God’s Universal Reign

1The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2Now it will come about that

In the last days

The mountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established as the chief of the mountains,

And will be raised above the hills;

And all the nations will stream to it.

3And many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us concerning His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For the law will go forth from Zion

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4And He will judge between the nations,

And will render decisions for many peoples;

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

5Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

As Living Stones

4And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,

And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

7This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the very corner stone,”

8and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

1) How does Isaiah’s vision of nations coming to יהוה’s mountain fulfill Moses’ blessing over Israel?

2) In what ways does 1 Peter echo the covenant identity first declared at Sinai?

3) How can יהוה’s people today embody His light so that others are drawn to His instruction?

The Valley of Vision

1The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

2You who were full of noise,

You boisterous town, you exultant city;

Your slain were not slain with the sword,

Nor did they die in battle.

3All your rulers have fled together,

And have been captured without the bow;

All of you who were found were taken captive together,

Though they had fled far away.

4Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me,

Let me weep bitterly,

Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion

In the valley of vision,

A breaking down of walls

And a crying to the mountain.

6Elam took up the quiver

With the chariots, infantry and horsemen;

And Kir uncovered the shield.

7Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.

8And He removed the defense of Judah.

In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,

9And you saw that the breaches

In the wall of the city of David were many;

And you collected the waters of the lower pool.

10Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem

And tore down houses to fortify the wall.

11And 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.

12Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing,

To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.

13Instead, 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.”

14But 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.

15Thus says the Lord God of hosts,

“Come, go to this steward,

To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household,

16‘What right do you have here,

And whom do you have here,

That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here,

You who hew a tomb on the height,

You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

17Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man.

And He is about to grasp you firmly

18And roll you tightly like a ball,

To be cast into a vast country;

There you will die

And there your splendid chariots will be,

You shame of your master’s house.’

19I will depose you from your office,

And I will pull you down from your station.

20Then it will come about in that day,

That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,

21And 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.

22Then 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.

23I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,

And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24So 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. 25In 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 cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

Judgment on Judah and Israel

1Thus says the Lord,

“For three transgressions of Moab and for four

I will not revoke its punishment,

Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.

2So I will send fire upon Moab

And it will consume the citadels of Kerioth;

And Moab will die amid tumult,

With war cries and the sound of a trumpet.

3I will also cut off the judge from her midst

And slay all her princes with him,” says the Lord.

4Thus says the Lord,

“For three transgressions of Judah and for four

I will not revoke its punishment,

Because they rejected the law of the Lord

And have not kept His statutes;

Their lies also have led them astray,

Those after which their fathers walked.

5So I will send fire upon Judah

And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”

6Thus says the Lord,

“For three transgressions of Israel and for four

I will not revoke its punishment,

Because they sell the righteous for money

And the needy for a pair of sandals.

7These who pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless

Also turn aside the way of the humble;

And a man and his father resort to the same girl

In order to profane My holy name.

8On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar,

And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9“Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,

Though his height was like the height of cedars

And he was strong as the oaks;

I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.

10It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,

And I led you in the wilderness forty years

That you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.

11Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets

And some of your young men to be Nazirites.

Is this not so, O sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.

12“But you made the Nazirites drink wine,

And you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

13Behold, I am weighted down beneath you

As a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves.

14Flight will perish from the swift,

And the stalwart will not strengthen his power,

Nor the mighty man save his life.

15He who grasps the bow will not stand his ground,

The swift of foot will not escape,

Nor will he who rides the horse save his life.

16Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,” declares the Lord.