Isaiah2
New Living Translation
1This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.
3People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.
4The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.
5Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
6For the Lord has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans.
7Israel is full of silver and gold; there is no end to its treasures. Their land is full of warhorses; there is no end to its chariots.
8Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.
9So now they will be humbled, and all will be brought low— do not forgive them.
10Crawl into caves in the rocks. Hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty.
11Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.
12For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has a day of reckoning. He will punish the proud and mighty and bring down everything that is exalted.
13He will cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon and all the mighty oaks of Bashan.
14He will level all the high mountains and all the lofty hills.
15He will break down every high tower and every fortified wall.
16He will destroy all the great trading ships and every magnificent vessel.
17Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.
18Idols will completely disappear.
19When the Lord rises to shake the earth, his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground. They will hide in caves in the rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty.
20On that day of judgment they will abandon the gold and silver idols they made for themselves to worship. They will leave their gods to the rodents and bats,
21while they crawl away into caverns and hide among the jagged rocks in the cliffs. They will try to escape the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty as he rises to shake the earth.
22Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?
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.
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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