Isaiah 1

²Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;

for the Lord has spoken:

I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib;

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.

⁴Ah, sinful nation,

people laden with iniquity,

offspring who do evil,

children who deal corruptly,

who have forsaken the Lord,

who have despised the Holy One of Israel,

who are utterly estranged!

⁵Why do you seek further beatings?

Why do you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and bleeding wounds;

they have not been drained, or bound up,

or softened with oil.

⁷Your country lies desolate,

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

aliens devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

⁸And daughter Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a shelter in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

⁹If the Lord of hosts

had not left us a few survivors,

we would have been like Sodom,

and become like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me,

who asked this from your hand?

Trample my courts no more;

¹³bringing offerings is futile;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—

I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.

¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed festivals

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you stretch out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your doings

from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

¹⁷learn to do good;

seek justice,

rescue the oppressed,

defend the orphan,

plead for the widow.

¹⁸Come now, let us argue it out,

says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be like snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,

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 the Lord has spoken.

²¹How the faithful city

has become a whore!

She that was full of justice,

righteousness lodged in her—

but now murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross,

your wine is mixed with water.

²³Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the orphan,

and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

²⁴Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:

Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,

and avenge myself on my foes!

²⁵I will turn my hand against you;

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 rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,

and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

²⁹For you shall be ashamed of the oaks

in which you delighted;

and you shall blush for the gardens

that you have chosen.

³⁰For you shall be like an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

³¹The strong shall become like tinder,

and their work like a spark;

they and their work shall burn together,

with no one to quench them.