The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  6And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, jfor a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

  Isaiah 5

  God’s Disappointing Vineyard

  1Now let me sing to my Well-beloved

  A song of my Beloved aregarding His vineyard:

  My Well-beloved has a vineyard

  1 On a very fruitful hill.

  2He dug it up and cleared out its stones,

  And planted it with the choicest vine.

  He built a tower in its midst,

  And also 2made a winepress in it;

  b So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,

  But it brought forth wild grapes.

  3“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

  c Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.

  4What more could have been done to My vineyard

  That I have not done in dit?

  Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,

  Did it bring forth wild grapes?

  5And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:

  e I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;

  And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

  6I will lay it fwaste;

  It shall not be pruned or 3dug,

  But there shall come up briers and gthorns.

  I will also command the clouds

  That they rain no rain on it.”

  7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,

  And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

  He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;

  For righteousness, but behold, 4a cry for help.

  Impending Judgment on Excesses

  8Woe to those who 5join hhouse to house;

  They add field to field,

  Till there is no place

  Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!

  9i In my hearing the LORD of hosts said,

  “Truly, many houses shall be desolate,

  Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.

  10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one jbath,6

  And a homer of seed shall yield one 7ephah.”

  11k Woe to those who rise early in the morning,

  That they may 8follow intoxicating drink;

  Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!

  12l The harp and the strings,

  The tambourine and flute,

  And wine are in their feasts;

  But mthey do not regard the work of the LORD,

  Nor consider the operation of His hands.

  13n Therefore my people have gone into captivity,

  Because they have no oknowledge;

  Their honorable men are famished,

  And their multitude dried up with thirst.

  14Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself

  And opened its mouth beyond measure;

  Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,

  And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.

  15People shall be brought down,

  p Each man shall be humbled,

  And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

  16But the LORD of hosts shall be qexalted in judgment,

  And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.

  17Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,

  And in the waste places of rthe 9fat ones strangers shall eat.

  18Woe to those who 10draw iniquity with cords of 11vanity,

  And sin as if with a cart rope;

  19s That say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work,

  That we may see it;

  And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,

  That we may know it.”

  20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

  Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

  Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

  21Woe to those who are twise in their own eyes,

  And prudent in their own sight!

  22Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,

  Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

  23Who ujustify the wicked for a bribe,

  And take away justice from the righteous man!

  24Therefore, vas the 12fire devours the stubble,

  And the flame consumes the chaff,

  So wtheir root will be as rottenness,

  And their blossom will ascend like dust;

  Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,

  And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

  25x Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people;

  He has stretched out His hand against them

  And stricken them,

  And ythe hills trembled.

  Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

  z For all this His anger is not turned away,

  But His hand is stretched out still.

  26a He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,

  And will bwhistle to them from cthe end of the earth;

  Surely dthey shall come with speed, swiftly.

  27No one will be weary or stumble among them,

  No one will slumber or sleep;

  Nor ewill the belt on their loins be loosed,

  Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;

  28f Whose arrows are sharp,

  And all their bows bent;

  Their horses’ hooves will 13seem like flint,

  And their wheels like a whirlwind.

  29Their roaring will be like a lion,

  They will roar like young lions;

  Yes, they will roar

  And lay hold of the prey;

  They will carry it away safely,

  And no one will deliver.

  30In that day they will roar against them

  Like the roaring of the sea.

  And if one glooks to the land,

  Behold, darkness and 14sorrow;

  And the light is darkened by the clouds.

  Isaiah 6

  Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet

  (cf. Ezek. 1:4–28)

  1In the year that aKing Uzziah died, I bsaw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

  2Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, cwith two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

  3And one cried to another and said:

  d“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

  e The whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah Fulfilled at Christ’s First Advent

  4And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

  5So I said:

  “Woe is me, for I am 1undone!

  Because I am a man of funclean lips,

  And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

  For my eyes have seen the King,

  The LORD of hosts.”

  6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from gthe altar.

  7And he htouched my mouth with it, and said:

  “Behold, this has touched your lips;

  Your iniquity is taken away,

  And your sin 2purged.”

  8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

  “Whom shall I send,

  And who will go for iUs?”

  Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

  9And He said, “Go, and jtell this people:

  ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

  Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

  10“Make kthe heart of this people dull,

  And their ears heavy,

  And shut their eyes;

  l Lest they see with their eyes,

  And hear with their ears,

  An
d understand with their heart,

  And return and be healed.”

  11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered:

  m“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,

  The houses are without a man,

  The land is utterly desolate,

  12n The LORD has removed men far away,

  And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

  13But yet a tenth will be in it,

  And will return and be for consuming,

  As a terebinth tree or as an oak,

  Whose stump remains when it is cut down.

  So othe holy seed shall be its stump.”

  Isaiah 7

  Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

  (2 Kin. 16:5; 2 Chr. 28:5–15)

  1Now it came to pass in the days of aAhaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against bit, but could not 1prevail against it.

