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The Future House of God

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come

the mountain of the L ord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the L ord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the L ord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance

O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the L ord!

For you have forsaken the ways of your people,

O house of Jacob.

Indeed they are full of diviners from the east

and of soothsayers like the Philistines,

and they clasp hands with foreigners.

Their land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

Their land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

And so people are humbled,

and everyone is brought low—

do not forgive them!

Enter into the rock,

and hide in the dust

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty.

The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,

and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;

and the L ord alone will be exalted on that day.

For the L ord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up and high;

against all the cedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the oaks of Bashan;

against all the high mountains,

and against all the lofty hills;

against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

against all the ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,

and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;

and the L ord alone will be exalted on that day.

The idols shall utterly pass away.

Enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

On that day people will throw away

to the moles and to the bats

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts in the crags,

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

Turn away from mortals,

who have only breath in their nostrils,

for of what account are they?

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

15. And upon every lofty tower What he adds about towers and walls is not figurative or metaphorical. We know how men, when they think that they are well defended, congratulate themselves that they no longer need the assistance of God. Accordingly, under the name of towers and walls Isaiah mentions the object of false confidence; for if any place seem to be impregnable, there do irreligious men build their nest, that they may look down from it on heaven and earth; for they imagine that they are placed beyond all the uncertainties of fortune. Isaiah therefore threatens that, when it shall please God to humble men, he will throw down all the defenses on which they place a false confidence. And although those things are not in themselves evil, yet because they receive too large a share of our attention, it is with great propriety that Isaiah sharpens his pen against them.

To the same purpose is what he says about horses and chariots; for, as we are told by Micah, because men have improperly relied on earthly riches, they must be altogether deprived of them, that they may owe this preservation entirely to the hand of God. (Micah 5:10.) A little before, he had reproved them for the abundance of their horses (verse 7); he now addresses them about the judgment of God, and warns them that, as the only possible way of gaining the favor of God, he must take from the Jews all their horsemen, that they may no longer place sinful reliance on earthly support.