Isaiah 25-28

New American Standard Bible 1995

^6 (M)The Lord of hosts will prepare a ^[b]lavish banquet for ^(N)all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of ^[c]aged wine, ^[d]choice pieces with marrow,
And ^[e]refined, aged wine.
⁷ And on this mountain He will swallow up the ^[f](O)covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is ^[g]stretched over all nations.
⁸ He will ^(P)swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord ^[h]God will ^(Q)wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the ^(R)reproach of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
⁹ And it will be said in that day,
“Behold, ^(S)this is our God for whom we have ^(T)waited that ^(U)He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
^(V)Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
And ^(W)Moab will be trodden down in his place
As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.
¹¹ And he will ^(X)spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will ^(Y)lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
¹² The ^(Z)unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

⁷ The ^(AM)way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, ^(AN)make the path of the righteous level.
⁸ Indeed, while following the way of ^(AO)Your judgments, O Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly;
^(AP)Your name, even Your ^(AQ)memory, is the desire of our souls.
^9 (AR)At night ^[l]my soul longs for You,
Indeed, ^[m]my spirit within me ^(AS)seeks You diligently;
For when the earth ^[n]experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world ^(AT)learn righteousness.
¹⁰ Though the wicked is shown favor,
He does not ^(AU)learn righteousness;
He ^(AV)deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹ O Lord, Your hand is lifted up yet they ^(AW)do not see it.
^[o]They see ^(AX)Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, ^[p](AY)fire will devour Your enemies.
¹² Lord, You will establish ^(AZ)peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
¹³ O Lord our God, ^(BA)other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we ^[q](BB)confess Your name.
^14 (BC)The dead will not live, the ^[r]departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have ^(BD)punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.
^15 (BE)You have increased the nation, O Lord,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have ^(BF)extended all the borders of the land.
¹⁶ O Lord, they sought You ^(BG)in distress;
They ^[s]could only whisper a prayer,
Your chastening was upon them.
^17 (BH)As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,
Thus were we before You, O Lord.
¹⁸ We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We ^(BI)gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were ^(BJ)inhabitants of the world ^[t]born.
¹⁹ Your ^(BK)dead will live;
^[u]Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, ^(BL)awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the ^[v]dawn,
And the earth will ^[w]give birth to the ^[x]departed spirits.

²⁰ Come, my people, ^(BM)enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little ^[y](BN)while
Until ^(BO)indignation ^[z]runs its course.
²¹ For behold, the Lord is about to ^(BP)come out from His place
To ^(BQ)punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth will ^(BR)reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.

² In that day,
“A ^[ac](BV)vineyard of wine, sing of it!
³ “I, the Lord, am its keeper;
^(BW)I water it every moment.
So that no one will ^[ad]damage it,
I ^(BX)guard it night and day.
⁴ “I have no wrath.
Should ^[ae]someone give Me ^(BY)briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, ^(BZ)I would burn them ^[af]completely.
⁵ “Or let him ^[ag](CA)rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him ^(CB)make peace with Me.”
^6 [ah]In the days to come Jacob ^(CC)will take root,
Israel will ^(CD)blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the ^[ai]whole world with ^(CE)fruit.

⁷ Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has ^(CF)He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, ^[aj]have they been slain?
⁸ You contended with them ^[ak]by banishing them, by ^(CG)driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the ^(CH)east wind.
⁹ Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be ^(CI)forgiven;
And this will be ^[al]the full price of the ^[am](CJ)pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the ^(CK)altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When ^[an]Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
¹⁰ For the fortified city is ^(CL)isolated,
A ^[ao]homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert;
^(CM)There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and ^[ap]feed on its branches.
¹¹ When its ^(CN)limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of ^(CO)discernment,
Therefore ^(CP)their Maker ^(CQ)will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

⁹ “To ^(DO)whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just ^(DP)weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ “For He says,
‘^[ay](DQ)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
¹¹ Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through ^(DR)stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
¹² He who said to them, “Here is ^(DS)rest, give rest to the weary,”
And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.
¹³ So the word of the Lord to them will be,
“^[az]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and ^(DT)stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

²³ Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
²⁴ Does the ^[bo]farmer plow ^[bp]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ^[bq]turn and harrow the ground?
²⁵ Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter ^(ES)cummin
And ^[br]plant ^(ET)wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ^[bs]area?
²⁶ For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a ^(EU)threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ^[bt]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
²⁸ Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ^[bu]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel ^(EV)wonderful and His wisdom ^(EW)great.