Isaiah says a lot of things in this chapter - A LOT - both metaphorically and literally. It's easy to get lost in chapters like these, especially when you don't know a thing about (and can't pronounce) half the places mentioned here. I always like to break these chapters down into modern English to help me understand what the hey-hey-ney is going on. For instance, in this chapter, Isaiah is basically writing out one of his prophecies. In other words, he is writing "God's words" in his own words. These are the chapters people get all uptight about when talking about the Bible being written by real dudes, who may or may not have looked like total wackos in their day, so therefore, it's hard to believe that they might actually have been recording God's heart. I get that. It's completely understandable. But I'm not here to argue about Isaiah's credibility. I'm here to highlight his words that unarguably have been preserved for thousands of years for some reason or another. The why is not my jam really. I mean, I plan to ask about it, of course, but it's something I can't know now, so I don't worry about it so much. The what is more my thing, and Isaiah's gottalottawhat to talk about today.
He first says (well, God says, really), "You people in Jerusalem, I am super mad at you. You break my heart. You're such a disrespectful bunch that I can't stand the sight of you anymore, and you won't listen, so I'm going to have to go all tough-love on you, ok? And to do that, I'm going to use my biggest enemy. Look, as mad as I am at you, I can never hate you as much as I hate these guys, ok? But I'm going to use them to teach you a lesson. And then, just when they think they've pulled one over on me, I'm going to teach them a lesson, too."
And here's the most interesting part. God says, "Now, I know some of you are good and faithful servants. I know some of you don't deserve this. And I will preserve you and keep you. I promise. BUT, sorry, you're going to have to endure this punishment with the rest of them. You're just going to have to stick it out and know that you're going to come out a winner in the end."
That last part, well, this whole chapter, really, is tough to digest. But it's definitely something to chew on for a while, huh?
Writing prompt: digest it
Write out this passage in a language you understand.
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