The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

10m Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

  And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;

  n Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.

  11Get out of the way,

  Turn aside from the path,

  Cause the Holy One of Israel

  To cease from before us.”

  12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

  “Because you odespise this word,

  And trust in oppression and perversity,

  And rely on them,

  13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you

  p Like a breach ready to fall,

  A bulge in a high wall,

  Whose breaking qcomes suddenly, in an instant.

  14And rHe shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,

  Which is broken in pieces;

  He shall not spare.

  So there shall not be found among its fragments

  4 A shard to take fire from the hearth,

  Or to take water from the cistern.”

  15For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:

  s“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

  In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

  t But you would not,

  16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—

  Therefore you shall flee!

  And, “We will ride on swift horses”—

  Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

  17u One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,

  At the threat of five you shall flee,

  Till you are left as a 5pole on top of a mountain

  And as a banner on a hill.

  God Will Be Gracious

  18Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be vgracious to you;

  And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.

  For the LORD is a God of justice;

  w Blessed are all those who xwait for Him.

  19For the people yshall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;

  You shall zweep no more.

  He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;

  When He hears it, He will aanswer you.

  20And though the Lord gives you

  b The bread of adversity and the water of 6affliction,

  Yet cyour teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,

  But your eyes shall see your teachers.

  21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

  “This is the way, walk in it,”

  Whenever you dturn to the right hand

  Or whenever you turn to the left.

  22e You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,

  And the ornament of your molded images of gold.

  You will throw them away as an unclean thing;

  f You will say to them, “Get away!”

  23g Then He will give the rain for your seed

  With which you sow the ground,

  And bread of the increase of the earth;

  It will be 7fat and plentiful.

  In that day your cattle will feed

  In large pastures.

  24Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground

  Will eat cured fodder,

  Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.

  25There will be hon every high mountain

  And on every high hill

  Rivers and streams of waters,

  In the day of the igreat slaughter,

  When the towers fall.

  26Moreover jthe light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,

  And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,

  As the light of seven days,

  In the day that the LORD binds up the bruise of His people

  And heals the stroke of their wound.

  Judgment on Assyria

  27Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,

  Burning with His anger,

  And His burden is heavy;

  His lips are full of indignation,

  And His tongue like a devouring fire.

  28k His breath is like an overflowing stream,

  l Which reaches up to the neck,

  To sift the nations with the sieve of futility;

  And there shall be ma bridle in the jaws of the people,

  Causing them to err.

  29You shall have a song

  As in the night when a holy festival is kept,

  And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,

  To come into nthe mountain of the LORD,

  To 8the Mighty One of Israel.

  30o The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard,

  And show the descent of His arm,

  With the indignation of His anger

  And the flame of a devouring fire,

  With scattering, tempest, pand hailstones.

  31For qthrough the voice of the LORD

  Assyria will be 9beaten down,

  As He strikes with the rrod.

  32And in every place where the staff of punishment passes,

  Which the LORD lays on him,

  It will be with tambourines and harps;

  And in battles of sbrandishing He will fight with it.

  33t For Tophet was established of old,

  Yes, for the king it is prepared.

  He has made it deep and large;

  Its pyre is fire with much wood;

  The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone,

  Kindles it.

  The Folly of Not Trusting God

  Isaiah 31

  God, Not Egypt, Will Defend Judah

  1Woe to those awho go down to Egypt for help,

  And brely on horses,

  Who trust in chariots because they are many,

  And in horsemen because they are very strong,

  But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

  c Nor seek the LORD!

  2Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster,

  And dwill not 1call back His words,

  But will arise against the house of evildoers,

  And against the help of those who work iniquity.

  3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;

  And their horses are flesh, and not spirit.

  When the LORD stretches out His hand,

  Both he who helps will fall,

  And he who is helped will fall down;

  They all will perish etogether.

  God Will Deliver Jerusalem

  4For thus the LORD has spoken to me:

  f“As a lion roars,

  And a young lion over his prey

  (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,

  He will not be afraid of their voice

  Nor be disturbed by their noise),

  So the LORD of hosts will come down

  To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.

  5g Like birds flying about,

  So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem.

  Defending, He will also deliver it;

  Passing over, He will preserve it.”

  6Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have hdeeply revolted.

  7For in that day every man shall ithrow away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—jsin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.

  8“Then Assyria shall kfall by a sword not of man,

  And a sword not of mankind shall ldevour him.

  But he shall flee from the sword,

  And his young men shall become forced labor.

  9m He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear,

  And his princes shall be afraid of the banner,”

  Says the LORD,

  Whose fire is in Zion

  And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

  A Reign of Righteousness

  Isaiah 32

  Women of Jerusalem Warned

  1Behold, aa king will reign in righteousness,

  And princes wil
l rule with justice.

  2A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,

  And ba 1cover from the tempest,

  As rivers of water in a dry place,

  As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

  3c The eyes of those who see will not be dim,

  And the ears of those who hear will listen.

  4Also the heart of the 2rash will dunderstand knowledge,

  And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.

  5The foolish person will no longer be called 3generous,

  Nor the miser said to be bountiful;

  6For the foolish person will speak foolishness,

  And his heart will work einiquity:

  To practice ungodliness,

  To utter error against the LORD,

  To keep the hungry unsatisfied,

  And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

  7Also the schemes of the schemer are evil;

  He devises wicked plans

  To destroy the poor with flying words,

  Even when the needy speaks justice.

  8But a 4generous man devises generous things,

  And by generosity he shall stand.

