Outline of the book of Isaiah
The book of Isaiah spans the reigns of four kings of Judah and 66 chapters. It’s long.
I learned perseverance in mining its treasures is helped by noting themes and events that repeat throughout the book as God is gracious to teach and re-teach, warn and re-warn.
A helpful principle when reading prophecy is the concept that they can have multiple fulfillments. In Isaiah, there is imagery regarding impending judgment for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and their enemies, and end of days’ judgment for the world. The day of the Lord refers to a day of God’s judgment and may have multiple fulfillments throughout time. Reflection on a day of judgment for each of us reinforcies the Lord’s message through Isaiah of our need to be in Him, forsaking other gods, trusting Him, worshipping Him, following Him.
“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Isaiah 1:1).
In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah:
Chapter 1:
The Lord speaks to the entire people of Israel about their rebellion and turning away from him
Their participation in the rituals and sacrifices established under the Mosaic Law bring Him no joy: “I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.”
“even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
He calls them to repentance: “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.”
He tells them what He is going to do: “I will also turn My hand against you….Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city. Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness. But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end.”
Chapter 2:
The Lord speaks of “the last days”
“the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning….The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day”
He tells them of their sin: “their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence….they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it.”
Chapter 3:
The Lord predicts destruction for Jerusalem
Despite this: “Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions. Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.”
Chapter 4:
The future of Jerusalem: “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.”
Chapter 5:
God describes Israel as His beloved vineyard: “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”
God pronounces woe on those engaged in a variety of sin, “But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge….For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Chapter 6:
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death [Isaiah] saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”
“Then [Isaiah] heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then [Isaiah] said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
“Then [Isaiah] said, ‘Lord, how long?’”
The Lord says, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant…”
“Yet there will be a tenth portion in it”
In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah:
Chapter 7:
“Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it.”
The Lord told Isaiah to tell Ahaz, “Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted…(now within another 65 years Ephraim [the kingdom of Israel—King Jeroboam was of the tribe of Ephraim] will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.”
The Lord allows Isaiah to prophesy about the coming Messiah: “the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
The Lord prophesies Israel’s conquering by Assyria: “The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.”
Chapter 8:
The Lord said, “I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
“the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
The Lord tells Isaiah, “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.”“When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God?…To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.”
In the days of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah:
Chapter 9:
Prophecy for Galilee regarding the Messiah: “in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light….For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
Prophecy against the kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim (tribe of first king Jeroboam) or Samaria: God has sent destruction, but they do not repent. They arrogantly claim they will rebuild, so God sends enemies against them. Still they do not repent.
God holds Israel’s leaders accountable: “The head is the elder and honorable man,
And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail. For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.”
Chapter 10:
Fate of unfaithful leaders of Israel “Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights….Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain.”God will use Assyria to punish Israel, but Assyria will not escape His punishment either, because they will arrogantly assume it was their power and wisdom that allows them to conquer, not recognizing they are instruments of God and failing to give glory to Him.
“Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.”“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, ‘O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.’”
Chapter 11:
More prophecy regarding the Messiah:
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.
Prophecy regarding a return of a remnant to Israel:
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover the second time with His hand
The remnant of His people….He will lift up a standard for the nations
And assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.They will conquer their enemies:
They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west;
Together they will plunder the sons of the east;
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
And the LORD will utterly destroy
The tongue of the Sea of Egypt
there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12:
Praise to God upon Israel’s return to Zion:
I will give thanks to You, O LORD;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted.
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Chapter 13:
“The oracle concerning Babylon”:
I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My mighty warriors,
My proudly exulting ones,
To execute My anger.The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.
They are coming from a far country…
The LORD and His instruments of indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
“the day of the LORD”:
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.Thus I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
Regarding Babylon:
I am going to stir up the Medes against them
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Around the time of King Ahaz’ death:
Chapter 14:
When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land,…they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.
you will take up [a] taunt against the king of Babylon
dual meaning: words that could be relevant to Satan or the king of Babylon:
How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
But you said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying,
"Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?”
Future of Babylon: “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD.
