Isaiah 24:1-23, Isaiah 25:1-12, Isaiah 26:1-21 NIV

Isaiah 24:1-23

The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth

See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth

and devastate it;

he will ruin its face

and scatter its inhabitants—

it will be the same

for priest as for people,

for the master as for his servant,

for the mistress as for her servant,

for seller as for buyer,

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.

The earth will be completely laid waste

and totally plundered.

The Lord has spoken this word.

The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers,

the heavens languish with the earth.

The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,

violated the statutes

and broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,

and very few are left.

The new wine dries up and the vine withers;

all the merrymakers groan.

The joyful timbrels are stilled,

the noise of the revelers has stopped,

the joyful harp is silent.

No longer do they drink wine with a song;

the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

The ruined city lies desolate;

the entrance to every house is barred.

In the streets they cry out for wine;

all joy turns to gloom,

all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.

The city is left in ruins,

its gate is battered to pieces.

So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.

Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;

exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,

in the islands of the sea.

From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!

Woe to me!

The treacherous betray!

With treachery the treacherous betray!”

Terror and pit and snare await you,

people of the earth.

Whoever flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit;

whoever climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.

The earth is broken up,

the earth is split asunder,

the earth is violently shaken.

The earth reels like a drunkard,

it sways like a hut in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

that it falls—never to rise again.

In that day the Lord will punish

the powers in the heavens above

and the kings on the earth below.

They will be herded together

like prisoners bound in a dungeon;

they will be shut up in prison

and be punished24:22 Or released after many days.

The moon will be dismayed,

the sun ashamed;

for the Lord Almighty will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before its elders—with great glory.

Read More of Isaiah 24

Isaiah 25:1-12

Praise to the Lord

Lord, you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness

you have done wonderful things,

things planned long ago.

You have made the city a heap of rubble,

the fortified town a ruin,

the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

Therefore strong peoples will honor you;

cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

You have been a refuge for the poor,

a refuge for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the storm

and a shade from the heat.

For the breath of the ruthless

is like a storm driving against a wall

and like the heat of the desert.

You silence the uproar of foreigners;

as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine—

the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy

the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove his people’s disgrace

from all the earth.

The Lord has spoken.

In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;

we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the Lord, we trusted in him;

let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain;

but Moab will be trampled in their land

as straw is trampled down in the manure.

They will stretch out their hands in it,

as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.

God will bring down their pride

despite the cleverness25:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. of their hands.

He will bring down your high fortified walls

and lay them low;

he will bring them down to the ground,

to the very dust.

Read More of Isaiah 25

Isaiah 26:1-21

A Song of Praise

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;

God makes salvation

its walls and ramparts.

Open the gates

that the righteous nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

He humbles those who dwell on high,

he lays the lofty city low;

he levels it to the ground

and casts it down to the dust.

Feet trample it down—

the feet of the oppressed,

the footsteps of the poor.

The path of the righteous is level;

you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.

Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,26:8 Or judgments

we wait for you;

your name and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

My soul yearns for you in the night;

in the morning my spirit longs for you.

When your judgments come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.

But when grace is shown to the wicked,

they do not learn righteousness;

even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil

and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.

Lord, your hand is lifted high,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame;

let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

Lord, you establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone do we honor.

They are now dead, they live no more;

their spirits do not rise.

You punished them and brought them to ruin;

you wiped out all memory of them.

You have enlarged the nation, Lord;

you have enlarged the nation.

You have gained glory for yourself;

you have extended all the borders of the land.

Lord, they came to you in their distress;

when you disciplined them,

they could barely whisper a prayer.26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

We were with child, we writhed in labor,

but we gave birth to wind.

We have not brought salvation to the earth,

and the people of the world have not come to life.

But your dead will live, Lord;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dust

wake up and shout for joy—

your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Read More of Isaiah 26