Isaiah 24:1-23
The Lord Will Destroy the Earth
The Lord is going to completely destroy everything on earth.
He will twist its surface.
He’ll scatter those who live on it.
Priests and people alike will suffer.
So will masters and their servants.
And so will women and their female servants.
Sellers and buyers alike will suffer.
So will those who borrow and those who lend.
And so will those who owe money and those who lend it.
The earth will be completely destroyed.
Everything of value will be taken out of it.
That’s what the Lord has said.
The earth will dry up completely.
The world will dry up and waste away.
The heavens will fade away along with the earth.
The earth is polluted by its people.
They haven’t obeyed the laws of the Lord.
They haven’t done what he told them to do.
They’ve broken the covenant that will last forever.
So the Lord will send a curse on the earth.
Its people will pay for what they’ve done.
They will be burned up.
Very few of them will be left.
The vines and fresh wine will dry up completely.
Those who used to have a good time will groan.
The happy sounds of tambourines will be gone.
The noise of those who enjoy wild parties will stop.
The joyful music of harps will become silent.
People will no longer sing as they drink wine.
Beer will taste bitter to those who drink it.
Destroyed cities will lie empty.
People will lock themselves inside their houses.
In the streets people will cry out for wine.
All joy will turn into sadness.
All joyful sounds will be driven out of the earth.
All the buildings will be knocked down.
Every city gate will be smashed to pieces.
That’s how it will be on the earth.
And that’s how it will be among the nations.
It will be as when workers knock all but a few olives off the trees.
It will be like a vine that has only a few grapes left after the harvest.
Those who are left alive will shout for joy.
People from the west will praise the Lord because he is the King.
So give glory to him, you who live in the east.
Honor the name of the Lord, you who are in the islands of the sea.
He is the God of Israel.
From one end of the earth to the other we hear singing.
People are saying,
“Give glory to the God who always does what is right.”
But I said, “I feel very bad.
I’m getting weaker and weaker.
How terrible it is for me!
People turn against one another.
They can’t be trusted.
So they turn against one another.”
Listen, you people of the earth.
Terror, a pit and a trap are waiting for you.
Anyone who runs away from the terror
will fall into the pit.
Anyone who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
The Lord will open the windows of the skies.
He will flood the land.
The foundations of the earth will shake.
The earth will be broken up.
It will split open.
It will be shaken to pieces.
The earth will be unsteady like someone who is drunk.
It will sway like a tent in the wind.
Its sin will weigh so heavily on it that it will fall.
It will never get up again.
At that time the Lord will punish
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens above.
He will also punish the kings on the earth below.
They will be brought together
like prisoners in chains.
They’ll be locked up in prison.
After many days the Lord will punish them.
The Lord who rules over all will rule
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
The elders of the city will be there.
They will see his great glory.
His rule will be so glorious that the sun and moon
will be too ashamed to shine.
Isaiah 25:1-12
A Song of Praise to the Lord
Lord, you are my God.
I will honor you.
I will praise your name.
You have been perfectly faithful.
You have done wonderful things.
You had planned them long ago.
You have turned cities into piles of trash.
You have pulled down the high walls that were around them.
You have destroyed our enemies’ forts.
They will never be rebuilt.
Powerful nations will honor you.
Even sinful people from their cities will have respect for you.
Poor people have come to you for safety.
You have kept needy people safe when they were in trouble.
You have been a place to hide when storms came.
You have been a shade from the heat of the sun.
Evil people attack us.
They are like a storm beating against a wall.
They are like the heat of the desert.
You stopped the noisy shouts of our enemies.
You kept them from winning the battle over us and singing about it.
You are like the shadow of a cloud that cools the earth.
On Mount Zion the Lord who rules over all will prepare
a feast for all the nations.
The best and richest foods
and the finest aged wines will be served.
On that mountain the Lord will destroy
the veil of sadness that covers all the nations.
He will destroy the gloom that is spread over everyone.
He will swallow up death forever.
The Lord and King will wipe away the tears
from everyone’s face.
He will remove the shame of his people
from the whole earth.
The Lord has spoken.
At that time they will say,
“He is our God.
We trusted in him, and he saved us.
He is the Lord. We trusted in him.
Let us be filled with joy because he saved us.”
The Lord’s power will keep Mount Zion safe.
But the people of Moab will be crushed in their land.
They will be crushed just as straw is crushed in animal waste.
They will try to swim their way out of it.
They will spread out their hands in it,
just as swimmers spread out their hands to swim.
But God will bring down Moab’s pride.
None of their skill will help them.
He will pull down their high, strong walls.
He will bring them down to the ground.
He’ll bring them right down to the dust.
Isaiah 26:1-21
Another Song of Praise
At that time a song will be sung in the land of Judah. It will say,
“We have a strong city.
God’s saving power surrounds it
like walls and towers.
Open its gates
so that those who do what is right can enter.
They are the people who remain faithful to God.
Lord, you will give perfect peace
to those who commit themselves to be faithful to you.
That’s because they trust in you.
“Trust in the Lord forever.
The Lord himself is the Rock.
The Lord will keep us safe forever.
He brings down those who are proud.
He pulls down cities that have high walls.
They fall down flat on the ground.
He throws them down to the dust.
The feet of those who were treated badly stomp on them.
Those who were poor walk all over them.”
The path of godly people is level.
You are the God who does what is right.
You make their way smooth.
Lord, we are living the way your laws command us to live.
We are waiting for you to act.
We want your honor and fame to be known.
My heart longs for you at night.
My spirit longs for you in the morning.
You will come and judge the earth.
Then the people of the world will learn to do what is right.
Sometimes grace is shown to sinful people.
But they still don’t learn to do what is right.
They keep on doing evil even in a land where others are honest and fair.
They don’t have any respect for the majesty of the Lord.
Lord, you have raised your hand high to punish them.
But they don’t even see it.
Let them see how much you love your people.
Then they will be put to shame.
Let the fire you are saving for your enemies burn them up.
Lord, you give us peace.
You are the one who has done everything we’ve accomplished.
Lord, you are our God.
Other masters besides you have ruled over us.
But your name is the only one we honor.
Those other masters are now dead.
They will never live again.
Their spirits won’t rise from the dead.
You punished them and destroyed them.
You wiped out all memory of them.
Lord, you have made our nation grow.
You have made it larger.
You have gained glory for yourself.
You have increased the size of our land.
Lord, when your people were suffering, they came to you.
When you punished them,
they could barely whisper a prayer.
Lord, you made us like a woman who is about to have a baby.
She groans and cries out in pain.
We were pregnant and groaned with pain.
But nothing was born.
We didn’t bring your saving power to the earth.
And the people of the world have not come to life.
Lord, your people who have died will live again.
Their bodies will rise from the dead.
Let those who lie in the grave
wake up and shout for joy.
You give life, Lord, like the dew of the morning.
So the earth will give up its dead people.
My people, go into your houses.
Shut the doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while.
Do it until the Lord’s anger is over.
He is coming from the place where he lives.
He will punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The blood spilled on the earth will be brought out into the open.
The ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.
