Isaiah 1
1
The vision of Isaiah◦ the son of Amoz, which he beheld concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah◦, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah▫, kings of Judah.
2
Hear, O ye heavens! And give··ear, O earth! For Jehovah speaks; I have caused sons to grow··up, and have lifted· them ·up; but they have transgressed against◦ Me.
3
An ox knows his owner1, and a donkey the crib of his master; Israel does· not ·know; My people do not understand.
4
Woe to the sinning nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have disdained the Holy··One of Israel; they have become··strangers, turning away backward.
5
On· what ·account should you still be smitten? You again turn··aside. All the head is sick, and all the heart infirm.
6
From the sole of the foot even to◦ the head there is no integrity in it; it is a wound, and a bruise, and a recent blow◦; they have not been compressed, nor bound··up, nor softened with oil.
7
Your land is desolate; your cities are burnt··up with fire; your ground, strangers devour her before you; and it is desolate, as overturned by strangers.
8
And the daughter of Zion remains, as a shelter in a vineyard, as a place to pass··the··night among◦ the cucumbers, as a city besieged.
9
Unless▵ Jehovah of Armies had caused a few survivors to remain to us, we would have become as Sodom, we would have been··like Gomorrah.
10
Hear ye the Word of Jehovah, O ye captains of Sodom! Give··ear to the law of our God, O ye people of Gomorrah!
11
For what is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says Jehovah. I am··satiated with the burnt··offerings of rams, and with the fat of fatlings; and in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of he-goats, I delight not.
12
When◦ you come to see My face, who has sought this from your hands, to trample My courts?
13
Bring not again a vain gift··offering; as for incense, it◦ is an abomination to Me; the new··moon2 and Sabbath, the convoking of the convocation, I am· not ·able to bear3; it is iniquity◦, even▵ the day of restraint4.
14
Your new··moons and your solemnities My soul hates; they are an encumbrance on Me; I am··weary of bearing them.
15
And when you spread the palms of your hands, I will hide◦ My eyes from you; even when you multiply prayers, nothing◦ will I◦ hear; your hands are··full of bloods5.
16
Bathe, purify▵6 yourselves; put··aside the evil of your actions from in··front··of My eyes; forbear to do··evil;
17
learn to do··good; inquire after judgment; make··happy the oppressed; judge for the orphan; plead for the widow.
18
Go now◦, and let us dispute7, says Jehovah; though your sins be as scarlet twice-dyed, they shall be··white as snow; though they be··red as crimson8, they shall be as wool.
19
If you are··willing and hearken, you shall eat the goodness of the land;
20
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
21
How◦ has the faithful city◦ become a harlot! She who was full of judgment, justice lodged in her, but now murderers.
22
Thy silver has become dross; thine unmixed··wine is mixed◦ with waters;
23
thy princes are defiant and friends of thieves; every one of them loves a bribe and pursues payments; they judge not for the orphan, and the plea of the widow comes not to▵ them.
24
Therefore the Lord says◦, Jehovah of Armies, the Powerful··One of Israel, Woe! I will be comforted of My adversaries, and I will be avenged of My enemies;
25
and I will return My hand over thee, and will refine, as with soap, thy dross; and I will remove all thy tin.
26
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning; and after this thou◦ shalt be called the City of Justice, the Faithful City◦.
27
Zion shall be redeemed◦ in judgment, and those returning with her in justice.
28
And the breaking of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together; and they who forsake Jehovah shall all· be ·consumed.
29
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen.
30
For you shall be as an oak with its leaves fading, and as a garden for which there are no waters.
31
And the secure◦ one shall become as tow9, and his work as a spark; and the two of them shall burn together, and none shall quench.
1literally, “buyer”
2See Numbers 10:2, 10, concerning the calling together of the congregation for the new moon and appointed feasts.
3as in Life 30
4A day of restraint was a day of no work (see Leviticus 23:36).
5“In general, ‘bloods’ signify all the falsities of doctrine, of life, and of worship, by means of which come the evils that destroy the church” (AE 329:30).
6“In the original language, by this word is signified what is inwardly pure; while another word is used to mean outwardly pure or clean” (AC 10296:3).
7literally, “be reproved”
8literally, “scarlet” (coccineum), though usually translated “crimson” (purpura) in this verse in the Heavenly Doctrine
9beaten flax, ready for spinning