Isaiah 1:3–11

³Even an ox knows its owner,

and a donkey recognizes its master’s care—

but Israel doesn’t know its master.

My people don’t recognize my care for them.”

⁴Oh, what a sinful nation they are—

loaded down with a burden of guilt.

They are evil people,

corrupt children who have rejected the Lord.

They have despised the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on him.

⁵Why do you continue to invite punishment?

Must you rebel forever?

Your head is injured,

and your heart is sick.

⁶You are battered from head to foot—

covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—

without any soothing ointments or bandages.

⁷Your country lies in ruins,

and your towns are burned.

Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes

and destroy everything they see.

⁸Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned

like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,

like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest,

like a helpless city under siege.

⁹If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

had not spared a few of us,

we would have been wiped out like Sodom,

destroyed like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.”

Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”

¹¹“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?”

says the Lord.

“I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fattened cattle.

I get no pleasure from the blood

of bulls and lambs and goats.