You 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. – Isaiah 25:2

Today's Scripture Reading (May 19, 2026): Isaiah 25

Mount Vesuvius. Just the name brings images of destruction to our minds. Vesuvius is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, partially because of the frequency with which it erupts, and partially because three million people live close enough to the mountain to be affected by an eruption, which includes the city of Naples, and more than 600,000 people living in the danger zone. Since the volcano's famous eruption in 79 C.E., Vesuvius has had 36 significant eruptions—the most recent major eruption took place in 1944.

Of course, the eruption for which we most remember Vesuvius is the one in 79 C.E., which destroyed the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae. We remember Pompeii, but often forget that it wasn't the only city to die in that blast from Mount Vesuvius. Oplontis seemed to suffer the bluntest force from the 79 C.E. eruption. Herculaneum might have been the best-preserved of the cities destroyed in 79 C.E., and it was smaller and wealthier than the better-known Pompeii.

But these four cities were destroyed, and today visitors take tours of them and witness what life was like 2,000 years ago in Italy. They are not alone in history. Many great cities have disappeared in the years since Isaiah prophesied. It seems to be something that happens. Sometimes cities disappear because of a natural disaster; sometimes the prosperity of an area changes, forcing people to leave to find work. Nothing in this world is "set in stone," even if they look permanent to us.

Isaiah says that a city has been, or maybe will be, transformed into a pile of rubble, and what was once a stronghold is no longer even a city. And this city will never be rebuilt again. It is a description that fits many cities in history. The four cities destroyed by Vesuvius were destroyed, but not quite like Isaiah predicted, and they have never been rebuilt. The destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 B.C.E and Rome in 70 C.E. echoed the predicted level of destruction, but the city was rebuilt both times. Babylon was destroyed, and the city has not been rebuilt, although there have been plans over the centuries to resurrect it. The most recent plan to rebuild Babylon was developed by Iraq's autocratic leader, Saddam Hussein, who wanted to bring back Babylon, believing that he was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar.

However, I don't think Isaiah is speaking of a specific city, but of any city, and maybe every city. There is no city, no nation, and no empire that is "safe forever." If that is what you want, a city can't do that for you. Every city is vulnerable to destruction and may never be rebuilt, including Jerusalem. As far as Isaiah is concerned, that kind of security comes only from God, and that is something he hopes his readers will remember.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26

The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. – Isaiah 24:3

Today's Scripture Reading (May 18, 2026): Isaiah 24

I have to admit that I have read a lot of dystopian fiction and watched many dystopian movies over the years. The theme of these stories is that something bad has happened, often a nuclear war or some kind of genetic accident, and it has left the earth depopulated. The government is either gone or under autocratic rule, and the fight to survive consumes the energy of a remnant who are left on the earth.

One of my favorite dystopian novels is Frank Herbert's, the author of the Dune series of novels, "The White Plague." Herbert spins a tale about a man whose family is killed by a terrorist while visiting the United Kingdom, and decides to get his revenge by constructing a plague that will claim the lives of most of the people living on the earth. Nations close their borders, reminiscent of the COVID-19 lockdown, but are unsuccessful at keeping the infection out. At the end of the novel, the man gets to walk the green hills of Ireland, examining his handiwork. Only a few still survive after the plague that has spread throughout the earth, and it is a bad place, the literal meaning of "dystopian," to live.

Dystopian tales like to examine how the world will end. We are probably inundated with more possible ways that this planet of ours could die than anyone else has had to deal with in the history of our Earth. For Isaiah, the only way the earth could die was if God did something. The Bible tells dystopian tales of fire raining down from the heavens or a flood that covered the earth. But the underlying agreement in these stories is that God has done this. Today, we realize that God doesn't need to do anything to destroy this world; we can do it all by ourselves. Nuclear war, accidents, genetic mistakes, out-of-control pollution, and the greenhouse effect are just some of the ways this might happen. Venus is an example of the latter. It is a planet that is very similar to the Earth, except that it is the hottest planet in our solar system, not because it is the closest to the sun; Mercury gets that award, but because it has a naturally occurring greenhouse effect that might foreshadow the artificial one we are creating on the Earth.

On the natural side, the eruption of a supervolcano, like the Yellowstone Caldera, would drastically change life on Earth, killing most of its inhabitants. Almost weekly, we are told about another comet that is going to make a close pass of Earth. If one of them actually hit the Earth, again, it would take most life on Earth with it. But we need to be careful. The potential risk to Earth from natural causes is not increasing; we are simply becoming more aware of the many ways Earth might die.

We know that the Earth will die. It will go out with either a bang or a whimper at some point in the next three billion years. Isaiah says that it will go out with a bang, and whether we kill the earth or it comes to a natural end, God will allow the Earth's destruction as a penalty for our sin.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 25

Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched. – Isaiah 23:2

Today's Scripture Reading (May 17, 2026): Isaiah 23

On April 10, 1815, Indonesia's Mount Tambora reached a violent climax after a three-year eruption. The volcano had been active since 1812, but the 1815 eruption is now considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in human history. The volcano would continue to erupt until July 15, 1815, but nothing matched the intensity of the April 10 eruption. Tambora's temper tantrum killed 10,000 to 11,000 people from the direct effects of the eruption. But that was just the start.

