4Alas, sinful nation,
         People weighed down with iniquity,
         Offspring of evildoers,
         Sons who act corruptly!
         They have abandoned the LORD,
         They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
         They have turned away from Him.

5Where will you be stricken again,
         As you continue in 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 nothing sound in it,
         Only bruises, welts and raw wounds,
         Not pressed out or bandaged,
         Nor softened with oil.

7Your land 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.

9Unless the LORD of hosts
         Had left us a few survivors,
         We would be like Sodom,
         We would be like Gomorrah.

God Has Had Enough

10Hear the word of the LORD,
         You rulers of Sodom;
         Give ear to the instruction of our God,
         You people of Gomorrah.

11“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
         Says the LORD.
         “I have 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 to appear before Me,
         Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?

13“Bring your worthless offerings no longer,
         Incense is an abomination to Me.
         New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—
         I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

14“I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts,
         They have become a burden to Me;
         I am weary of bearing them.

15“So when you spread out your hands in prayer,
         I will hide My eyes from you;
         Yes, even though you multiply prayers,
         I will not listen.
         Your hands are covered with blood.

16“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
         Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
         Cease to do evil,

17Learn to do good;
         Seek justice,
         Reprove the ruthless,
         Defend the orphan,
         Plead for the widow.

“Let Us Reason”

18“Come now, and let us reason together,”
         Says the LORD,
         “Though your sins are as scarlet,
         They will be as white as snow;
         Though they are red like crimson,
         They will be like wool.

19“If you consent and obey,
         You will eat the best of the land;

20“But if you refuse and rebel,
         You will be devoured by the sword.”
         Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Zion Corrupted, to Be Redeemed

21How the faithful city has become a harlot,
         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 rulers are rebels
         And companions of thieves;
         Everyone loves a bribe
         And chases after rewards.
         They do not defend the orphan,
         Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

24Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts,
         The Mighty One of Israel, declares,
         “Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries
         And avenge Myself on My foes.

25“I will also turn My hand against you,
         And will smelt away your dross as with lye
         And will remove all your alloy.

26“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
         And your counselors as at the beginning;
         After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
         A faithful city.”

27Zion will be redeemed with justice
         And her repentant ones with righteousness.

28But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together,
         And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end.

29Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,
         And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.

30For you will be like an oak whose leaf 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 burn together
         And there will be none to quench them.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Darby Bible Translation
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that corrupt themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they are turned away backward.

English Revised Version
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly: they have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.

Webster's Bible Translation
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.

World English Bible
Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

Young's Literal Translation
Ah, sinning nation, a people heavy with iniquity, A seed of evil doers, sons -- corrupters! They have forsaken Jehovah, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have gone away backward.Useless Sacrifice
Preached at Southsea for the Mission of the Good Shepherd. October 1871. Isaiah i. 11-17. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: . . . When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Stupidity of Godlessness
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.'--ISAIAH i. 3. This is primarily an indictment against Israel, but it touches us all. 'Doth not know' i.e. has no familiar acquaintance with; 'doth not consider,' i.e. frivolously ignores, never meditates on. I. This is a common attitude of mind towards God. Blank indifference towards Him is far more frequent than conscious hostility. Take a hundred men at random as they hurry through …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Great Suit: Jehovah Versus Judah
'The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. I Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Sin Does to Men
'Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31. And the strong shall be as tow, and His work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.'--ISAIAH i. 30-31. The original reference of these words is to the threatened retribution for national idolatry, of which 'oaks' and 'gardens' were both seats. The nation was, as it were, dried up and made inflammable; the idol was as the 'spark' or the occasion for destruction. But a wider application, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

1St Day of Month. Pardoning Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."--ISAIAH i. 18. Pardoning Grace. My soul! thy God summons thee to His audience chamber! Infinite purity seeks to reason with infinite vileness! Deity stoops to speak to dust! Dread not the meeting. It is the most gracious, as well as wondrous of all conferences. Jehovah himself breaks silence! He …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Worship
ISAIAH i. 12, 13. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. This is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us--or at least ought to terrify us--and set us on asking ourselves seriously and honestly--'What do I believe after all? What manner of man am I after all? …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

"But we are all as an Unclean Thing, and all Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags,"
Isaiah lxiv 6, 7.--"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," &c. This people's condition agreeth well with ours, though the Lord's dealing be very different. The confessory part of this prayer belongeth to us now; and strange it is, that there is such odds of the Lord's dispensations, when there is no difference in our conditions; always we know not how soon the complaint may be ours also. This prayer was prayed long before the judgment and captivity came …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Time of Doubting and of Spiritual Darkness Constitutes
another season when it is very difficult to keep the heart. When the light and comfort of the divine presence is withdrawn; when the believer, from the prevalence of indwelling sin in one form or other, is ready to renounce his hopes, to infer desperate conclusions with respect to himself, to regard his former comforts as vain delusions, and his professions as hypocrisy; at such a time much diligence is necessary to keep the heart from despondency. The Christian's distress arises from his apprehension …
John Flavel—On Keeping the Heart

What are Consequences of Backsliding in Heart.
The text says, that "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." 1. He shall be filled with his own works. But these are dead works, they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God, but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. If they are performed as religious services, they are but loathsome hypocrisy, and an abomination to God; there is no heart in them. To such a person God says: "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isaiah 1:12). "Ye are they which justify …
Charles G. Finney—The Backslider in Heart

Works.
The extant works of St. Basil may be conveniently classified as follows: I. Dogmatic. (i) Adversus Eunomium. Pros Eunomion. (ii) De Spiritu Sancto. Peri tou Pneumatos. II. Exegetic. [302] (i) In Hexæmeron. Eis ten Exaemeron. (ii) Homiliæ on Pss. i., vii., xiv., xxviii., xxix., xxxii., xxxiii., xliv., xlv., xlviii., lix., lxi., cxiv. (iii) Commentary on Isaiah i.-xvi. III. Ascetic. (i) Tractatus prævii. (ii.) Prooemium de Judicio Dei and De Fide. (iii) Moralia. Ta …
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

"His Chains Fell Off. " Acts xii. 7
IN ANSWER TO PRAYER:--Do you know any one tied and bound? Have you prayed for them without ceasing? Are you conscious of the enemy putting YOUR hands or feet in fetters? Are you unable to reach that purse which was at one time always within your grasp, so that now you do not give to the poor as you once did? Are your feet prevented from going on errands of mercy? Do the manacles keep you at home on Sundays, instead of walking muddy lanes to preach? If so, how do you like it? Do you not think …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

Isaiah 1:4 NIV • Isaiah 1:4 NLT • Isaiah 1:4 ESV • Isaiah 1:4 NASB • Isaiah 1:4 KJV • Isaiah 1:4 Bible Apps • Isaiah 1:4 Parallel • Bible Hub