The Wickedness of Judah
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The a vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the b days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
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c Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
"I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
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d The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master's crib;
But Israel e does not know,
My people do not consider."
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Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
f A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
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g Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
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From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
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h Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
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So the daughter of Zion is left i as a booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
j As a besieged city.
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k Unless the LORD of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like l Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
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Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers m of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
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"To what purpose is the multitude of your n sacrifices to Me?"
Says the LORD.
"I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
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"When you come o to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
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Bring no more p futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and q the calling of assemblies -
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
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Your r New Moons and your s appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
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t When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
u Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
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"Wash v yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
w Cease to do evil,
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Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
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"Come now, and let us x reason together,"
Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
y They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
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If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
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But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword";
z For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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Cross References
Numbers 12:6
Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 26:1
Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
2 Chronicles 32:1
After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 2:12
Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate," says the LORD.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 8:7
Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 9:3
And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," says the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:6
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD.
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Cross References
Isaiah 57:3
But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!
Isaiah 57:4
Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth And stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, Offspring of falsehood.
Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:51
And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
Deuteronomy 28:52
They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.
2 Chronicles 36:19
Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions.
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Cross References
Job 27:18
He builds his house like a moth, Like a booth which a watchman makes.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 4:17
Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, Because she has been rebellious against Me," says the LORD.
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Cross References
2 Kings 25:11
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude.
2 Kings 25:22
Then he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left.
Lamentations 3:22
Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
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Cross References
Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
Romans 9:29
And as Isaiah said before: "Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:32
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 15:22
So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
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Cross References
Exodus 23:17
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
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Cross References
Matthew 15:9
And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
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Cross References
Joel 1:14
Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.
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Cross References
Numbers 28:11
At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:6
He has done violence to His tabernacle, As if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The LORD has caused The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
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Cross References
Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
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Cross References
Psalms 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
Isaiah 59:1 - 3
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
Micah 3:4
Then they will cry to the LORD, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 4:14
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
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Cross References
Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
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Cross References
Isaiah 43:26
Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.
Micah 6:2
Hear, O you mountains, the LORD's complaint, And you strong foundations of the earth; For the LORD has a complaint against His people, And He will contend with Israel.
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Cross References
Psalms 51:7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.
Revelation 7:14
And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
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Cross References
Isaiah 40:5
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 58:14
Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Micah 4:4
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.