Add parallel Print Page Options

19 [a]Who say, “Let him make haste,
    let him speed his work, that we may see it;
On with the plan of the Holy One of Israel!
    let it come to pass, that we may know it!”(A)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:19 An indication that some, presumably of the ruling class, scoff at Isaiah’s teaching on the Lord’s “plan” and “work” (cf. v. 12; 14:26–27; 28:9–14; 30:10–11).

12 But when the Lord has brought to an end all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

I will punish the utterance
    of the king of Assyria’s proud heart,
    and the boastfulness of his haughty eyes.

Read full chapter

God’s Plan for Assyria[a]

24     The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have resolved,
    so shall it be;
As I have planned,
    so shall it stand:
25 To break the Assyrian in my land
    and trample him on my mountains;
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
    and his burden from their shoulder.(A)
26 This is the plan proposed for the whole earth,
    and this the hand outstretched over all the nations.[b]
27 The Lord of hosts has planned;
    who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out;
    who can turn it back?(B)

Philistia.[c]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 14:24–27 The motif of God’s plan or work is a recurring thread running through Isaiah’s oracles. The plans of Judah’s enemies will not come to pass (7:5–7; 8:9–10; 10:7), but God’s plan for his work of disciplining his own people (5:12, 19; 28:21), and then for punishing the foreign agents God used to administer that discipline (10:12) will come to pass.
  2. 14:26 Hand outstretched over all the nations: as it was once outstretched over Israel (9:11, 16, 20; 5:25).
  3. 14:28–31 This oracle seems to reflect the political situation soon after the death of Ahaz in 715 B.C., when Ashdod and the other Philistine cities were trying to create a united front to rebel against Assyria. Ahaz had refused to join the rebels in 735 B.C. and remained loyal to Assyria during the rest of his reign, but the Philistines may have had higher hopes for his son Hezekiah. Judah, however, did not join in Ashdod’s disastrous revolt in 713–711 B.C. (cf. 20:1).

12 Where then are your wise men?
    Let them tell you and make known
What the Lord of hosts has planned
    against Egypt.(A)

Read full chapter

17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they think of Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan the Lord of hosts has in mind for them.

Read full chapter

The Lord of hosts has planned it,
    to disgrace the height of all beauty,
    to degrade all the honored of the earth.(A)

Read full chapter

21 For the Lord shall rise up as on Mount Perazim,
    bestir himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,[a]
To carry out his work—strange his work!
    to perform his deed—alien his deed!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 28:21 Mount Perazim…Valley of Gibeon: where David defeated the Philistines; cf. 2 Sm 5:20, 25; 1 Chr 14:11, 16. God’s new work will be strange, because instead of fighting for Judah as the Lord did in David’s time, God will now fight against Jerusalem (see 29:1–4).

Chapter 30

Oracle on the Futility of an Alliance with Egypt[a]

Ah! Rebellious children,
    oracle of the Lord,
Who carry out a plan that is not mine,
    who make an alliance[b] I did not inspire,
    thus adding sin upon sin;(A)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 30:1–17 Several independent oracles against making an alliance with Egypt have been strung together in this chapter: vv. 1–5, vv. 6–7, and vv. 8–17. That these were originally separate oracles is indicated by the fact that the oracle in vv. 6–7 is still introduced by its own heading: Oracle on the Beasts of the Negeb.
  2. 30:1 Make an alliance: lit., “pour out a libation,” namely, as part of the ritual of treaty making.