Isaiah 2

Climb God's Mountain

1-5 The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem: There's a day coming when the mountain of God's House Will be The Mountain— solid, towering over all mountains. All nations will river toward it, people from all over set out for it. They'll say, "Come, let's climb God's Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob. He'll show us the way he works so we can live the way we're made." Zion's the source of the revelation. God's Message comes from Jerusalem. He'll settle things fairly between nations. He'll make things right between many peoples. They'll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won't play war anymore. Come, family of Jacob, let's live in the light of God.

6-9 God, you've walked out on your family Jacob because their world is full of hokey religion, Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus, a world rolling in wealth, Stuffed with things, no end to its machines and gadgets, And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes. These people make their own gods and worship what they make. A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter. Don't bother with them! They're not worth forgiving!

Pretentious Egos Brought Down to Earth

10 Head for the hills, hide in the caves From the terror of God, from his dazzling presence.

11-17 People with a big head are headed for a fall, pretentious egos brought down a peg. It's God alone at front-and-center on the Day we're talking about, The Day that God-of-the-Angel-Armies is matched against all big-talking rivals, against all swaggering big names; Against all giant sequoias hugely towering, and against the expansive chestnut; Against Kilimanjaro and Annapurna, against the ranges of Alps and Andes; Against every soaring skyscraper, against all proud obelisks and statues; Against ocean-going luxury liners, against elegant three-masted schooners. The swelled big heads will be punctured bladders, the pretentious egos brought down to earth, Leaving God alone at front-and-center on the Day we're talking about.

18 And all those sticks and stones dressed up to look like gods will be gone for good.

19 Clamber into caves in the cliffs, duck into any hole you can find. Hide from the terror of God, from his dazzling presence, When he assumes his full stature on earth, towering and terrifying.

20-21 On that Day men and women will take the sticks and stones They've decked out in gold and silver to look like gods and then worshiped, And they will dump them in any ditch or gully, Then run for rock caves and cliff hideouts To hide from the terror of God, from his dazzling presence, When he assumes his full stature on earth, towering and terrifying.

22 Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans, so full of themselves, so full of hot air! Can't you see there's nothing to them?

Isaiah 2

The Future Glory of Jerusalem

1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalems that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz.t

2 In the futuret
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will enduret
as the most important of mountains,
and will be the most prominent of hills.t
All the nations will stream to it,

3 many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
sot he can teach us his requirements,t
andt we can follow his standards.”t
For Zion will be the center for moral instruction;t
the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem.t

4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,s
and their spears into pruning hooks.s
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.

5 O descendantst of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.t

The Lord’s Day of Judgment

6 Indeed, O Lord,t you have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
For diviners from the east are everywhere;s
they consult omen readers like the Philistines do.t
Plenty of foreigners are around.t

7 Their land is full of gold and silver;
there is no end to their wealth.t
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.s

8 Their land is full of worthless idols;
they worshipt the product of their own hands,
what their own fingers have fashioned.

9 Men bow down to them in homage,
they lie flat on the ground in worship.t
Don’t spare them!t

10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,
hide in the ground.
Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord,t
from his royal splendor!

11 Proud men will be brought low,
arrogant men will be humiliated;t
the Lord alone will be exaltedt
in that day.

12 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment,t
fort all the high and mighty,
for all who are proud – they will be humiliated;

13 for all the cedars of Lebanon,
that are so high and mighty,
for all the oaks of Bashan;s

14 for all the tall mountains,
for all the high hills,s

15 for every high tower,
for every fortified wall,

16 for all the large ships,t
for all the impressivet ships.ts

17 Proud men will be humiliated,
arrogant men will be brought low;t
the Lord alone will be exaltedt
in that day.

18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated.st

19 Theyt will go into caves in the rocky cliffs
and into holes in the ground,t
trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lordt
and his royal splendor,
when he rises up to terrify the earth.t

20 At that timet men will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made for themselves to worship,t
into the caves where rodents and bats live,t

21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs
and the openings under the rocky overhangs,s
trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lordt
and his royal splendor,
when he rises up to terrify the earth.t

22 Stop trusting in human beings,
whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.
For why should they be given special consideration?