The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, page 318
On the former issue, literal fulfillment of many of Isaiah’s prophecies has already occurred, as illustrated in Introduction: Historical and Theological Themes. To contend that those yet unfulfilled will see non-literal fulfillment is biblically groundless. This fact disqualifies the case for proposing that the church receives some of the promises made originally to Israel. The kingdom promised to David belongs to Israel, not the church. The future exaltation of Jerusalem will be on earth, not in heaven. Christ will reign personally on this earth as we know it, as well as in the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 22:1, 3).
Outline
I. Judgment (1:1-35:10)
A. Prophecies Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1-12:6)
1. Judah’s social sins (1:1—6:13)
2. Judah’s political entanglements (7:1—12:6)
B. Oracles of Judgment and Salvation (13:1-23:18)
1. Babylon and Assyria (13:1—14:27)
2. Philistia (14:28–32)
3. Moab (15:1—16:14)
4. Syria and Israel (17:1–14)
5. Ethiopia (18:1–7)
6. Egypt (19:1—20:6)
7. Babylon continued (21:1–10)
8. Edom (21:11, 12)
9. Arabia (21:13–17)
10. Jerusalem (22:1–25)
11. Tyre (23:1–18)
C. Redemption of Israel through World Judgment (24:1-27:13)
1. God’s devastation of the earth (24:1–23)
2. First song of thanksgiving for redemption (25:1–12)
3. Second song of thanksgiving for redemption (26:1–19)
4. Israel’s chastisements and final prosperity (26:20—27:13)
D. Warnings Against Alliance with Egypt (28:1-35:10)
1. Woe to drunken politicians (28:1–29)
2. Woe to religious formalists (29:1–14)
3. Woe to those who hide plans from God (29:15–24)
4. Woe to the pro-Egyptian party (30:1–33)
5. Woe to those who trust in horses and chariots (31:1—32:20)
6. Woe to the Assyrian destroyer (33:1–24)
7. A cry for justice against the nations, particularly Edom (34:1—35:10)
II. Historical Interlude (36:1-39:8)
A. Sennacherib’s Attempt to Capture Jerusalem (36:1-37:38)
B. Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery (38:1-22)
C. Babylonian Emissaries to Jerusalem (39:1-8)
III. Salvation (40:1-66:24)
A. Deliverance from Captivity (40:1-48:22)
1. Comfort to the Babylonian exiles (40:1–31)
2. The end of Israel’s misery (41:1—48:22)
B. Sufferings of the Servant of the LORD (49:1-57:21)
1. The Servant’s mission (49:1—52:12)
2. Redemption by the Suffering Servant (52:13—53:12)
3. Results of the Suffering Servant’s redemption (54:1—57:21)
C. Future Glory of God’s People (58:1-66:24)
1. Two kinds of religion (58:1–14)
2. Plea to Israel to forsake their sins (59:1–19)
3. Future blessedness of Zion (59:20—61:11)
4. Nearing of Zion’s deliverance (62:1—63:6)
5. Prayer for national deliverance (63:7—64:12)
6. The LORD’s answer to Israel’s supplication (65:1—66:24)
The Book of
ISAIAH
Isaiah 1
Judah Called to Repentance
1The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the bdays of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2c Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
3d The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s 1crib;
But Israel edoes not know,
My people do not 2consider.”
4Alas, sinful nation,
A people 3laden with iniquity,
f A 4brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
5g Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
7h Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8So the daughter of Zion is left ias a 5booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
j As a besieged city.
9k Unless the LORD of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like lSodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
10Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers mof Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
11“To what purpose is the multitude of your nsacrifices to Me?”
Says the LORD.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
12“When you come oto appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13Bring no more pfutile6 sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and qthe calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14Your rNew Moons and your sappointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15t When you 7spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
u Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of 8blood.
16“Washv yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
w Cease to do evil,
17Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke 9the oppressor;
10 Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
18“Come now, and let us xreason together,”
Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
y They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
20But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
z For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
The Degenerate City
21a How the faithful city has become a 11harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now bmurderers.
22c Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23d Your princes are rebellious,
And ecompanions of thieves;
f Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They gdo not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
24Therefore the Lord says,
The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,
“Ah, hI will 12rid Myself of My adversaries,
And 13take vengeance on My enemies.