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora had global effects. In Canada, a world away from Indonesia, 1816 was the year without summer. For over a century, we weren't sure why the temperatures plummeted worldwide in 1816, but now we know. Ash in the atmosphere lowered temperatures everywhere, including in Canada, on the other side of the world. Canada can experience harsh temperatures for much of the year, but 1816 saw snow fall in some areas every month of the year, and a hard frost in June destroyed many of the crops that had been planted. The result was a famine in Canada as well as in many other places in the world. All because of Mount Tambora's eruption.

Isaiah is prophesying against the City of Tyre. The city comprises two urban centers: the old city, on an island half a kilometer off the Phoenician coast, and Usha, the mainland component of the city, which provided the island city with fresh water. Together, they made up the trading dynamo that had become famous throughout the known world.

But Isaiah goes beyond just warning the people of Tyre and Usha. Isaiah includes the city of Sidon in his warning, a city up the coast from Tyre. In fact, anyone who relied on or benefited from trade with the island city received a warning because anything that hurt Tyre would also impact almost the entire ancient world.

Tyre had enriched many people. But that also meant the island city's economy was entwined with the world economy. Maybe it wasn't an eruption of a major volcano, but it would have had a similar effect on the world the port city served.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 24

The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains. – Isaiah 22:5

Today's Scripture Reading (May 16, 2026): Isaiah 22

On January 3, 2026, the United States invaded, although there is some argument about whether that is the correct word to use, Venezuela, capturing that nation's President, Nicolas Maduro. Whether invaded is the correct word to use has arisen because the attack was so quick, and the United States basically broke into the nation, kidnapped Maduro and his wife, and then left. What is also at issue is that millions of dollars were bet on the event, which very few people saw coming, raising suspicions that someone or a group of people had inside information about the coming attack. It seems to be one of those situations where you're making a bet that you can't win, because either you are wrong or you cheated. It has also brought some focus on the predictive markets and betting present in our contemporary society.

Isaiah is writing his prophecy about Jerusalem (the Valley of Vision) at a vulnerable time for the City of David. The bully on the world stage is Assyria, which is actively attacking and absorbing the smaller kingdoms surrounding it. Thus, in 722 B.C.E., the Kingdom of Israel, the northern neighbor of Judah, fell and was carried into captivity, never to return, by the Assyrians. The obvious question that Isaiah, in his humanness, had to ask might have been, "Can Judah be far behind?"

As Isaiah writes about a day of tumult, trampling, and terror, and as he imagines the walls of the city falling, I wonder if his mind was focused on the Assyrians; that they would be the ones to bring tears to the "Valley of Vision." And in 701 B.C.E., that day of terror arrived as the Assyrians surrounded the city, intending to starve the people and take over the city and the nation.

Isaiah prophesied for a long period in Judah's history. We can date the earliest of his prophecies, Isaiah 1-6, to approximately 739 B.C.E., and the latest of his prophecies to the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. That means Isaiah was present for the story of Assyria and the tribes of Jacob. The last of his prophecies was directed at King Hezekiah, assuring him that Jerusalem would not fall to the Assyrians. I sometimes wonder whether, as Isaiah spoke to Hezekiah in 701 B.C.E., he remembered his prophecies, like this one, and wondered whether he might have been wrong.

Of course, we know he wasn't. We can date this prophecy to approximately 725 B.C.E., three years before the fall of Israel and over two decades before Assyria threatened Jerusalem. And while I am sure the Prophet was focused on Assyria, we know this prophecy is really about Babylon, an empire that was still over a hundred years away from threatening "The Valley of Vision." But the day would come when the valley would be trampled and terrorized, a day when her walls would be battered until they were gone, and the people would be carried into exile.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 23

A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. – Isaiah 21:1

Today's Scripture Reading (May 15, 2026): Isaiah 21

As a young child, I lived in an area that had several large lakes. These lakes were so large that you couldn't see the shoreline opposite where you were standing. It was like living in an area that had several oceans or seas. The reality was that until I was about eight, I had never seen a lake where you could see all four, or even three, shores. A lake was, in my childlike mind, an extremely large body of water. I would be almost twenty before I saw a real ocean, in this case, the Pacific. I have been close to the Atlantic Ocean, but I have never viewed that august body of water. But to this day, I love spending time on the shore of a lake or the ocean, though more recently, the bodies of water I look at are much smaller than the lakes of childhood.

The Iraqi desert is a significant feature of Western Iraq. The desert is a mix of various topographical features, including rocky plains, sandy stretches, and dry riverbeds (wadis). It is a hot, water-scarce area, so there is very little vegetation. But that doesn't mean that there is no water. The Euphrates River flows along the eastern edge of the Iraqi Desert, and the region is dotted with several lakes.

Iraq is largely landlocked. The only ports for the country are in the south-east corner of the nation, where a tiny sliver of land meets the Persian Gulf. And it is on this relatively small plot of land that the Iraqi government is trying to build its ambitious Grand Faw Port Project, slated for completion in 2045.

