Isaiah 2:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,

NIV: In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

NASB: Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.

CSB: In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it,

NLT: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all — the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

KJV: And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

NKJV: Now it shall come to pass in the latter days 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.

Nearly the same exact text appears in verses 2 through 4 as in Micah 4:1–3. Both prophets lived at the same time and delivered similar messages from Yahweh to His people. Both passages represent inspired Scripture from the Lord to His people through His prophets. This is true whether one was taken from the other or they shared the same source. Isaiah seems to be saying (Isaiah 2:1) that he witnessed these events himself in the form of a vision from the Lord.

This verse brings with it a sudden change in tone from chapter 1. Isaiah ended his thoughts in that chapter with the possibility of redemption for Israel. That required the people to repent, leaving behind their sin, and beginning to do what was right. Now, Isaiah is describing a future time when Israel's restoration will be so complete that the Lord will draw all the other nations to Himself and His ways.

Isaiah looks past the events of his day and even of his lifetime to an era that will take place in the "latter days" or the "last days." At the time, Isaiah says, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be recognized as the highest, or most significant, of all the mountains on earth.

The temple of the Lord in Israel rests at the highest point in Jerusalem, on the temple mount. This mountain of the Lord is not very tall compared to the Alps or the Rockies. But Isaiah insists it will become the highest in priority over all other mountains. He may be referring to the fact that many religions position their temples on top of mountains, claiming their gods reside in the highest places. The Lord's mountain will tower above the rest in terms of importance. In fact, Isaiah adds all the nations of the earth will come to the mountain of the Lord.

Coming from Isaiah's moment in history, this prophesy may have been especially hard to imagine. Little Israel was diminishing in influence and power. She was threatened on all sides and would soon be invaded, with her people carried off into exile. Isaiah points to a day when all of that will be a distant memory and the people of the world will flock to Jerusalem to visit Israel's God.

Isaiah 2:1–5 describes an impossible-seeming time in Israel's future: when the Lord will reign over the entire earth from Jerusalem. People from all the Gentile nations will flock to Israel and to Jerusalem to learn from the Lord how to walk in His ways. He will judge the nations, resolving all disputes, and bringing about a time so secure that no nation will even prepare for war anymore. Isaiah urges the Israelites of his day to not wait and to walk in the Lord's light now.

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).