  2And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are 2deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

  3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and 3Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field,

  4“and say to him: 4‘Take heed, and 5be cquiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

  5‘Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying,

  6“Let us go up against Judah and 6trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”—

  7‘thus says the Lord GOD:

  d“It shall not stand,

  Nor shall it come to pass.

  8e For the head of Syria is Damascus,

  And the head of Damascus is Rezin.

  Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be 7broken,

  So that it will not be a people.

  9The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

  And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.

  f If you will not believe,

  Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”

  The Immanuel Prophecy

  10Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

  11g“Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; 8ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”

  12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!”

  13Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?

  14“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: hBehold, the virgin shall conceive and bear ia Son, and shall call His name jImmanuel.9

  15“Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.

  16k“For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by lboth her kings.

  17m“The LORD will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that nEphraim departed from Judah.”

  18And it shall come to pass in that day

  That the LORD owill whistle for the fly

  That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt,

  And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

  19They will come, and all of them will rest

  In the desolate valleys and in pthe clefts of the rocks,

  And on all thorns and in all pastures.

  20In the same day the Lord will shave with a qhired rrazor,

  With those from beyond 10the River, with the king of Assyria,

  The head and the hair of the legs,

  And will also remove the beard.

  21It shall be in that day

  That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;

  22So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give,

  That he will eat curds;

  For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.

  23It shall happen in that day,

  That wherever there could be a thousand vines

  Worth a thousand shekels of silver,

  s It will be for briers and thorns.

  24With arrows and bows men will come there,

  Because all the land will become briers and thorns.

  25And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe,

  You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns;

  But it will become a range for oxen

  And a place for sheep to roam.

  Isaiah 8

  Assyria Will Invade the Land

  1Moreover the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll, and awrite on it with a man’s pen concerning 1Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.

  2“And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, bUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”

  3Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz;

  4c“for before the child 2shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ dthe riches of Damascus and the 3spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”

  5The LORD also spoke to me again, saying:

  6“Inasmuch as these people refused

  The waters of eShiloah that flow softly,

  And rejoice fin Rezin and in Remaliah’s son;

  7Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them

  The waters of 4the River, strong and mighty—

  The king of Assyria and all his glory;

  He will 5go up over all his channels

  And go over all his banks.

  8He will pass through Judah,

  He will overflow and pass over,

  g He will reach up to the neck;

  And the stretching out of his wings

  Will 6fill the breadth of Your land, O hImmanuel.7

  9“Bei shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!

  Give ear, all you from far countries.

  Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;

  Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.

  10j Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

  Speak the word, kbut it will not stand,

  l For 8God is with us.”

  Fear God, Heed His Word

  11For the LORD spoke thus to me with 9a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

  12“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’

  Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,

  Nor be afraid of their 10threats, nor be 11troubled.

  13The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;

  Let Him be your fear,

  And let Him be your dread.

  14m He will be as a 12sanctuary,

  But na stone of stumbling and a rock of 13offense

  To both the houses of Israel,

  As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

  15And many among them shall ostumble;

  They shall fall and be broken,

  Be snared and 14taken.”

  16Bind up the testimony,

  Seal the law among my disciples.

  17And I will wait on the LORD,

  Who phides His face from the house of Jacob;

  And I qwill hope in Him.

  18r Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me!

  We sare for signs and wonders in Israel

  From the LORD of hosts,

  Who dwells in Mount Zion.

  19And when they say to you, t“Seek those who are mediums and wizards, uwho whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they vseek the dead on behalf of the living?

  20wTo the law and to the
testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because xthere15 is no light in them.

  21They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and ycurse 16their king and their God, and look upward.

  22Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.

  Isaiah 9

  The Government of the Promised Son

  (Is. 11:1–9)

  1Nevertheless athe gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,

  As when at bfirst He lightly esteemed

  The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

  And cafterward more heavily oppressed her,

  By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

  In Galilee of the Gentiles.

  2d The people who walked in darkness

  Have seen a great light;

  Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,

  Upon them a light has shined.

  3You have multiplied the nation

  And 1increased its joy;

  They rejoice before You

  According to the joy of harvest,

  As men rejoice ewhen they divide the spoil.

  4For You have broken the yoke of his burden

  And the staff of his shoulder,

  The rod of his oppressor,

  As in the day of fMidian.

  5For every warrior’s 2sandal from the noisy battle,

  And garments rolled in blood,

  g Will be used for burning and fuel 3of fire.

  6h For unto us a Child is born,

  Unto us a iSon is given;

  And jthe government will be upon His shoulder.

  And His name will be called

  k Wonderful, Counselor, lMighty God,

  Everlasting Father, mPrince of Peace.

  7Of the increase of His government and peace

  n There will be no end,

  Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

  To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

  From that time forward, even forever.

  The ozeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

  The Punishment of Samaria

  8The Lord sent a word against pJacob,

  And it has fallen on Israel.

  9All the people will know—

  Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—