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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 2

1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. 2 In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills.⁠ All the nations will stream to it;⁠ 3 many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.”⁠ For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.⁠ 5 O descendants of Jacob, come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light. 6 Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. For diviners from the east are everywhere; they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. Plenty of foreigners are around. 7 Their land is full of gold and silver; there is no end to their wealth. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.⁠ 8 Their land is full of worthless idols; they worship the product of their own hands, what their own fingers have fashioned.⁠ 9 Men bow down to them in homage, they lie flat on the ground in worship. Don’t spare them! 10 Go up into the rocky cliffs, hide in the ground. Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, from his royal splendor! 11 Proud men will be brought low, arrogant men will be humiliated; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 12 Indeed, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has planned a day of judgment for all the high and mighty for all who are proud—they will be humiliated; 13 for all the cedars of Lebanon that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan,⁠ 14 for all the tall mountains, for all the high hills, 15 for every high tower, for every fortified wall, 16 for all the large ships, for all the impressive ships. 17 Proud men will be humiliated, arrogant men will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. 19 They will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. 20 At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live, 21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. 22 Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 2:2 and Tobit 13:11

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Isaiah describes a future where all the nations come to Jerusalem, where the Torah will go out from Jerusalem and bring peace. Tobit echoes this image but shifts the language from “all nations” to “many nations,” perhaps softening Isaiah's universalism.

Passages

Isaiah 2:2

Hebrew Bible
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. 2 In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it; 3 many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Tobit 13:11

Deuterocanon
9 O Jerusalem, you holy city! he will chastise you for the works of your hands, And will again have mercy on the sons of the righteous. 10 Give thanks to the Lord with goodness, and bless the everlasting King, That your tabernacle may be built in you again with joy, And that he may make glad in you all that are captives, And love in you all that are miserable and all the generations of eternity. 11 A bright light shall shine to all the ends of the earth; Many nations shall come from afar, And the inhabitants of the utmost ends of the earth to your holy name; With their gifts also in their hands to the King of heaven, Generations of generations shall utter rejoicing in you, And your name that is elect to the generations of eternity. 12 Cursed shall be all they that shall speak a hard word; Cursed shall be all they that demolish you, And throw down your walls; And all they that overthrow your towers, And set on fire your habitations; But blessed shall be all they that fear you for ever. 13 Then go and be exceeding glad for the sons of the righteous: For they all shall be gathered together, And bless the everlasting Lord.
225–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tobit

References

"... When Solomon's Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E., so presumably was the Tabernacle. The restoration of the Temple, like the restoration of Tobit's sight, is central to the narrator's concern and not a pious afterthought ... love [agapesai] ... those ... distressed. The word for God's love for his people is the same one as used for Tobiah's love of Sarah (agapao in 6:18); whereas Asmodeus' love for Sarah was characterized by phileo. But too much can be read into the differences between agapao and phileo, for in the Hebrew Bible the verb 'hb serves for all kinds, levels, and depths of 'love.' A bright light. Compare Isaiah 9:1. Even as the restoration of Tobit's sight marked a new beginning for him, so Jerusalem as a 'bright light' symbolizes the dawning of a new day for Israel. Many nations will come to you. 'Many" (as in Isaiah 2:3) rather than "all" as in Isaiah 2:2. Compare also Isaiah 60:5; Micah 4:2; Zechariah 8:22; Psalm 86:9; 96:7-8. Although Tobit may have confined most of his time and charity to his fellow Israelites, here Tobit's (or better, the author's) compassion and broad-mindedness are clearly evident ..."
Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 280–281.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 2:2 and Tobit 13:11

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