About this Bible Study........The King James Version of the Bible is written in a beautiful form of the English language. It can be hard for modern English readers to understand. In this study, you will find notes and summaries in brown just above the the verses from the Bible. We recommend that you read the notes and summaries first, and then read the verses in their KJV form.
Timeline of the Bible |
The Book of Isaiah
Many year after the Israelites left Egypt, they moved into the land of Canaan. Canaan was divided, and the families of each of Jacob's 12 sons were given land. Jacob was also called Israel, and the land became known as Israel. Later, the tribe of Judah separated from the other tribes. Then there were two separate areas: Judah and Israel. Judah had a king, and Israel had a king. The book of Isaiah includes the times when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah.Isaiah was a prophet. God showed Isaiah things that would happen in the future. Isaiah saw these events in dreams. Then, he told the people in Judah about them. Isaiah told what would happen to Judah if the people did not obey God. He also told that there would be a Messiah or Savior coming in the future. The Messiah was Jesus Christ.
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History of Israel around Isaiah's time Assyria was getting bigger and was going to attack Israel and Syria. Israel and Syria joined together to fight Assyria. Israel and Syria wanted Judah to join with them. The king of Judah said no. Then Israel and Syria attacked Judah. They wanted to control Judah and then set up a new king who would help them fight Assyria.
The king of Judah, Ahaz, thought about asking Assyria to help them fight Israel and Syria. Isaiah said that Judah should not ask Assyria for help. They should trust God to protect Judah. But King Ahaz did not listen to Isaiah. He asked for Assyria's help to fight Israel. Assyria helped Judah, and then Assyria took control of Israel's capital, Samaria, and all of Israel. The Assyrians took away the people who lived in Israel. They took them back to Assyria. After Assyria defeated Israel, they were planning to take control of Judah. Judah was thinking about asking Egypt to help them. Isaiah said that Judah should not ask Egypt for help. They should trust God to protect them. Judah's King Hezekiah listened to Isaiah, and he did not ask Egypt for help. Later, though, he did ask Egypt for help. God helped Judah defeat Assyria. Later, King Hezekiah sinned. He showed some people from Babylon the valuable items that Judah had. Isaiah told Hezekiah that his descendants would be taken away to Babylon. King Hezekiah's son was Manesseh. He was a bad king. He encouraged the people in Judah to worship false gods and idols again. He was captured and taken to Babylon. Then he repented and started to follow God's laws. Later, the Babylonians attacked Judah. They took control and then carried all of the Jewish people back to Babylon.
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Shiloah was a small and quiet stream of water. It was not big and powerful like a river. Isaiah compares the small and quiet stream to God's quiet strength. |
God will punish Israel and Judah.
God sent a message to Israel and Judah. The
people in the areas of Ephraim and Samaria were too proud. They said
that if the buildings and trees are destroyed, they will build them
again and bring in different trees.
[8] The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
[9] And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of
Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
[10] The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the
sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
God will allow Rezin (the leader of Syria) and
the Philistines to attack Israel. They will destroy Israel. But God
will still be angry. He will continue to punish them.
[11] Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against
him, and join his enemies together;
[12] The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall
devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still.
The people still will not turn to God. They
will not follow God.
[13] For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do
they seek the LORD of hosts.
God will cut off Israel's head, tail, and all
parts in one day.
[14] Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch
and rush, in one day.
The old leaders are the head of Israel.
The prophets who tell lies are the tail.
[15] The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that
teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Israel's leaders have caused the people to sin.
The people will be destroyed.
[16] For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are
led of them are destroyed.
God will not be happy with the young Israelite
men. He will not have mercy on widows and orphans. God says that they
are all hypocrites (talk one way, but behave a different way) and
sinners. They all say stupid things. God will still be mad. He
will continue to punish them.
[17] Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither
shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an
hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Wickedness burns like fire. It destroys the
briers and thorns. It will start burning again in the woods. Evil people
will go up
like smoke goes up in the air.
[18] For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and
thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall
mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
God is angry, and He will make the land dark.
The people will be like fuel for the fire. No one will save
others.
[19] Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and
the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his
brother.
The people will grab food with their right
hands but they will still be hungry. They will eat food from the left hand
and still be hungry. They will be so hungry that they eat the skin on
their own arms.
