Episode 184: The sword of the Lord is filled with blood
Isaiah 28-39
Vomit and filthiness
281 Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim.
3 They will be trampled.
7 The priests and prophets drink too much wine and strong drink
8 Their tables are full of vomit and filthiness.
21 God will do his strange work and his strange act.
A marvelous work and a wonder
291 Woe to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. 6 I will visit you with thunder, earthquake, storms, and fire.
11 A vision will come to you in a sealed book delivered to an expert, who will say, "I can't read a sealed book."
12 Then it will be delivered to an uneducated person, who will say,
"I can't read it because I'm uneducated."
14 I will do a marvelous work and a wonder by destroying wisdom of their wise men.
Woe to the rebellious children
301 Woe to the rebellious children, who won't listen to me.
6 They carry their riches through the land of the fiery flying serpent.
22 You will throw away your graven images like they were a menstruous cloth.
25 On the day of the great slaughter, the towers will fall.
26 The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times its normal brightness.
27 God's lips are full of indignation. His tongue is like a devouring fire.
28 His breath makes a flood of water that reaches up to the neck. He puts a bridle in people's mouths, causing them to err.
30 God will make his glorious voice to be heard, and show off his anger with fire, storms, and hailstones.
31 His voice will beat down the Assyrians.
33 His breath is like a stream of burning brimstone.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt
311 Woe to those who go to Egypt for help.
2 God will bring evil upon them.
3 The Egyptians are men, not gods. And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When God stretches out his hand, he'll destroy both the helpers and the helped.
Liberals devise liberal things
325 The vile person will no longer be called liberal.
6 For the vile person is an evil hypocrite, who lies to destroy the poor.
8 But liberals devise liberal things, and by liberal things they will stand.
11 Tremble, you women that are at ease. Strip off your clothes, put sackcloth on your loins,
12 and beat your breasts.
Woe to you who spoil
331 Woe to you who spoil, and have not been spoiled, who deal treacherously, and have not been treacherously dealt with.
12 The people will be burned in the fire.
14 Which of us will live in an everlasting fire?
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood
342 God's fury is on all the army of every nation. He has slaughtered them all.
3 Their dead will be cast out. The stink will come out of their carcasses. The mountains will melt with their blood.
4 The stars will dissolve, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. Any stars that don't dissolve will fall to the ground.
5 My sword will be bathed with blood in heaven. It will come down on the people that I curse.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is fat with fatness.
7 The unicorns will come down with them. The land will be soaked with blood.
8 Because it is the day of God's vengeance.
9 God will turn the streams into pitch, and dust into brimstone. The land will become burning pitch.
10 The land will burn day and night, with smoke going up forever. It will lie waste from generation to generation.
13 Dragons will live there.
14 And satyrs will cry to satyrs.
The highway of holiness (and dragons)
357-8 A holy highway will pass through the land of the dragons. Unclean people won't travel on it.
36-39: King Hezekiah
A few more words about this episode
Ariel (29:1)
Isaiah is referring to Jerusalem here, not the character in The Little Mermaid.
I can't read a sealed book. (29:11)
Joseph Smith used this verse to "prove" that the Book of Mormon was prophesied by Isaiah. (Wikipedia: Anthon Transcript)
Joseph Smith cut and pasted 23 chapters from Isaiah into the Book of Mormon. The book of Second Nephi, for example, copies 13 consecutive chapters (Isaiah 2-14). So if you like Isaiah, you'll love the Book of Mormon.
And satyrs will cry to satyrs. (34:14)
I left out this from verse 14: "The screech owl also shall rest there."
The screech owl is translated "Lilith" in many translations of this verse.
Lilith appears in some Jewish folklore as Adam's first wife. Others say she was a sexual night-demon who steals babies.
A holy highway (35:8)
The late Pat Robertson believed and other whacked-out Christians still believe "the highway of holiness" is I-35.
There are some good stories in it though. Here are a few that we've seen previously.
There is the famous rhetorical question: Has my master sent me to the men that sit on the wall so we can eat our own dung and drink our own piss? (Isaiah 36:12, Episode 154)
