Isaiah

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

1This is the message that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem.

2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

2In the days to come, the mountain where the LORD's house stands will be set above every other mountain. It will be lifted higher than the hills, and people from every nation will stream toward it.

3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

3Many peoples will go there and say, "Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we will walk the paths he shows us." For the teaching will go out from Zion, and the LORD's word from Jerusalem.

4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4He will settle arguments between nations and decide cases for many peoples. They will hammer their swords into plow blades and their spears into tools for trimming vines. No nation will attack another, and no one will train for war again.

NoteA plow blade cuts furrows in a field for planting. A pruning hook is a curved blade for trimming vines. Both are farm tools, so weapons are being reshaped into things that grow food.

5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

5People of Jacob, come. Let us walk in the light of the LORD.

6Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

6LORD, you have turned away from your people, the family of Jacob. They are full of customs from the east. They tell fortunes like the Philistines do, and they shake hands on deals with foreigners.

NoteThe KJV says the people are "replenished" from the east. In 1611 that meant filled, not refilled. And "please themselves in the children of strangers" means they make agreements with foreigners.

7Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:

7Their land is full of silver and gold, and their riches never run out. Their land is full of horses, and their war chariots never run out.

8Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

8Their land is also full of idols. They bow down to things they made themselves, shaped by their own fingers.

9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

9So ordinary people bow low and important people bow low too. Do not forgive them.

NoteThe KJV "mean man" does not mean cruel. It means a common or low-ranking person, set beside "the great man," the important one.

10Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

10Go into the rocks. Hide in the dust, away from the terror of the LORD and the brightness of his greatness.

11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

11The proud look on a person's face will be brought down, and human pride will be humbled. On that day the LORD alone will be lifted high.

12For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

12For the LORD of Armies has a day coming against everyone who is proud and high, and against everything lifted up. All of it will be brought low.

13And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

13It will come against all the cedar trees of Lebanon, tall and towering, and against all the oak trees of Bashan.

14And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

14It will come against all the high mountains and against all the hills that rise up.

15And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,

15It will come against every tall tower and every strong city wall.

16And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

16It will come against all the trading ships of Tarshish and against every fine, beautiful vessel.

NoteThe KJV "pleasant pictures" does not mean paintings. The phrase refers to fine, impressive ships, matching the trading ships in the first half of the verse.

17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

17Human pride will be bowed down, and human bragging will be brought low. On that day the LORD alone will be lifted high.

18And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

18And he will wipe out the idols completely.

19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

19People will run into holes in the rocks and into caves in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and the brightness of his greatness, when he stands up to shake the earth.

20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

20On that day people will throw away their silver idols and their gold idols, the ones they each made to bow down to. They will toss them to the moles and the bats.

21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

21They will crawl into cracks in the rocks and gaps in the jagged cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and the brightness of his greatness, when he stands up to shake the earth.

22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?

22Stop putting your trust in people. Their life is only the breath in their nose. What are they really worth?