Isaiah 2

God’s Universal Reign

1The word [from God] which Isaiah son of Amoz saw [in a vision] concerning [the nation of] Judah and [its capital city] Jerusalem. 2Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD. 6Most certainly [LORD] You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers [who foretell] like the Philistines;
Also they strike bargains with the children of foreigners (pagans). 7Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with horses
And there is no end to their chariots. 8Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their own fingers have made. 9So the common man has been humbled [before idols]
And the man of importance has been degraded,
Therefore do not forgive them [O LORD]. 10Go among the rocks and hide in the dust
From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty. 11The proud look of man will be degraded
And the arrogance of men will be humbled,
And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. A Day of Reckoning Coming 12For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against all who are proud and arrogant
And against all who are lifted up,
That they may be degraded. 13And the wrath of God will be against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up,
Against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan], 14Against all the high mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up, 15Against every high tower,
Against every fortified wall, 16Against all the ships of Tarshish
And against all the beautiful craft. 17Then the pride of man will be humbled
And the arrogance of men will be degraded;
The LORD alone shall be exalted in that day, 18And the idols will completely vanish (be abolished). 19They [the stricken, deprived of all in which they had trusted] will go into the caves of the rocks
And into the holes of the ground [fleeing]
From the terror and dread of the LORD
And from the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth. 20In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves [as objects] to worship, 21To go into the caverns of the rocks and into the clefts of the [ragged] cliffs [as they flee]
From the terror and dread of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth. 22Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils [for so little time];
For why should he be esteemed?