Isaiah 1
¹ 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 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
³ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly: they have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.
⁵ Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.
⁷ 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 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
⁹ Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
¹¹ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: 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 ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,—I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
¹⁵ 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 you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil:
¹⁷ learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: 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 ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
²⁰ but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
²¹ How is the faithful city become an harlot! she that was full of judgment! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
²² Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.
²³ 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 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
²⁵ and I will turn my hand upon thee, and throughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin:
²⁶ and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
²⁸ But the destruction of the transgressors and the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
²⁹ 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 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
³¹ And the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.