Isaiah 25 explained: A Feast Where Death Ends

Praise for a fallen city (vv. 1-3)

The speaker thanks God for carrying out plans made long ago, shown in the ruin of a strong enemy city that will never be rebuilt. The city is not named; some think of Babylon, but many scholars think it stands for any proud power that sets itself against God.

Shelter for the poor (vv. 4-5)

God is pictured as a wall that holds against a storm and as shade in desert heat for people who are poor and pushed around. The loud boasting of cruel people dies down, the way the heat drops when a cloud passes over.

A banquet for every people (vv. 6-7)

On 'this mountain', meaning Mount Zion in Jerusalem, God hosts a feast of the richest food and the best long-aged wine, open to all nations. The covering over the nations may be a mourning veil or a burial cloth, and either way its removal means the end of the sorrow and death that hang over everyone.

Death swallowed up (vv. 8-9)

God ends death itself, wipes the tears from every face and removes his people's shame, and the people who put their hope in him say, 'This is our God.' Christians read this in light of Jesus rising from the dead, and the early Christian writer Paul quotes verse 8 when writing about resurrection.

Moab brought low (vv. 10-12)

Moab, Israel's neighbor and frequent rival east of the Dead Sea, stands here for proud enemies, and the picture is blunt: trampled like straw into a manure pit, its high walls pulled down to the dust. The swimmer image is unclear; it may show Moab flailing to stay afloat, or God striking out as easily as a swimmer moves through water.

Key verse: Isaiah 25:8

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether this feast and the end of death describe a future kingdom centered on the actual city of Jerusalem, or are a picture of God's final victory and the resurrection for people everywhere.

Something to think about

What would a world without tears look like to you, and does imagining it make present suffering feel easier or harder to bear?