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 'Uzziyahu, Jotham, Achaz, and Hezekiah, the 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 ye heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken: Children have I nourished and brought up, but 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: 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.
Woe! sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupt: they have forsaken the Lord, they have incensed the Holy One of Israel, they are departed 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 will ye be stricken yet more? [that] ye increase the revolt? every head is sick, and every heart is 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 putrefying sores: they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor mollified 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 country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire; your soil—in your presence, strangers devour it, 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 left is the daughter of Zion as a hut in a vineyard, as a lodge in a cucumber field, 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.
Unless the Lord of hosts had left unto us a remnant ever so small, like Sodom should we have been, unto Gomorrah should we have been compared.
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 the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God, 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!
For what serveth me the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fatted beasts; and the blood of bullocks, and of sheep, and of he-goats, I do not desire.
12 When you come to appear before me in worship, who asked you to proudly tramp around my courts?
When ye come to appear in my presence—who hath required this at your hand, to tread down 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.
Continue no more to bring an oblation of deceit; incense of abomination is it unto me: new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot bear misdeed with festive gathering.
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 become a burden 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 withdraw my eyes from you; yea, when ye make ever so 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 yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your deeds from before my 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 for justice, relieve the oppressed, do justice to 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 the Lord: though your sins should be as scarlet, they shall become white as the snow; though they should be red like crimson, they shall become 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 ye be willing and obey, the best of the land shall ye eat;
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, by the sword shall ye be devoured; for the mouth of the Lord 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 she become a harlot, the faithful town! she, that was full of justice; righteousness lodged therein; but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become worthless waste; you wine has been watered down.
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is drugged 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 rebels, and companions of thieves; every one loveth brides, and runneth after rewards; to the fatherless they will not do justice, and the cause of the widow doth not 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 Lord, the Eternal of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will take satisfaction on my adversaries, and be avenged on my enemies.
25 I will turn against you. I will refine you in a furnace, removing all impurities.
And I will turn my hand against thee, and purge away as with lye thy dross, and remove 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 counsellors as at the beginning; after that shalt thou be called, The city of righteousness, the town that is faithful.
27 Zion will be rescued by justice, those who repent by doing right.
Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and her converts through righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners will be destroyed together, and those who abandon the Lord will die.
But destruction shall come over transgressors and sinners together, and those that forsake the Lord shall perish.
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 people shall be ashamed because of the terebinths which ye had desired, and ye shall be put to the blush because of the gardens that ye had 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 a terebinth the leaves of which wither, 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 mighty oppressor shall become as tow, and his workman as a spark; and they shall both burn together, with none to quench.
