Isaiah

1 ¹The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—kings of Judah.

Isaiah

²Hear, O heavens!
And give ear, O earth! Because the LORD has spoken:

The Lord

“Children I have brought up and raised,
but they rebelled[1] against Me.

³The ox knows its purchaser
and the ass its owner’s feeding trough.

Israel did not know;
My people did not understand.”

⁴Woe! nation that sins,
people burdened with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,
children who are corrupt.

They have abandoned[2] the LORD!
They have despised the Holy One of Israel!
They have turned their backs {on Him}! 

⁵Why will you be beaten again?
Why will you add apostasy?

The Lord

Every head is sick;
every heart is diseased.

⁶From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no healthy part.
A wound, and a slash, and a fresh blow—

they have not been closed up nor wrapped,
neither softened with oil.

⁷Your land is desolate;
your cities are burned with fire.

Your soil? Strangers eat it in front of you;
it is a waste, overthrown by strangers.

⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a hut in a vineyard,
as a temporary shelter in a cucumber field,
as a city besieged.

Isaiah

⁹If the LORD of Hosts[3] had not left us a few survivors,

we would have been like Sodom;

we would have been as Gomorrah.

Isaiah

¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD, O rulers of Sodom;
give ear to the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah.

The Lord

¹¹“What use is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”

Isaiah

says the LORD.

The Lord

“I have eaten My fill of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fatted steers,
and the blood of bulls and lambs or male goats, I do not desire.

¹²When you come to see My face,
who required this from your hand to trample My courts?

¹³You will no longer bring a worthless offering;
incense, it is an abomination to Me;

new moon and Sabbath,
calling of an assembly—

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred assembly;
¹⁴your new moons and your festivals My soul hates;

they have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵And when you spread forth your palms, I will shut My eyes from you;
even when you pray much, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood,
your fingers with iniquity.

The Lord

¹⁶“Wash!
Purify yourself!

Remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes.
Stop the evil.

¹⁷Learn to do good,
seek justice,

make the oppressed happy,
administer justice for the orphan,
argue the case for the widow.

¹⁸ Come, please, and let us reason together,”[4]

Isaiah

says the LORD:

The Lord

“If your sins are as scarlet, like snow they will be made white;
if they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient[5], you will eat the good things of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel, by the sword you will be eaten.”

Isaiah

²⁰ For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah

²¹How[6] the faithful town has become a prostitute! Filled with justice;
righteousness lodged in her, but now—murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross,
your wine diluted with water.

²³Your rulers are rebels
and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves bribes
and chases after gifts.

²⁴They do not administer justice for the orphan,
neither does the case of the widow come to them.

Isaiah

²⁴Therefore the Lord,
the LORD[7] of Hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

The Lord

“Alas! I will get relief from My adversaries
and avenge me of My enemies.

²⁵And I will turn My hand upon you,
and I will smelt away your dross like lye,
and I will take away all your slag.

²⁶And I will restore your judges as at the first
and your counselors as at the beginning.

After this you will be called,
“The City of Righteousness,”
“The Faithful Town.”

²⁷Zion will be redeemed with justice
and her repentant[8] ones with righteousness.

²⁸But transgressors and sinners together will be crushed,
and those that forsake the LORD will perish.

²⁹For you will be ashamed of the oaks that you have desired,
and you will be confounded because of the gardens that you have chosen.

³⁰For you will be as an oak whose leaf withers
and as a garden without water.

³¹And the strong one will be as tinder
and his work as a spark,

and both will burn together,
and no one will quench them.