Isaiah 1–5

CHAPTER 1

Judah, a Sinful Nation

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning ^aJudah and Jerusalem, which he beheld in the days of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz, and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah.

^2aHear, O heavens, and give ear, O ^bearth;

For ¹Yahweh speaks,

“^cSons I have reared and raised up,

But they have ^dtransgressed against Me.

³“An ox knows its owner,

And a donkey its master’s manger,

But Israel ^adoes not know;

My people ^bdo not perceive.”

⁴Alas, sinful nation,

People heavy with iniquity,

^aSeed of evildoers,

Sons who ^bact corruptly!

They have ^cforsaken Yahweh;

They have ^dspurned the Holy One of Israel;

They have ¹become estranged ²from Him.

⁵Where will you be stricken again,

As you ^acontinue in your rebellion?

The whole head is ^bsick,

And the whole heart is faint.

^6aFrom the sole of the foot even to the head

There is ^bnothing sound in it,

Only bruises, wounds, and raw wounds,

^cNot pressed out, not bandaged,

Not softened with oil.

⁷Your ^aland is desolate;

Your cities are burned with fire;

Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence;

It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

⁸The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,

Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

^9aUnless Yahweh of hosts

Had left us a few ^bsurvivors,

We would be like ^cSodom,

We would be like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear ^athe word of Yahweh,

You rulers of ^bSodom;

Give ear to the law of our God,

You people of Gomorrah.

¹¹“^aWhat are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”

Says Yahweh.

“I ¹have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed cattle;

And in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats ²I take no pleasure.

¹²“When you come ^ato appear before Me,

Who requires ¹of you this trampling of My courts?

¹³“Bring your worthless offerings no longer,

^aIncense is an abomination to Me.

^bNew moon and sabbath, the ^ccalling of convocation—

I cannot ^dendure wickedness and the solemn assembly.

¹⁴“My soul hates your new moon festivals and your ^aappointed times,

They have become a burden to Me;

I am ^bweary of bearing them.

¹⁵“So when you ^aspread out your hands in prayer,

^bI will hide My eyes from you;

Indeed, even though you ^cmultiply prayers,

I will not listen.

^dYour hands are full of blood.

¹⁶“^aWash yourselves, ^bpurify yourselves;

^cRemove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes.

^dCease to do evil,

¹⁷Learn to do good;

^aSeek justice,

Reprove the ruthless,

^bExecute justice for the ¹orphan,

Plead for the widow.

¹⁸“Come now, and ^alet us reason together,”

Says Yahweh,

“^bThough your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool.

¹⁹“^aIf you are willing and obey,

You will ^beat the best of the land;

²⁰But if you refuse and rebel,

You will be ^aeaten by the sword.”

For ^bthe mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

Zion Will Be Redeemed with Justice

²¹How the faithful city has become a ^aharlot,

She who was full of justice!

Righteousness once lodged in her,

But now murderers.

²²Your silver has become dross,

Your drink diluted with water.

²³Your ^arulers are rebels

And companions of thieves;

Everyone ^bloves a bribe

And pursues rewards.

They ^cdo not execute justice for the ¹orphan,

Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,

The ^aMighty One of Israel, declares,

“Ah, I will be comforted concerning My adversaries,

And I will ^bavenge Myself on My enemies.

²⁵“I will also turn My hand against you,

And will ^asmelt away your dross as with lye

And will remove all your alloy.

²⁶“Then I will have your ^ajudges return as at the first,

And your counselors as at the beginning;

Afterwards you will be called the ^bcity of righteousness,

A faithful town.”

²⁷Zion will be ^aredeemed with justice

And her ¹repentant ones with righteousness.

²⁸But ¹transgressors and sinners will be ^abroken together,

And those who forsake Yahweh will come to an end.

²⁹For ¹you will be ashamed of the ^2aoaks which you have desired,

And you will be humiliated because of the ^bgardens which you have chosen.

³⁰For you will be like ¹an oak whose ^aleaf withers away

Or as a garden that has no water.

³¹And the strong man will become tinder,

His work also a spark.

Thus they shall both ^aburn together,

And there will be ^bnone to quench them.

