Isaiah 1:1-9:9

1The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation 2Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

3The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

4Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD ; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

5Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.

6From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.

7Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

8Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.

9Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD . “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

14Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

16Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.

17Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Or justice. / Correct the oppressor Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

18“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD . “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

20but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

21See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers!

22Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.

23Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.

24Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.

25I will turn my hand against you; That is, against Jerusalem I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.

26I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

27Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.

28But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

29“You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.

30You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. 31The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.”

The Mountain of the LORD 1This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days the mountain of the LORD ’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

3Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

5Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD .

The Day of the LORD 6You, LORD, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.

7Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.

8Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

9So people will be brought low and everyone humbled— do not forgive them. Or not raise them up

10Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!

11The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

12The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),

13for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan,

14for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,

15for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,

16for every trading ship Hebrew every ship of Tarshish and every stately vessel.

17The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

18and the idols will totally disappear.

19People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.

20In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.

21They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. 22Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah 1See now, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water,

2the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,

3the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

4“I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.”

5People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

6A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”

7But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”

8Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.

9The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.

11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done.

12Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.

13The LORD takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people.

14The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

15What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

16The LORD says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.

17Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald.” 18In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21the signet rings and nose rings, 22the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses

23and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

24Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.

25Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. 26The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

1In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”

The Branch of the LORD 2In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 3Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit Or the Spirit of judgment and a spirit Or the Spirit of fire. 5Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory Or over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

The Song of the Vineyard 1I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

2He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

3“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?

5Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”

7The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments 8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.

9The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.

10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath That is, about 6 gallons or about 22 liters of wine; a homer That is, probably about 360 pounds or about 160 kilograms of seed will yield only an ephah That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of grain.”

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.

12They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.

13Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst.

14Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.

15So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

16But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

17Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed Septuagint; Hebrew / strangers will eat among the ruins of the rich.

18Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,

19to those who say, “Let God hurry; let him hasten his work so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel— let it approach, let it come into view, so we may know it.”

20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,

23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.

24Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the LORD ’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

26He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!

27Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken.

28Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue. 30In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, there is only darkness and distress; even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

Isaiah’s Commission 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

9He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

10Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

11Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,

12until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

The Sign of Immanuel 1When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

2Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Or has set up camp in Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. 3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, Shear-Jashub means a remnant will return. to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

7Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen,

8for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ” 10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,

11“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you The Hebrew is plural. a sign: The virgin Or young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls son, and he or son, and they will call him Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us. 15He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

17The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

Assyria, the LORD’s Instrument 18In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 19They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. 20In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your heads and private parts, and to cut off your beards also. 21In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 22And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. 23In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms there will be only briers and thorns. 24Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

Isaiah and His Children as Signs 1The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil; also in verse 3. 2So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. 3Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.

4For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

5The LORD spoke to me again:

6“Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

7therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks

8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel Immanuel means God with us. !”

9Raise the war cry, Or Do your worst you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

10Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Hebrew Immanuel

11This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

12“Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.

13The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.

14He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

15Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”

16Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.

18Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light 19When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

1In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-21 is numbered 9:1-20. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

3You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.

4For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

5Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The LORD’s Anger Against Israel 8The Lord has sent a message against Jacob; it will fall on Israel.

9All the people will know it— Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria— who say with pride and arrogance of heart,