Future of Assyria: “The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains.’”
“‘This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?’”
“In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:
‘Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that struck you is brokenI will destroy your root with famine,
And it will kill off your survivors.
Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes from the north,
And there is no straggler in his ranks.’”
“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That the LORD has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”
Chapter 15:
“The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night…Moab is devastated and ruined
Surely I will bring added woes…
A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”
Chapter 16:
Messianic prophecy: “A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,
And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;
Moreover, he will seek justice
And be prompt in righteousness.”Regarding Moab:
We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
His idle boasts are false.
Therefore Moab will wailSo it will come about when Moab presents himself,
When he wearies himself upon his high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.“now the LORD speaks, saying, ‘Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.’”
Chapter 17:
“The oracle concerning Damascus:
Damascus is about to be removed from being a city
And will become a fallen ruin.The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram
Israel’s fate is like Damascus, but there will be a remnant in Israel:
Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade
Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost bough,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful treeIn that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,
Even the Asherim and incense stands.the land will be a desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Fate of the nations:
The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.
At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning they are no more.Such will be the portion of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us [referring to Israel]
Chapter 18:
Regarding day of the Lord:
All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,
As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
Regarding Cush/Ethiopia on that day:
At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts
From a people tall and smooth,
Even from a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, even Mount Zion.
Chapter 19:
The oracle concerning Egypt.
Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
'Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confound their strategy,
So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead
And to mediums and spiritists.Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master,
And a mighty king will rule over them,’ declares the Lord GOD of hosts.The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly,
The princes of Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes
Have led Egypt astray.The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.
The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Chapter 20:
In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it
at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.’
And he did so, going naked and barefoot.
And the LORD said, ‘Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.
Chapter 21:
Regarding Babylon:
A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
The oracle concerning Edom.
Morning comes but also night.
The oracle about Arabia.
For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate; and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken.”
Chapter 22:
The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion
Elam [Babylon] took up the quiver
With the chariots, infantry and horsemenAnd Kir [Assyria] uncovered the shield.
He removed the defense of Judah.
In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,
And you saw that the breaches
In the wall of the city of David were many;
And you collected the waters of the lower pool.
Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And tore down houses to fortify the wall.
And you made a reservoir between the two walls
For the waters of the old pool.But you did not depend on Him who made it,
Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing,
To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.
Instead, there is gaiety and gladness,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
”Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me,
”Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you
Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts,
Come, go to this steward,
To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [under Hezekiah]Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man.
And He is about to grasp you firmly
And roll you tightly like a ball,
To be cast into a vast country;
There you will dieI will depose you from your office,
And I will pull you down from your station.
Then it will come about in that dayI will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
And I will clothe him with your tunic
And tie your sash securely about him.
I will entrust him with your authority,
And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder,
When he opens no one will shut,
When he shuts no one will open.
I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,
And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.
So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, “the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cutoff, for the LORD has spoken.”
Chapter 23:
The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.she was the market of nations.
When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.Is this your jubilant city,
Whose origin is from antiquity,
Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?…
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,
To despise all the honored of the earth.The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.
He has said, “You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed.Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king.
It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.
Chapter 24:
Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants….The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty.
The gaiety of the earth is banished.
For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.Terror and pit and snare
Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snareThe earth is broken asunder…
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.So it will happen in that day,
That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
Chapter 25:
Reward for faith, hope, and trust in the Lord:
O LORD, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.For You have been a defense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heatThe LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain
He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.And it will be said in that day,
”Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
Chapter 26:
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"We have a strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for security.
Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that remains faithful.
The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.
For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
The foot will trample it,
The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless.”The way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD,
We have waited for You eagerly;
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.At night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For when the earth experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.Though the wicked is shown favor,
He does not learn righteousness;
He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.
LORD, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we confess Your name.We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earthCome, my people, enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until indignation runs its course.For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity
Chapter 27:
In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea….
”Or let him rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the whole world with fruit.You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.
Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven;
And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.For they are not a people of discernment,
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.In that day the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Chapter 28:
Fate of kingdom of Israel:
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim….
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.
