Isaiah 1:2–20

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.”