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.”