whole universe was to bear witness that God’s judgments are just. The Lord indicted Judah for rebelling against Him. It is noteworthy that the Hebrew word translated “rebelled” in Isaiah 1:2 often referred to a subordinate state’s violation of a treaty with a sovereign nation. In Isaiah 1, the word points to Judah’s blatant violation of God’s covenant. Therefore, Judah went into captivity. The Babylonian captivity was God’s means of chastening Judah. This punishment, of course, was intended as a corrective.