Come, Follow Me · Week 39 · September 21–27

Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35

This Week's Reading

This week's Come, Follow Me reading focuses on the prophet Isaiah's powerful messages concerning judgment, restoration, and the ultimate hope found in Jesus Christ. The chapters depict a day of solemn warning where God's wrath brings desolation to the proud and wicked, yet they also reveal His enduring mercy for His chosen people. These scriptures teach that while earthly kingdoms may rise and fall, God's plan to redeem humanity remains unchanging and sure. Ultimately, the reading points to a future where the wilderness blossoms, the blind see, and the redeemed return to Zion with everlasting joy.

Key Passages

Isaiah 13:1–10 This passage warns of a coming day of judgment where the sun is darkened and stars lose their light, illustrating the terrifying power of God's indignation against sin.
Isaiah 14:1–10 Here we learn that despite the fall of oppressors like the king of Babylon, the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and restore His people to possess the land again.
Isaiah 24:1–10 The earth mourns because it has been defiled by those who broke the everlasting covenant, showing that all social orders are subject to God's laws.
Isaiah 29:10–19 In a marvelous work, God will open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, reversing the spiritual blindness caused by relying on human wisdom rather than divine truth.
Isaiah 35:1–10 The wilderness itself rejoices as waters break out in the desert, symbolizing the miraculous healing and salvation that Jesus Christ brings to all who believe.

Questions to Ponder

How does the imagery of the sun being darkened in Isaiah 13 help us understand the seriousness of God's judgment on sin?
In what ways do verses like Isaiah 14:2 remind us that God's mercy is greater than our failures and that He chooses His people for a purpose?
Why is it significant that Isaiah 29 describes a time when the "wise men" will perish while the meek increase their joy in the Lord?
How does the promise in Isaiah 35 that the lame shall leap as a hart encourage you to trust in God's power to heal your own weaknesses today?

A Thought to Take Home

These ancient prophecies point directly to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the promises of restoration and healing for our broken world. Just as the parched ground became a pool in Isaiah 35, the Savior brings living water to quench our spiritual thirst and transform our barren hearts into gardens of joy. We can find comfort knowing that while we may face times of sorrow or confusion, God is always working out His perfect plan to bring us home to Zion with songs on our lips.

Further study

Isaiah 13:6 Isaiah 24:5 Isaiah 29:18 Isaiah 35:10

Teaching this week?

Get a complete lesson plan for adults, youth, Primary or your family: opening, discussion questions, activity and a testimony prompt, ready to print.

Prepare my lesson

This guide was prepared with AI from the scriptures and checked against the text; it can still make mistakes. For the Church's own guidance, read the official Come, Follow Me manual for this week. Nephite Atlas is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Key passages

Isaiah 13:1–10

¹The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. ²Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. ³I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. ⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. ⁵They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. ⁶Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. ⁷Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: ⁸And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. ⁹Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Isaiah 14:1–10

¹For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. ²And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. ³And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, ⁴That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! ⁵The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. ⁶He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. ⁷The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. ⁸Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. ⁹Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

Isaiah 24:1–10

¹Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. ²And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. ³The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. ⁴The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. ⁵The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. ⁷The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. ⁸The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. ⁹They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

Isaiah 29:10–19

¹⁰For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. ¹¹And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: ¹²And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. ¹³Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: ¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ¹⁵Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? ¹⁶Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? ¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? ¹⁸And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. ¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 35:1–10

¹The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. ²It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. ³Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. ⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. ⁷And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. ⁸And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: ¹⁰And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.