Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaias the son of Amos I which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda.
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.
2 Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.
Heavens, listen! Earth, pay attention! For the Lord has spoken! I brought up children, I cared for them, but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.
An ox knows its owner, and a donkey knows its feeding trough; but my people don't know me, they don't understand me.
4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.
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.
5 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.
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.
6 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.
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.
7 Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.
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.
8 And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.
The daughter of Zion is left like a shack in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.
If the Lord Almighty hadn't let a few of us survive, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
Listen to what the Lord has to say, you rulers of Sodom! Pay attention to the instructions of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.
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!
12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?
When you come to appear before me in worship, who asked you to proudly tramp around my courts?
13 Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.
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.
14 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.
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!
15 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
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.
16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely,
Wash yourselves and clean yourselves up. Get rid of your sins—I don't want to see them! Stop doing evil!
17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.
Learn to do good; strive for justice, condemn those who oppress others; support the rights of orphans, take up cases to defend widows.
18 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.
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.
19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.
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.
20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
But if you are defiant, and if you are rebellious, you'll be killed by the sword. This is what the Lord has declared!
21 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.
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.
22 Thy silver is turned into dress: thy wine is mingled with water.
Your silver has become worthless waste; you wine has been watered down.
23 Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, the run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow’s cometh not in to them.
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.
24 Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.
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!
25 And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dress, and I will take away all thy tin.
I will turn against you. I will refine you in a furnace, removing all impurities.
26 And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city.
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.
27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.
Zion will be rescued by justice, those who repent by doing right.
28 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.
But rebels and sinners will be destroyed together, and those who abandon the Lord will die.
29 For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.
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.
30 When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.
As a result you will become like an oak whose leaves have withered, a dried-out garden that has no water.
31 And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.
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.