  Consequences of Complacency

  9Rise up, you women gwho are at ease,

  Hear my voice;

  You complacent daughters,

  Give ear to my speech.

  10In a year and some days

  You will be troubled, you complacent women;

  For the vintage will fail,

  The gathering will not come.

  11Tremble, you women who are at ease;

  Be troubled, you complacent ones;

  Strip yourselves, make yourselves bare,

  And gird sackcloth on your waists.

  12People shall mourn upon their breasts

  For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

  13h On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers,

  Yes, on all the happy homes in ithe joyous city;

  14j Because the palaces will be forsaken,

  The bustling city will be deserted.

  The forts and towers will become lairs forever,

  A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks—

  15Until kthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

  And lthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

  And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.

  The Peace of God’s Reign

  16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

  And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

  17m The work of righteousness will be peace,

  And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

  18My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation,

  In secure dwellings, and in quiet nresting places,

  19o Though hail comes down pon the forest,

  And the city is brought low in humiliation.

  20Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,

  Who send out freely the feet of qthe ox and the donkey.

  A Prayer in Deep Distress

  Isaiah 33

  Salvation for Those Who Trust in God

  1Woe to you awho plunder, though you have not been plundered;

  And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you!

  b When you cease plundering,

  You will be cplundered;

  When you make an end of dealing treacherously,

  They will deal treacherously with you.

  2O LORD, be gracious to us;

  d We have waited for You.

  Be 1their arm every morning,

  Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

  3At the noise of the tumult the people eshall flee;

  When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered;

  4And Your plunder shall be gathered

  Like the gathering of the caterpillar;

  As the running to and fro of locusts,

  He shall run upon them.

  5f The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;

  He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

  6Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,

  And the strength of salvation;

  The fear of the LORD is His treasure.

  7Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside,

  g The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

  8h The highways lie waste,

  The traveling man ceases.

  i He has broken the covenant,

  2 He has despised the 3cities,

  He regards no man.

  9j The earth mourns and languishes,

  Lebanon is shamed and shriveled;

  Sharon is like a wilderness,

  And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

  Impending Judgment on Zion

  10“Nowk I will rise,” says the LORD;

  “Now I will be exalted,

  Now I will lift Myself up.

  11l You shall conceive chaff,

  You shall bring forth stubble;

  Your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

  12And the people shall be like the burnings of lime;

  m Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire.

  13Hear, nyou who are afar off, what I have done;

  And you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

  14The sinners in Zion are afraid;

  Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:

  “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring ofire?

  Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

  15He who pwalks righteously and speaks uprightly,

  He who despises the gain of oppressions,

  Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,

  Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,

  And qshuts his eyes from seeing evil:

  16He will dwell on 4high;

  His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;

  Bread will be given him,

  His water will be sure.

  The Land of the Majestic King

  17Your eyes will see the King in His rbeauty;

  They will see the land that is very far off.

  18Your heart will meditate on terror:

  s“Where is the scribe?

  Where is he who weighs?

  Where is he who counts the towers?”

  19t You will not see a fierce people,

  u A people of obscure speech, beyond perception,

  Of a 5stammering tongue that you cannot understand.

  20v Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;

  Your eyes will see wJerusalem, a quiet home,

  A tabernacle that will not be taken down;

  x Not one of yits stakes will ever be removed,

  Nor will any of its cords be broken.

  21But there the majestic LORD will be for us

  A place of broad rivers and streams,

  In which no 6galley with oars will sail,

  Nor majestic ships pass by

  22(For the LORD is our zJudge,

  The LORD is our aLawgiver,

  b The LORD is our King;

  He will save us);

  23Your tackle is loosed,

  They could not strengthen their mast,

  They could not spread the sail.

  Then the prey of great plunder is divided;

  The lame take the prey.

  24And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”;

  c The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

  Judgment on the Nations

  Isaiah 34

  The LORD’s Wrath upon the Nations

  1Come anear, you nations, to hear;

  And heed, you people!

  b Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,

  The world and all things that come forth from it.

  2For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations,
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  And His fury against all their armies;

  He has utterly destroyed them,

  He has given them over to the cslaughter.

  3Also their slain shall be thrown out;

  d Their stench shall rise from their corpses,

  And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

  4e All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,

  And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;

  f All their host shall fall down

  As the leaf falls from the vine,

  And as gfruit falling from a fig tree.

  5“For hMy sword shall be bathed in heaven;

  Indeed it ishall come down on Edom,

  And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

  6The jsword of the LORD is filled with blood,

  It is made 1overflowing with fatness,

  With the blood of lambs and goats,

  With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

  For kthe LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

  And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

  7The wild oxen shall come down with them,

  And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;

  Their land shall be soaked with blood,

  And their dust 2saturated with fatness.”

  8For it is the day of the LORD’s lvengeance,

  The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

  9m Its streams shall be turned into pitch,

  And its dust into brimstone;

  Its land shall become burning pitch.

  10It shall not be quenched night or day;

  n Its smoke shall ascend forever.

  o From generation to generation it shall lie waste;

  No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

  11p But the 3pelican and the 4porcupine shall possess it,

  Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.

  And qHe shall stretch out over it

  The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.

  12They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,

  But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

  13And rthorns shall come up in its palaces,

  Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;

  s It shall be a habitation of jackals,

  A courtyard for ostriches.

  14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the 5jackals,

  And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;

  Also 6the night creature shall rest there,

  And find for herself a place of rest.

  15There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs

  And hatch, and gather them under her shadow;

  There also shall the hawks be gathered,