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.

The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw about Judah and Jerusalem, in the days 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.

Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from 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.

Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to 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.

O nation full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.

5 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.

Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.

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.

The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.

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 become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strange lands.

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.

And the daughter of Zion has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field of fruit, like a town shut in by armies.

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 of armies had not kept some at least of us safe, we would have been like Sodom, and the fate of Gomorrah would have been ours.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

Give ear to the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; let your hearts be turned to the law 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 to me is the number of the offerings which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?

At whose request do you come before me, making my house unclean with your feet?

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.

Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings.

14 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.

Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them.

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.

And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: 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,

Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning;

17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

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 now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool?

19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.

If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of the land will be yours;

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 your hearts are turned against me, I will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said.

21 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.

The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

22 Thy silver is turned into dress: thy wine is mingled with water.

Your silver is no longer true metal, your wine is mixed with water.

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 chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

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.

For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against 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.

And my hand will again be on you, washing away what is unclean as with soap, and taking away all your false metal;

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.

And I will give you judges again as at the first, and wise guides as in the past; then you will be named, The Town of Righteousness, the true town.

27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.

Upright acts will be the price of Zion's forgiveness, and by righteousness will men be living there.

28 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.

But a common destruction will overtake sinners and evil-doers together, and those who have gone away from the Lord will be cut off.

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.

For you will be put to shame because of the trees of your desire, and because of the gardens of your pleasure.

30 When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.

For you will be like a tree whose leaves have become dry, and like a garden without 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.

And the strong will be as food for the fire, and his work as a flame; and they will be burned together, with no one to put out the fire.