My intention in giving this geography lesson is to note that the Iraqi desert is one of the last places we might call the "Desert (or Wilderness) by the Sea," because there just isn't a sea, at least not as we would describe it. Yet this is the name given to Babylon, now Iraq. The reason for this nickname for Babylon is that the area is dotted with lakes and, of course, the great Euphrates River, and the Hebrew understanding of a Sea is not a large, single body of water like the Mediterranean or Baltic Seas, but rather any collection of waters. The lakes and rivers of Babylon constitute a sea, and Babylon has both a desert and a collection of waters; thus, it really is a Desert or Wilderness by the Sea.

One other note on this verse. Some translations of this verse begin with the words "A burden against the Desert by the Sea" instead of prophecy. The word "burden" is simply a reminder of the weight of seriousness the prophet felt in the words he was sharing. It was Isaiah's way of emphasizing that these words were serious, and he hoped someone would listen to what he had to say.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 22

Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt's shame. – Isaiah 20:3-4

Today's Scripture Reading (May 14, 2026): Isaiah 19 & 20

Coming out of World War I, the Western Powers decided that soldiers who were taken prisoner during a conflict should retain their fundamental human rights. Those rights included protection from torture, access to health care, fair treatment, communication with family, eventual release, and not to be discriminated against, despite the inherent limitations of being a prisoner. Some might argue that these are universal rights, not just something dreamed up by Western Powers. But that is not quite true.

For instance, we know that in World War II, Prisoners of War detained by the Japanese were not provided with these rights. Actually, a lot of prisoners were killed outright. The death rate in Japanese prison camps was 27 percent. Or, seeing it from the reverse, if the Japanese took you prisoner, you had a 73 percent chance of surviving the experience. If the Allied forces took you prisoner, you had a 96 percent chance of living through the experience. And that is a significant difference.

We know that prisoners were tortured by the Japanese, both physically and mentally, and sometimes worked to death. But there was a reason for this difference. In Japanese thinking, being taken prisoner was considered dishonorable. And the dishonored had no rights, so they could be treated any way that their captors wanted to treat them. Allied prisoners had no rights, nor were any protections expected for Japanese prisoners taken by Allied forces.

In ancient times, this was true as well. What we miss about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was that, at that time, homosexual sex was simply one way of dishonoring a captive. Another method of dishonoring an enemy was to make them march without clothes.

God instructs Isaiah to go without clothes, not just for a day or a month, but for three years. It is amazing that we don't remember Isaiah as the naked prophet. He walked on stony ground with no protection for his feet and under the hot sun with no protection for his body. And this nudity, regardless of how much Isaiah had actually taken off, was to send a message that the Assyrians would take the inhabitants of Egypt and Cush prisoner. When they did, they would be marched out of the country in humiliation with no clothes.

There might have been another message. Judah would leave their nation the same way, although it wouldn't be the Assyrians that would take them captive, but the Babylonians. Regardless of who their captives would be, the people would be marched out of their nation in disgrace because they refused to follow their God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 21

All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. – Isaiah 18:3

Today's Scripture Reading (May 13, 2026): Isaiah 18

Between 1715 and 1789, the population of France increased by about 27%, from 22 million to 28 million. That population increase in France caused a few problems, but the most serious was a food shortage. The population had increased by 6 million, but Frances's ability to feed them hadn't improved, at least not as much as it needed to. France's food shortage set the stage for the French Revolution, but it didn't act alone.

The poorer people began to believe a conspiracy theory that overlooked the population-growth problem. The people began to believe there was enough food because there had always been enough. The people began to believe that the elites were intentionally withholding food to reduce the population. It was a time of great fear in France. And it was at this time, with this fear, that the Queen, Marie Antoinette, supposedly told the hungry people to "let them eat cake." (If this phrase was uttered at all, which seems doubtful, the wording was more likely "let them eat brioche," a rich bread made with eggs and butter.) All of this produced a revolution that might have killed more than 1 million people, and a time when the executioners sometimes quickly became the executed. In the Reign of Terror alone (September 1793 and July 1794), about 17,000 people were officially executed, and another 10,000 died in prison without the benefit of a trial.

Conspiracy theories are like that. If we believe them, they can change our lives, and usually not for the better. Often, conspiracy theories arise from fear. And they still plague us; I still see them circulating on social media, intended to scare us into taking action that benefits someone, but that someone is not us.

God is speaking through Isaiah and is prophesying about the nation of Cush. Cush was a usually landlocked nation west of the Red Sea and south of Egypt, though at times its borders extended to the Red Sea and into the southern portions of present-day Egypt. But in the midst of this prophecy, God says that when He comes, we won't miss that event. It is something the Bible says elsewhere as well. When God acts, all the people will see his movement. His banner will be raised on a high hill, and the sounds of trumpets will roar out so that all will hear it. On that day, there won't be any doubt about whether God really exists; we will all know, because we will see him with our eyes and hear him with our ears. It won't be a conspiracy theory; it will be something that we all know.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 19 & 20