Isaiah
Chapter 25
This chapter is a song of praise to God. It thanks him for tearing down a proud, fortified city and for being a shelter to the poor and the needy. It then looks ahead to a feast God will spread on his mountain for all peoples, where he removes the covering over the nations, swallows up death, and wipes away every tear. It closes with Moab being trampled down and its high walls brought to the dust.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
1Lord, you are my God. I will lift you high and praise your name. You have done wonderful things. Your plans, made long ago, are faithful and true.
2For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
2You have turned a city into a heap of rubble. You made a walled town a ruin. The foreigners' stronghold is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
3So a strong people will give you honor. Cities of cruel nations will stand in awe of you.
The KJV calls these nations "terrible." In 1611 that meant "causing terror" — cruel and frightening — not "very bad." The same word is used in verses 4 and 5.
4For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
4You have been a safe place for the poor and a strong help for the needy in trouble. You are shelter from the storm and shade from the heat. The breath of cruel men beats like a storm against a wall,
5Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
5and like heat in a dry land. You quiet the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of cruel men is silenced.
6And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
6On this mountain the LORD who commands heaven's armies will spread a feast for all peoples. There will be rich food, the best cuts of meat, and the finest aged wine.
"Wines on the lees" means wine left to sit on its sediment for a long time. That was how the best wine was aged. "Fat things full of marrow" means the richest, choicest meat.
7And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
7On this mountain he will destroy the covering that is wrapped around all peoples, the cloth spread over every nation.
8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
8He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe the tears from every face. He will take away his people's shame from the whole earth. The LORD has said it.
"Rebuke" here means public shame or disgrace, not a scolding.
9And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
9On that day people will say, "Look, this is our God. We waited for him, and he saved us. This is the LORD; we waited for him. Let us be glad and full of joy because he saved us."
10For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
10The LORD's hand will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled where he stands, like straw trampled into a pile of manure.
11And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
11Moab will spread out his hands in it, the way a swimmer spreads his arms to swim. But God will bring his pride low, no matter how skilled his hands are.
12And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
12He will pull down your high, strong walls. He will knock them flat, down to the ground, down into the dust.
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