The prophet complains of the sins of Juda and Jerusalem, and exhorts
them to a sincere conversion.
1:1. The vision of Isaias the Son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda
and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings
of Juda.
1:2. Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath
spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have
despised me.
1:3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel
hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.
1:4. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked
seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have
blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.
1:5. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase
transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.
1:6. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no
soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not
bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.
1:7. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your
country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as
when wasted by enemies.
1:8. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard,
and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid
waste.
1:9. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom,
and we should have been like to Gomorrha.
1:10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
1:11. To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims,
saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of
fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.
1:12. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at
your hands, that you should walk in my courts?
1:13. Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me.
The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide,
your assemblies are wicked.
1:14. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are
become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.
1:15. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes
from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands
are full of blood.
1:16. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from
my eyes, cease to do perversely,
1:17. Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for
the fatherless, defend the widow.
1:18. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as
crimson, they shall be white as wool.
1:19. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good
things of the land.
1:20. But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall
devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
1:21. How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a
harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.
1:22. Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water.
1:23. Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love
bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and
the widow's cause cometh not in to them.
1:24. Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of
Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be
revenged of my enemies.
1:25. And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy
dross, and I will take away all thy tin.
1:26. And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy
counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the
just, a faithful city.
1:27. Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back
in justice.
1:28. And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and
they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.
1:29. For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have
sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have
chosen.
1:30. When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a
garden without water.
1:31. And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a
spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench
it.