There is always hope for the righteous:
In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown
And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
The priests and prophets of Israel are unreliable:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while having visions,
They totter when rendering judgment.
The Lord warned, but now He will send a foreign enemy:
Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
He who said to them, ‘Here is rest, give rest to the weary,’
And, ‘Here is repose,’ but they would not listen.
So the word of the LORD to them will be,
'Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,’
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.
Beware a false sense of security. We are very capable of lying to ourselves instead of listening to the Lord.
Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.’
The Messiah is truth:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
God is gracious to warn:
And now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or your fetters will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.Isaiah explains that the time of the Lord’s threshing of His people will be perfectly timed:
This also comes from the LORD of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.
Chapter 29:
Sudden punishment. God will punish His people, but also punish the nations He uses to punish her.
And it will happen instantly, suddenly.
From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel [Jerusalem],
Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
Thus the multitude of all the nations will be
Who wage war against Mount Zion.
God promises a period of quiet where the prophets don’t hear from Him:
For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.
The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, ‘Please read this,’ he will say, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, ‘Please read this.’ And he will say, ‘I cannot read.’
God cares that our hearts are His:
“Then the Lord said,
'Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.’
We must understand our position before the Lord our God and Maker:
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,
That what is made would say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?
Hope for the Lord’s justice:
The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the LORD,
And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished,
Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;
Who cause a person to be indicted by a word,
And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,
And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
Israel will return to the Lord:
Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
'Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,
They will sanctify My name;
Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
Those who err in mind will know the truth,
And those who criticize will accept instruction.’”
Chapter 30:
God wants us to seek Him for our plans, and not make our own solutions
Woe to the rebellious children,’ declares the LORD,
'Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.’
The consequence for disobedience:
Now go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.
For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the LORD;
Who say to the seers, ‘You must not see visions’;
And to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right,
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
’Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
Therefore this iniquity will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant’
The remedy for disobedience:
For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
'In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.’
But you were not willing,
And you said, ‘No, for we will flee on horses,’
Therefore you shall flee!
Despite our disobedience, God longs to be gracious:
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
Promise for the future:
O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, ‘Be gone!’
Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.
But first, God’s justice:
Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a remote place;
Burning is His anger and dense is His smokeAnd the LORD will cause His voice of authority to be heard,
And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.
For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
And every blow of the rod of punishment
Chapter 31:
God uses Egypt as literal and figurative description of not relying on Him
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!So the LORD will stretch out His hand,
And he who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
Future of Jerusalem:
‘So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.’
Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
A call to repentance:
Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.
God will deal with Israel’s enemies:
‘And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,’
Declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Chapter 32:
Future promises:
Behold, a king will reign righteously
And princes will rule justly.Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
Characteristics of fools and rogues versus the noble:
For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
It will be bad before it is good:
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.
And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places
Chapter 33:
Pronouncement of woe on evildoers:
Woe to you, O destroyer,
While you were not destroyed;
And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.
As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed;
As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you.
Compared to protection for those who wait on the Lord:
O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.
Be their strength every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of distress.The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Sentence on the unfaithful:
He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,
He has no regard for man.“Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
“Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.
You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble;
My breath will consume you like a fire.
The peoples will be burned to lime,
Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
You who are far away, hear what I have done;
And you who are near, acknowledge My might.”Sinners in Zion are terrified;
Trembling has seized the godless.
“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?”He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
He will dwell on the heights,
His refuge will be the impregnable rock;
His bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will behold a far-distant land.For the LORD is our judge,
The LORD is our lawgiver,
The LORD is our king;
He will save us—And no resident will say, ‘I am sick’;
The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Chapter 34:
the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations
For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.But He will protect a remnant of His people:
“Seek from the book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.”
Chapter 35:
Hope for Israel:
Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
Say to those with anxious heart,
'Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.And the ransomed of the LORD will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Chapter 36:
“in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.”
Rabshakeh tried to intimidate the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
When the king’s officials asked Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic, but not in Judean so as not to frighten the citizns, he responded, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
“Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, ‘Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ Do not listen to Hezekiah,” for thus says the king of Assyria, “Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?…Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”’”
“But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, ‘Do not answer him.’” The kings officials then “came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.”
