2  ^gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

for the Lord has spoken:

^h“Children¹ have I reared and brought up,

but they have rebelled against me.

3  ⁱThe ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib,

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.”

4  Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

^joffspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have ^kforsaken the Lord,

they have ^ldespised the Holy One of Israel,

they are utterly ^mestranged.

5  Why will you still be struck down?

Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

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

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and raw wounds;

they are not pressed out or bound up

or softened with oil.

7  Your country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

foreigners devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8  And the daughter of Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

9  ⁿIf the Lord of hosts

had not left us a few survivors,

we should have been like ^oSodom,

and become like Gomorrah.

10  Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of ^pSodom!

Give ear to the teaching² of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

11  ^q“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

12  “When you come to ^rappear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

13  Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a ^sburden to me;

I am ^tweary of bearing them.

15  When you ^uspread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

^vI will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

16  ^wWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

17  learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the ^xfatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.

18  “Come now, let us reason³ together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as ^ywhite as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

19  ^zIf you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

20  but ^aif you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

^bfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

21  How the faithful city

has become a ^cwhore,⁴

she who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

22  Your silver has become ^ddross,

your best wine mixed with water.

23  ^eYour princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

They do not bring justice to the fatherless,

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

24  Therefore the Lord declares,

the Lord of hosts,

^fthe Mighty One of Israel:

“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies

and avenge myself on my foes.

25  I will turn my hand against you

and will smelt away your dross as with lye

and remove all your alloy.

26  And 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.”

27  Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

28  But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,

and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

29  For they⁵ shall be ashamed of the ^goaks

that you desired;

and you shall blush for the ^hgardens

that you have chosen.

30  For you shall be like an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

31  And the strong shall become tinder,

and his work a spark,

and both of them shall burn together,

with none to quench them.

2  ^jIt shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and ^kall the nations shall flow to it,

3  and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For ^lout of Zion shall go forth the law,⁶

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4  He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their ^mswords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

ⁿnation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

5  O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

6  For you have rejected your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things from the east

and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,

and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7  ^oTheir land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

8  Their land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to ^pwhat their own fingers have made.

9  So ^qman is humbled,

and each one is brought low—

do not forgive them!

10  ^rEnter into the rock

and hide in the dust

from before the terror of the Lord,

and ^sfrom the splendor of his majesty.

11  The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,

and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12  ^tFor the Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

13  ^uagainst all the cedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the oaks of Bashan;

14  against all the lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

15  against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

16  against all the ^vships of ^wTarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

17  And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,

and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

18  And the idols shall utterly pass away.

19  And people shall enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,⁷

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

20  ^xIn that day mankind will cast away

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the bats,

21  to enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts of the cliffs,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

22  Stop regarding man

in whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?