Isaiah 25

He will swallow up death forever

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.a ²You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. ³Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

⁴You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wallb ⁵and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. ⁶On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.c

⁷On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;d ⁸he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.e ⁹In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”f ¹⁰The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.

¹¹They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands. ¹²He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.