A Glorified Zion

1“Arise, shine; for your light has come,

And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

2For 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.

3Nations will come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

4“Lift up your eyes round about and see;

They all gather together, they come to you.

Your sons will come from afar,

And your daughters will be carried in the arms.

5Then you will see and be radiant,

And your heart will thrill and rejoice;

Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,

The wealth of the nations will come to you.

6A multitude of camels will cover you,

The young camels of Midian and Ephah;

All those from Sheba will come;

They will bring gold and frankincense,

And will bear good news of the praises of the Lord.

7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you,

The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you;

They will go up with acceptance on My altar,

And I shall glorify My glorious house.

8Who are these who fly like a cloud

And like the doves to their lattices?

9Surely the coastlands will wait for Me;

And the ships of Tarshish will come first,

To bring your sons from afar,

Their silver and their gold with them,

For the name of the Lord your God,

And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.

10“Foreigners will build up your walls,

And their kings will minister to you;

For in My wrath I struck you,

And in My favor I have had compassion on you.

11Your gates will be open continually;

They will not be closed day or night,

So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,

With their kings led in procession.

12For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,

And the nations will be utterly ruined.

13The glory of Lebanon will come to you,

The juniper, the box tree and the cypress together,

To beautify the place of My sanctuary;

And I shall make the place of My feet glorious.

14The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,

And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet;

And they will call you the city of the Lord,

The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated

With no one passing through,

I will make you an everlasting pride,

A joy from generation to generation.

16You will also suck the milk of nations

And suck the breast of kings;

Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

And instead of iron I will bring silver,

And instead of wood, bronze,

And instead of stones, iron.

And I will make peace your administrators

And righteousness your overseers.

18Violence will not be heard again in your land,

Nor devastation or destruction within your borders;

But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.

19No 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.

20Your sun will no longer set,

Nor will your moon wane;

For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,

And the days of your mourning will be over.

21Then all your people will be righteous;

They will possess the land forever,

The branch of My planting,

The work of My hands,

That I may be glorified.

22The smallest one will become a clan,

And the least one a mighty nation.

I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

Self-denial on Behalf of Others

1Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 4For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. 8For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written,

“Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles,

And I will sing to Your name.”

10Again he says,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”

11And again,

“Praise the Lord all you Gentiles,

And let all the peoples praise Him.”

12Again Isaiah says,

“There shall come the root of Jesse,

And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles,

In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”

13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1) How does Isaiah’s vision of nations streaming to Zion mirror the blessings over Zebulun and Issachar’s outward call?

2) How does Paul show that shared endurance and encouragement unite Jew and Gentile under one hope?

3) How can the abundance of יהוה’s blessing in your life become light and hope for those around you?

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

1In 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.’ ” 2Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3“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. 4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5“Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” ’ ” 7Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?” 9Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” 10So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” 11Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

12At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor 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. 14Then 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 from a far country, from Babylon.” 15He 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.”

16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord. 17‘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 shall be left,’ says the Lord. 18‘Some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days?”

20Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

God Will Remove the Leaders

1For behold, the Lord God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah

Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread

And the whole supply of water;

2The mighty man and the warrior,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

3The captain of fifty and the honorable man,

The counselor and the expert artisan,

And the skillful enchanter.

4And I will make mere lads their princes,

And capricious children will rule over them,

5And the people will be oppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;

The youth will storm against the elder

And the inferior against the honorable.

6When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,

And these ruins will be under your charge,”

7He will protest on that day, saying,

“I will not be your healer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

8For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord,

To rebel against His glorious presence.

9The expression of their faces bears witness against them,

And they display their sin like Sodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil on themselves.

10Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,

For they will eat the fruit of their actions.

11Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,

For what he deserves will be done to him.

12O My people! Their oppressors are children,

And women rule over them.

O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray

And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

13The Lord arises to contend,

And stands to judge the people.

14The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,

“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;

The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15What do you mean by crushing My people

And grinding the face of the poor?”

Declares the Lord God of hosts.

Judah’s Women Denounced

16Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud

And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

17Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, 19dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, 20headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, 21finger rings, nose rings, 22festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.

24Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction;

Instead of a belt, a rope;

Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;

Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;

And branding instead of beauty.

25Your men will fall by the sword

And your mighty ones in battle.

26And her gates will lament and mourn,

And deserted she will sit on the ground.