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Isaiah 25

KJV · Chapter 25/66

1O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

2For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

3Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

4For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

5Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

6And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

7And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

9And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

10For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

11And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

12And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A song of praise and hope: God will prepare a great feast for all peoples, destroy death forever, and wipe away the tears from every face. Moab, however, will continue to be humbled.

Explanation

The 'feast for all peoples' is one of the most striking images in the book, portraying salvation not as an event exclusive to Israel but as a universal invitation to all nations. The phrase 'he will swallow up death in victory' is quoted directly by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54 when speaking of the resurrection, and 'he will wipe away the tears from all faces' reappears almost word for word in Revelation 21:4, showing how this prophecy shaped the biblical vision of ultimate hope. The continued mention of Moab serves as a counterpoint: even amid grand promises of universal salvation, the pride of specific nations would still be judged. The application today is that the Christian hope of final victory over death has deep roots in this prophetic text written centuries before Christ.

Fun facts

  • The phrase 'he will swallow up death in victory' is quoted literally by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54, one of the most direct connections between Isaiah and the New Testament on the theme of resurrection.
  • 'He will wipe away the tears from all faces' is picked up almost word for word in Revelation 21:4, showing how the Bible's final vision of the end of the age directly echoes this prophecy of Isaiah.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaiah 25:1After the chapters of judgment, a personal song of praise begins: Isaiah exalts God for carrying out His ancient plans with absolute faithfulness, “faithfulness and truth” — the certainty that old promises are fulfilled exactly as planned.
  2. Isaiah 25:2Praises God for turning a fortified city into a heap of rubble, utterly ruining the palace of strangers — probably a reference to an enemy capital that will never be rebuilt.
  3. Isaiah 25:3As a result of this display of power, even powerful peoples and fearsome cities will come to fear and glorify God.
  4. Isaiah 25:4Describes God as a refuge for the poor and needy in their distress — protection from flood and shade from heat, images of relief compared to the oppression of tyrants, like a storm beating against a wall.
  5. Isaiah 25:5Continues the image: just as a cloud eases the desert heat, God will subdue the arrogant noise of tyrants, silencing their threat as if it were heat cooled by shade.
  6. Isaiah 25:6The feast “of fat things full of marrow” describes the finest cuts of meat and the best-strained wines possible, a banquet fit for a king. Here it is offered by God to all peoples, not only to Judah.
  7. Isaiah 25:7The veil and covering over the faces of all peoples is an image of mourning or widespread ignorance. The text describes this covering being removed, a poetic way of announcing the end of a period of collective suffering.
  8. Isaiah 25:8The promise of swallowing up death is read quite differently by various traditions, some as a final victory over death itself, others as the end of a specific period of suffering. The text itself does not spell out the mechanism, it only describes tears being wiped away.
  9. Isaiah 25:9In that day, the people will publicly acknowledge that this is the God they had been waiting for, the one who finally saved them — a moment of collective joy after so much waiting for the promised salvation.
  10. Isaiah 25:10The “hand of the LORD” will rest on Mount Zion, but Moab, an old enemy, will be trampled down like straw thrown on a dunghill — an image of total humiliation for those who opposed God.
  11. Isaiah 25:11Describes Moab struggling like a swimmer trying to swim, but God will bring down its pride despite all the skill it tries to use to escape.
  12. Isaiah 25:12Ends the oracle by completely tearing down Moab’s high fortifications, reducing everything to dust — the definitive end of any defense the nation might have had.

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