Isaiah
1
- The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem
that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
- Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the
LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have
rebelled against me.
- The ox knows his master, the donkey his
owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."
- Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with
guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken
the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs
on him.
- Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do
you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
- From the sole of your foot to the top of
your head there is no soundness --
only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed
with oil.
- Your country is desolate, your cities burned
with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
- The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter
in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege.
- Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some
survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
- Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of
Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah
!
- "The multitude of your sacrifices
-- what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened
animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
- When you come to appear before me, who has
asked this of you, this trampling of my courts ?
- Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your
incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations
-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
- Your New Moon festivals and your appointed
feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing
them.
- When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
- wash and make yourselves clean. Take your
evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
- learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage
the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
- "Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
- If you are willing and obedient, you will
eat the best from the land;
- but if you resist and rebel, you will be
devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- See how the faithful city has become a harlot!
She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her
-- but now murderers !
- Your silver has become dross, your choice
wine is diluted with water.
- Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves;
they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of
the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
- Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the
Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and
avenge myself on my enemies.
- I will turn my hand against you; I will
thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.
- I will restore your judges as in days of
old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the
City of Righteousness, the Faithful City."
- Zion will be redeemed with justice, her
penitent ones with righteousness.
- But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
- "You will be ashamed because of the
sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of
the gardens that you have chosen.
- You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
like a garden without water.
- The mighty man will become tinder and his
work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."
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