The Message About Jerusalem
2 Isaiah son of Amoz saw this ·message [vision; word] about Judah and Jerusalem:
2 [L It shall be] In the ·last [final; latter] days
the mountain ·on which the Lord’s Temple stands [L of the house of the Lord; C Mount Zion]
will ·become [be established as; endure as] the ·most important [chief; or highest] of all mountains.
It will be ·raised [exalted] above the hills,
and ·people from all nations [L all nations] will come streaming to it.
3 Many ·nations [peoples] will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the ·Temple [L house] of the God of Jacob.
·Then [or So that] he will teach us his ·ways [standards; path],
and we will ·obey his teachings [L walk in his paths].”
·His teachings [The Law; Instruction; L Torah] will go out from Jerusalem;
the ·message [word] of the Lord will go out from Jerusalem.
4 He will ·settle arguments among [judge/mediate between] the ·nations [peoples]
and will ·make decisions [settle disputes] for many ·peoples [nations].
Then they will ·make [beat; hammer] their swords into ·plows [T plowshares; C the metal tip of the plow]
and their spears into ·hooks for trimming trees [pruning hooks].
Nations will no longer ·fight [L raise the sword against] other nations,
nor will they train for war anymore [Mic. 4:1–3].
5 Come, ·family [descendants; L house] of Jacob,
and let us ·follow the way [L walk in the light] of the Lord.
A Terrible Day Is Coming
6 Lord, you have ·left [abandoned; rejected] your people,
the ·family [descendants; L house] of Jacob,
because they have become filled ·with wrong ideas from people in the East [or with superstitions from the East; L from the East].
They ·try to tell the future [consult soothsayers; practice divination] like the Philistines [Lev. 19:26; Deut. 18:9–14],
and ·they have completely accepted those foreign ideas [or they clasp hands/make alliances with foreigners; or the children of foreigners are everywhere].
7 Their land has been filled with silver and gold;
there ·are a great many [L is no end/limit to their] treasures there.
Their land has been filled with horses;
there ·are many [L is no end/limit to their] chariots there [C Israel was to rely on God, not on horses and chariots; Deut. 17:16–17].
8 Their land is full of idols.
The people worship ·these idols they made with [L the work of] their own hands
and shaped with their own fingers [Rom. 1:23].
9 People will ·be humbled [be brought low; or bow down to worship]
and will bow low ·with shame [or in worship].
God, do not ·forgive [spare; L lift] them.
10 Go into the ·caves of the cliffs [L rocks];
·dig holes and hide in the ground [L hide in the dust/ground]
from the ·anger [terror; terrible presence] of the Lord
and from ·his great power [the majesty/glory/splendor of his majesty]!
11 ·Proud people [L The eyes of the proud] will be ·made humble [brought down],
and ·they [human arrogance/loftiness] will ·bow low with shame [be humbled].
·At that time [L In that day] only the Lord will still be ·praised [exalted].
12 The Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] has a ·certain day planned [L day]
when he will ·punish [bring judgment on; turn against] all the proud and all those who ·brag [are lifted up],
and they will ·no longer be important [be humbled/humiliated/brought low].
13 ·He will bring down [L …against] all the ·tall [exalted and mighty/lifted up] cedar trees from Lebanon
and all the great oak trees of Bashan,
14 all the ·tall [lofty; exalted] mountains
and the high hills,
15 every ·tall [lofty] tower
and every ·high, strong [fortified] wall,
16 all the ·trading ships [L ships of Tarshish; C large trading vessels capable of going to distant ports; Tarshish may have been in Spain (Tartessus) or an island in the eastern Mediterranean; 23:1; Jon. 1:3]
and the beautiful ·ships [vessels].
17 ·Proud people [Human pride] will be made humble,
and ·they [arrogant people] will ·bow low with shame [be brought low].
·At that time [L In that day] only the Lord will be ·praised [exalted],
18 but all the idols will ·be gone [disappear; pass away].
19 People will run to caves in the ·rocky cliffs [rocks]
and ·will dig holes and hide [L to holes] in the ground
from the ·anger [terror; terrible presence] of the Lord
and ·his great power [the majesty/glory/splendor of his majesty; v. 10],
when he ·stands [rises] to shake the earth.
20 ·At that time [L In that day] people will throw away
their gold and silver idols,
which they made for themselves to worship;
they will throw them away to the bats and moles.
21 Then the people will hide in ·caves [caverns/crevices in rocks]
and ·cracks [clefts] in the rocks
from the ·anger [terror; terrible presence] of the Lord
and ·his great power [the majesty/glory/splendor of his majesty; v. 19],
when he stands to ·shake [tremble; or terrify] the earth.
22 Stop trusting in people to save you [L Cease from man/people],
·because people are only human [L whose breath is in his nostrils];
·they aren’t able to help you [what good are they; or why do you esteem them?].