Isaiah 2:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the idols shall utterly pass away.

NIV: and the idols will totally disappear.

NASB: And the idols will completely vanish.

CSB: The worthless idols will vanish completely.

NLT: Idols will completely disappear.

KJV: And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

NKJV: But the idols He shall utterly abolish.

This passage warns the people of Israel living in Isaiah's time: the day of the Lord is coming (Ezekiel 30:3; Obadiah 1:15; Acts 2:20; 2 Peter 3:10). Isaiah is pointing forward to the time of God's judgment, especially as it will be expressed when the armies of Assyria and Babylon invade their tiny nation.

Isaiah has shown that Judah's citizens are wealthy at this time. The land is full of silver, gold, treasure, horses, and chariots (Isaiah 2:7). The land is also full of idols made by human hands and then worshipped as their makers bow down before their craft projects as if they are gods (Isaiah 2:8). The people of Judah imagine that those idols have provided their wealth instead of the Lord. This leads them to believe that those idols will keep them from destruction, instead of the Lord.

On the day of God's judgment all the idols will pass away. This may be true in two senses. For one, the idols themselves may be physically destroyed by God or the invading armies. Secondly, they will be exposed to all people as completely powerless to stop the destruction from coming (Revelation 6:15–17).

Isaiah 2:6–22 begins with stunning words: the Lord has "rejected" His people Israel. Instead of trusting Him, they worship false idols and practice fortune-telling. They believe these things and their deal-making have brought them wealth and security. The day of the Lord, though, will result in the abandonment of their homemade idols. He will bring low every great thing they trust instead of the Lord. The people will try to escape the Lord's majesty in the darkness of caves as He terrifies the earth. Isaiah finishes this section with telling His people to stop esteeming human beings.

Isaiah describes Israel's far future as a time when all the nations of the earth will recognize Israel's God as the Lord. They will come to Jerusalem to learn from Him how to live. Isaiah tells his people to walk in the light of the Lord now. Instead, they worship false gods, follow fortune tellers, and make deals. Their great wealth, military might, and endless homemade idols will not save them from the God's judgment on day of the Lord. Human arrogance will be brought low as the Lord is exalted. Isaiah summarizes the chapter with a warning not to trust fallible people, instead of God.

Isaiah 2 follows the summation of the first chapter by reintroducing the prophet. He describes Israel's distant future. Someday, all the people of earth will come to Jerusalem to learn how to live from Israel's God. For now, though, the Lord has rejected His people. On the day of the Lord, however, those idols will be left behind in the caves in which the people attempt to hide from God's majesty. Later chapters of this book will explain more about how this prophecy will come to be.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).