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2. The Mountain of the Lord

¹ This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

² In the last days

   the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
   as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
   and all nations will stream to it.

³ Many peoples will come and say,

   “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
   to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
   so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
   the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will judge between the nations
   and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
   and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
   nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵ Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

    ⁶ You, LORD, have abandoned your people,
   the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
   they practice divination like the Philistines
   and embrace pagan customs.
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 work of their hands,
   to what their fingers have made.
⁹ So people will be brought low
   and everyone humbled—
   do not forgive them. Or not raise them up

    ¹⁰ Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
   from the fearful presence of the LORD
   and the splendor of his majesty!
¹¹ The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
   and human pride brought low;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

    ¹² The LORD Almighty has a day in store
   for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
   (and they will be humbled),
¹³ for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
   and all the oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴ for all the towering mountains
   and all the high hills,
¹⁵ for every lofty tower
   and every fortified wall,
¹⁶ for every trading ship Hebrew every ship of Tarshish
   and every stately vessel.
¹⁷ The arrogance of man will be brought low
   and human pride humbled;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
    ¹⁸ and the idols will totally disappear.

    ¹⁹ People will flee to caves in the rocks
   and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the LORD
   and the splendor of his majesty,
   when he rises to shake the earth.
²⁰ In that day people will throw away
   to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
   which they made to worship.
²¹ They will flee to caverns in the rocks
   and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the LORD
   and the splendor of his majesty,
   when he rises to shake the earth.

    ²² Stop trusting in mere humans,
   who have but a breath in their nostrils.
   Why hold them in esteem?

19. And they shall enter into the holes of the rocks He had formerly used other words when addressing them in the second person, Enter into the rock, (verse 10,) that he might inflict a severer stroke on their minds. But now he declares what they will do, and says that they must enter; and hence it is evident that the former statement was not an exhortation, but a severe denunciation of the wrath of God, in order to terrify wicked and obstinate men, who despise all warnings and all threatenings.

From the presence of the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty What he adds about the terror of God must be understood to mean that terror which was thrown into them by the Chaldeans and Assyrians, whose hand he called a little before, and now also calls, the glory of God for God employed their agency to chastise his people. Although they were wicked and treacherous, yet they promoted the glory of God; for even the devil himself contributes in some way to the glory of God, though contrary to his wish. Thus he speaks of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, because in the punishments which the Lord will inflict on the Jews by their agency we may behold his glory

The same thing is confirmed by the word Arise, which means to go before the judgment-seat. In the phrase which immediately follows, לערץ הארף, (laarotz haaretz,) to shake terribly the earth, there is an elegant allusion or play on words, which can hardly be conveyed in any other language. ⁴⁶⁴⁶ The “play on words,” which turns entirely on the sound of the Hebrew noun and verb, cannot be expressed in a translation. Our author has illustrated it by ad terram terrendam, which again may be fully imitated by this alliteration, “to terrify the terrestrial globe.” — Ed. He says that the Lord ariseth, because he appears to sleep so long as he delays his judgments. But he ariseth, when he comes forth as a judge to inflict punishments on the wicked; so as to make it evident to men that nothing escapes the knowledge, or is hidden from the eyes, of Him who permits no crime to pass unpunished.