Isaiah 1
1 This is the vision that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Joatham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Heavens, listen! Earth, pay attention! For the Lord has spoken! I brought up children, I cared for them, but they have rebelled against me.
Listen, O heavens, and pay attention, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nurtured and raised children, but they have spurned me.
3 An ox knows its owner, and a donkey knows its feeding trough; but my people don't know me, they don't understand me.
An ox knows his owner, and a donkey knows the manger of his lord, but Israel has not known me, and my people have not understood.
4 What a sinful nation—a people carrying such a load of guilt, an evil generation, corrupt children! They have abandoned the Lord. They have despised Israel's Holy One. They have become strangers. They have gone backwards.
Woe to a sinful nation, a people burdened by iniquity, a wicked offspring, accursed children. They have abandoned the Lord. They have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel. They been taken away backwards.
5 Are you wanting to be punished? Are you going to continue to rebel? The whole of your head is damaged, and your heart is totally giving out.
For what reason shall I continue to strike you, as you increase transgressions? The entire head is feeble, and the entire heart is grieving.
6 You're injured from head to toe, bruised and sore, with open wounds that haven't been cleaned or bandaged or treated with olive oil.
From the sole of the foot, even to the top of the head, there is no soundness within. Wounds and bruises and swelling sores: these are not bandaged, nor treated with medicine, nor soothed with oil.
7 Your country has been devastated, your towns burned down, your fields stripped bare by foreigners right in front of you, as they turn it all into a wasteland.
Your land is desolate. Your cities have been set ablaze. Foreigners devour your countryside in your sight, and it will become desolate, as if devastated by enemies.
8 The daughter of Zion is left like a shack in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.
And the daughter of Zion will be left behind, like an arbor in a vineyard, and like a shelter in a cucumber field, and like a city being laid to waste.
9 If the Lord Almighty hadn't let a few of us survive, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
If the Lord of hosts had not bequeathed us offspring, we would have been like Sodom, and we would have been comparable to Gomorrah.
10 Listen to what the Lord has to say, you rulers of Sodom! Pay attention to the instructions of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
Listen to the Word of the Lord, you leaders of the people of Sodom. Listen closely to the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah.
11 What use are all your many sacrifices to me? asks the Lord. I am sick and tired of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of sacrificial animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats!
The multitude of your sacrifices, what is that to me, says the Lord? I am full. I do not desire holocausts of rams, nor the fat of fatlings, nor the blood of calves and of lambs and of he-goats.
12 When you come to appear before me in worship, who asked you to proudly tramp around my courts?
When you approach before my sight, who is it that requires these things from your hands, so that you would walk in my courts?
13 Don't bring me any more meaningless offerings; your incense is offensive to me. Your new moon festivals and Sabbath observations and your calling of special religious meetings—I can't stand them because they're evil, as are your solemn assemblies.
You should no longer offer sacrifice in vain. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and the Sabbaths and the other feast days, I will not receive. Your gatherings are iniquitous.
14 I detest your new moon and yearly festivals with my whole being! They've become just a burden to me—I can't bear them anymore!
My soul hates your days of proclamation and your solemnities. They have become bothersome to me. I labor to endure them.
15 When you hold up your hands to me in prayer, I'll look away. Even though you pray many prayers, I won't pay attention to them, because your hands are full of blood.
And so, when you extend your hands, I will avert my eyes from you. And when you multiply your prayers, I will not heed you. For your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves and clean yourselves up. Get rid of your sins—I don't want to see them! Stop doing evil!
Wash, become clean, take away the evil of your intentions from my eyes. Cease to act perversely.
17 Learn to do good; strive for justice, condemn those who oppress others; support the rights of orphans, take up cases to defend widows.
Learn to do good. Seek judgment, support the oppressed, judge for the orphan, defend the widow.
18 Come on, let's argue this out, says the Lord. Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will become white like snow. Even though they are red like crimson, they will become like wool.
And then approach and accuse me, says the Lord. Then, if your sins are like scarlet, they shall be made white like snow; and if they are red like vermillion, they shall become white like wool.
19 If you really want this, and if you do as you're told, then you yourselves will eat the best things that the land produces.
If you are willing, and you listen to me, then you will eat the good things of the land.
20 But if you are defiant, and if you are rebellious, you'll be killed by the sword. This is what the Lord has declared!
But if you are not willing, and you provoke me to anger, then the sword will devour you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 The city that used to be faithful has turned into a prostitute! Once she operated on principles of justice and followed what was right, but now only murderers live there.
How has the faithful city, full of judgment, become a harlot? Justice lived in her, but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become worthless waste; you wine has been watered down.
Your silver has turned into dross. Your wine has been mixed with water.
23 Your leaders are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and want to get kickbacks. They don't defend the rights of orphans, and refuse to take cases to help widows.
Your leaders are unfaithful, the associates of thieves. They all love gifts; they pursue rewards. They do not judge for orphans, and the widow’s case is not brought before them.
24 So this is what the Lord says, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel: Ha! I will take satisfaction in punishing my enemies, by paying back those who hate me!
Because of this, the Lord God of hosts, the Strength of Israel, says: Ah! I will be consoled over my enemies, and I will be vindicated from my adversaries.
25 I will turn against you. I will refine you in a furnace, removing all impurities.
And I will turn my hand to you. And I will temper your dross unto purity, and I will take away all your tin.
26 I will give you good leaders as you used to have before, wise counselors as you had in the beginning. After that you will once again be called the City of Integrity, the Faithful City.
And I will restore your judges, so that they will be as before, and your counselors as in times long past. After this, you shall be called the City of the Just, the Faithful City.
27 Zion will be rescued by justice, those who repent by doing right.
Zion will be redeemed in judgment, and they will lead her back to justice.
28 But rebels and sinners will be destroyed together, and those who abandon the Lord will die.
And he shall crush the accursed and sinners together. And those who have abandoned the Lord will be consumed.
29 You will be ashamed about how you enjoyed your pagan worship among the oak trees; you will be embarrassed because you chose the pleasure gardens of idols.
For they shall be confounded because of the idols, to which they have sacrificed. And you shall be ashamed over the gardens that you chose,
30 As a result you will become like an oak whose leaves have withered, a dried-out garden that has no water.
when you were like an oak with falling leaves, and like a garden without water.
31 Your strong people will become like tinder, and their work will become like a spark. They will burn together, and nobody will be able to put out the flames.
And your strength will be like the embers from stubble, and your work will be like a spark, and both will burn together, and there will be no one to extinguish it.
