Isaiah

Jeremiah Richardson
Jan 2
5 min read

Updated: Jan 4

The vision of Isaiah, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: Zion’s Glory.

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land excellent and appealing for Israel’s survivors. So it will come to pass that whoever is left in Zion and whoever remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

Then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her convocations, a cloud by day, and smoke and shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all, glory will be a canopy. Then there will be a sukkah for shade by day from the heat, and for refuge and for shelter from storm and from rain.

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given,

and the government will be upon His shoulder.

His Name will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God

My Father of Eternity,

Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government

and shalom there will be no end—

on the throne of David and over His kingdom—

to establish it and uphold it

through justice and righteousness

from now until forevermore.

Then a shoot will come forth out of the stem of Jesse,

and a branch will bear fruit out of His roots.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him,

the Spirit of wisdom and insight,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge

and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what his eyes see,

nor decide by what his ears hear.

But with righteousness he will judge the poor,

and decide with fairness for the poor of the land.

He will strike the land with the rod of His mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Also righteousness will be the belt around his loins,

and faithfulness the belt around his waist.

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness

and princes will rule in justice.

Each will be like a refuge from the wind

and a shelter from the storm,

like streams of water in a dry place,

like the shade of a massive rock in a weary land.

See, my servant will act wisely;

he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

His appearance was so disfigured

beyond that of any human being

and his form marred beyond human likeness—

and kings will shut their mouths because of him.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order. For you are dying and will not live.”

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. He said: “Please, the Lord, remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then it came to pass, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah saying: “Go, and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: ‘I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.’

“Now this will be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word He has spoken: Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairs, which went down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, to turn back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.

At that time Merodach-Baladan, son of King Baladan of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

Now Hezekiah was pleased with them, so he showed them his treasure house—the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil—and his whole armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing among my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, days are coming when everything in your house, which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon—nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ‘Moreover, some of your descendants—who will issue from you, whom you will father—will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be peace and security in my days.”

But now, this is what the Lord says:

“I will bring your offspring from the east

and gather you from the west.

I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

Bring My sons from far

and My daughters from the ends of the earth.

I was sought by those who did not ask for Me,

I was found by those who did not seek Me.

Heaven is My throne,

and the earth is My footstool.

Where then is the House you would build for Me?