Isaiah 24-26
International Standard Version
The Earth is Judged
24 “Watch out! The Lord[a] is about to depopulate the land
and devastate it;
he will turn it upside down[b]
and scatter its inhabitants.
2 It will be the same for the lay people as for priests,
the same for servants as for their masters,
for female servants as for their mistresses,
for buyers as for sellers,
for lenders as for borrowers,
and for creditors as for debtors.
3 The earth will be utterly depopulated
and completely laid waste —
for the Lord has spoken this message.[c]
4 “The earth dries up and withers;
the world languishes and fades away;
heaven fades away,
along with the earth.[d]
5 The earth lies defiled
beneath its inhabitants;
because they have transgressed the laws,[e]
violated the statutes,
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse keeps on consuming,[f]
and its inhabitants are declared guilty.
Furthermore, the inhabitants of earth are ablaze,
and few people are left.
7 The new wine evaporates;
the vine and the oil[g] dry up;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 “The celebrations of the tambourine have ended,
the noise of the jubilant has stopped,
and the mirth that the harp produces has ended.
9 No longer do they drink wine
accompanied by singing;
even beer[h] tastes bitter to those who drink it.
10 The chaotic city lies broken down;
every house is closed up
so that no one can enter them.[i]
11 There is an outcry in the streets over wine;
all cheer turns to gloom;
the fun times of the earth are banished.
12 Desolation remains in the city
whose gates lie battered into ruins.
13 So it will be on the earth
and among the nations—
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as gleanings when the grape harvest has ended.”
Glorifying God
14 “They raise their voices;
they shout for joy;[j]
from the west[k] they shout aloud[l]
over the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore, you in the east,[m]
give glory to the Lord!
You in the coastlands of the sea,
give glory to the name of the Lord God of Israel!
16 From the ends of the earth
we hear songs of praise:
‘Glory to the Righteous One!’
“But I say, ‘I am pining away,
I’m pining away.
How terrible things are for me!
For treacherous people betray—
treacherous people are betraying with treachery!’”
The Universal Impact of Judgment
17 “Terror and pit and snare are coming in your direction,
you inhabitants of the earth!
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
For the windows of judgment[n] from above are opened,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19 The earth is utterly shattered,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth[o] reels to and fro like a drunkard;
it sways like a hut;[p]
its transgression lies so heavy upon it,
that it falls, never to rise again.
21 “And it will come about at that time,[q]
the Lord will punish
the armies of the exalted ones in the heavens,[r]
and the rulers[s] of the earth on earth.
22 They[t] will be herded together[u]
into the Pit;[v]
they will be shut up in prison,
and after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be embarrassed
and the sun ashamed,
for the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem;
and in the presence of its elders
there will be glory.”
Praise to the Victorious God
25 Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have done marvelous things,
plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth.
2 For you have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified city into a ruin;
the foreigners’ citadel[w] is no longer a city—
it will never be rebuilt!
3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat—
for the blistering attack[x] from the ruthless
is like a rainstorm beating against a wall,
5 and the noise of foreigners is like the heat of the desert.
Just as you subdue heat by the shade of clouds,
so the victory songs of violent men will be stilled.
Celebration of the Righteous
6 “On this mountain,[y] the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food,
a banquet of well-aged wines—
rich food full of marrow,
and refined wines of the finest[z] vintage
7 And on this mountain,[aa] he will swallow up
the burial[ab] shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations—
8 he has swallowed up[ac] death forever!
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and he will take away the disgrace of his people
from the entire earth.”
for the Lord has spoken.
9 “And you[ad] will say at that time,[ae]
‘Look! It’s the Lord![af] This is our God!
We waited for him,
and he saved us.
This is the Lord!
We waited for him,
so let us rejoice,
and we will[ag] be glad that he has saved us.”
The Misery of Moab
10 For the Lord’s power[ah] will rest on this mountain,[ai]
but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him,
just as straw is trodden down
in the slime of[aj] a manure pit.
11 They will spread out their hands in the thick of it,
just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
but the Lord will bring down their pride,
together with the cleverness of their hands.
12 He brings down the high fortifications of your walls
and lays them low;
he will raze them[ak] to the ground,
right down to the dust.
The Song of Redeemed Judah
“We have a strong city;
God crafts victory,
its walls and ramparts.[an]
2 Open your[ao] gates,
so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.
3 You will keep perfectly peaceful[ap]
the one whose mind remains focused on you,
because he remains[aq] in you.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord God[ar] you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has made drunk[as]
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low[at] to the ground
casting it down to the dust,
6 by the feet of the oppressed who trample it,[au]
by the footsteps of the needy.[av]
7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O Upright One,[aw]
you make safe[ax] the way of justice.[ay]
8 Yes, Lord, in the path of your judgments we wait;[az]
your name and your Law[ba] are the[bb] soul’s desire.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me searches for you.
For when your judgments come upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
they don’t learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they act perversely
and do not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 “Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
And[bc] let them see your zeal for your[bd] people
and be put to shame—
yes, let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them!
12 Lord, you will decide[be] peace for us,
for you have indeed accomplished
all our achievements for us.
13 O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but through you alone
we acknowledge your name.
14 The dead won’t live,
and[bf] the departed spirits won’t rise—
to that end, you punished and destroyed them,
then locked away[bg] all memory of them.
