1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: "I have fed my children and brought them up, and they have rebelled against me."
3"The ox knows its owner, and the donkey knows its master's stall. But Israel does not know; my people do not understand."
4Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded down with sin, a family of evildoers, children who ruin what they touch. They have abandoned the LORD. They have made the Holy One of Israel angry. They have turned their backs and gone away.
5Why should you be beaten any more? You only rebel more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.
6From the sole of the foot to the head there is no healthy place in it. There are only wounds, and bruises, and rotting sores. They have not been cleaned, or bandaged, or softened with ointment.
7Your country is a waste; your cities are burned with fire. Strangers eat up your land while you watch. It is left a waste, as though strangers had overthrown it.
8The daughter of Zion is left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shelter in a field of cucumbers, like a city under siege.
9If the LORD of hosts had not left us a very small remnant, we would have been like Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah.
10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
11"What use to me are all your many sacrifices?" says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of well-fed animals. I take no delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats."
12When you come to appear before me, who asked you to trample my courts?
13Bring no more worthless offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me. New moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies - I cannot bear them. Your solemn meetings are sin.
14I hate your new moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am tired of carrying them.
15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even when you say many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put the evil of your deeds away from before my eyes. Stop doing evil.
17Learn to do good. Look for justice. Help those who are crushed. Judge fairly for the fatherless. Speak up for the widow.
18"Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool."
19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land.
20"But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten up by the sword." The mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21See how the faithful city has become a prostitute. It was once full of justice; righteousness lived in it. But now there are murderers.
22Your silver has become waste metal. Your wine is watered down.
23Your princes are rebels and friends of thieves. Every one of them loves a bribe and runs after payment. They do not judge fairly for the fatherless, and the widow's case never comes before them.
24So this is what the Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will get relief from those who stand against me, and take revenge on my enemies."
25I will turn my hand against you. I will burn away your waste metal until it is clean, and take away all your tin.
26"I will give you back your judges as they were at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning. After that you shall be called The city of righteousness, the faithful city."
27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and those in her who turn back shall be redeemed with righteousness.
28But those who break the law and those who sin shall be destroyed together, and those who abandon the LORD shall be used up.
29They shall be ashamed of the oaks you wanted so much, and you shall blush for the gardens you have chosen.
30For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden with no water.
31The strong one shall be like dry flax, and his work like a spark. They shall both burn together, and no one shall put out the fire.