Rebellious Judah

• 2 Hear, heavens, and listen, earth,
  • for Yahweh has spoken:
• “I reared children
  • and I brought them up,
    • but they rebelled against me.
  • 3 An ox knows its owner and a donkey the manger of its master.
• Israel does not know;
  • my people do not understand.
  • 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity,
• offspring of evildoers,
  • children who deal corruptly.
• They have forsaken Yahweh;
  • they have despised the holy one of Israel.
    • They are estranged and gone backward.
  • 5 Why do you want to be beaten again? You continue in rebellion.
• The whole of the head is sick,
  • and the whole of the heart is faint.
  • 6 From the sole of the foot and up to the head there is no health in it;
• bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed,
  • and they have not been bound up
  • and not softened with the oil.
  • 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire;
• As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence,
  • and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners.
  • 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field,
  • like a city that is besieged.[fn]
  • 9 If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors,[fn] we would have been as few as Sodom,
  • we would have become like Gomorrah.
  • 10 Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah!
  • 11 What is the abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
    • and the fat of fattened animals
  • and I do not delight in the blood of bulls
    • and ram-lambs and goats.
  • 12 When you come to appear before me, who asked for this from your hand:
  • you trampling my courts?
  • 13 You must not continue[fn] to bring offerings[fn] of futility, incense—it is an abomination to me;
• new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation—
  • I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly.
  • 14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like a burden,
  • I am not able to bear them.
  • 15 And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
• even though you make many prayers,[fn]
  • I will not be listening.
• Your hands are full of blood.
  • 16 Wash! Make yourselves clean! Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes!
• Cease to do evil!
  • 17 Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue the oppressed!
  • Defend the orphan! Plead for the widow!
  • 18 “Come now, and let us argue,” says Yahweh. “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow;
  • even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
  • 19 If you are willing and you are obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
• 20 But if you refuse and you rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.
  

For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”