First Upload: Wednesday March 13, 2019
Last Modified: Thursday September 9, 2021
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
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1 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—
2 it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor.
3 The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish.
5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan.
8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.
9 No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One." But I said, "I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!"
17 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of the earth.
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.
21 In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.
23 The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.
Revised Chapter 24 uses every verse but one of the canonical chapter, imports fifty-one and a half more verses from seventeen chapters and takes up the title, "The Day of The Lord."
Several configurations were tried before arriving at the final sequence of paragraphs and the following flowchart,
Paragraph 1 opens with a dramatic call to attention, "Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples!" in keeping with the bleak subject-matter.Paragraph 2 which opens with the sentence, "All you people of the world, you who live on the earth," underscores through repetition the scope and harshness of the herald. The nations must prepare for battle and be shattered.
Paragraph 3 which opens with the sentence, "The Lord Almighty has sworn, 'Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,'" names the Lord the ultimate author of the looming catastrophe. No one can thwart his plan, and the reason for his action was advanced on paragraph 1.
Paragraph 4 opens with the sentence, "Oh, the raging of many nations—they rage like the raging sea!" and it seems to pit the peoples versus the Lord: "Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away" (Isaiah 17:13). The animosity is restated clearly on paragraph 11.
Paragraph 5 opens with the sentence, "See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it," lowers the tone of the herald, not its bite, and completes a subtle turn of intended audience: away from the nations toward the Lord's people. The turn is explicit on paragraph 19. Paragraph 5 states that the purpose of the Day of the Lord is to humble the proud powers of earth and it warns that the catastrophe will affect everyone.
Paragraph 6 which opens with the sentence, "The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice," submits the main reason why the Lord is angry with all the nations: injustice. Although paragraph 6 uses the past tense at first, it recovers the future tense quickly, "According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due" (Isaiah 59:18).
Paragraph 7 opens with the sentence, "In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall," and adds the pride and arrogance of man as reasons for the Lord's wrath (reasons implicit in paragraph 5). Incidentally the Day of the Lord will prompt men to throw away their idols (Isaiah 2:20).
Paragraph 8 opens with the sentence, "See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar," and ushers in the first imagery of fire and smoke. Paragraph 8 reiterates the gist of paragraph 3: the Lord is the ultimate author of the devastation, for "he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray" (Isaiah 30:28).
Short paragraph 9 opens with the sentence, "The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice," and reiterates what paragraph 4 had said, the peoples flee in the face of the Lord's wrath (Isaiah 33:3).
Short paragraph 10 opens with the sentence, "See, the Lord is coming with fire," and makes fire the centerpiece of the Day of the Lord.
Paragraph 11 hands down the verdict, "The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant," and passes sentence, "Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left" (v 5).
Paragraphs 12 and 13 intrigue. Apparently the Babylonian Isaiah had an out-of-body experience in which he saw "the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). May he have had an open vision and witnessed a thermonuclear war?
Paragraph 19 proffers the only ray of hope in the midst of the pandemonium. Isaiah opens the paragraph with the sentence, "Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you." Paragraph 19 predicts a resurrection of the dead. Paragraph 19 also contemplates a supernatural transformation of the cosmos.
Paragraph 20 sums up the substance of the Day of the Lord, "The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God" (Isaiah 52:10).
Paragraph 21 opens with the sentence, "They raise their voices, they shout for joy," broadening the salvation of the remnant of mankind to the four corners of the earth, "From the ends of the earth we hear singing: 'Glory to the Righteous One'" (First Half of verse 16). This "Righteous One" must be the Righteous Servant, the Branch of the Lord.
23. The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.
Destination: This verse centers on the glorious reign of the Lord Almighty sometime after the Day of the Lord. Its proper location is Revised Chapter 4, "The Branch of The Lord,"
4:5 Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. 4:6 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. 23 The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.
16. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One." But I said, "I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!"
Reason: Why would Isaiah complain and denounce betrayal and treachery as the exultant earth welcomes the Lord by singing "Glory to the Righteous One"? Clearly this verse has to be split in half.
The first half, "From the ends of the earth we hear singing: 'Glory to the Righteous One'" belongs in a "last days" chapter such as this one.
Destination of the first half: Here.
The second half, "But I said, 'I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!'" is a companion of Isaiah 21:2, "A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot."
Destination of the second half: Revised Chapter 13, "Babylon,"
21:2 A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused. 21:5 They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!21:6 This is what the Lord says to me: "Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. 21:7 When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert." Second Half of 16 But I said, "I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!" 21:8 And the lookout shouted, "Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post. 21:9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: 'Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!'"
18. Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
Reason: The future tense of the first half gainsays the present tense of the second half.
The first half, "Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare," is a prelude to the Lord's devastation of the earth.
The second half, "The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake," follows the prelude.
Both halves belong in this revised chapter.
Imported Isaiah 13:13. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
Reason: The pronoun "I" of the first half does not meld with the pronoun "his" of the second half.
The first half, "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble," is part of a statement by the Lord Almighty.
The second half, "and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger," is part of a description by Isaiah.
Both halves belong in this revised chapter.
2:9. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled—do not forgive them.
2:10-19. Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! 11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), 13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 14 for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. 17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day 18 and the idols will totally disappear. 19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.
2:21. They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.
5:15. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
8:9. Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
13:10-13. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. 12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
14:24. The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.
14:26-27. This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
17:12-13. Oh, the raging of many nations—they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples—they roar like the roaring of great waters! 13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale.
18:3. All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.
21:3-4. At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see. 4 My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.
26:19. But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
26:20-21. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 21 See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.
30:25. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
30:27-28. See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire. 28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
30:30. The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
33:3. At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
33:10. "Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up."
33:12. The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.
34:1-3. Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! 2 The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. 3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
34:4. All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
40:15. Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
40:17. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
42:14-15. "For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools."
52:10. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
Second Half of 59:15 to 59:19. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.
66:15-16. See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the Lord.
34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! 34:2 The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. 34:3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
18:3 All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. 8:9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
14:24 The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand." 14:26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 14:27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? 40:17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 40:15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
17:12 Oh, the raging of many nations—they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples—they roar like the roaring of great waters! 17:13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. 17 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of the earth. First Half of 18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare.
1 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants— 2 it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. 2:12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), 2:13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 2:14 for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 2:15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 2:16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel.
Second Half of 59:15 The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 59:16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 59:17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 59:18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 2:9 So man will be brought low and mankind humbled—do not forgive them.
30:25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 2:17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, 2:18 and the idols will totally disappear.
30:27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire. 30:28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
30:30 The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail. 33:3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
66:15 See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 66:16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the Lord.
5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. 33:12 The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.
21:3 At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see. 21:4 My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.
Second Half of 18 The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. 19 The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. 20 The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again. 6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. 4 The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. 7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. 8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. 9 No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. 10 The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. 11 In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. 12 The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. 13 So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
2:19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. 2:10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! 2:11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
2:21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. Second Half of 13:13 And the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.
33:10 "Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. 42:14 For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. 13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. First Half of 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; 13:10 the stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 42:15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. 13:12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir."
5:15 So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
21 In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. 22 They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.
26:20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 26:21 See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer. 26:19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. 34:4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
52:10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 59:19 From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. 15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. First Half of 16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One."
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