Isaiah 2:5-22

The Day of the Lord

5 House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the Lord's light.
6 For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of [divination] from the East and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They are in league[a] with foreigners.
7 Their[b] land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
9 So humanity is brought low, and man is humbled. Do not forgive them!
10 Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and from His majestic splendor.
11 Human pride[c] will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
12 For a day belonging to the Lord of Hosts is [coming] against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up-it will be humbled-
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the high mountains, against all the lofty hills,
15 against every high tower, against every fortified wall,
16 against every ship of Tarshish, and against every splendid sea vessel.
17 So human pride will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18 The idols will vanish completely.
19 People will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from His majestic splendor, when He rises to terrify the earth.
20 On that day people will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats.
21 They will go into the caves of the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the Lord and from His majestic splendor, when He rises to terrify the earth.
22 Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?

Isaiah 2:5-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 2

This chapter contains a vision or prophecy of the enlargement of Christ's kingdom and interest, and of the glory of his church in the latter day, by the calling of the Gentiles, and the numerous conversions of them to it, and of the abolition of idolatry, and the destruction of the antichristian party. The inscription to it is in Isa 2:1 the prophecy itself follows; the date of it is the last days; the subject matter of it, the kingdom, interest, and church of Christ, signified by the mountain of the Lord's house; its glorious estate is expressed by its establishment on the mountains; by its exaltation above the hills; and by the great numbers that should flock to it, and should encourage one another to go up to it, in order to learn the ways of God, and walk in them; the means of which is the Gospel preached, that should go out of Jerusalem; the effect of that is peace among the nations: hence the house of Jacob is exhorted to walk in the light held forth by it, Isa 2:2-5 and then the reasons are given of God's rejecting and forsaking some that bear the Christian name, called the house of Jacob; namely, their Heathenish superstition, idolatry, covetousness, and confidence in their riches; who are sarcastically called upon to hide themselves in the rocks for fear of the Lord, Isa 2:6-10 when the judgments of God are denounced on the proud and lofty, comparable to cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, high towers, fenced walls, and ships of the ocean, at which time, Christ, and he alone, will be exalted, and idolatry utterly abolished; the consequence of which will be the utmost dread and terror to all idolaters, Isa 2:11-21 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to such to cease from the man of sin, and have him in no account, Isa 2:22.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or They teem, or They partner; Hb obscure
  • [b]. Lit Its; the house of Jacob
  • [c]. Lit Mankind's proud eyes
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