CHAPTER 2

Yahweh Will Judge the Nations

¹The word which ^aIsaiah the son of Amoz beheld concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²Now it will be that

^aIn the last days

The ^bmountain of the house of Yahweh

Will be established ¹as the head of the mountains,

And will be lifted up above the hills;

And ^call the nations will stream to it.

³And many peoples will come and say,

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

To the house of the God of Jacob,

That He may instruct us ¹from His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For ^afrom Zion the ²law will go forth

And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

⁴And He will judge between the nations,

And will ¹render decisions for many peoples;

And ^athey will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

^bNation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

Yahweh Will Have a Day of Reckoning

⁵Come, ^ahouse of Jacob, and let us walk in the ^blight of Yahweh.

⁶For You have ^aabandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,

Because they are filled with influences from the east,

And they are soothsayers ^blike the Philistines,

And they ^cstrike bargains with the children of foreigners.

⁷Their land has also been filled with silver and gold,

And there is no end to their treasures;

Their land has also been filled with ^ahorses,

And there is no end to their chariots.

⁸Their land has also been ^afilled with idols;

They worship the ^bwork of their hands,

That which their fingers have made.

⁹So ^athe common man has been bowed down,

And the man of importance has been made low,

But ^bdo not forgive them.

^10aEnter the rock and hide in the dust

^bFrom the dread of Yahweh and from the splendor of His majesty.

¹¹The ^1alofty look of ²man will be made low,

And the ^3bmen made high will be bowed down,

And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²For Yahweh of hosts will have a day of reckoning

Against ^aeveryone who is proud and high

And against everyone who is lifted up,

That he may be made low.

¹³And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,

Against all the ^aoaks of Bashan,

¹⁴Against all the ^ahigh mountains,

Against all the hills that are lifted up,

¹⁵Against every ^alofty tower,

Against every fortified wall,

¹⁶Against all the ^aships of Tarshish

And against all the desirable craft.

¹⁷The loftiness of ¹man will be bowed down,

And the ²men who are high will be made low;

And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day,

¹⁸But the ^aidols will completely vanish.

¹⁹Men will ^ago into caves of the rocks

And into holes of the ¹ground

Before the dread of Yahweh

And the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises ^bto make the earth tremble.

²⁰In that day men will ^acast away to the moles and the ^bbats

Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

Which they made for themselves to worship,

²¹In order to ^ago into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs

Before the dread of Yahweh and the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises to make the earth tremble.

^221aStop regarding ²man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;

For ^3bwhy should he be esteemed?

CHAPTER 3

Yahweh Will Judge Judah’s Leaders

¹For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, ^ais going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah

Both ¹supply and support, the whole ²supply of bread

And the whole ³supply of water,

^2aThe mighty man and the man of war,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

³The commander of fifty and the ¹highly respected man,

The counselor and the wise craftsman,

And the experienced enchanter.

⁴And I will make ^ayoung men their princes,

And ¹capricious children will rule over them,

⁵And the people will be ^aoppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his ^bneighbor;

The youth will overwhelm the elder

And the dishonorable, the honorable.

⁶When a man ^agrasps his brother in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,

And these ruins will be under your hand,”

⁷He will ¹protest on that day, saying,

“I will not be your ^2ahealer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

⁸For ^aJerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their ^btongue and their deeds are against Yahweh,

To ^crebel against ¹His glorious presence.

⁹¹The expression of their faces answers against them,

And they declare their sin like ^aSodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have ^bdealt out evil on themselves.

¹⁰Say to the ^arighteous that it will go well with them,

For they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,

For ^1awhat he has dealt out will be done to him.

¹²O My people! Their taskmasters ¹are ^ainfants,

And women rule over them.

O My people! ^bThose who guide you lead you astray

And swallow up the way of your paths.

^13aYahweh takes His stand to contend,

And stands to judge the peoples.

¹⁴Yahweh ^aenters into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes,

“It is you who have ^bconsumed the vineyard;

The ^cplunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

¹⁵“What do you mean by ^acrushing My people

And grinding the face of the afflicted?”

Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh Will Judge Zion’s Daughters

¹⁶Moreover, Yahweh said, “Because the ^adaughters of Zion are haughty

And walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, ^acrescent ornaments,

¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

^20aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms,

²¹¹finger rings, ^anose rings,

²²festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses,

²³hand…