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, Jotham, 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.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for YHWH hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against 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.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
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.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken YHWH, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
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.
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
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 unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
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 country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
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 is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 If the Lord Almighty hadn't let a few of us survive, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Except YHWH of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto 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!
Hear the word of YHWH, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our Elohim, ye 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!
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith YHWH: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When you come to appear before me in worship, who asked you to proudly tramp around my courts?
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread 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.
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
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!
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear 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 when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: 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 you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
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 well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for 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.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith YHWH: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 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 ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good 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 ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of YHWH hath spoken it.
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 is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become worthless waste; you wine has been watered down.
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine 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.
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto 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!
Therefore saith the Master, YHWH of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 I will turn against you. I will refine you in a furnace, removing all impurities.
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy 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 thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion will be rescued by justice, those who repent by doing right.
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners will be destroyed together, and those who abandon the Lord will die.
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake YHWH shall 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 ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
30 As a result you will become like an oak whose leaves have withered, a dried-out garden that has no water.
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no 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 the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
