Isaiah 1:2-9

Common English Bible

Rebels condemned

²Hear you heavens, and listen earth,
        for the Lord has spoken:
I reared children; I raised them,
    and they turned against me!
³An ox knows its owner,
    and a donkey its master’s feeding trough.
    But Israel doesn’t know;
        my people don’t behave intelligently.

⁴Doom! Sinful nation, people weighed down with crimes,
    evildoing offspring, corrupt children!
They have abandoned the Lord,
    despised the holy one of Israel;
    they turned their backs on God.

⁵Why do you invite further beatings?
    Why continue to rebel?
Everyone’s head throbs,
    and everyone’s heart fails.
⁶From head to toe, none are well—
    only bruises, cuts, and raw wounds,
        not treated, not bandaged,
        not soothed with oil.

⁷Your country is deserted,
    your cities burned with fire;
    your land—strangers are devouring it in plain sight.
    It’s a wasteland, as when foreigners raid.
⁸Daughter Zion is left like a small shelter in a vineyard,
    like a hut in a cucumber field,
    like a city besieged.^[a]
⁹If the Lord of heavenly forces had not spared a few of us,
    we would be like Sodom; we would resemble Gomorrah.