Isaiah is flat out the hardest book in the Bible to understand. And it wasn’t made any easier by the men who translated it into English in 1611. They definitely took a hard book and made it harder. But there is hope. Nephi, who lived a hundred years after Isaiah said: “I know that they [the words of Isaiah] will be of great worth unto them in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them.” That’s us, right? We’re in the last days. So at some point, we should be able to understand the words of Isaiah. And here’s the great secret:

We can understand them. The tools have been given to us.

In our last video, we discussed the three keys to understanding Isaiah: One, that every word is directed at us in the last days. Two, that every time Isaiah gives us a historical account, he’s using it as a type of something that will happen in the last days. And three, he gives us a timeline so we can know not only what will happen, but how it will happen and in what order it will happen.

Let’s talk about that timeline. It starts in chapter two. Wait, why in chapter two and not chapter one? Because originally chapter two was chapter one. He actually didn’t write chapter one until the end of his life, and then he inserted it as an introduction to his book. We’ll get to that later, but the timeline begins in chapter two.

Verse one of chapter two was originally the title of his book: “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” That was the title. Then the next four verses were originally his introduction to his entire book, where he says that everything he is writing about will happen in the last days. Verses six through nine tell us why the judgments and calamities of the timeline will occur: because “the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not” (2 Ne. 12:9). (You’ll only find those words in the Book of Mormon translation, as two important words are omitted in the King James Version—the word “not” is omitted twice.) The actual timeline doesn’t begin until verse ten, which begins a new paragraph. Isaiah then goes on for 13 verses (echoing 13 chapters in his timeline). First, he says the covenant people will be full of pride, wax rich, and grow selfish. He says the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan will be brought low. Now, Isaiah often used trees as metaphors for people (see Isa. 14:8; 56:3; 61:3). The actual cedars of Lebanon were beautiful trees, national treasures protected by the king. And the oaks of Bashan were large, stately trees that Isaiah used to symbolize the wealthy and powerful of God’s people. Thus these trees that will be “brought low” are metaphors for the elite and powerful covenant people who will be humbled.

Then Isaiah tells us how they will be humbled. Verse 19 says that God will rise in his majesty and “shake terribly the earth.” This isn’t just a metaphor for the gyrations of the last days. As we learn later, this means that God will literally shake the earth in a devastating earthquake. Then two sentences later, he repeats it: God will rise “to shake terribly the earth.” He says that the earthquakes will be so terrifying and destructive that wealthy people will climb into the clefts of the rocks and throw their gold and silver to the moles and bats. Of course, moles and bats are blind, so Isaiah is actually saying that the wealthy will give their money to anybody blind enough to sell their food for gold. As we see in the first verse of the next chapter, these earthquakes will devastate the economy. Leaders will refuse to lead. People will gather into clans for protection and sustenance. The daughters of Zion will suffer unimaginable privations, and even covenant men will “fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.” All this occurs early in the timeline—at the very beginning. So you can imagine how bad things will get. Actually, you don’t need to imagine because Isaiah shows us how bad things will get later in his timeline. We’ll talk more about that next time.