25I will turn My hand against you,
And ithoroughly14 purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
26I will restore your judges jas at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward kyou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
27Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her 15penitents with righteousness.
28The ldestruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29For 16they shall be ashamed of the 17terebinth trees
Which you have desired;
And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens
Which you have chosen.
30For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,
And as a garden that has no water.
31m The strong shall be as tinder,
And the work of it as a spark;
Both will burn together,
And no one shall nquench them.
Isaiah 2
The Future House of God
(Mic. 4:1–5)
1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2Now ait shall come to pass bin the latter days
c That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3Many people shall come and say,
d“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
e For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning 1hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
The Day of the LORD
5O house of Jacob, come and let us fwalk
In the light of the LORD.
6For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled gwith eastern ways;
They are hsoothsayers like the Philistines,
i And they 2are pleased with the children of foreigners.
7j Their land is also full of silver and gold,
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
8k Their land is also full of idols;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
9People bow down,
And each man humbles himself;
Therefore do not forgive them.
10l Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty.
11The 3lofty looks of man shall be mhumbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the LORD alone shall be exalted nin that day.
12For the day of the LORD of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
13Upon all othe cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
14p Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
15Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
16q Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
17The 4loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
18But the idols 5He shall utterly abolish.
19They shall go into the rholes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the 6earth,
s From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises tto shake the earth mightily.
20In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
21To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
22u Sever7 yourselves from such a man,
Whose vbreath is in his nostrils;
For 8of what account is he?
Isaiah 3
Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem
1For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
a Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah
b The1 stock and the store,
The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
2c The mighty man and the man of war,
The judge and the prophet,
And the diviner and the elder;
3The captain of fifty and the 2honorable man,
The counselor and the skillful artisan,
And the expert enchanter.
4“I will give dchildren3 to be their princes,
And 4babes shall rule over them.
5The people will be oppressed,
Every one by another and every one by his neighbor;
The child will be insolent toward the 5elder,
And the 6base toward the honorable.”
6When a man takes hold of his brother
In the house of his father, saying,
“You have clothing;
You be our ruler,
And let these ruins be under your 7power,”
7In that day he will protest, saying,
“I cannot cure your ills,
For in my house is neither food nor clothing;
Do not make me a ruler of the people.”
8For eJerusalem stumbled,
And Judah is fallen,
Because their tongue and their doings
Are against the LORD,
To provoke the eyes of His glory.
9The look on their countenance witnesses against them,
And they declare their sin as fSodom;
They do not hide it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10“Say to the righteous gthat it shall be well with them,
h For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11Woe to the wicked! iIt shall be ill with him,
For the reward of his hands shall be 8given him.
12As for My people, children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! jThose who lead you 9cause you to err,
And destroy the way of your paths.”
Oppression and Luxury Condemned
13The LORD stands up kto 10plead,
And stands to judge the people.
14The LORD will enter into judgment
With the elders of His people
And His princes:
“For you have 11eaten up lthe vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15What do you mean by mcrushing My people
And grinding the faces of the poor?”
Says the Lord GOD of hosts.
16Moreover the LORD says:
“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
And walk with 12outstretched necks
And 13wanton eyes,
Walking and 14mincing as they go,
Making a jingling with their feet,
17Therefore the Lord will strike with na scab
The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,
And the LORD will ouncover their secret parts.”
18In that day the Lord will take away the finery:
The jingling anklets, the 15scarves, and the pcrescents;
19The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils;
20The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands;
The perfume boxes, the charms,
21and the rings;
The nose jewels,
22the festal apparel, and the mantles;
The outer garments, the purses,
23and the mirrors;
The fine linen, the turbans, and the robes.
24And so it shall be:
Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;
Instead of a sash, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, qbaldness;
Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
And 16branding instead of beauty.
25Your men shall fall by the sword,
And your 17mighty in the war.
26r Her gates shall lament and mourn,
And she being desolate sshall sit on the ground.
Isaiah 4
Jerusalem’s Glorious Future
1And ain that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
“We will beat our own food and wear our own apparel;
Only let us be called by your name,
To take away cour reproach.”
The Renewal of Zion
2In that day dthe Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped.
3And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem ewill be called holy—everyone who is frecorded among the living in Jerusalem.
4When gthe Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the 1blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
5then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, ha cloud and smoke by day and ithe shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a 2covering.
