1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he beheld concerning Judea and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah:
2 Hear, O heavens! Give heed, O earth!
The Lord has spoken:
I have reared sons, brought them up,
but they have revolted against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
the ass its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know;
my people are insensible.
4 Alas, a nation astray,
a people weighed down by sin,
the offspring of wrongdoers,
perverse children:
they have forsaken the Lord,
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel,
they have lapsed into apostasy.
5 Why be smitten further
by adding to your waywardness?
The whole head is sick,
the whole heart diseased.
6 From the soles of the feet even to the head
there is nothing sound,
only wounds and bruises and festering sores;
they have not been pressed out or bound up,
nor soothed with ointment.
7 Your land is ruined,
your cities burned with fire;
your native soil is devoured by aliens in your presence,
laid waste at its takeover by foreigners.
8 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
a hut in a melon field,
a city under siege.
9 Had not the Lord of Hosts left us a few survivors,
we should have been as Sodom,
or become like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
O leaders of Sodom;
give heed to the law of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 For what purpose are your abundant
sacrifices to me? says the Lord.
I have had my fill of offerings of rams
and fat of fatted beasts;
the blood of bulls and sheep and he-goats
I do not want.
12 When you come to see me,
who requires you to trample my courts so?
13 Bring no more worthless offerings;
they are as a loathsome incense to me.
As for convening meetings at the New Month
and on the Sabbath,
wickedness with the solemn gathering
I cannot approve.
14 Your monthly and regular meetings
my soul detests.
They have become a burden on me;
I am weary of putting up with them.
15 When you spread forth your hands,
I will conceal my eyes from you;
though you pray at length, I will not hear—
your hands are filled with blood.
16 Wash yourselves clean:
remove your wicked deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil.
17 Learn to do good: demand justice,
stand up for the oppressed;
plead the cause of the fatherless,
appeal on behalf of the widow.
18 Come now, let us put it to the test,
says the Lord:
though your sins are as scarlet,
they can be made white as snow;
though they have reddened as crimson,
they may become white as wool.
19 If you are willing and obey,
you shall eat the good of the land.
20 But if you are unwilling and disobey,
you shall be eaten by the sword.
By his mouth the Lord has spoken it.
21 How the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She was filled with justice;
righteousness made its abode in her,
but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
your wine diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are renegades,
accomplices of robbers:
with one accord they love bribes
and run after rewards;
they do not dispense justice to the fatherless,
nor does the widow’s case come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Hosts,
the Valiant One of Israel, declares,
Woe to them! I will relieve me
of my adversaries,
avenge me of my enemies.
25 I will restore my hand over you
and smelt away your dross as in a crucible,
and remove all your alloy.
26 I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counsellors as in the beginning.
After this you shall be called
the City of Righteousness, a faithful city.
27 For Zion shall be ransomed by justice,
those of her who repent by righteousness.
28 But criminals and sinners
shall be altogether shattered
when those who forsake the Lord are annihilated.
29 And you will be ashamed of the oaks you cherished
and blush for the parks you were fond of;
30 you shall become like an oak whose leaves wither,
and as a garden that has no water.
31 The mighty shall be as refuse,
and their works a spark;
both shall burn up alike,
and there shall be none to extinguish.
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he beheld concerning Judea and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah:
2 Hear, O heavens! Give heed, O earth!
The Lord has spoken:
I have reared sons, brought them up,
but they have revolted against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
the ass its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know;
my people are insensible.
4 Alas, a nation astray,
a people weighed down by sin,
the offspring of wrongdoers,
perverse children:
they have forsaken the Lord,
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel,
they have lapsed into apostasy.
5 Why be smitten further
by adding to your waywardness?
The whole head is sick,
the whole heart diseased.
6 From the soles of the feet even to the head
there is nothing sound,
only wounds and bruises and festering sores;
they have not been pressed out or bound up,
nor soothed with ointment.
7 Your land is ruined,
your cities burned with fire;
your native soil is devoured by aliens in your presence,
laid waste at its takeover by foreigners.
8 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
a hut in a melon field,
a city under siege.
9 Had not the Lord of Hosts left us a few survivors,
we should have been as Sodom,
or become like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
O leaders of Sodom;
give heed to the law of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 For what purpose are your abundant
sacrifices to me? says the Lord.
I have had my fill of offerings of rams
and fat of fatted beasts;
the blood of bulls and sheep and he-goats
I do not want.
12 When you come to see me,
who requires you to trample my courts so?
13 Bring no more worthless offerings;
they are as a loathsome incense to me.
As for convening meetings at the New Month
and on the Sabbath,
wickedness with the solemn gathering
I cannot approve.
14 Your monthly and regular meetings
my soul detests.
They have become a burden on me;
I am weary of putting up with them.
15 When you spread forth your hands,
I will conceal my eyes from you;
though you pray at length, I will not hear—
your hands are filled with blood.
16 Wash yourselves clean:
remove your wicked deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil.
17 Learn to do good: demand justice,
stand up for the oppressed;
plead the cause of the fatherless,
appeal on behalf of the widow.
18 Come now, let us put it to the test,
says the Lord:
though your sins are as scarlet,
they can be made white as snow;
though they have reddened as crimson,
they may become white as wool.
19 If you are willing and obey,
you shall eat the good of the land.
20 But if you are unwilling and disobey,
you shall be eaten by the sword.
By his mouth the Lord has spoken it.
21 How the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She was filled with justice;
righteousness made its abode in her,
but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
your wine diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are renegades,
accomplices of robbers:
with one accord they love bribes
and run after rewards;
they do not dispense justice to the fatherless,
nor does the widow’s case come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Hosts,
the Valiant One of Israel, declares,
Woe to them! I will relieve me
of my adversaries,
avenge me of my enemies.
25 I will restore my hand over you
and smelt away your dross as in a crucible,
and remove all your alloy.
26 I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counsellors as in the beginning.
After this you shall be called
the City of Righteousness, a faithful city.
27 For Zion shall be ransomed by justice,
those of her who repent by righteousness.
28 But criminals and sinners
shall be altogether shattered
when those who forsake the Lord are annihilated.
29 And you will be ashamed of the oaks you cherished
and blush for the parks you were fond of;
30 you shall become like an oak whose leaves wither,
and as a garden that has no water.
31 The mighty shall be as refuse,
and their works a spark;
both shall burn up alike,
and there shall be none to extinguish.