils is but a breath;
for of what worth are they?
Chapter 3
Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah
1 [i]The Lord, the Lord of hosts,
will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah
Support and staff—
all support of bread,
all support of water:(G)
2 Hero and warrior,
judge and prophet, diviner and elder,
3 The captain of fifty and the nobleman,
counselor, skilled magician, and expert charmer.
4 I will place boys as their princes;
the fickle will govern them,(H)
5 And the people will oppress one another,
yes, each one the neighbor.
The child will be insolent toward the elder,
and the base toward the honorable.(I)
6 When anyone seizes a brother
in their father’s house, saying,
“You have clothes! Be our ruler,
and take in hand this ruin!”—
7 He will cry out in that day:
“I cannot be a healer,(J)
when there is neither bread nor clothing in my own house!
You will not make me a ruler of the people!”
8 Jerusalem has stumbled, Judah has fallen;
for their speech and deeds affront the Lord,
a provocation in the sight of his majesty.
9 Their very look bears witness against them;(K)
they boast of their sin like Sodom,(L)
They do not hide it.
Woe to them!
They deal out evil to themselves.
10 Happy the just, for it will go well with them,
the fruit of their works they will eat.
11 Woe to the wicked! It will go ill with them,
with the work of their hands they will be repaid.
12 My people—infants oppress them,
women rule over them!
My people, your leaders deceive you,(M)
they confuse the paths you should follow.
13 [j]The Lord rises to accuse,
stands to try his people.
14 The Lord enters into judgment
with the people’s elders and princes:
You, you who have devoured the vineyard;
the loot wrested from the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people,
and grinding down the faces of the poor?
says the Lord, the God of hosts.
The Haughty Women of Zion[k]
16 The Lord said:(N)
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
and walk with necks outstretched,
Ogling and mincing as they go,
their anklets tinkling with every step,
17 The Lord shall cover the scalps of Zion’s daughters with scabs,
and the Lord shall lay bare their heads.[l](O)
18 [m]On that day the Lord will do away with the finery of the anklets, sunbursts, and crescents; 19 the pendants, bracelets, and veils; 20 the headdresses, bangles, cinctures, perfume boxes, and amulets; 21 the signet rings, and the nose rings; 22 the court dresses, wraps, cloaks, and purses; 23 the lace gowns, linen tunics, turbans, and shawls.
24 Instead of perfume there will be stench,
instead of a girdle, a rope,
And instead of elaborate coiffure, baldness;
instead of a rich gown, a sackcloth skirt.
Then, instead of beauty, shame.
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
and your champions,[n] in war;(P)
26 Her gates will lament and mourn,
as the city sits desolate on the ground.(Q)
Footnotes
- 2:1 This editorial heading probably introduced the collection of chaps. 2–12, to which chap. 1 with its introduction was added later (see note on 1:2–31).
- 2:2–22 These verses contain two very important oracles, one on the pilgrimage of nations to Mount Zion (vv. 2–4—completed with an invitation to the “house of Jacob,” v. 5), the other on the day of the Lord (see note on Am 5:18), which was probably composed from at least two earlier pieces. Whereas vv. 6–8 indict Judah for trust in superstitious practices and human resources rather than in the Lord, the following verses are directed against humankind in general and emphasize the effect of the “day of the Lord,” the humbling of human pride. This may be taken as a precondition for the glorious vision of vv. 2–4. This vision of Zion’s glorious future, which is also found in a slightly variant form in Mi 4:1–4, is rooted in the early Zion tradition, cultivated in the royal cult in Jerusalem. It celebrated God’s choice of Jerusalem as the divine dwelling place, along with God’s choice of the Davidic dynasty (Ps 68:16–17; 78:67–72; 132:13–18). Highest mountain: the Zion tradition followed earlier mythological conceptions that associate the abode of deities with very high mountains (Ps 48:2–3). The lifting of Mount Zion is a metaphor for universal recognition of the Lord’s authority.
- 2:4 Once the nations acknowledge God as sovereign, they go up to Jerusalem to settle their disputes, rather than having recourse to war.
- 2:5 This verse is added as a conclusion to vv. 2–4; cf. Mi 4:4–5, where a quite different conclusion is provided for the parallel version of this oracle.
- 2:9 Bowing down to idols will not bring deliverance to Israel, but rather total abasement. Do not pardon them: this line is so abrupt that it is almost certainly an intrusion in the text.
- 2:11 That day: i.e., the day of the Lord; cf. note on Am 5:18.
- 2:13 Lebanon: Mount Lebanon in Syria, famed for its cedars. Bashan: the fertile uplands east of the Sea of Galilee.
- 2:22 The meaning of this verse, certainly a later addition, is not clear. It is not addressed to God but to a plural subject.
- 3:1–12 These verses suggest deportation, with resulting social upheaval, and thus may date to sometime after Ahaz submitted as vassal to Assyria. The deportation practiced by Assyria, as later by Babylon, exiled the leading elements of society, such as those named in vv. 2–3; cf. 2 Kgs 24:12, 14–16 for a similar list of those exiled by the Babylonians. Denuding society of its leaders opens the way to near anarchy and a situation in which leadership is seized by or thrust upon those unqualified for it (vv. 5–7). The situation has been provoked by sinfully inept leadership (vv. 4, 8–9, 12). Some suggest that vv. 4 and 12 refer to Ahaz, who may have come to the throne at an early age. Verses 10–11 form a wisdom couplet that was inserted later.
- 3:13–15 The princes and the elders, here accused of despoiling the poor, are the very ones who should be their defenders. Loot: by the Hebrew term (gazela) Isaiah conveys the idea of violent seizure, though 10:1–4 suggests the poor could be plundered by legal means.
- 3:16–4:1 Here and again in 32:9–14 Isaiah condemns the women of the ruling class for their part in Jerusalem’s plight.
- 3:17 A shaven head is a mark of social disgrace; cf. Nm 5:18.
- 3:18–23 The long list of women’s apparel in these verses suggests luxury and vanity; it contains a number of rare words, and the precise meaning of many of the terms is uncertain.
- 3:25 Your men…your champions: the second person feminine singular pronoun here shows that the prophet has shifted his attention from the women of Zion to the personified city of Zion.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.