Isaiah 1
1
God’s Message in Troubled Times
1This is the vision Isaiah son of Amoz saw. God showed Isaiah what would happen to Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah saw these things while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.
God Finds Fault with His People
2Heaven and earth, listen,
because the Lord is speaking:
“I raised my children and helped them grow.
But they have turned against me.
3An ox knows its master.
And a donkey knows where its owner feeds it.
But the people of Israel do not know me.
My people do not understand.”
4Terrible times are coming for Israel, a nation of sin.
The people are loaded down with guilt.
They are like a group of children doing evil.
They are full of evil.
They have left the Lord.
They hate God, the Holy One of Israel.
They have turned away from him.
5Why should you continue to be punished?
Why do you continue to turn against him?
Your whole head is hurt.
And your whole heart is sick.
6There is no healthy spot
from the bottom of your foot to the top of your head.
You are covered with wounds, hurts and open sores.
Your wounds are not cleaned and covered.
No medicine takes away the pain.
7Your land is ruined.
Your cities have been burned with fire.
While you watch,
your enemies are stealing everything from your land.
Your land is ruined like a country destroyed by enemies.
8Jerusalem is left alone
like an empty shelter in a vineyard.
It is like a hut left in a field of melons.
It is like a city surrounded by enemies.
9The Lord of heaven’s armies
allowed a few of our people to live.
Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed
like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
10Jerusalem, your rulers are like those of Sodom.
Your people are like those of Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the Lord.
Listen to the teachings of our God!
11The Lord says,
“I do not want all these sacrifices you give me.
I have had enough of your sacrifices
of male sheep and fat from fine animals.
I am not pleased
by the blood of bulls, sheep and goats.
12You come to meet with me.
But who asked you to do
all this running in and out?
13Don’t continue bringing me worthless sacrifices!
I hate the incense you burn.
I can’t stand your New Moons, Sabbaths and other feast days.
I can’t stand the evil you do in holding your holy meetings.
14I hate your New Moon feasts
and your other yearly feasts.
They have become like heavy weights on me.
I am tired of carrying them.
15You will raise your arms in prayer to me.
But I will refuse to look at you.
Even if you say many prayers,
I will not listen to you.
It’s because your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean.
Stop doing the evil things I see you do.
Stop doing wrong!
17Learn to do good.
Be fair to other people.
Punish those who hurt others.
Help the orphans.
Stand up for the rights of widows.”
18The Lord says,
“Come, we will talk these things over.
Your sins are red like deep red cloth.
But they can be as white as snow.
Your sins are bright red.
But you can be white like wool.
19If you will obey me,
you will eat good crops from the land.
20But if you refuse to obey and if you turn against me,
you will be destroyed by your enemies’ swords.”
The Lord himself said these things.
Jerusalem Is Not Loyal to God
21The city of Jerusalem once followed the Lord.
But she is no longer loyal to the Lord.
She used to be filled with fairness.
People there lived the way God wanted.
But now, murderers live there.
22Jerusalem, you have become like the scum left when silver is purified.
You are like wine mixed with water.
23Your rulers are rebels.
They are friends of thieves.
They all accept money for doing wrong things.
They are paid to cheat people.
They don’t try to help the orphans.
And they don’t listen to the widows’ needs.
24The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says:
“You, my enemies, will not cause me any more trouble.
I will pay you back for what you did.
25I will turn against you.
I will clean away all your wrongs as if with soap.
I will take all the worthless things out of you.
26I will bring back judges as you had long ago.
Your counselors will be like the ones you had in the beginning.
Then you will be called the City That Is Right with God.
You will be called the Loyal City.”
27Because the Lord does what is fair,
he will rescue Jerusalem.
Because the Lord does what is right,
he will save her people who come back to him.
28But sinners and those who turn against him will be destroyed.
Those who have left the Lord will die.
29“You will be ashamed
because you have worshiped false gods under the oak trees.
You will be disgraced
because you have worshiped idols in your gardens.
30You will be like an oak whose leaves are dying.
You will be like a garden without water.
31Powerful people will be like small, dry pieces of wood.
And what they do will be like sparks.
The people and what they do will burn together.
And no one will be able to stop that fire.”
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Isaiah 1: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 1
1
Isaiah 1
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.
3The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not have understanding.
4O 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.
5Why should I chastise you any more? Ye will revolt more and more; every head is sick, and every heart faint.
6From 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.
7Your 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.
8And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9Except 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.
11To 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.
12When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13Bring 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.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15And 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;
17learn to do good; seek judgment; restore unto the oppressed; hear the fatherless in right judgment; protect the widow.
18Then 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.
19If ye are willing and hearken, ye shall eat the good of the land;
20But 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.
22Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
23Thy 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.
24Therefore 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;
25and I will turn my hand upon thee and according to pureness purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin;
26and 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.
27Zion shall be ransomed with judgment and her converts with righteousness.
28And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and those that forsook the Lord shall be consumed.
29For ye shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the groves that ye have chosen.
30For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf falls and as a garden that has no water.
31And 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.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International