Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

The Future House of God

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come

the mountain of the L ord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the L ord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the L ord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance

O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the L ord!

For you have forsaken the ways of your people,

O house of Jacob.

Indeed they are full of diviners from the east

and of soothsayers like the Philistines,

and they clasp hands with foreigners.

Their land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

Their land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

And so people are humbled,

and everyone is brought low—

do not forgive them!

Enter into the rock,

and hide in the dust

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty.

The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,

and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;

and the L ord alone will be exalted on that day.

For the L ord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up and high;

against all the cedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the oaks of Bashan;

against all the high mountains,

and against all the lofty hills;

against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

against all the ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,

and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;

and the L ord alone will be exalted on that day.

The idols shall utterly pass away.

Enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

On that day people will throw away

to the moles and to the bats

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts in the crags,

from the terror of the L ord,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

Turn away from mortals,

who have only breath in their nostrils,

for of what account are they?

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

8. Their land is also full of idols He repeats what he had already noticed about idolatry, but enters into it more fully; and, having first mentioned the subject itself, he next speaks of the use of it, which almost always follows. It seldom happens that we do not abuse idols when they are set up among us, for it is as when fire has been applied to a pile of wood, which must immediately burn; and wood is not more ready to be set on fire than we are to follow superstition. In the Hebrew language idols are very properly denominated by the word אלילים, (elilim) which the Prophet here employs, for they are empty things, and of no value. ⁴⁰⁴⁰ “So called,” says Buxtorf, “because they are absolutely nothing, agreeably to that saying of the Apostle, an idol is nothing in the world,” (1 Corinthians 8:4.) רפאי אלל, (rophee elil) physicians of no value, (Job 13:4,) is an instance of the literal use of the word. — Ed And undoubtedly the Holy Spirit intended by this word to reprove the madness of men who imagined that, by relying on such inventions, they approached nearer to God; as the papists of the present day, in order to plead for the usefulness of their idols, boast that they are the books of the unlearned: but we ought rather to believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit; and even the facts themselves plainly show what advantage the unlearned derive from them; for, led away by gross fancies, they imagine to themselves earthly and carnal gods. Hence Jeremiah justly declares not only that idols are useless, but that they are teachers of falsehood and lies. (Jeremiah 10:14.)

And they have bowed down ⁴¹⁴¹ They worship. — Eng. Ver. before the work of their own hands We must also attend to this description, in which the Prophet relates that the people bowed down before the works of their own hands; for how stupid was it that men should not only worship wood and stone instead of God, but should honor their own workmanship with the appellation of Deity, which they cannot bestow on themselves! It is truly shocking and monstrous that, as soon as a block of wood which lay neglected has received the finishing-stroke from a mortal man, he presently worships it as if it had been made a God. Although the Prophet addresses the ancient people, the same reasoning applies to the papists, who acknowledge no majesty of God but in the works of their own hands.

Before that which their own fingers have made The repetition is emphatic, and to the hands he adds the fingers, in order to exhibit more strongly the grossness of the crime. We must also attend to the mode of expression, which denotes adoration by means of outward gesture; not that it is unlawful among men to bend the knee or the head for the sake of paying public respect, but because he who bows down before an idol professes to render divine worship. Consequently, the silly talk of papists about that adoration which they call Dulia ⁴²⁴² The popish distinction between an inferior kind of adoration, called δουλεία and a higher kind of adoration, called λατρεία, is illustrated and refuted by our Author, in the Institutes, vol. 1, p. 141, and in the Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 1, p. 221. — Ed (δουλεία) is a childish evasion; for when the Prophet speaks of religious worship he condemns universally every token of homage. ⁴³⁴³ That is, of homage paid to idols. — Ed.

⁴⁰ “So called,” says Buxtorf, “because they are absolutely nothing, agreeably to that saying of the Apostle, an idol is nothing in the world,” (1 Corinthians 8:4.) רפאי אלל, (rophee elil) physicians of no value, (Job 13:4,) is an instance of the literal use of the word. — Ed

⁴¹ They worship. — Eng. Ver.

⁴² The popish distinction between an inferior kind of adoration, called δουλεία and a higher kind of adoration, called λατρεία, is illustrated and refuted by our Author, in the Institutes, vol. 1, p. 141, and in the Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 1, p. 221. — Ed

⁴³ That is, of homage paid to idols. — Ed.