Chapter 37:
“And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD.” The king sent his servants to Isaiah, asking him to pray for the remnant left in Israel.
“Isaiah said to them, ‘Thus you shall say to your master, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”’”
Rabshakeh did hear that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. He found him fighting against Libnah and heard that the king of Cush had come out to fight with them. He sent a message to Hezekiah, “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them?”
“Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, ‘O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.’”
“Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!”the king of Assyria took credit for that which the Lord did:
Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
Because of your raging against Me
And because your arrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back by the way which you came.the Lord gives a sign of hope for the remnant in Judah:
“Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”
“Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezerhis sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”
Chapter 38:
“In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.”’ Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
“Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, ‘Go and say to Hezekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’
“‘This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken: Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.’ So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.”
“Now Isaiah had said, ‘Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.’ Then Hezekiah had said, ‘What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?’”
Isaiah 39
“At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”
“Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, ‘What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?’ And Hezekiah said, ‘They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.’ He said, ‘What have they seen in your house?’ So Hezekiah answered, ‘They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.’”
“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,” says the LORD. “And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘For there will be peace and truth in my days.’”
Chapter 40:
Future hope after punishment:
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
”Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the LORD’S hand
Double for all her sins.”A voice is calling,
”Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
The uniqueness and greatness of God
To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?As for the idol, a craftsman casts it
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength
Chapter 41:
The answer to fear. God will punish, but then He will save His own.
"I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.”
But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of Abraham My friend,
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, “You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.”
God knows the future, distinguishing Him from so-called gods
Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are godsWho has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, ‘He is right!’?Behold, all of them are false;
Their works are worthless,
Their molten images are wind and emptiness.
Chapter 42:
“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.”“I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”“I have kept silent for a long time,
I have kept still and restrained Myself.”“They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
'You are our gods.’”The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
To make the law great and glorious.
But this is a people plundered and despoiledWho gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not obey?
Chapter 43:
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!”“Bring My sons from afar
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”“Before Me there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
And there is no savior besides Me.
It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,
And there was no strange god among you;
So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,
"And I am God.
Even from eternity I am He,
And there is none who can deliver out of My hand;
I act and who can reverse it?”Even though God will use Babylon to punish, then He will punish Babylon
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
”For your sake I have sent to Babylon,
And will bring them all down as fugitives,
Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.
I am the LORD, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob;
But you have become weary of Me, O Israel.
You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.Rather you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have wearied Me with your iniquities.
I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins.Your first forefather sinned,
And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me.
So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary,
And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.
Chapter 44:
God speaks
“But now listen, O Jacob, My servant,
And Israel, whom I have chosen:
Thus says the LORD who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you,
‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant…I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants’”"I am the first and I am the last,
And there is no God besides Me.”“Do not tremble and do not be afraid;
Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?”
Idol worshipers are deceived
They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend….He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’
Call to Israel
“I have formed you, you are My servant,
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.”“Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,
'I, the LORD, am the maker of all things’
Prophecy regarding Cyrus
It is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd!
And he will perform all My desire.”
Chapter 45:
More regarding Cyrus:
Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed
For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.
Knowing our place before God
Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, “What are you doing?”
Or the thing you are making say, “He has no hands”?
Woe to him who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
Or to a woman, “To what are you giving birth?”’They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
Israel has been saved by the LORD
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.I, the LORD, speak righteousness,
Declaring things that are upright.Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
Chapter 46:
God is proven by His prophecies, even of punishment of Israel by her enemies
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been doneCalling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
Chapter 47:
But God will also punish the enemies who He uses to punish Israel
Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.
Sit silently, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms.
I was angry with My people,
I profaned My heritage
And gave them into your hand.
You did not show mercy to themYou felt secure in your wickedness and said,
"No one sees me,”
Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you
Chapter 48:
The importance of prophecy:
Before they took place I proclaimed them to you,
So that you would not say, “My idol has done them,
And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.”
For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My glory I will not give to another.he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.Messianic prophecy
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time it took place, I was there.
And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.
“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to My commandments!”“‘There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the LORD.”
