Isaiah 1:21-31

English Standard Version

The Unfaithful City

²¹How the faithful city
    ^(A)has become a whore,^[a]
    ^(B)she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
    but now murderers.
²²^(C)Your silver has become dross,
    your best wine mixed with water.
²³Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
Everyone ^(D)loves a bribe
    and runs after gifts.
^(E)They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
    and the widow's cause does not come to them.

²⁴Therefore the ^(F)Lord declares,
    the Lord of hosts,
    the ^(G)Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
    ^(H)and avenge myself on my foes.
²⁵^(I)I will turn my hand against you
    and will smelt away your ^(J)dross as with lye
    and remove all your alloy.
²⁶And I will restore your judges ^(K)as at the first,
    and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward ^(L)you shall be called the city of righteousness,
    the faithful city.”

²⁷^(M)Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
    and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸^(N)But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
    and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹^(O)For they^[b] shall be ashamed of ^(P)the oaks
    that you desired;
and you shall blush for ^(Q)the gardens
    that you have chosen.
³⁰For you shall be ^(R)like an oak
    whose leaf withers,
    and like a garden without water.
³¹And the strong shall become ^(S)tinder,
    and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
    with ^(T)none to quench them.