Isaiah 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

Text

The original text was written in

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 22 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

(3rd century BC or later): * 1QIsa^a: complete * 4QIsa^a (4Q55): extant: verses 7-10 * 4QIsa^b (4Q56): extant: verses 3-16 * 4QIsa^f (4Q60): extant: verses 1-3 * 4QIsa^l (4Q65): extant: verses 1-4 There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Old Testament references

is very similar to Isaiah 2:2- 4.

Parashot

The '' parashah'' sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Isaiah 2 is a part of the ''Prophecies about Judah and Israel (

Isaiah 1 Isaiah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah, one of the Book of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, which is the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.J. D. Davis. 1960. ''A Dictionary of the Bible''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book Hou ...

-12)''. : open ''parashah''. : 2:1-4 2:5-11 2:12-22

The mountain of the Lord's house (2:1–4)

This part is the beginning of an oracle which comprises chapters 2- 4, with the basic theme of the glorious future of Jerusalem.

Verse 1

:''The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.'' A new superscription inserted here may serve to emphasize the originality of this prophecy as Isaiah's, as the subsequent words of oracle (verses 2–4) can also be found in the

book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet fro ...

with minor differences.

Verse 2

:''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.'' The oracle in verses 2–4 bears a close similarity to but with a different conclusion.

Verse 3

:''And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.'' *Cross reference: Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 43:6; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 60:3; Isaiah 66:12

Verse 4

:''And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.'' *Cross reference: Micah 4:3 Many speeches and movements concerned with peace and the adaptation of

military technology Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian applicatio ...

to peaceful uses have adopted the phrase " swords into plowshares". The verse is a reversal of , where the ploughshares and pruning hooks are to become swords and spears, as it is related to 'the need for continued conflict'.

The day of the Lord (2:5–22)

This section contains an oracle about "the day of the Lord" which brings together two basic themes in the book of Isaiah: "the vanity of human self-confidence" and "the folly of worshipping false gods".

Verse 5

: ''O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the .'' The first part of this verse in

: "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" ''Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Venelkha'' ("House of Jacob, let us go p) is the basis of the

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

" Bilu" (Hebrew בילו) which became the name of a twentieth-century movement in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Verse 6

:''Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.'' *"They be replenished from the east" (

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

) or "They are filled with eastern ways" ( New King James Version): This phrase is rendered in the Revised Version as "''they be filled with customs from the east''", which is consistent with the following words: ::''... and of soothsayers like the Philistines.''Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors)
On "Isaiah 2".
In: ''The Pulpit Commentary''. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019. This verse starts the actual new section, following verse 5 which is only linked by the phrase 'house of Jacob'.

Verse 22

:''Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?'' The New King James Version renders this verse: :''Sever yourselves from such a man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?'' This verse is not found in the

, and could be a later insertion in Isaiah's prophecy.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...

Isaiah 2
Accessed 28 April 2019.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Jewish

Isaiah 2: Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

Isaiah 2 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
{{Book of Isaiah 02