1The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for Yahweh has spoken: “Children I have reared and raised up, but they themselves have rebelled against me.
3An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s feeding trough; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
4Woe, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh, spurned the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.
5Why should you be struck any longer, that you keep adding to your rebellion? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.
6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it — bruise and welt and raw wound; they have not been drained, nor bound up, nor softened with oil.
7Your land is a desolation, your cities burned with fire; your ground — strangers devour it before your eyes, a desolation like the overthrow by strangers.
8And the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
9Had Yahweh of hosts not left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
10Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11“What are your many sacrifices to me?” says Yahweh. “I have had my fill of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened beasts; in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats I take no delight.
12When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand — this trampling of my courts?
13Bring no more worthless grain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of an assembly — I cannot endure iniquity together with the solemn gathering.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my self hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
15And when you spread out your palms, I hide my eyes from you; even when you multiply prayer, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil,
17learn to do good, seek justice, set right the oppressor; defend the orphan, plead the cause of the widow.
18Come now, and let us reason together, says Yahweh. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall become white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall become like wool.
19If you are willing and obey, you shall eat the good of the land;
20but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword — for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.
21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness used to lodge in her — but now murderers.
22Your silver has become dross; your wine is diluted with water.
23Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves; every one of them loves a bribe and pursues payoffs. They do not defend the orphan, and the cause of the widow does not come before them.
24Therefore this is the declaration of the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.
25And I will turn my hand against you, and I will smelt away your dross as with lye, and remove all your alloy.
26And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.
27Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent by righteousness.
28But the shattering of rebels and sinners shall come together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.
29For they shall be ashamed of the sacred oaks that you desired, and you shall be disgraced over the gardens that you chose.
30For you shall become like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden that has no water.
31The strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; the two of them will burn together, with no one to quench them.
Open in the interactive reader →Where this passage connects across Scripture — each link typed and reasoned, part of the AIT Bible Nexus Chart.