< Isaiah 25 >
1 Lord, you are my God. I will honor you and praise who you are, because you have done wonderful things that you planned long ago. You are faithful and trustworthy!
O LORD, Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things; even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.
2 You have turned the city into a pile of rubble; the fortified town is now a ruin; the foreigner palace is gone. It is no longer a city and it will never be rebuilt.
For Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin; a castle of strangers to be no city, it shall never be built.
3 Because of this powerful nations will honor you; cities of brutal nations will be in awe of you.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee.
4 But you have protected the poor and needy when they were in trouble, you shielded them from storms and shaded them from the heat. For the actions of brutal people are like rain beating against a wall,
For Thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones was as a storm against the wall.
5 like heat in a desert. You end the noisy uprising of foreigners. In the same way that a cloud's shadow cools down the heat of the day, so the song sung by brutal people is silenced.
As the heat in a dry place, Thou didst subdue the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones was brought low.
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast for all nations, a lavish feast of aged wines, rich food, and the best meat.
And in this mountain will the LORD of hosts make unto all peoples 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.
7 On this mountain he will destroy the veil that covers all the nations, the sheet that is over everyone.
And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away all tears, and everywhere he will take away the humiliation suffered by his people. The Lord has spoken.
He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth; for the LORD hath spoken it.
9 At that time his people will say, “Look! This is our God; we have trusted in him and he has saved us! This is the Lord we have been looking for. Now we can be happy and celebrate the salvation he brings!”
And it shall be said in that day: 'Lo, this is our God, for whom we waited, that He might save us; this is the LORD, for whom we waited, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.'
10 The Lord's hand of protection will be on this mountain. But the Moabites will be trampled underfoot like straw into the water of a manure pit.
For in this mountain will the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the dunghill.
11 They will reach out their hands to try and save themselves, like swimmers using their hands to swim, but their pride will be humbled however much they thrash about.
And when he shall spread forth his hands in the midst thereof, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim, his pride shall be brought down together with the cunning of his hands.
12 Moab, he will demolish your fortress with the high walls, bringing it down to the ground, into the dust.
And the high fortress of thy walls will He bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.