Isaiah 1:3–11

³The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s feeding trough,

but Israel does not know;

my people do not understand.”^j

⁴Oh sinful nation,

people weighed down with iniquity,^k

brood of evildoers,^l

depraved children!

They have abandoned^m the Lord;

they have despisedⁿ the Holy One of Israel;^o

they have turned their backs on him.

⁵Why do you want more beatings?

Why do you keep on rebelling?

The whole head is hurt,

and the whole heart is sick.

⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head,^p

no spot is uninjured^q—

wounds, welts, and festering sores

not cleansed, bandaged,

or soothed with oil.

⁷Your land is desolate,

your cities burned down;^r

foreigners devour your fields

right in front of you—

a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.

⁸Daughter Zion^s is abandoned

like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a shack in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

⁹If the Lord of Armies^t

had not left us a few survivors,^u

we would be like Sodom,

we would resemble Gomorrah.^v

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,^w

you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the instruction of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!^x

¹¹“What are all your sacrifices to me?”

asks the Lord.

“I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams

and the fat of well-fed cattle;

I have no desire for the blood of bulls,

lambs, or male goats.^y