1 The avision of bIsaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
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.”
The Unfaithful City
21 How the faithful city
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.
The Mountain of the Lord
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz isaw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
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.
The Day 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?
The Mountain of the Lord
1 mIt 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 it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and npeoples shall flow to it,
2 and omany nations 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 pout of Zion shall go forth the law,1
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their qswords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore;
4 sbut they shall sit tevery man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and uno one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5 For all the peoples walk
each in the name of its god,
but we will vwalk in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever.
The Lord Shall Rescue Zion
6 In that day, declares the Lord,
and gather those who have been driven away
and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and the lame I will make the yremnant,
and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will zreign over them in Mount Zion
from this time forth and forevermore.
8 And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
the former dominion shall come,
kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now why do you cry aloud?
aIs there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
that pain seized you like a woman in labor?
10 Writhe and groan,2 O daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you shall go out from the city
and dwell in the open country;
you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
bthere the Lord will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
11 Now many nations
are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and cthresh,
O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
and shall devote3 their gain to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.