Thanksgiving
1 Yahweh, you are my God; I exalt you and praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, faithful and true, planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap, the massively defended city a ruin. The bastion of foreign domination is a city no more, nor will it ever be rebuilt.
3 Therefore a strong people glorifies you; the head of a great nation holds you in awe.
4 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a haven to the needy in time of distress, a harbor in the storm, a shade from the heat.
For the blast from the ruthless is like an icy storm,
5 like heat in a dry place. You silence the noise of foreigners; you subdue the singing of the despot and the proud.
6 On this mountain Yahweh Sa ba oth will prepare for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, meat full of marrow, fine wine strained.
7 On this mountain he will destroy the pall cast over all peoples, this very shroud spread over all na tions,
8 and death will be no more. The Lord Yahweh will wipe away the tears from all cheeks and eyes; he will take away the humiliation of his people all over the world:
for Yahweh has spoken.
9 On that day you will say: This is our God. We have waited for him to save us, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For on this mountain the hand of Yahweh rests.
Moab instead will be trodden down, as straw trodden down on a dunghill.
11 He will stretch forth his hands there, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. But Yahweh will strike down their pride together with their falsehood.
12 He will raze the high-walled fortress; he will level it to the ground, as dust.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 25
• 25.1 Chapters 25 and 26:1-6: a thanksgiving to Yahweh who has done away with the presence of the oppressor. His citadel, installed, it would seem, in Jerusalem itself had been completely destroyed. Stanza 25:6-9 recalls that this victory is only one stage: the great hope is “the banquet of the elect” after the judgment when God will destroy death. John will use these images in Rev 7:17 and 21:4.