15 “But you have enlarged the nation,[bh] Lord;
you have enlarged the nation.[bi]
You have gained honor;
you have extended all the borders of the land.
16 Lord, they[bj] came to you in distress;
they poured out their secret[bk] prayer
when your chastenings were[bl] afflicting[bm] them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman writhes
and cries out during her labor
when she is about to give birth,
so were we because of you, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, writhing in pain,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not won your[bn] victory on earth,
nor have the inhabitants of the world been born.”
The Resurrection of the Dead
19 “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy![bo]
For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms
and shut your doors[bp] behind you.
Hide yourselves[bq] for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 For see, the Lord is coming from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins;
the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it,
and will no longer conceal its slain.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:1 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac reads Lord
- Isaiah 24:1 Or distort its surface
- Isaiah 24:3 Lit. word
- Isaiah 24:4 So 1QIsaa 4QIsac; MT reads the heavens fade away; cf. LXX reads the exalted ones of the earth mourn
- Isaiah 24:5 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac LXX read the Law
- Isaiah 24:6 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT LXX read consuming the earth
- Isaiah 24:7 So 4QIsac; 1QIsaa MT LXX lack and the oil
- Isaiah 24:9 Or and strong drink
- Isaiah 24:10 1QIsaa MT lack them
- Isaiah 24:14 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac reads and they shout
- Isaiah 24:14 Lit. sea; so 1QIsaa MT; cf. LXX; 4QIsac reads day
- Isaiah 24:14 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac reads And they cry out
- Isaiah 24:15 So 1QIsaa MT; 4Q1sac reads in the east, in Aram; LXX lacks in the east
- Isaiah 24:18 1QIsaa MT lack of judgment
- Isaiah 24:20 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Earth
- Isaiah 24:20 So MT; 1QIsaa lacks like a hut
- Isaiah 24:21 Lit. about on that day
- Isaiah 24:21 Or ones on high
- Isaiah 24:21 Lit. kings
- Isaiah 24:22 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT LXX read And they
- Isaiah 24:22 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsac MT read together like prisoners
- Isaiah 24:22 I.e., the place of punishment in the afterlife; or into a dungeon;
- Isaiah 25:2 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss LXX read citadel of arrogant people
- Isaiah 25:4 1QIsaa MT lack attack
- Isaiah 25:6 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
- Isaiah 25:6 1QIsaa MT lack the finest
- Isaiah 25:7 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
- Isaiah 25:7 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks burial
- Isaiah 25:8 So 1QIsaa MTms; MT reads And he will swallow up; cf. LXX Syr Theodotian 1Cor 15:54
- Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa Syriac; 4QIsac MT read he; LXX reads they
- Isaiah 25:9 Lit. say on that day
- Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack It’s the Lord
- Isaiah 25:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and let us
- Isaiah 25:10 Lit. hand
- Isaiah 25:10 I.e. Mount Zion; cf. 24:23
- Isaiah 25:10 Lit. in the water of; so 1QIsaa MT; MTqere reads in; LXX reads in wagons
- Isaiah 25:12 Or reach; so 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT read he casts them
- Isaiah 26:1 Lit. On that day
- Isaiah 26:1 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsac MT read time, this song will be sung; LXX reads time, they will sing that song
- Isaiah 26:1 So 4QIsac; 1QIsaa MT read walls and ramparts; LXX reads wall and rampart
- Isaiah 26:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the
- Isaiah 26:3 Lit. peace, peace; so 1QIsaa MT; LXX Syr read peace
- Isaiah 26:3 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab LXX; 4QIsac MT read trusts
- Isaiah 26:4 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsab reads the Lord God; LXX reads the Lord, the Lord
- Isaiah 26:5 So MT 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsab 4QIsac MT read has brought low; LXX reads has humbled and brought down
- Isaiah 26:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads He levels it, he levels it
- Isaiah 26:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads The foot tramples it
- Isaiah 26:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads oppressed
- Isaiah 26:7 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac reads they go straight ahead; LXX lacks this line
- Isaiah 26:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read smooth or you prepare
- Isaiah 26:7 So 1QIsaa 4QIsac; MT LXX read of the righteous ones
- Isaiah 26:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads we wait for you
- Isaiah 26:8 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT read your renown; cf. LXX
- Isaiah 26:8 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsab reads my
- Isaiah 26:11 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; the Heb. lacks And
- Isaiah 26:11 Lit. the; so 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks your
- Isaiah 26:12 So 1QIsaa; MT reads prepare or give; LXX reads Lord, give
- Isaiah 26:14 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsaa corrector MT lack and
- Isaiah 26:14 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read wiped out
- Isaiah 26:15 So 1QIsaa 4QIsab
- Isaiah 26:15 So 1QIsaa; MTms lacks this line
- Isaiah 26:16 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss LXXmss read we; LXX reads I remembered you
- Isaiah 26:16 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT read out a magical
- Isaiah 26:16 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read your chastening was
- Isaiah 26:16 Lit. upon
- Isaiah 26:18 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks your
- Isaiah 26:19 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Wake up and shout for joy, you; LXX reads Those in the dust will rejoice, for
- Isaiah 26:20 So 1QIsaa MT; MTqere reads door
- Isaiah 26:20 So 1QIsaa; MT reads yourself
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