The mountain of the Lord

1This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established

as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

3Many peoples will come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.’

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into ploughshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

5Come, descendants of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the Lord.

The day of the Lord

6You, Lord, have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

They are full of superstitions from the East;

they practise divination like the Philistines

and embrace pagan customs.

7Their land is full of silver and gold;

there is no end to their treasures.

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to the chariots.

8Their land is full of idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their fingers have made.

9So people will be brought low

and everyone humbled –

do not forgive them.2:9 Or not raise them up

10Go into the rocks, hide in the ground

from the fearful presence of the Lord

and the splendour of his majesty!

11The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled

and human pride brought low;

the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12The Lord Almighty has a day in store

for all the proud and lofty,

for all that is exalted

(and they will be humbled),

13for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,

and all the oaks of Bashan,

14for all the towering mountains

and all the high hills,

15for every lofty tower

and every fortified wall,

16for every trading ship2:16 Hebrew every ship of Tarshish

and every stately vessel.

17The arrogance of man will be brought low

and human pride humbled;

the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,

18and the idols will totally disappear.

19People will flee to caves in the rocks

and to holes in the ground

from the fearful presence of the Lord

and the splendour of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

20In that day people will throw away

to the moles and bats

their idols of silver and idols of gold,

which they made to worship.

21They will flee to caverns in the rocks

and to the overhanging crags

from the fearful presence of the Lord

and the splendour of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

22Stop trusting in mere humans,

who have but a breath in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem?