Isaiah 1:1-18
1599 Geneva Bible
Isaiah
1 2 Isaiah reproveth the Jews of their ingratitude and stubbornness, that neither for benefits nor punishments would amend. 11 He showed why their sacrifices are rejected, and wherein God’s true service standeth. 24 He prophesieth of the destruction of Jerusalem, 25 and of the restitution thereof.
1 A [a]vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw [b]concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of [c]Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah Kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O [d]heavens, and hearken, O earth: for the Lord hath said, I have nourished and brought up [e]children, but they have rebelled against me.
3 The [f]ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known: my people hath not understood.
4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity: a [g]seed of the wicked, corrupt children: they have forsaken the Lord: they have provoked the [h]Holy one of Israel to anger: they are gone backward.
5 Wherefore should ye be [i]smitten anymore? for ye fall away more and more: the whole [j]head is sick, and the whole heart is heavy.
6 From the [k]sole of the foot unto the head, there is nothing whole therein, but wounds and swelling, and sores full of corruption: they have not been wrapped, [l]nor bound up nor mollified with oil.
7 Your land is waste: your cities are burnt with fire: strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate like the overthrow of [m]strangers.
8 And the daughter of [n]Zion shall remain like a cottage in a vineyard, like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and like a besieged city.
9 Except the Lord of hosts [o]had reserved unto us even a small remnant, we should have been [p]as Sodom, and should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O [q]princes of Sodom: hearken unto the Law of our God, O people of Gomorrah.
11 What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts: and I [r]desire not the blood of bullocks, nor of lambs, nor of goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who required this of your hands to tread in my courts?
13 Bring no more oblations, [s]in vain: incense is an abomination unto me: I cannot suffer your new moons, nor Sabbath, nor solemn days (it is iniquity) nor solemn assemblies.
14 My soul hateth your [t]new moons and your appointed feasts: they are a burden unto me: I am weary to bear them.
15 And when you shall stretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: and though ye make many prayers, I will not hear: for your hands are full [u]of blood.
16 [v]Wash you, make you clean, take away the evil of your works from before mine eyes: cease to do evil.
17 Learn to [w]do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed: judge the fatherless, and defend the widow.
18 Come now, [x]and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins were as crimson, they shall be made [y]white as snow: though they were red like scarlet, they shall be as wool,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Isaiah 1:1 That is, a revelation or prophecy, which was one of the two means whereby God declared himself to his servants in old time, as Num. 12:6, and therefore the Prophets were called Seers, 1 Sam. 9:9.
- Isaiah 1:1 Isaiah was chiefly sent to Judah and Jerusalem, but not only: for in this book are prophecies concerning other nations also.
- Isaiah 1:1 Called also Azariah, 2 Kings 15:1, of these Kings, read 2 Kings 14–21, and 2 Chron. 25–33.
- Isaiah 1:2 Because men were obstinate and insensible, he calleth to the dumb creatures, which were more prompt to obey God’s word, as Deut. 32:1.
- Isaiah 1:2 He declareth his great mercy toward the Jews forasmuch as he chose them above all other nations to be his people and children, as Deut. 10:15.
- Isaiah 1:3 The most dull and brute beasts do more acknowledge their duty toward their masters, than my people do toward me, of whom they have received benefits without comparison.
- Isaiah 1:4 They were not only wicked as were their fathers, but utterly corrupt, and by their evil example infected others.
- Isaiah 1:4 That is, him that sanctifieth Israel.
- Isaiah 1:5 What availeth it to seek to amend you by punishment, seeing the more I correct you, the more ye rebel?
- Isaiah 1:5 By naming the chief parts of the body, he signifieth that there was no part of the whole body of the Jews free from his rods.
- Isaiah 1:6 Every part of the body as well the least as the chiefest, was plagued.
- Isaiah 1:6 Their plagues were so grievous, that they were incurable, and yet they would not repent.
- Isaiah 1:7 Meaning, of them that dwell far off, which because they look for no advantage of that which remaineth destroy all before them.
- Isaiah 1:8 That is, Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 1:9 Because that he will ever have a Church to call upon his Name.
- Isaiah 1:9 That is, all destroyed.
- Isaiah 1:10 Ye that for your vices deserved all to be destroyed, as they of Sodom, save that God of his mercy reserved a little number, Lam. 3:22.
- Isaiah 1:11 Although God commanded these sacrifices for a time, as aids and exercises of their faith: yet because the people had not faith nor repentance, God detesteth them, Ps. 50:13; Jer. 6:20; Amos 5:22; Mic. 6:7.
- Isaiah 1:13 Without faith and repentance.
- Isaiah 1:14 Your sacrifices offered in the new moons and feasts: he condemneth hereby hypocrites, which think to please God with ceremonies, and they themselves are void of faith and mercy.
- Isaiah 1:15 He showeth that where men be given to avarice, deceit, cruelty and extortion, which is meant by blood, there God will show his anger, and not accept them, though they seem never so holy, as Isa. 59:3.
- Isaiah 1:16 By this outward washing, he meaneth the spiritual: exhorting the Jews to repent and amend their lives.
- Isaiah 1:17 This kind of reasoning by the second Table, the Scriptures use in many places against the hypocrites, who pretend most holiness and religion in word, but when the charity and love toward their brethren should appear, they declare that they have neither faith nor religion.
- Isaiah 1:18 To know if I do accuse you without cause.
- Isaiah 1:18 Lest sinners should pretend any rigor on God’s part, he only willeth them to be pure in heart, and he will forgive all their sins, were they never so many or great.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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