Isaiah 2

Climb God's Mountain 1-5The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem: There's a day coming when the mountain of God's House
Will be The Mountain—
   solid, towering over all mountains.
All nations will river toward it,
   people from all over set out for it.
They'll say, "Come,
   let's climb God's Mountain,
   go to the House of the God of Jacob.
He'll show us the way he works
   so we can live the way we're made."
Zion's the source of the revelation.
   God's Message comes from Jerusalem.
He'll settle things fairly between nations.
   He'll make things right between many peoples.
They'll turn their swords into shovels,
   their spears into hoes.
No more will nation fight nation;
   they won't play war anymore.
Come, family of Jacob,
   let's live in the light of God.

6-9God, you've walked out on your family Jacob
   because their world is full of hokey religion,
Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus,
   a world rolling in wealth,
Stuffed with things,
   no end to its machines and gadgets,
And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.
   These people make their own gods and worship what they make.
A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter.
   Don't bother with them! They're not worth forgiving!

Pretentious Egos Brought Down to Earth 10Head for the hills,
   hide in the caves
From the terror of God,
   from his dazzling presence.

11-17People with a big head are headed for a fall,
   pretentious egos brought down a peg.
It's God alone at front-and-center
   on the Day we're talking about,
The Day that God-of-the-Angel-Armies
   is matched against all big-talking rivals,
   against all swaggering big names;
Against all giant sequoias
   hugely towering,
   and against the expansive chestnut;
Against Kilimanjaro and Annapurna,
   against the ranges of Alps and Andes;
Against every soaring skyscraper,
   against all proud obelisks and statues;
Against ocean-going luxury liners,
   against elegant three-masted schooners.
The swelled big heads will be punctured bladders,
   the pretentious egos brought down to earth,
Leaving God alone at front-and-center
   on the Day we're talking about.

18And all those sticks and stones
   dressed up to look like gods
   will be gone for good.

19Clamber into caves in the cliffs,
   duck into any hole you can find.
Hide from the terror of God,
   from his dazzling presence,
When he assumes his full stature on earth,
   towering and terrifying.

20-21On that Day men and women will take
   the sticks and stones
They've decked out in gold and silver
   to look like gods and then worshiped,
And they will dump them
   in any ditch or gully,
Then run for rock caves
   and cliff hideouts
To hide from the terror of God,
   from his dazzling presence,
When he assumes his full stature on earth,
   towering and terrifying.

22Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans,
   so full of themselves, so full of hot air!
   Can't you see there's nothing to them?