[1] The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw about Judah and
Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah. [2] Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the
Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but
their hearts have been turned away from me. [3] Even the ox has knowledge
of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but
Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me. [4] O nation full
of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers,
false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no
respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.
[5] Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil
ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble. [6] The body, from
head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows,
and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has
been put on the wounds. [7] Your country has become waste; your towns are
burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made
waste and overcome by men from strange lands. [8] And the daughter of Zion
has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field
of fruit, like a town shut in by armies. [9] If the Lord of armies had not
kept some at least of us safe, we would have been like Sodom, and the fate
of Gomorrah would have been ours. [10] Give ear to the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom; let your hearts be turned to the law of our God, you
people of Gomorrah. [11] What use to me is the number of the offerings
which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the
best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the
blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he-goats. [12] At whose request do you
come before me, making my house unclean with your feet? [13] Give me no
more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so
are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings. [14] Your new moons
and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my
spirit; I am crushed under them. [15] And when your hands are stretched out
to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making
prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood. [16] Be washed,
make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my
eyes; let there be an end of sinning; [17] Take pleasure in well-doing; let
your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the
child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow. [18] Come now, and
let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which
are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like
wool? [19] If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of
the land will be yours; [20] But if your hearts are turned against me, I
will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said. [21] The
upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right
decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is
full of those who take men's lives. [22] Your silver is no longer true
metal, your wine is mixed with water. [23] Your chiefs have gone against
the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking
for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for
the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow
come before them. [24] For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the
Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send
punishment on those who are against me; [25] And my hand will again be on
you, washing away what is unclean as with soap, and taking away all your
false metal; [26] And I will give you judges again as at the first, and
wise guides as in the past; then you will be named, The Town of
Righteousness, the true town. [27] Upright acts will be the price of Zion's
forgiveness, and by righteousness will men be living there. [28] But a
common destruction will overtake sinners and evil-doers together, and those
who have gone away from the Lord will be cut off. [29] For you will be put
to shame because of the trees of your desire, and because of the gardens of
your pleasure. [30] For you will be like a tree whose leaves have become
dry, and like a garden without water. [31] And the strong will be as food
for the fire, and his work as a flame; and they will be burned together,
with no one to put out the fire.
