Isaiah 1:1-18 ▼

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, [ye] heavens, and give ear, [thou] earth! for Jehovah 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; Israel doth not know, my people hath no intelligence.

4 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.

5 Why should ye be smitten any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in him; wounds, and weals, and open sores: they have not been dressed, nor bound up, nor mollified with oil.

7 Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers eat it up in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left, as a booth in a vineyard, as a night-lodge in a cucumber-garden, as a besieged city.

9 Unless Jehovah of hosts had left us a very small residue, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of Jehovah, rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, people of Gomorrah!

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith Jehovah. I am sated with burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of he-goats I take no pleasure.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this from your hand -- to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations! Incense is an abomination unto me, -- new moon and sabbath, the calling of convocations -- wickedness and the solemn meeting I cannot bear.

14 Your new moons and your set feasts my soul hateth: they are a burden to me; I am wearied of bearing [them].

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; -- cease to do evil,

17 learn to do well: seek judgment, gladden the oppressed, do justice to the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.