UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 1

◄ ISA 1 ► ║ ═ ©

1 These are things that Yahweh revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz about Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah spoke about them during the times when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled as kings of Judah.

2 Isaiah told the sky and the land, as if they could hear,

“It is as if the Israelites were my own children

who rebelled against me after I raised them.

3 Even an ox knows who its owner is,

and a donkey knows where its master feeds it,

but the Israelites do not know me.

They do not recognize how they ought to relate to me.”

4 How terrible it will be for this nation that keeps sinning!

These people commit so many crimes!

They do evil, destructive things just as their ancestors did.

They do not consider it important to obey Yahweh,

the holy God of the Israelites.

Instead, they treat him as if he were a stranger.

5 You Judeans are like a person whom someone has beaten all over his body.

This should make you realize that you need to stop rebelling against Yahweh.

You are like a person whom someone has been beaten so badly that he can no longer think clearly

and who has completely lost his courage.

6 You are like a person whose whole body is not healthy anywhere.

It is as if you have many wounds, bruises, and open sores

that no one has cleaned out, rubbed with oil, or put a bandage on.

7 Foreign armies have made your land desolate

and have set your cities on fire.

Right in front of you,

foreigners are eating up everything your ground produces,

and they have left it as desolate as a place that enemies have destroyed.

8 Like a temporary shelter that someone would set up at harvest time

in a vineyard or a cucumber field,

Jerusalem is the only Judean city whose walls are still standing,

and enemies have surrounded it and are trying to destroy it.

9 If Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies,

had not let a few of us survive,

enemies would have completely destroyed all of our cities,

just as he completely destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

10 Listen to what Yahweh our God wants to teach you,

you rulers and people who are as wicked

as the rulers and people of Sodom and Gomorrah!

11 Yahweh says, “No matter how many sacrifices you offer to me,

that will not impress me.

You have sacrificed more than enough rams as burnt offerings to me,

and you have offered me more than enough fat from animals you have fed well.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and male goats

does not please me at all.

12 I never asked you to come and worship me

by leading in so many animals

and trampling around with them in the courtyard of my temple!

13 These offerings mean nothing to me, so stop bringing them!

The incense that you burn disgusts me.

You keep doing evil things even though you attend religious gatherings,

so I detest your New Moon festivals and Sabbath assemblies.

14 I hate it when you gather for your New Moon festivals

and for the festivals that I appointed for you to observe each year.

It is as if they have become a heavy load

that I am tired of carrying.

15 When you pray to me, lifting up your hands,

I do not look at you.

Even when you pray many times,

I do not listen to you.

That is because you have committed violent crimes.

It is as if you still have blood stains on your hands.

16 I can see the evil things that you are doing.

Stop doing them,

as if you were thoroughly washing that blood off your hands.

17 Learn to do things that are right.

Make sure that people treat each other fairly.

Give a better life to people whom others are treating cruelly.

Legally defend helpless people such as orphans and widows.

18 Yahweh says, “Let us now settle this matter between us.

You have committed so many violent crimes

that it is as if you have blood stains on your hands

that are as bright red as scarlet cloth or crimson dye.

But I can forgive you and make you good again

so that it will be as if your hands are as white as snow or wool.

19 If you obey me willingly,

you will eat good food that the land produces.

20 But if you refuse to obey me and you continue to rebel against me,

enemy armies will destroy you.”

This will surely happen because Yahweh himself has said that it will happen.

21 The people of Jerusalem have changed so much!

They used to worship Yahweh faithfully,

but now they worship many different gods.

They are acting the way a prostitute does.

In that city, people formerly treated one another fairly and did what was right.

But now, they commit murder.

22 The people of Jerusalem used to be pure, like silver,

but now they are corrupt, like silver mixed with cheaper metals.

The people of that city used to be strong, like pure wine,

but now they are weak, like wine that someone has mixed with water.

23 The leaders of the city disobey Yahweh,

and they join others in stealing from people.

They accept bribes and ask for gifts to make unfair decisions.

They do not help orphans and widows

by considering their legal cases and deciding them fairly.

24 Yahweh is the Lord, the commander of the heavenly armies.

He is the mighty God whom the Israelites should worship.

This is what he declares about these things:

“I am going to punish the people who are acting

so contrary to the way I want people to act.

This will satisfy me. But how terrible it will be for them!

25 I will use my power against those people.

By punishing them, I will make Jerusalem pure again,

just as people use lye to help them melt precious metals

so they can remove impurities and base metals from them.

26 Then I will give you good judges and wise advisors,

such as you had before.

After I do that, people will describe Jerusalem as

‘the city where people do what is right’

and ‘the city whose people are faithful to Yahweh.’ ”

27 Yahweh will rescue the people of Jerusalem who sincerely repent,

by doing what is right and fair.

28 However, he will destroy people who rebel and keep sinning.

Then there will be no people in the city who have abandoned Yahweh.

29 Then anyone who went to sacred oak trees or groves to worship idols

will feel great shame for having done that.

30 My opponents will be like an oak tree whose leaves are drying up

or a garden that has no water,

and when I punish them, it will be as if I am burning them up. 31 The strongest people among you will be like dry flax fiber that burns easily,

and it will be as if the idols they have made are a spark that sets them on fire.

It will be as if they and their idols burn up together

and no one puts out the fire.