Chapter 49:
Hope for Israel/Zion:
Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted.“I will not forget you.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands”“Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”
“For I will contend with the one who contends with you”
“And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Chapter 50:
Visions of the Messiah
For the Lord GOD helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have set My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.Who is among you that fears the LORD,
That obeys the voice of His servant,
That walks in darkness and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Chapter 51:
The future:
“For the sky will vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not wane.
Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose heart is My law;
Do not fear the reproach of man,
Nor be dismayed at their revilings.”“I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies
And of the son of man who is made like grass,
That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,
As he makes ready to destroy?”“The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking. For I am the LORD your God….I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
How shall I comfort you?
Your sons have fainted,
They lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an antelope in a net,
Full of the wrath of the LORD,
The rebuke of your God.“Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of reeling,
The chalice of My anger;
You will never drink it again.
I will put it into the hand of your tormentors”
Chapter 52:
The Messiah:
Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.
Chapter 53:
I’ve included the whole chapter because it tells of our Messiah:
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
Chapter 54:
Confidence for the future:
“your descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.
Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced.“For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
In an outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the LORD your Redeemer.“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken”
God is sovereign
“Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.”
Our future heritage:
No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their vindication is from Me,’ declares the LORD.
Chapter 55:
Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Chapter 56:
“Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.”Hope for all of us:
“For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
“The Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
'Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.’”
Chapter 57:
A different way of looking at death:
The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way.
God speaks to the unrighteous:
“Was I not silent even for a long time
So you do not fear Me?
I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
But they will not profit you.
When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind will carry all of them up,
And a breath will take them away.”
Hope for the righteous:
“But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land
And will possess My holy mountain.”“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.
Fate of the wicked:
“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Chapter 58
What the Lord desires:
“Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?“If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
Then you will take delight in the LORD,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”
Chapter 59:
Sobering consequence of sin:
Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Description of times remarkably similar to ours:
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.Their works are works of iniquity,
And an act of violence is in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
Whoever treads on them does not know peace.Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
God saves:
Now the LORD saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
According to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.
So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the LORD drives.‘A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ declares the LORD.‘As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,’ says the LORD, ‘from now and forever.’”
Chapter 60:
Hope for Zion:
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples;
But the LORD will rise upon you
And His glory will appear upon you.
Nations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.For in My wrath I struck you,
And in My favor I have had compassion on you.I shall make the place of My feet glorious.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.No longer will you have the sun for light by day,
Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;
But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light,
And your God for your glory.I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.”
Chapter 61:
The Messiah
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness
Chapter 62:
Zion:
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;
And give Him no rest until He establishes
And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the LORD”;
And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”
Chapter 63:
Before hope, wrath:
I looked, and there was no one to help,
And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold;
So My own arm brought salvation to Me,
And My wrath upheld Me.So He became their Savior.
In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the angel of His presence saved them;
In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them,
And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled
And grieved His Holy Spirit;
Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy,
He fought against them.We have become like those over whom You have never ruled,
Like those who were not called by Your name.
Chapter 64:
Appeal to God for His mercy:
from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.Behold, You were angry, for we sinned,
We continued in them a long time;
And shall we be saved?We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.Our holy and beautiful house,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And all our precious things have become a ruin.
Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O LORD?
Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”
Chapter 65:
Justification for God’s action but mercy for those in Him
“I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughtsI will even repay into their bosom,
Both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together,” says the LORD.“I will act on behalf of My servants
In order not to destroy all of them.But you who forsake the LORD,
Who forget My holy mountain,
Who set a table for Fortune,
And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny,
I will destine you for the sword,
And all of you will bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, but you did not answer;
I spoke, but you did not hear.
And you did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”
Chapter 66:
Thus says the LORD
Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into beingBut to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My wordAs they have chosen their own ways,
And their soul delights in their abominations,
So I will choose their punishments
And will bring on them what they dread.
Because I called, but no one answered;
I spoke, but they did not listen.
And they did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.
Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word:
“the hand of the LORD will be made known to His servants,
But He will be indignant toward His enemiesthe time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory
All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.
”Then they will go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be quenched;
And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”