"And it shall come to pass in that day, when the Lord shall make thee out of thy affliction, and out of fear, and out of the heavy bondage to which thou wast enslaved, thou shalt utter a song of victory against the king of Babylon, saying, 'As the tormentor is gone, the robbery is stopped!' The hell of hell has been stirred up for thy sake, to meet thee at thy entrance, Thy pride has been cast down into hell with all thy noise; a worm is laid under you, and worms are your covering. How thou hast fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the dawn! He was dashed to the ground, trampling down the nations. And he said in his heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on a mountain in the assembly of gods, at the end of the north; I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." But thou hast been cast down into hell, into the depths of hell. Such is the decree decreed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out against all nations, for the Lord of hosts has ordained, and who can abolish it? His hand is outstretched, and who can turn it away? " (Isaiah 14:3, 4, 9-15, 26-27).

The twentieth verse in Slavonic reads as follows: "As a robe soaked in blood shall not be clean, so thou shalt not be clean: for thou hast destroyed My land, and hast slain My people. Thou shalt not abide in eternal time." Commenting on the above passage, St. Basil the Great says: "Here is another part of the lamentation for the prince of Babylon and for his deeds. After the Lucifer who fell from heaven said in his heart: "I will ascend to heaven, I will be like the Highest"; in proof of how far from being likened to the Holy One who has defiled himself with all impurity and murder, he is likened to a garment, which by its nature is made for the adornment of man, but because it is soaked in blood, it cannot be taken by man for use. From this it is evident that the evil one has impurity in himself not because of his structure, but because he has stained himself with blood, having destroyed the land of the Lord and killed people through sin" [8, part 2, p. 319].

3.9. Eschatological Prophecies: Isaiah's "Great Apocalypse"

Chapters 24-27 again deal with judgment. Here again the universal scope of the sermon is manifested in the fact that the prophet proclaims judgment not only against Samaria, not only against Jerusalem, but against all nations. Thus, Isaiah speaks of Damascus, of the Moabites, of the Philistines, of Tyre – God's action extends to all nations and to all kingdoms. This section is sometimes called the Apocalypse of Isaiah, because it speaks of the Judgment in such a way and on such a scale that the particular judgment grows to the size of the end of the universe and the Judgment of the whole world.

Let's see in what features this court is presented. "Behold, the Lord destroys the earth and makes it barren; He changes its appearance and scatters those who dwell in it. Terror and pit and noose for you, inhabitant of the earth! Then, he who flees from the cry of terror will fall into the pit; and whoever comes out of the pit will fall into the snare; for the windows from the heavenly heights will be dissolved, and the foundations of the earth will be shaken. The earth is crushed, the earth is disintegrated, the earth is greatly shaken; she staggered like a drunken man, and swayed like a cradle, and her iniquity weighed down on her; it will fall down and not get up again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall visit a host on high high, and the kings of the earth on earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners in a pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days they shall be punished. And the moon shall be red, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and there shall be glory before his elders" (Isaiah 24:1, 17-23). Let us pay attention to this: many times the prophets speak of the Lord's impending enthronement in Zion. But look at the events that precede this: the earth sways like a cradle with a child, disintegrates, staggeres like a drunken man, the exalted, that is, the heavenly hosts, the kings of the earth, gather together in one pit, for judgment. It is clear that this enthronement, of course, is not just the coming of such a messiah, of whom the Jews dreamed, who will rule, good and just, in the city of Jerusalem, and the pagans will bring all kinds of gifts, lick their feet, as the prophet Isaiah further says: dust under the feet of the Jews, etc. Everything looks much more terrible.

The result of all these upheavals will be as follows: "And the Lord of hosts will make on this mountain for all the nations – note: for all the nations – a meal of fat viands, a meal of pure wines... and he will destroy on this mountain the veil that covers all nations, the veil that lies over all nations" (Isaiah 25:6-7) (perhaps this is the veil of which the Apostle Paul says: "But their minds are blinded: for the same veil remains unremoved to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ" (2 Cor. 3:14).

"Death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and will take away the reproach from his people in all the earth; for thus saith the Lord" (Isaiah 25:8). Death will be consumed, destroyed forever as a result of this judgment of God, as a result of His appearance.

In chapter 26 there is a section from verses 1 to 19, which is used during divine services as the fifth biblical canon at matins. I will quote individual poems.

"In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: 'We have a strong city; He gave salvation instead of wall and rampart. Open the gates; Let the righteous people come in, keeping the truth. He overthrew those who dwelt on high, the city that stood high; He threw him down, threw him to the ground, threw him into the dust. With my soul I have sought Thee by night, and with my spirit I will seek Thee within me from the early morning: for when Thy judgments are carried out on earth, then shall those who dwell in the world learn righteousness. God! Thou givest us peace; for Thou hast also arranged all our affairs for us. As a pregnant woman, at the onset of childbirth, is tormented, cries out with her pains, so were we before Thee, O Lord. They were pregnant, they were tormented, and they gave birth as it were to the wind; salvation was not brought to the earth, and the rest of the inhabitants of the universe did not fall. Thy dead shall live, dead bodies shall arise! Arise and rejoice, you who are cast down in the dust: for Thy dew is the dew of plants, and the earth shall vomit up the dead" (Isaiah 26:1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 17-19).

This song also speaks of the resurrection, of the fact that the result of all God's providential actions will be that which people themselves could not achieve: correction and resurrection. The righteous will arise and rejoice with God.

"From the morning my spirit comes to Thee, O God, for the light of Thy command is upon the earth. learn righteousness, ye who dwell on the earth. … envy 6 will be received by people who are not punished... add evil to them, O Lord, add evil to the glorious of the earth" (Isaiah 26:9, 11, 15). We hear these verses at Matins during Great Lent after "Hallelujah" instead of "God the Lord." Here it is said that there is no correction without punishment, but this correction is due to God.

The Monk Isidore Pelusiot, explaining this passage, wrote: "On those who openly express themselves majestically and magnify the Divine, but secretly do the opposite, as those who are wise in words, and not in deeds. With prophetic eyes he saw the coming of the Saviour in the flesh, surpassing all words, which acquired for the human race innumerable and surpassing all wonder blessings, and led the tormentor to impotence. And he cried out: "Learn to do righteousness"; The torturer ceased to attack every husband and every wife. All are safe now, except those who voluntarily betray themselves and subject themselves to its delusions; for he can deceive, and not take possession by force" [26, vol. 2, pp. 435-436]. Thus, these verses, as well as "God the Lord," speak of the coming of the Saviour, only here it is given not in a solemn but in a penitential way.