Isaiah 1–5

Superscription

1The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Rebellious Judah

²Hear, heavens,

and listen, earth,

for Yahweh has spoken:

“I reared children

and I brought them up,

but they rebelled against me.

³An ox knows its owner

and a donkey the manger of its master.

Israel does not know;

my people do not understand.

⁴Ah, sinful nation,

a people heavy with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly.

They have forsaken Yahweh;

they have despised the holy one of Israel.

They are estranged and gone backward.

⁵Why do you want to be beaten again?

You continue in rebellion.

The whole of the head is sick,

and the whole of the heart is faint.

⁶From the sole of the foot and up to the head

there is no health in it;

bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed,

and they have not been bound up

and not softened with the oil.

⁷Your country is desolate,

your cities are burned with fire;

As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence,

and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners.

⁸And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,

like a shelter in a cucumber field,

like a city that is besieged.^a

⁹If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors,^b

we would have been as few as Sodom,

we would have become like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah!

¹¹What is the abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh.

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fattened animals

and I do not delight in the blood of bulls

and ram-lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me,

who asked for this from your hand:

you trampling my courts?

¹³You must not continue^c to bring offerings^d of futility,

incense—it is an abomination to me;

new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation—

I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly.

¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;

they have become to me like a burden,

I am not able to bear them.

¹⁵And when you stretch out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,^e

I will not be listening.

Your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶Wash! Make yourselves clean!

Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes!

Cease to do evil! ¹⁷Learn to do good!

Seek justice! Rescue the oppressed!

Defend the orphan! Plead for the widow!

¹⁸“Come now, and let us argue,” says Yahweh.

“Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow;

even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and you are obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land.

²⁰But if you refuse and you rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Purifying Jerusalem

²¹How has a faithful city become like a whore?

Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

²²Your silver has become as dross;

Your wine is diluted with waters.

²³Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Every one loves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the orphan

and the legal dispute of the widow does not come before them.

²⁴Therefore, the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:

“Ah, I will be relieved of my enemies,

and I will avenge myself on my foes.

²⁵And I will turn my hand against you;

I will purify your dross like lye,

and I will remove all of your tin.

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

and your counselors, as at the beginning.

After this you will be called^f the city of righteousness,

faithful city.

²⁷Zion will be redeemed by justice,

and those of her who repent, by righteousness.

²⁸But the destruction of rebels and sinners shall be together,

and those who forsake Yahweh will perish.

²⁹For you^g will be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted,

and you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.

³⁰For you shall be like an oak withering its leaves,

and like a garden where there is no water for her.

³¹And the strong man shall become like tinder,

and his work like a spark.

And both of them shall burn together,

and there is not one to quench them.”

The Mountain of Yahweh

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

²And it shall happen in the future of the days

the mountain of the house^a of Yahweh shall be established;

it will be among the highest^b of the mountains,

and it shall be raised from the hills.

All of the nations shall travel to him;

³many peoples shall come.

And they shall say,

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

to the house^c of the God of Jacob,

and may he teach us part of his ways,

and let us walk in his paths.”

For instruction shall go out from Zion,

and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

⁴He shall judge between the nations

and he shall arbitrate for many peoples.

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation,

and they shall not learn war again.

The Day of Yahweh

⁵House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

⁶For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob,

because they are full^d from the east,

and of soothsayers like the Philistines,

and they make alliances^e with the offspring of foreigners.

⁷And its land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to its treasures;

and its land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to its chariots.

⁸Its land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their^f hands,

to what they made with their^g fingers.

⁹So humanity is humbled;

everyone is humbled,

and you must not forgive them.

¹⁰Enter into the rock

and hide yourself in the dust

from the presence of the terror of Yahweh

and from the glory of his majesty.

¹¹The haughty eyes^h of humanity willⁱ be brought low,

and the pride of everyone will be humbled,

and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

¹²For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts

against all of the proud and the lofty

and against all that is lifted up and humble,^j

¹³and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon,

and against all the large trees of Bashan,

¹⁴and against all the high mountains,

and against all the lofty hills,

¹⁵and against every kind of high tower,

and against every kind of fortified wall,

¹⁶and against all the ships of Tarshish,

and against all the ships of desire.

¹⁷And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled,

and the pride of everyone shall be brought low,

and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

¹⁸And the idols shall pass away entirely,

¹⁹and they will enter into the caves of the rocks

and into the holes of the ground

from the presence of the terror of Yahweh

and from the glory of his majesty

when he rises^k to terrify the earth.

²⁰On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver

and its idols of gold,

which they made for it to worship,

to the rodents^l and to the bats—

²¹to enter into the crevices of the rocks

and into the clefts of the crags

from the presence of the terror of Yahweh

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he rises^m to terrify the earth.

²²Turn away from humanity,

who has breath in its nostrils,ⁿ

for by^o what is it esteemed?

Leaders of Judah and Jerusalem

3For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is removing every source of support^a

from Jerusalem and from Judah:

all of the supplies of bread

and all of the supplies of water,

²mighty warrior and man of war,

judge and prophet,

and diviner and elder,

³captain of fifty and the honorable men of rank,

and counselor and skillful magicians and skillful enchanter.

⁴And I will make boys their princes,

and children shall rule over them.

⁵And the people will be oppressed by each other^b

and a man by his neighbor.

The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder,

and the dishonorable toward the honorable.

⁶Indeed, a man will seize his brother

in the house of his father:

“You have a cloak;^c

you shall be a leader for us,

and this heap of ruins shall be under your hand!”

⁷He will lift up his voice on that day, saying,

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is no bread

and there is no cloak.

You shall not make me the leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen

because their speech and their deeds are against Yahweh,

defying the eyes of his glory.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them

and they declare their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have dealt out evil to themselves.

¹⁰Tell the innocent^d that it is good

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked!^e It is bad!

For what is done by his hands will be done to him.

¹²My people—children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

My people, your leaders are misleading you,

and they confuse the course of your paths.

¹³Yahweh takes his stand to conduct a legal case

and takes his stand to judge the peoples.

¹⁴Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and its princes.

“And you! You have devoured the vineyard;

the spoil of the poor is in your houses!

¹⁵Why^f do you crush my people

and grind the face of the poor?”

declares^g the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

The Pride of Jerusalem’s Women

¹⁶And Yahweh said: “Because^h the daughters of Zion are haughty,

and they walk with outstretched neck,

and they give flirting glances with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,ⁱ

and with their feet they rattle their bangles,^j

¹⁷the Lord will make the heads^k of the daughters of Zion scabby,

and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets

and the headbands and the crescent necklaces,

¹⁹the pendants and the bracelets and the veils,

²⁰the headdresses and the armlets and the sashes,

and the perfume boxes^l and the amulets,

²¹the signet rings and the nose rings,

²²the festal robes and the mantles,

and the cloaks and the handbags,

²³and the mirrors…