Isaiah 1:1-20

New International Version

1 The vision^(A) concerning Judah and Jerusalem^(B) that Isaiah son of Amoz saw^(C) during the reigns of Uzziah,^(D) Jotham,^(E) Ahaz^(F) and Hezekiah,^(G) kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

²Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!^(H)
    For the Lord has spoken:^(I)
“I reared children^(J) and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled^(K) against me.
³The ox knows^(L) its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger,^(M)
but Israel does not know,^(N)
    my people do not understand.^(O)”

⁴Woe to the sinful nation,
    a people whose guilt is great,^(P)
a brood of evildoers,^(Q)
    children given to corruption!^(R)
They have forsaken^(S) the Lord;
    they have spurned the Holy One^(T) of Israel
    and turned their backs^(U) on him.

⁵Why should you be beaten^(V) anymore?
    Why do you persist^(W) in rebellion?^(X)
Your whole head is injured,
    your whole heart^(Y) afflicted.^(Z)
⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head^(AA)
    there is no soundness^(AB)—
only wounds and welts^(AC)
    and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged^(AD)
    or soothed with olive oil.^(AE)

⁷Your country is desolate,^(AF)
    your cities burned with fire;^(AG)
your fields are being stripped by foreigners^(AH)
    right before you,
    laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.^(AI)
⁸Daughter Zion^(AJ) is left^(AK)
    like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut^(AL) in a cucumber field,
    like a city under siege.
⁹Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us some survivors,^(AM)
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.^(AN)

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,^(AO)
    you rulers of Sodom;^(AP)
listen to the instruction^(AQ) of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!^(AR)
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;^(AS)
I have no pleasure^(AT)
    in the blood of bulls^(AU) and lambs and goats.^(AV)
¹²When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,^(AW)
    this trampling of my courts?
¹³Stop bringing meaningless offerings!^(AX)
    Your incense^(AY) is detestable^(AZ) to me.
New Moons,^(BA) Sabbaths and convocations^(BB)—
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
¹⁴Your New Moon^(BC) feasts and your appointed festivals^(BD)
    I hate with all my being.^(BE)
They have become a burden to me;^(BF)
    I am weary^(BG) of bearing them.
¹⁵When you spread out your hands^(BH) in prayer,
    I hide^(BI) my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.^(BJ)

Your hands^(BK) are full of blood!^(BL)

¹⁶Wash^(BM) and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;^(BN)
    stop doing wrong.^(BO)
¹⁷Learn to do right;^(BP) seek justice.^(BQ)
    Defend the oppressed.^[a]^(BR)
Take up the cause of the fatherless;^(BS)
    plead the case of the widow.^(BT)

¹⁸“Come now, let us settle the matter,”^(BU)
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;^(BV)
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.^(BW)
¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,^(BX)
    you will eat the good things of the land;^(BY)
²⁰but if you resist and rebel,^(BZ)
    you will be devoured by the sword.”^(CA)
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(CB)

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Footnotes

Isaiah 1:17 Or justice. / Correct the oppressor

Isaiah 59:1-2

New International Version

Sin, Confession and Redemption

59 Surely the arm^(A) of the Lord is not too short^(B) to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.^(C)
²But your iniquities have separated^(D)
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.^(E)

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Micah 6:6-16

New International Version

⁶With what shall I come before^(A) the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?^(B)
⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,^(C)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?^(D)
Shall I offer my firstborn^(E) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?^(F)
⁸He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly^(G) and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a]^(H) with your God.^(I)

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

⁹Listen! The Lord is calling to the city—
    and to fear your name is wisdom—
    “Heed the rod^(J) and the One who appointed it.^[b]
¹⁰Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house,
    and the short ephah,^[c] which is accursed?^(K)
¹¹Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales,^(L)
    with a bag of false weights?^(M)
¹²Your rich people are violent;^(N)
    your inhabitants are liars^(O)
    and their tongues speak deceitfully.^(P)
¹³Therefore, I have begun to destroy^(Q) you,
    to ruin^[d] you because of your sins.
¹⁴You will eat but not be satisfied;^(R)
    your stomach will still be empty.^[e]
You will store up but save nothing,^(S)
    because what you save^[f] I will give to the sword.
¹⁵You will plant but not harvest;^(T)
    you will press olives but not use the oil,
    you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.^(U)
¹⁶You have observed the statutes of Omri^(V)
    and all the practices of Ahab’s^(W) house;
    you have followed their traditions.^(X)
Therefore I will give you over to ruin^(Y)
    and your people to derision;
    you will bear the scorn^(Z) of the nations.^[g]”

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Footnotes

Micah 6:8 Or prudently
Micah 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
Micah 6:10 An ephah was a dry measure.
Micah 6:13 Or Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you; / I will ruin
Micah 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Micah 6:14 Or You will press toward birth but not give birth, / and what you bring to birth
Micah 6:16 Septuagint; Hebrew scorn due my people

Jeremiah 3:6-14

New International Version

Unfaithful Israel

⁶During the reign of King Josiah,^(A) the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless^(B) Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree^(C) and has committed adultery^(D) there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister^(E) Judah saw it.^(F) ⁸I gave faithless Israel^(G) her certificate of divorce^(H) and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear;^(I) she also went out and committed adultery. ⁹Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land^(J) and committed adultery^(K) with stone^(L) and wood.^(M) ¹⁰In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return^(N) to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,^(O)” declares the Lord.^(P)

¹¹The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous^(Q) than unfaithful^(R) Judah.^(S) ¹²Go, proclaim this message toward the north:^(T)

“‘Return,^(U) faithless^(V) Israel,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’^(W) declares the Lord,
    ‘I will not be angry^(X) forever.
¹³Only acknowledge^(Y) your guilt—
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods^(Z)
    under every spreading tree,^(AA)
    and have not obeyed^(AB) me,’”
declares the Lord.

¹⁴“Return,^(AC) faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband.^(AD) I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.

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