Isaiah 1
The Message
Messages of Judgment
Quit Your Worship Charades
1 The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw regarding Judah and Jerusalem during the times of the kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
2-4 Heaven and earth, you’re the jury.
Listen to God’s case:
“I had children and raised them well,
and they turned on me.
The ox knows who’s boss,
the mule knows the hand that feeds him,
But not Israel.
My people don’t know up from down.
Shame! Misguided God-dropouts,
staggering under their guilt-baggage,
Villainous gang,
band of vandals—
My people have walked out on me, their God,
turned their backs on The Holy of Israel,
walked off and never looked back.
5-9 “Why bother even trying to do anything with you
when you just keep to your bullheaded ways?
You keep beating your heads against brick walls.
Everything within you protests against you.
From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head,
nothing’s working right.
Wounds and bruises and running sores—
untended, unwashed, unbandaged.
Your country is laid waste,
your cities burned down.
Your land is destroyed by outsiders while you watch,
reduced to rubble by barbarians.
Daughter Zion is deserted—
like a tumbledown shack on a dead-end street,
Like a tarpaper shanty on the wrong side of the tracks,
like a sinking ship abandoned by the rats.
If God-of-the-Angel-Armies hadn’t left us a few survivors,
we’d be as desolate as Sodom, doomed just like Gomorrah.
10 “Listen to my Message,
you Sodom-schooled leaders.
Receive God’s revelation,
you Gomorrah-schooled people.
11-12 “Why this frenzy of sacrifices?”
God’s asking.
“Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,
rams and plump grain-fed calves?
Don’t you think I’ve had my fill
of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?
When you come before me,
whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,
Running here and there, doing this and that—
all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
13-17 “Quit your worship charades.
I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.
Let’s Argue This Out
18-20 “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.”
This is God’s Message:
“If your sins are blood-red,
they’ll be snow-white.
If they’re red like crimson,
they’ll be like wool.
If you’ll willingly obey,
you’ll feast like kings.
But if you’re willful and stubborn,
you’ll die like dogs.”
That’s right. God says so.
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.”
Jesaja 1
Svenska Folkbibeln
1 Detta är de syner som Jesaja, Amos son, skådade angående Juda och Jerusalem, då Ussia, Jotam, Ahas och Hiskia var kungar i Juda.
Herrens klagan över det trolösa Juda
2 Hör, ni himlar,
lyssna, du jord,
ty Herren talar.
Barn har jag fött upp och fostrat,
men de har gjort uppror mot mig.
3 En oxe känner sin ägare,
en åsna sin herres krubba,
men Israel känner inget,
mitt folk förstår ingenting.
4 Ve dig, du syndiga släkte,
du skuldbelastade folk,
ni ogärningsmäns avkomma,
ni vanartiga barn,
som har övergivit Herren,
föraktat Israels Helige
och vikit bort ifrån honom.
5 Var skall man mer slå er,
då ni fortsätter i trolöshet?
Hela huvudet är sjukt
och hela hjärtat svagt.
6 Från fotbladet upp till huvudet finns inget helt,
bara blåmärken, ärr och öppna sår,
som inte är urkramade eller ombundna eller lindrade med olja.
7 Ert land är en ödemark,
era städer är uppbrända i eld,
era åkrar förtärs i er åsyn av främlingar.
En ödemark är det som efter främlingars framfart.
8 Sions dotter har lämnats kvar
som en hydda i en vingård,
som ett vaktskjul på ett gurkfält,
som en belägrad stad.
9 Om Herren Sebaot inte hade lämnat kvar
en liten återstod åt oss,
då hade vi blivit som Sodom,
vi hade liknat Gomorra.
10 Hör Herrens ord, ni Sodomsfurstar,
lyssna till vår Guds undervisning, du Gomorrafolk!
11 Vad skall jag med era många slaktoffer till?
säger Herren.
Jag är mätt på brännoffer av baggar
och på gödkalvars fett,
till blod av tjurar, lamm och bockar har jag inte behag.
12 När ni kommer för att träda fram inför mitt ansikte,
vem begär då av er att mina förgårdar trampas ner?
13 Bär inte längre fram meningslösa matoffer.
Röken av dem är avskyvärd för mig.
Jag står inte ut med nymånader, sabbater och utlysta fester -
ondska tillsammans med högtidsförsamlingar.
14 Min själ hatar era nymånader och högtider.
De är en börda för mig,
jag är trött på att bära den.
15 När ni räcker ut era händer,
döljer jag mina ögon för er.
Även om ni ber mycket,
kommer jag inte att lyssna.
Era händer är fulla av blod.
16 Tvätta er och gör er rena.
Tag bort era onda gärningar från mina ögon.
Sluta att göra det som är ont.
17 Lär er att göra det som är gott,
sök det rätta.
Tillrättavisa förtryckaren,
försvara den faderlöses rätt,
stöd änkan i hennes sak.
18 Kom, låt oss gå till rätta med varandra, säger Herren.
Om era synder än är blodröda,
skall de bli snövita,
om de än är röda som scharlakan,
skall de bli vita som ull.
19 Om ni är villiga att höra,
skall ni få äta landets goda.
20 Men om ni vägrar och är motsträviga,
skall ni förtäras av svärd,
ty så har Herrens mun talat.
21 Hur har inte den trogna staden blivit en hora!
Den var full av rätt.
Då bodde rättfärdighet därinne,
men nu mördare.
22 Ditt silver har blivit slagg,
ditt ädla vin är utspätt med vatten.
23 Dina ledare är upprorsmän
och tjuvars kumpaner.
Alla älskar de mutor och jagar efter vinning.
Den faderlöses rätt försvarar de inte,
och änkans sak kommer inte inför dem.
24 Därför säger Herren, Herren Sebaot,
den starke i Israel:
Ve! Jag skall låta mina motståndare drabbas av min vrede
och jag skall hämnas på mina fiender.
25 Jag skall vända min hand mot dig
och rensa bort ditt slagg som med lut
och skaffa bort all din oädla malm.
26 Jag skall åter ge dig sådana domare
som du hade först
och sådana rådgivare som du hade i början.
Därefter skall du kallas "rättfärdighetens stad",
"den trogna staden".
27 Genom rätt skall Sion friköpas,
genom rättfärdighet de som vänder tillbaka.
28 Men fördärv skall drabba
alla överträdare och syndare,
de som överger Herren skall gå under.
29 Ja, ni skall komma på skam
med de terebinter som var er lust,
ni skall få skämmas över de lustgårdar
som ni har utvalt.
30 Ty ni skall bli som en terebint
med vissnade löv,
som en lustgård utan vatten.
31 Och den starke skall bli som blånor,
hans verk som en gnista.
Båda skall brinna tillsammans
och ingen skall kunna släcka.
Isaiah 1
King James Version
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
1996, 1998 by Stiftelsen Svenska Folkbibeln