Isaias, 1
The prophet complains of the sins of Juda and Jerusalem, and exhorts them to a sincere conversion.
[1] The vision of Isaiah the Son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda. •
[2] Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me. •
[3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. •
[4] Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. •
[5] For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.
[6] From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. •
[7] Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. •
[8] And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. •
[9] Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. •
[10] Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha. •
[11] To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. •
[12] When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?
[13] Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. •
[14] My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them. •
[15] And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood. •
[16] Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely, •
[17] Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.
[18] And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. •
[19] If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.
[20] But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
[21] How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers. •
[22] Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water. •
[23] Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in to them. •
[24] Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies. •
[25] And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dross, and I will take away all thy tin. •
[26] And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city. •
[27] Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice. •
[28] And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.
[29] For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen. •
[30] When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.
[31] And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it. •