Isaiah2
King James Version · Public Domain
1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
7Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
8Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
10Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.
11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
12For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
13And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
16And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
18And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 2.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The conversion of the Gentiles, Description of the sinfulness of Israel. (1-9). The awful punishment of unbelievers. (10-22).
vv1-9
The calling of the Gentiles, the spread of the gospel, and that far more extensive preaching of it yet to come, are foretold. Let Christians strengthen one another, and support one another. It is God who teaches his people, by his word and Spirit. Christ promotes peace, as well as holiness. If all men were real Christians, there could be no war; but nothing answering to these expressions has yet taken place on the earth. Whatever others do, let us walk in the light of this peace. Let us remember that when true religion flourishes, men delight in going up to the house of the Lord, and in urging others to accompany them. Those are in danger who please themselves with strangers to God; for we soon learn to follow the ways of persons whose company we keep. It is not having silver and gold, horses and chariots, that displeases God, but depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and easy, and happy without them, and could not but be so with them. Sin is a disgrace to the poorest and the lowest. And though lands called Christian are not full of idols, in the literal sense, are they not full of idolized riches? and are not men so busy about their gains and indulgences, that the Lord, his truths, and precepts, are forgotten or despised?
vv10-22
The taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans seems first meant here, when idolatry among the Jews was done away; but our thoughts are led forward to the destruction of all the enemies of Christ. It is folly for those who are pursued by the wrath of God, to think to hide or shelter themselves from it. The shaking of the earth will be terrible to those who set their affections on things of the earth. Men's haughtiness will be brought down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of pride, or by the providence of God depriving them of all the things they were proud of. The day of the Lord shall be upon those things in which they put their confidence. Those who will not be reasoned out of their sins, sooner or later shall be frightened out of them. Covetous men make money their god; but the time will come when they will feel it as much their burden. This whole passage may be applied to the case of an awakened sinner, ready to leave all that his soul may be saved. The Jews were prone to rely on their heathen neighbours; but they are here called upon to cease from depending on mortal man. We are all prone to the same sin. Then let not man be your fear, let not him be your hope; but let your hope be in the Lord your God. Let us make this our great concern.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
יְשַׁעְיָה: Jeshajah, the name of seven Israelites
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָמוֹץ: Amots, an Israelite
חָזָה: to gaze at; mentally to perceive, contemplate (with pleasure); specifically, to have avision of
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
יְהוּדָה: Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five Israelites; also of the tribe descended from the first, and of its territory
יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם: Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of Palestine
אַחֲרִית: the last or end, hence, the future; also posterity
Cross References
Isaiah 2Direct, identical parallel prophecy of the mountain of the Lord's house.
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Fulfills the promise that the word of the Lord would go forth from Jerusalem.
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Identical verbal parallel concerning beating swords into plowshares and ending war.
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The Gospel witness beginning at Jerusalem and spreading globally.
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The sound of the Gospel going out into all the earth.
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Forbidden pagan practices of soothsaying and sorcery that Israel adopted.
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Mosaic prohibition against multiplying horses, which Israel flagrantly violated here.
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Mosaic prohibition against multiplying silver and gold, violated under Solomon.
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Defines the 'last days' as the era of the Messianic Gospel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Peter identifies the outpouring of the Spirit as occurring in the 'last days'.
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Believers walking in the prepared paths of God's ways.
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Gentiles inviting one another to go up to entreat the Lord.
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Contrasts trusting in chariots and horses with trusting in the Lord.
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Kings and great men hiding in rocks and caves from the Lord's wrath.
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Inquirers asking the way to Zion with their faces turned toward it.
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Exhortation for those who were in darkness to walk as children of light.
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Commandment not to make covenants or alliances with strangers.
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Historical reality of Solomon accumulating immense silver, gold, and horses.
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Israel making idols of silver and gold to their own destruction.
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Cursed is the man who trusts in man, parallel to 'cease ye from man'.
Supported by Matthew Henry