1 The 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.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD speaks, I have nourished and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not have understanding.
4 O sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, generation of evildoers, corrupt sons! They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger; they have turned back.
5 Why should I chastise you any more? Ye will revolt more and more; every head is sick, and every heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in him; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 Except the LORD of the hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye princes of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? shall the LORD say. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; the incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot stand them; iniquity and the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; likewise, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; 17 learn to do good; seek judgment; restore unto the oppressed; hear the fatherless in right judgment; protect the widow.
18 Then come, shall the LORD say, and we shall be even; if your sins were as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; if they were red like crimson, they shall become as wool. 19 If ye are willing and hearken, ye shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 23 Thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; every one loves bribes and follows after rewards; they do not hear the fatherless in judgment, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of the hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease myself of my adversaries and avenge myself of my enemies; 25 and I will turn my hand upon thee and according to pureness purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin; 26 and I will restore thy judges as at the first and thy counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be ransomed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and those that forsook the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For ye shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the groves that ye have chosen. 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf falls and as a garden that has no water. 31 And the strong idol shall be as tow and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and no one shall be able to quench them.