[20] And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall
eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat
every man the flesh of his own arm:
The areas of Manasseh and Ephraim will join
together. They will be against the area of Judah. Even then, God will
still be angry. He will continue to punish them.
[21] Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall
be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still.
After Assyria defeats Israel, God will punish
Assyria.
After God has punished Jerusalem and the area
of Mount Zion, he will punish the king of Assyria and his descendants.
He will punish them because the king was too proud and bragged about
himself
[12] Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed
his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit
of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high
looks.
The king of Assyria was proud and vain. He will
say that he defeated Jerusalem by himself. He will think he is very
smart. He will say that he defeated the people and stole the
things they owned.
[13] For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my
wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people,
and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants
like a valiant man:
The Assyrian king will brag about his victory.
He will say that he took the Jerusalem belongings easy like people
gather eggs from chicken's nests. He will say that no one tried to
stop him. The Assyrian king will brag that he himself is
responsible for his victory. He will be wrong because God will be responsible. It will be
like the ax, saw, or rod bragging that they are more powerful than
the workmen that use them.
[14] And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as
one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and
there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
[15] Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or
shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
God will cause the Assyrian soldiers to be sick
and lose weight. The king will have victory, but there will be a
little fire that continues to burn. The little fire will be
Israel. God will be the flame. The fire will burn and destroy
Assyria. It will destroy Assyria's thorns, briers forests, fields, body,
and soul. There will only be a few trees left. It will be a small number
of trees. A child could write the number of his trees.
[16] Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat
ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the
burning of a fire.
[17] And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a
flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one
day;
[18] And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful
field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer
fainteth.
[19] And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child
may write them.
After that happens, the Israelites who have
escaped will behave better. They will not obey the Assyrian king, but
they will obey God's laws. They will follow the true Lord God. They will
not worship false gods.
[20] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel,
and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay
upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of
Israel, in truth.
The Israelites who are left will come back to
Israel. They will come back to God.
[21] The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the
mighty God.
There are many, many Israelites. There are as
many as there are grains of sand in the sea. But only a small part
of them will return to Israel. God's order for the end of Israel
is fair. It overflows with goodness and fairness.
[22] For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a
remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow
with righteousness.
God has ordered this to happen in all of the land.
[23] For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even
determined, in the midst of all the land.
God says that the people in Israel should not
be afraid of Assyria. Assyria will attack them and treat them the
way the Egyptians did. But after they are destroyed, God will not be
angry anymore.
[24] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that
dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee
with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner
of Egypt.
[25] For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and
mine anger in their destruction.
Back in the time of Gideon, the Israelites defeated the group of people called the Midianites. At the place of the rock named Oreb, they killed many Midianites. They killed the Midian leader named Oreb. |
God will destroy Assyria. It will be like
when the Israelites defeated the Midianites at the rock of Oreb. It will
be like when God divided the Red Sea when the Israelites were escaping
from Egypt.
[26] And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to
the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the
sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
When God destroys Assryia, the Israelites
will not have burdens anymore. God will take their burdens off their
shoulders. He will take the yoke (like oxen have on their necks) off
their necks. The yoke will be destroyed because God is helping
them.
[27] And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be
taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and
the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
The Assyrians will march toward Jerusalem. Then
they will be destroyed.
These are the towns the Assyrians will
travel through. They will travel through Aiath, Migron, and Michmash.
When they arrive in Michmash, they will leave some of their carriages
there. Then
they will travel through a pass (place between two mountains). They will
stay at Geba. The people in the place named Ramah will be afraid of
them. The people in the area of Gibeah (where the Israelite king, Saul,
lived) will run away.
[28] He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath
laid up his carriages:
[29] They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at
Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
The people in the area of Gallim will warn the
people in Laish. The people in Anathoth will have trouble. The people in
Madmenah will be taken away. The people in Gebim will get ready to run
away.
[30] Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto
Laish, O poor Anathoth.
[31] Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to
flee.
The Assyrians will stay at the place named Nob
for a day. Then the Assyrian king will try to attack Jerusalem.
[32] As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand
against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
God will defeat the Assyrians. He will cut them
down like trees. He will bring down their leaders. The leaders who
thought they were powerful will have no power. God will cut down their
thick forests with iron tools. The area of Lebanon will be defeated.
[33] Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with
terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty
shall be humbled.
[34] And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and
Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.