Isaiah

Introduction

Isaiah lived during the decline of Israel in the shadow of Assyria. He spoke the word of God to a people who were “deaf and blind” (see 6:10), who refused to listen to his warnings of looming disaster. He warned that the sin of the people of Judah would bring God’s judgment, yet he also declared that God is sovereign and would use Cyrus the Persian to return them from exile. The book speaks of a “servant,” a “man of sorrows,” who would be “pierced for our transgressions,” accomplishing God’s purposes of salvation (52:13–53:12). The final chapters give a beautiful description of a new creation in which God will rule as King, judging the wicked and establishing eternal peace. Isaiah prophesied about 740–700 b.c. (possibly till the 680s).

1 The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem bin the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

2  gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O hearth;

for the Lord has spoken:

“Children1 ihave I reared and brought up,

but they have rebelled against me.

3  The ox jknows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib,

but Israel does jnot know,

my people do not understand.”

4  Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

koffspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the Lord,

they have ldespised mthe Holy One of Israel,

they are utterly nestranged.

5  Why will you still be ostruck down?

Why will you pcontinue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

6  qFrom the sole of the foot even to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and raw wounds;

they are rnot pressed out or bound up

or softened with oil.

7  sYour country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

foreigners devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8  And tthe daughter of Zion is left

like a ubooth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

9  vIf the Lord of hosts

had not left us wa few survivors,

we should have been like xSodom,

and become like xGomorrah.

10  Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of yzSodom!

Give ear to the teaching2 of our God,

you people of zGomorrah!

11  a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

12  “When you come to bappear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

13  Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—

I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.

14  Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

15  When you gspread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

heven though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

iyour hands are full of blood.

16  jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

kcease to do evil,

17  learn to do good;

lseek justice,

correct oppression;

mbring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.

18  “Come now, nlet us reason3 together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as owhite as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

19  pIf you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

20  but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Unfaithful City

21  How the faithful city

rhas become a whore,4

sshe who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

22  tYour silver has become dross,

your best wine mixed with water.

23  Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone uloves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

vThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,

and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

24  Therefore the wLord declares,

the Lord of hosts,

the xMighty One of Israel:

“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies

yand avenge myself on my foes.

25  zI will turn my hand against you

and will smelt away your adross as with lye

and remove all your alloy.

26  And I will restore your judges bas at the first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness,

the faithful city.”

27  dZion shall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

28  eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,

and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

29  fFor they5 shall be ashamed of gthe oaks

that you desired;

and you shall blush for hthe gardens

that you have chosen.

30  For you shall be ilike an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

31  And the strong shall become jtinder,

and his work a spark,

and both of them shall burn together,

with knone to quench them.

The Mountain of the Lord

2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2  lIt shall come to pass in the latter days

that mthe mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and nall the nations shall flow to it,

3  and omany peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For pout of Zion shall go forth the law,1

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4  He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

qand they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

5  O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in sthe light of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

6  For you have rejected your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things tfrom the east

and uof fortune-tellers vlike the Philistines,

and they wstrike hands with the children of foreigners.

7  Their land is xfilled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is yfilled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

8  Their land is zfilled with idols;

they bow down to athe work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

9  So man bis humbled,

and each one bis brought low—

do not forgive them!

10  cEnter into the rock

and hide in the dust

dfrom before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty.

11  eThe haughty looks of man shall be brought low,

and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12  fFor the Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

13  against all the gcedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the hoaks of Bashan;

14  against all ithe lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

15  against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

16  against all jthe ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

17  kAnd the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,

and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

18  lAnd the idols shall utterly pass away.

19  mAnd people shall enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,2

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.

20  In that day omankind will cast away

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the pbats,

21  mto enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts of the cliffs,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.

22  qStop regarding man

rin whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

3 For behold, the sLord God of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,1

all tsupport of bread,

and all support of water;

2  uthe mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

3  the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

4  vAnd I will make boys their princes,

and infants2 shall rule over them.

5  wAnd the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

6  For xa man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

7  in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a yhealer;3

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

8  For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,

adefying his glorious presence.4

9  For the look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin blike Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

cFor they have brought evil on themselves.

10  dTell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

11  fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

12  My people—ginfants are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, hyour guides mislead you

and they have swallowed up5 the course of your paths.

13  The Lord ihas taken his place to contend;

he stands to judge peoples.

14  The Lord will enter into judgment

with the jelders and princes of his people:

“It is you who khave devoured6 the vineyard,

lthe spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15  What do you mean by mcrushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts.

16  The Lord said:

nBecause othe daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched …