Isaiah 1–5

Chapter 1

Rebellion of God’s People

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning ^aJudah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the ¹reigns of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah.

^2aListen, O heavens, and hear, O ^bearth;

For the Lord speaks,

“^cSons I have reared and brought up,

But they have ^drevolted against Me.

³“An ox knows its owner,

And a donkey its master’s manger,

But Israel ^adoes not know,

My people ^bdo not understand.”

⁴Alas, sinful nation,

People weighed down with iniquity,

^1aOffspring of evildoers,

Sons who ^bact corruptly!

They have ^cabandoned the Lord,

They have ^ddespised the Holy One of Israel,

They have turned away 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, welts and raw wounds,

^cNot pressed out or bandaged,

Nor softened with oil.

⁷Your ^aland is desolate,

Your cities are burned with fire,

Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence;

It is desolation, 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 the Lord of hosts

Had left us a few ^bsurvivors,

We would be like ^cSodom,

We would be like Gomorrah.

God Has Had Enough

¹⁰Hear ^athe word of the Lord,

You rulers of ^bSodom;

Give ear to the instruction of our God,

You people of Gomorrah.

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

Says the Lord.

“I ¹have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed cattle;

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

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 assemblies—

I cannot ^dendure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

¹⁴“I hate your new moon festivals and your ^aappointed feasts,

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;

Yes, even though you ^cmultiply prayers,

I will not listen.

^dYour hands are ¹covered with blood.

¹⁶“^aWash yourselves, ^bmake yourselves clean;

^cRemove the evil of your deeds from My sight.

^dCease to do evil,

¹⁷Learn to do good;

^aSeek justice,

Reprove the ruthless,

^1bDefend the orphan,

Plead for the widow.

“Let Us Reason”

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

Says the Lord,

“^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 consent and obey,

You will ^beat the best of the land;

²⁰“But if you refuse and rebel,

You will be ^adevoured by the sword.”

Truly, ^bthe mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Zion Corrupted, to be Redeemed

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 chases after rewards.

They ^cdo not ¹defend the ²orphan,

Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord ¹God of hosts,

The ^aMighty One of Israel, declares,

“Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries

And ^bavenge Myself on My foes.

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 restore your ^ajudges as at the first,

And your counselors as at the beginning;

After that you will be called the ^bcity of righteousness,

A faithful city.”

²⁷Zion will be ^aredeemed with justice

And her ¹repentant ones with righteousness.

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

And those who forsake the Lord will come to an end.

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

And you will be embarrassed at the ^bgardens which you have chosen.

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

Or as a garden that has no water.

³¹The 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

God’s Universal Reign

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

²Now it will come about that

^aIn the last days

The ^bmountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established ¹as the chief of the mountains,

And will be raised 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 the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us ¹concerning His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For the ²law will go forth ^afrom Zion

And the word of the Lord 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.

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

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 humbled

And the man of importance has been abased,

But ^bdo not forgive them.

^10aEnter the rock and hide in the dust

^bFrom the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.

¹¹The ^1aproud look of man will be abased

And the ^bloftiness of man will be humbled,

And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

¹²For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning

Against ^aeveryone who is proud and lofty

And against everyone who is lifted up,

That he may be abased.

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

Against all the ^aoaks of Bashan,

¹⁴Against all the ^alofty mountains,

Against all the hills that are lifted up,

¹⁵Against every ^ahigh tower,

Against every fortified wall,

¹⁶Against all the ^aships of Tarshish

And against all the beautiful craft.

¹⁷The pride of man will be humbled

And the loftiness of men will be abased;

And the Lord 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 terror of the Lord

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 terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,

When He arises to make the earth tremble.

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

For ^2bwhy should he be esteemed?

Chapter 3

God Will Remove the Leaders

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

Both ²supply and support, the whole supply of bread

And the whole supply of water;

^2aThe mighty man and the warrior,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

³The captain of fifty and the honorable man,

The counselor and the expert artisan,

And the skillful enchanter.

⁴And I will make mere ^alads 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 storm against the elder

And the inferior against the honorable.

⁶When a man ^alays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,

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

And these ruins will be under your ¹charge,”

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 ^1bspeech and their actions are against the Lord,

To ^crebel against ²His glorious presence.

⁹¹The expression of their faces bears witness against them,

And they display their sin like ^aSodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to ²them!

For they have ^bbrought evil on themselves.

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

For they will eat the fruit of their actions.

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

For ^1awhat he deserves will be done to him.

¹²O My people! Their oppressors ¹are ^achildren,

And women rule over them.

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

And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

^13aThe Lord arises to contend,

And stands to judge the people.

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

“It is you who have ^bdevoured the vineyard;

The ^cplunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵“What do you mean by ^acrushing My people

And grinding the face of the poor?”

Declares the Lord ¹God of hosts.

Judah’s Women Denounced

¹⁶Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the ^adaughters of Zion are proud

And walk with ¹heads held high and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

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

¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

^20aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets,

²¹¹finger rings, ^anose rings,

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

²³hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.

²⁴Now it…