Isaiah 1
1
1Here is the vision about Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah saw. It came to him when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were ruling. They were kings of Judah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.
The Nation Refuses to Obey the Lord
2Listen to me, you heavens! Pay attention to me, earth!
The Lord has said,
“I raised children. I brought them up.
But they have refused to obey me.
3The ox knows its master.
The donkey knows where its owner feeds it.
But Israel does not know me.
My people do not understand me.”
4How terrible it will be for this sinful nation!
They are loaded down with guilt.
They are people who do nothing but evil.
They are children who are always sinning.
They have deserted the Lord.
They have turned against the Holy One of Israel.
They have turned their backs on him.
5Israel, why do you want to be beaten all the time?
Why do you always refuse to obey the Lord?
Your head is covered with wounds.
Your whole heart is weak.
6There isn’t a healthy spot on your body.
You are not healthy from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.
You have nothing but wounds, cuts
and open sores.
They haven’t been cleaned up or bandaged
or treated with olive oil.
7Your country has been deserted.
Your cities have been burned down.
The food from your fields is being eaten up by outsiders.
They are doing it right in front of you.
Your land has been completely destroyed.
It looks as if strangers have taken it over.
8The city of Zion is left like a shed
where someone stands guard in a vineyard.
It is left like a hut in a cucumber field.
It’s like a city being attacked.
9The Lord who rules over all
has let some people live through that time of trouble.
If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.
We would have been like Gomorrah.
10Rulers of Sodom,
hear the Lord’s message.
People of Gomorrah,
listen to the instruction of our God.
11“Do you think I need any more of your sacrifices?”
asks the Lord.
“I have more than enough of your burnt offerings.
I have more than enough of rams
and the fat of your fattest animals.
I do not find any pleasure
in the blood of your bulls, lambs and goats.
12Who asked you to bring all these animals
when you come to worship me?
Who asked you and your animals
to walk all over my courtyards?
13Stop bringing offerings that do not mean anything to me!
I hate your incense.
I can’t stand your worthless gatherings.
I can’t stand the way you celebrate your New Moon feasts,
Sabbath days and special services.
14Your New Moon feasts and your other appointed feasts
I hate with my whole being.
They have become a heavy load to me.
I am tired of carrying it.
15You might spread out your hands toward me when you pray.
But I do not look at you.
You might even offer many prayers.
But I am not listening to them.
Your hands are covered with the blood of the people you have murdered.
16So wash and make yourselves clean.
Get your evil actions out of my sight!
Stop doing what is wrong!
17Learn to do what is right!
Treat people fairly.
Help those who are treated badly.
Stand up in court for children whose fathers have died.
And do the same thing for widows.
18“Come. Let us settle this matter,”
says the Lord.
“Even though your sins are bright red,
they will be as white as snow.
Even though they are deep red,
they will be white like wool.
19But you have to be willing to change and obey me.
If you are, you will eat the good things that grow on the land.
20But if you are not willing to obey me,
you will be killed by swords.”
The Lord has spoken.
21See how the faithful city of Jerusalem
has become like a prostitute!
Once it was full of people who treated others fairly.
Those who did what was right used to live in it.
But now murderers live there!
22Jerusalem, your silver isn’t pure anymore.
Your best wine has been made weak with water.
23Your rulers refuse to obey the Lord.
They join forces with robbers.
All of them love to accept money from those who want special favors.
They are always looking for gifts from other people.
They don’t stand up in court for children whose fathers have died.
They don’t do it for widows either.
24The Lord is the Mighty One of Israel.
The Lord who rules over all announces,
“Israel, you have become my enemies.
I will act against you in my anger.
I will pay you back for what you have done.
25I will turn my power against you.
I will make you completely ‘clean.’
I will remove everything that is not pure.
26I will give you leaders like the ones you had long ago.
I will give you rulers like those you had at the beginning.
Then you will be called
the City That Does What Is Right.
You will also be called the Faithful City.”
27Zion will be saved when justice is done.
Those who are sorry for their sins will be saved
when what is right is done.
28But sinners and those who refuse to obey the Lord will be destroyed.
