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Isaiah 1:21-31
The Message
Isaiah 1:21-31
The Message
Those Who Walk Out on God
21-23 Oh! Can you believe it? The chaste city
has become a whore!
She was once all justice,
everyone living as good neighbors,
And now they’re all
at one another’s throats.
Your coins are all counterfeits.
Your wine is watered down.
Your leaders are turncoats
who keep company with crooks.
They sell themselves to the highest bidder
and grab anything not nailed down.
They never stand up for the homeless,
never stick up for the defenseless.
24-31 This Decree, therefore, of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the Strong One of Israel:
“This is it! I’ll get my oppressors off my back.
I’ll get back at my enemies.
I’ll give you the back of my hand,
purge the junk from your life, clean you up.
I’ll set honest judges and wise counselors among you
just like it was back in the beginning.
Then you’ll be renamed
City-That-Treats-People-Right, the True-Blue City.”
God’s right ways will put Zion right again.
God’s right actions will restore her prodigals.
But it’s curtains for rebels and God-traitors,
a dead end for those who walk out on God.
“Your dalliances in those oak grove shrines
will leave you looking mighty foolish,
All that fooling around in god and goddess gardens
that you thought was the latest thing.
You’ll end up like an oak tree
with all its leaves falling off,
Like an unwatered garden,
withered and brown.
‘The Strong Man’ will turn out to be dead bark and twigs,
and his ‘work,’ the spark that starts the fire
That exposes man and work both
as nothing but cinders and smoke.”
Isaiah 1:21-31
New International Version
Isaiah 1:21-31
New International Version
21 See how the faithful city
has become a prostitute!(A)
She once was full of justice;
righteousness(B) used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!(C)
22 Your silver has become dross,(D)
your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,(E)
partners with thieves;(F)
they all love bribes(G)
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.(H)
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
the Mighty One(I) of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes
and avenge(J) myself on my enemies.(K)
25 I will turn my hand against you;[a](L)
I will thoroughly purge(M) away your dross(N)
and remove all your impurities.(O)
26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old,(P)
your rulers as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called(Q)
the City of Righteousness,(R)
the Faithful City.(S)”
27 Zion will be delivered with justice,
her penitent(T) ones with righteousness.(U)
28 But rebels and sinners(V) will both be broken,
and those who forsake(W) the Lord will perish.(X)
29 “You will be ashamed(Y) because of the sacred oaks(Z)
in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the gardens(AA)
that you have chosen.
30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves,(AB)
like a garden without water.
31 The mighty man will become tinder
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to quench the fire.(AC)”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:25 That is, against Jerusalem
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.