21
The faithful city —
what an adulteress she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her —
but now, murderers!
22
Your silver has become dross,
your beer is diluted with water.
23
Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow's case never comes before them.
24
Therefore the Lord
God
of Hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will gain satisfaction from My foes;
I will take revenge against My enemies.
25
I will turn My hand against you
and will burn away your dross completely;
I will remove all your impurities.
26
I will restore your judges to what they once were,
and your advisers to their former state.
Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,
a Faithful City.”
27
Zion will be redeemed by justice,
her repentant ones by righteousness.
28
But both rebels and sinners will be destroyed,
and those who abandon the
Lord
will perish.
29
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees
you desired,
and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens
you have chosen.
30
For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.
31
The strong one will become tinder,
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to quench the flames.
Isaiah
The City of Peace
2
The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2
In the last days
the mountain of the
Lord
's house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,
3
and many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord
,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of
•Zion
and the word of the
Lord
from Jerusalem.
4
He will settle disputes among the nations
and provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will turn their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will never again train for war.
The Day of the
Lord
5
House of Jacob,
come and let us walk in the
Lord
's light.
6
For You have abandoned Your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of
•divination
from the East
and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines.
They are in league with foreigners.
7
Their land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no limit to their treasures;
their land is full of horses,
and there is no limit to their chariots.
8
Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9
So humanity is brought low,
and man is humbled.
Do not forgive them!
10
Go into the rocks
and hide in the dust
from the terror of the
Lord
and from His majestic splendor.
11
Human pride will be humbled,
and the loftiness of men will be brought low;
the
Lord
alone will be exalted on that day.
12
For a day belonging to the
Lord
of
•Hosts
is coming
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up — it will be humbled —
13
against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up,
against all the oaks of Bashan,
14
against all the high mountains,
against all the lofty hills,
15
against every high tower,
against every fortified wall,
16
against every ship of Tarshish,
and against every splendid sea vessel.
17
So human pride will be brought low,
and the loftiness of men will be humbled;
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 holes in the ground,
away from the terror of the
Lord
and from His majestic splendor,
when He rises to terrify the earth.
20
On that day people will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made to worship,
to the moles and the bats.
21
They will go into the caves of the rocks
and the crevices in the cliffs,
away from the terror of the
Lord
and from His majestic splendor,
when He rises to terrify the earth.
22
Put no more trust in man,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.
What is he really worth?
Isaiah
Judah's Leaders Judged
3
Observe this: The Lord
God
of
•Hosts
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
2
the hero and warrior,
the judge and prophet,
the fortune-teller and elder,
3
the commander of 50 and the dignitary,
the counselor, cunning magician, and necromancer.
4
“I will make youths their leaders,
and the unstable will govern them.”
5
The people will oppress one another,
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
6
A man will even seize his brother
in his father's house, saying:
“You have a cloak — you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
7
On that day he will cry out, saying:
“I'm not a healer.
I don't even have food or clothing in my house.
Don't make me the leader of the people! ”
8
For Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the
Lord
,
defying His glorious presence.
9
The look on their faces testifies against them,
and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin.
They do not conceal it.
Woe to them,
for they have brought evil on themselves.
10
Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
for they will eat the fruit of their labor.
11
Woe to the wicked — it will go badly for them,
for what they have done will be done to them.
12
Youths oppress My people,
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.
13
The
Lord
rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.
14
The
Lord
brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of His people:
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.
15
Why do you crush My people
and grind the faces of the poor? ”
This is the declaration
of the Lord
God
of Hosts.
Jerusalem's Women Judged
16
The
Lord
also says:
Because the daughters of
•Zion
are haughty,
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
going along with prancing steps,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
17
the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the
Lord
will shave their foreheads bare.
18
On that day the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,
19
pendants, bracelets, veils,
20
headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,
21
signet rings, nose rings,
22
festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses,
23
garments, linen clothes, turbans, and veils.
24
Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness;
instead of fine clothes,
•sackcloth
;
instead of beauty, branding.
25
Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
26
Then her gates will lament and mourn;
deserted, she will sit on the ground.
Isaiah
4
On that day seven women
will seize one man, saying,
“We will eat our own bread
and provide our own clothing.
Just let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace.”
Zion's Future Glory
2
On that day the Branch of the
Lord
will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.
3
Whoever remains in
•Zion
and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy — all in Jerusalem who are destined to live —
4
when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.
5
Then the
Lord
will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,
6
and there will be a booth for shade from heat by day, and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.
Isaiah
Song of the Vineyard
5
I will sing about the one I love,
a song about my loved one's vineyard:
The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2
He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.
3
So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between Me
and My vineyard.
4
What more could I have done for My vineyard
than I did?
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5
Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6
I will make it a wasteland.
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
7
For the vineyard of the
Lord
of
•Hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah,
the plant He delighted in.
He looked for justice
but saw injustice,
for righteousness,
but heard cries of wretchedness.