Isaiah 2

General context

A second heading introduces the word Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house will be set above the hills, and all nations will flow to it. Many people will urge one another to go up to the house of the God of Jacob to be taught his ways, because the law goes out from Zion. He will judge among the nations, swords will be beaten into plowshares, and nations will not learn war any more. The house of Jacob is called to walk in the light of the Lord. The speaker then turns to the Lord and says he has forsaken his people because they are filled from the east, practise soothsaying like the Philistines, and their land is full of silver, gold, horses, chariots and idols made by their own hands. Both the mean man and the great man bow down, and the speaker asks that they not be forgiven. People are told to enter the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the Lord. The day of the Lord of hosts is announced against every one that is proud and lofty, against the cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, high mountains, towers, fenced walls, ships of Tarshish and pleasant pictures, so that the Lord alone is exalted in that day. Idols will be abolished; men will go into holes of the rocks and throw their silver and gold idols to the moles and bats when he arises to shake the earth. The chapter closes with a call to cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils.

Cited passages: Isaiah 2:1, Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 2:4, Isaiah 2:5, Isaiah 2:6, Isaiah 2:7, Isaiah 2:8, Isaiah 2:9, Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 2:13, Isaiah 2:16, Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 2:18, Isaiah 2:20, Isaiah 2:21, Isaiah 2:22

Isaiah 2 (KJV)

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Historical context

The heading names Isaiah the son of Amoz and the subject, Judah and Jerusalem, but gives no king or year; the chapter itself supplies no setting beyond that. The opening promise is placed in the last days, a phrase the text does not define. The vision of nations going up to Zion is not credited to any named people, and the text does not say when or how it comes about. From the sixth verse the speaker addresses the Lord directly as thou, describing the people's wealth and idols and asking that they not be forgiven; no marker such as saith the Lord appears in this chapter, so the voice is the prophet's throughout, apart from the quoted words of the peoples in the third verse. Philistines, Lebanon, Bashan and Tarshish are named only as points of comparison, cedars, oaks and ships, not as parties to events. The idols are of silver and gold and made by their own hands; nothing identifies which gods are meant. Being replenished from the east is stated without explanation. The day of the Lord of hosts is announced but not dated, and the chapter does not say whether the hiding in rocks describes Judah, the nations, or both.

Cited passages: Isaiah 2:1, Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 2:6, Isaiah 2:9, Isaiah 2:13, Isaiah 2:8, Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 2:19

Literary context

The chapter moves from height to height in two opposite senses. First the mountain of the Lord's house is lifted above the hills and nations flow up to it; then the day of the Lord comes down on everything else that is high and lifted up. The same phrase describes the cedars that will be brought low. A refrain holds the second half together: the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day is said twice, and the command to hide for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty is said three times, in the tenth, nineteenth and twenty-first verses, the last two adding when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. The catalogue of proud things descends from cedars and mountains to towers, walls, ships and pictures. Fullness is the charge against the people: their land is full of silver, full of horses, full of idols, the word full used three times in two verses. The peaceful picture of swords made into plowshares is set against the call in the fifth verse for the house of Jacob to walk in the light, which the sixth verse says the people have not done. The closing line, Cease ye from man, turns the chapter's judgment on the lofty into a plain instruction. The next chapter opens with For, behold, continuing without a new heading.

Cited passages: Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 2:13, Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 2:21, Isaiah 2:15, Isaiah 2:7, Isaiah 2:8, Isaiah 2:4, Isaiah 2:5, Isaiah 2:22

Key moments

1. A second heading (Isaiah 2:1). The word Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem is introduced afresh.
2. Nations flow to the mountain (Isaiah 2:2). The mountain of the Lord's house is set above the hills and all nations flow to it.
3. Swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4). The Lord judges among the nations and they stop learning war.
4. A land full of idols (Isaiah 2:8). The speaker says the land is full of idols made by their own hands.
5. The day of the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 2:12). A day is announced against every one that is proud and lofty.
6. Idols thrown to moles and bats (Isaiah 2:20). In that day men cast their silver and gold idols away and hide in the rocks.
7. Cease from man (Isaiah 2:22). The chapter ends by asking what man, whose breath is in his nostrils, is worth.

For reflection

The chapter promises a day when nations will not learn war any more, then describes a land full of horses and chariots. Which of the two pictures does the closing command, Cease ye from man, seem to answer?

People in this chapter

• Jacob
• Isaiah
• Judah

Also indexed here:

• Amoz