Isaiah 1–5

1The ^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

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

for the Lord has spoken:

“Children^{1 i}have I reared and brought up,

but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox ^jknows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib,

but Israel does ^jnot know,

my people do not understand.”

⁴Ah, 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.

⁵Why will you still be ^ostruck down?

Why will you ^pcontinue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

^6qFrom 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.

^7sYour country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

foreigners devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

⁸And ^tthe daughter of Zion is left

like a ^ubooth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

^9vIf the Lord of hosts

had not left us ^wa few survivors,

we should have been like ^xSodom,

and become like ^xGomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of ^yzSodom!

Give ear to the teaching² of our God,

you people of ^zGomorrah!

^11a“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?

¹³Bring 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.

¹⁴Your ^cnew moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When 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.

^16jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

^kcease to do evil,

¹⁷learn 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.

^19pIf you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

^qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Unfaithful City

²¹How the faithful city

^rhas become a whore,⁴

^sshe who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

^22tYour silver has become dross,

your best wine mixed with water.

²³Your 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.

²⁴Therefore 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.

^25zI will turn my hand against you

and will smelt away your ^adross as with lye

and remove all your alloy.

²⁶And 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.”

^27dZion shall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

^28eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,

and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

^29fFor they⁵ shall be ashamed of ^gthe oaks

that you desired;

and you shall blush for ^hthe gardens

that you have chosen.

³⁰For you shall be ⁱlike an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

³¹And 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

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

^2lIt 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,

³and ^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.

⁴He 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.

⁵O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in ^sthe light of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

⁶For 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.

⁷Their 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.

⁸Their land is ^zfilled with idols;

they bow down to ^athe work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

⁹So man ^bis humbled,

and each one ^bis brought low—

do not forgive them!

^10cEnter into the rock

and hide in the dust

^dfrom before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty.

^11eThe 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.

^12fFor 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;

¹³against all the ^gcedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the ^hoaks of Bashan;

¹⁴against all ⁱthe lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

¹⁵against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

¹⁶against all ^jthe ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

^17kAnd 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.

^18lAnd the idols shall utterly pass away.

^19mAnd 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.

²⁰In 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,

^21mto 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.

^22qStop regarding man

^rin whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

3For 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;

^2uthe mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

^4vAnd I will make boys their princes,

and infants² shall rule over them.

^5wAnd 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.

⁶For ^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”;

⁷in 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.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their ^zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,

^adefying his glorious presence.⁴

⁹For 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.

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

^efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

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

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

¹²My 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.

¹³The Lord ⁱhas taken his place to contend;

he stands to judge peoples.

¹⁴The 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.

¹⁵What do you mean by ^mcrushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:

ⁿBecause ^othe daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

^ptinkling with their feet,

¹⁷therefore the Lord ^qwill strike with a scab

the heads of ^othe daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away ^rthe finery of the anklets, the ^sheadbands, and the ^tcrescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰the ^uheaddresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and ^vnose rings; ²²the ^wfestal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of ^xperfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a ^ybelt, a rope;

and instead of ^zwell-set hair, ^abaldness;

and instead of a…