And those who desert the Lord will die.
29“Israel, you take delight in worshiping among the sacred oak trees.
You will be full of shame for doing that.
You have chosen to worship in the sacred gardens.
You will be dishonored for doing that.
30You will be like an oak tree whose leaves are dying.
You will be like a garden that doesn’t have any water.
31Your strongest men will become like dry pieces of wood.
Their worship of other gods will be the spark that lights the fire.
Everything will be burned up.
No one will be there to put the fire out.”
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Isaiah 1: NIrV
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Yeshayah 1
1
1The chazon (vision) of Yeshayah ben Amotz, which he saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim in the yamim of Uziyahu, Yotam, Achaz, and Yechizkiyahu, melachim of Yehudah.
2Hear, O Shomayim, and give ear, O Eretz, for Hashem hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up banim, and they have rebelled against Me.#1:2 i.e., willfully flouted My authority. See Isa 53:5,8
3The ox knoweth his owner, and the donkey his masterʼs manger; but Yisroel doth not know, My people doth not consider.
4Ah, goy choteh (sinful nation), a people weighed down with avon (guilt, iniquity), zera of evildoers, banim of corruption; they forsook Hashem, they have spurned the Kadosh Yisroel (the Holy One of Yisroel), they have turned their back on Him.#1:4 T.N. Here we see it is “My people” (Ex 6:6-7) who are stricken, whereas in Isa 53:8 it is Moshiach Ben Dovid who is stricken for My people.
5Why, seeing that ye will be stricken again, will ye rebel stubbornly again? The kol rosh is sick, and the kol levav faint.
6From the sole of the regel even unto the rosh there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither soothed with shemen.
7Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with eish; your land, zarim devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by zarim.
8And the Bat Tziyon (i.e., Yerushalayim) is left as a sukkah in a kerem (vineyard), as a shack in a cucumber field, as an ir (city) under siege.
9Except Hashem Tzva'os had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Amora (Gomorrah).
10Hear the Devar Hashem, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the Torat Eloheinu, ye people of Amora (Gomorrah).
11To what purpose is the multitude of your zevakhim unto Me? saith Hashem; I am fed up of the olot (burnt offerings) of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the dahm of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
12When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample khatzerai (My courts)?
13Bring no more futile minchot; ketoret is an abomination unto Me; Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) and Shabbos, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure aven (wickedness) and atzarah (solemn convocation).
14Your Rosh Chodesh and your Mo'adim My Nefesh hateth; they are a burden unto Me; I am weary to bear them.
15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many tefillah, I will not hear; your hands are full of damim.
16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17Learn to do good; seek mishpat, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the almanah.
18Come now, and let us reason together, saith Hashem; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of ha'aretz;
20But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the cherev; for the mouth of Hashem hath spoken.
21How is the Kiryah Ne'emanah (Faithful City, i.e., Yerushalayim) become a zonah (harlot)! It was full of mishpat; tzedek lodged in it; but now murderers.
22Thy kesef is become dross, thy wine mixed with mayim:
23Thy sarim (princes) are rebellious, and companions of ganavim: every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they give no justice to the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the almanah come unto them.
24Therefore saith HaAdon, Hashem Tzva'os, Avir Yisroel (the Mighty One of Yisroel), Ah, I will relieve Myself of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies:
25And I will turn My hand upon thee, and refine away thy impurities, and take away all thy alloy:
26And I will restore thy shofetim as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The Ir HaTzedek, the Kiryah Ne'emanah.
27Tziyon shall be redeemed with mishpat, and those in her who make teshuvah with tzedakah.
28And the destruction of the poshe'im and of the chote'im shall be together, and they that forsake Hashem shall be consumed.
29For they shall be ashamed of the sacred oaks which ye have delighted in, and ye shall blush for the gannot (gardens) that ye have chosen.
30For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no mayim.#1:30 T.N. The unquenchable fire of the apostate in the first chapter points to the unquenchable fire of Gehinnom in the last verse of the last chapter (66:24) and the loathesomeness of those there — Dan 12:2
31And the strong shall be as tinder, and the maker of it#1:31 the idol as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
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