Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Isaiah praises God and describes a time when the righteous will prosper in their land.
II. Photo
Isaiah praises God: “At [Your] roaring, peoples have fled, before Your majesty nations have scattered; And spoil was gathered as locusts are gathered, it was amassed as grasshoppers are amassed.” (vv. 3-4)
III. Important Verses
1: Ha, you ravager who are not ravaged, You betrayer who have not been betrayed! When you have done ravaging, you shall be ravaged; When you have finished betraying, you shall be betrayed.
7-9: Hark! The Arielites cry aloud; Shalom’s messengers weep bitterly. Highways are desolate, Wayfarers have ceased. A covenant has been renounced, Cities rejected Mortal man despised. The land is wilted and withered; ¶ Lebanon disgraced and moldering, Sharon is become like a desert, And Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
14-16: Sinners in Zion are frightened, The godless are seized with trembling: “Who of us can dwell with the devouring fire: Who of us can dwell with the never-dying blaze?” He who walks in righteousness, Speaks uprightly, Spurns profit from fraudulent dealings, Waves away a bribe instead of grasping it, Stops his ears against listening to infamy, Shuts his eyes against looking at evil — Such a one shall dwell in lofty security, With inaccessible cliffs for his stronghold, With his food supplied And his drink assured.
19: No more shall you see the barbarian folk, The people of speech too obscure to comprehend, So stammering of tongue that they are not understood.
24: And none who lives there shall say, “I am sick”; It shall be inhabited by folk whose sin has been forgiven.
IV. Outline
1. Prophetic curse: the ravaging city will be ravaged
2. Petition for divine protection
3-6. Hymnic praise: God is mighty and righteous
7-9. Lament: the land has become desolate
10-13. Oracle: God will burn the people like straw
14-16. Only the righteous will survive God’s wrath
17-24. Prophetic blessings
17-19. The land will be populated and peaceful
20-21. Glorious Zion
22-23. Salvation and spoils of war
24. Health
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. “Isaiah 1-39” The Anchor Bible vol. 19 (New York: Doubleday, 2000).
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Sweeney, Marvin A. “Isaiah 1-39 with an Introduction to Prophetic Literature” The Forms of Old Testament Literature vol. 16 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).
Photo taken from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/photogalleries/locust-swarm-theory-serotonin/images/primary/090130-04-swarm-theory-desert-locusts-461.jpg
