Day Fifty -- Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation

Isaiah 14:1 to Isaiah 28:29

Most of this section of Isaiah contains a number of oracles against foreign powers and neighboring peoples with whom Judah (the southern Kingdom and the House of David) are in conflict. Things will not go well with them on the day when the LORD will hold them to account and remember his people. Before this occurs, however, Judah must first pay the price for its disobedience and Jerusalem itself will fall.  Within the ruins of the holy city "The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent" (Isaiah 24:8).

Yet even still, the LORD will not forget the covenant he made long ago with Abraham or the promise he made to David.  One day there will again be rejoicing in the land, not merely because Judah will be restored but because on that day the exiles "will be gathered up one by one" and "will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 27:12-13).