Read & explore together
Final Judgments against the Wicked
Isaiah 66:15–24 speaks as prophecy and teaching about Yahweh’s judgment and glory. The passage moves from fierce punishment of the wicked to the gathering of nations, lasting worship, and a final warning about rebellion.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In this passage, Yahweh speaks about coming with fire to judge, exposing people’s works and thoughts, gathering nations and languages to see his glory, and establishing enduring worship before him. The passage ends by contrasting those who worship Yahweh with those who transgress against him.
Isaiah 66:15–24Main takeaway
This passage teaches that Yahweh judges rebellion seriously and displays his glory so that people from all nations may come to worship before him.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Yahweh comes in fiery judgmentThe passage opens with vivid prophecy: Yahweh comes with fire, whirlwind-like chariots, anger, rebuke, sword, and judgment on all flesh.
Explanation
The passage opens with vivid prophecy: Yahweh comes with fire, whirlwind-like chariots, anger, rebuke, sword, and judgment on all flesh. The language stresses his power and the seriousness of his response to evil. The text does not soften this warning. It presents judgment as something Yahweh himself will execute.
02Those who defile themselves come to an endVerse 17 describes people who sanctify and purify themselves for practices Yahweh rejects, including eating what is called abominable.
Explanation
Verse 17 describes people who sanctify and purify themselves for practices Yahweh rejects, including eating what is called abominable. Yahweh says they will come to an end together. Then he declares that he knows their works and thoughts. His judgment is not based only on outward action, but on what he fully knows.
03All nations will see and hear Yahweh’s gloryAfter judgment, the passage turns to gathering. Yahweh will gather all nations and languages, and they will see his glory.
Explanation
After judgment, the passage turns to gathering. Yahweh will gather all nations and languages, and they will see his glory. He will set a sign and send survivors to distant nations that have not heard his fame or seen his glory. Their task is to declare his glory among the nations.
04People are brought to Yahweh, and some are selectedThe nations will bring Yahweh’s people to his holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering, compared with Israel bringing an offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house.
Explanation
The nations will bring Yahweh’s people to his holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering, compared with Israel bringing an offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house. Then Yahweh says he will also select priests and Levites from among them. The passage highlights both worship and Yahweh’s own choosing.
05An enduring future with worship and warningYahweh compares the lasting future of his people’s offspring and name to the new heavens and new earth that he will make.
Explanation
Yahweh compares the lasting future of his people’s offspring and name to the new heavens and new earth that he will make. All flesh will come to worship before him regularly. Yet the passage closes with a sobering picture of the dead who transgressed, showing that rebellion has a dreadful end.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What details in the opening verses show the seriousness of Yahweh’s judgment?
Look for the images of fire, whirlwind, sword, rebuke, and the statement that judgment falls on all flesh.
02What does the passage say Yahweh knows about the people he addresses?
Notice that he says he knows both their works and their thoughts, not just what others can see.
03How does the passage connect Yahweh’s glory with the nations?
Trace the movement from nations seeing his glory, to hearing of it, to bringing people to worship before him.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Isaiah 66:15–24
15For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to give his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
17“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh.
18“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory.
19“I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
20They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house.
21Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.
22“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain.
23It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh.
24“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”