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.

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