Isaiah 1
Good News Translation
1 (A)This book contains the messages about Judah and Jerusalem which God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.
God Reprimands His People
2 The Lord said, “Earth and sky, listen to what I am saying! The children I brought up have rebelled against me. 3 Cattle know who owns them, and donkeys know where their master feeds them. But that is more than my people Israel know. They don't understand at all.”
4 You are doomed, you sinful nation, you corrupt and evil people! Your sins drag you down! You have rejected the Lord, the holy God of Israel, and have turned your backs on him. 5 Why do you keep on rebelling? Do you want to be punished even more? Israel, your head is already covered with wounds, and your heart and mind are sick. 6 From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged. No medicine has been put on them.
7 Your country has been devastated, and your cities have been burned to the ground. While you look on, foreigners take over your land and bring everything to ruin. 8 Jerusalem alone is left, a city under siege—as defenseless as a guard's hut in a vineyard or a shed in a cucumber field. 9 (B)If the Lord Almighty had not let some of the people survive, Jerusalem would have been totally destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
10 Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the Lord is saying to you. Pay attention to what our God is teaching you. 11 (C)He says, “Do you think I want all these sacrifices you keep offering to me? I have had more than enough of the sheep you burn as sacrifices and of the fat of your fine animals. I am tired of the blood of bulls and sheep and goats. 12 Who asked you to bring me all this when you come to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple? 13 It's useless to bring your offerings. I am disgusted with the smell of the incense you burn. I cannot stand your New Moon Festivals, your Sabbaths, and your religious gatherings; they are all corrupted by your sins. 14 I hate your New Moon Festivals and holy days; they are a burden that I am tired of bearing.
15 “When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil 17 and learn to do right. See that justice is done—help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows.”
18 The Lord says, “Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow.[a] Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.[b] 19 If you will only obey me, you will eat the good things the land produces. 20 But if you defy me, you are doomed to die. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The Sinful City
21 The city that once was faithful is behaving like a whore! At one time it was filled with righteous people, but now only murderers remain. 22 Jerusalem, you were once like silver, but now you are worthless; you were like good wine, but now you are only water. 23 Your leaders are rebels and friends of thieves; they are always accepting gifts and bribes. They never defend orphans in court or listen when widows present their case.
24 So now, listen to what the Lord Almighty, Israel's powerful God, is saying: “I will take revenge on you, my enemies, and you will cause me no more trouble. 25 I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity. 26 I will give you rulers and advisers like those you had long ago. Then Jerusalem will be called the righteous, faithful city.”
27 Because the Lord is righteous, he will save Jerusalem and everyone there who repents. 28 But he will crush everyone who sins and rebels against him; he will kill everyone who forsakes him.
29 You will be sorry that you ever worshiped trees and planted sacred gardens.[c] 30 You will wither like a dying oak, like a garden that no one waters. 31 Just as straw is set on fire by a spark, so powerful people will be destroyed by their own evil deeds, and no one will be able to stop the destruction.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:18 sin, but … snow; or sin; do you think I will wash you as clean as snow?
- Isaiah 1:18 Although your … wool; or Your stains are deep red; do you think you will be as white as wool?
- Isaiah 1:29 People believed that dedicating a garden to a fertility god would cause him to bless their crops.
Isaiah 1
The Voice
1 This is the vision that Isaiah (son of Amoz) saw and what he prophesied about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah:
In the time of Isaiah, prophets are known to be astute observers of their particular times and places. They speak what they understand to be God’s words to the people about how their thoughts and actions, especially their actions, relate to God’s expectations for them. When the people fall short of such expectations, prophets tell them what God thinks and what the consequences might be.
2 Listen and take note,
from the farthest reaches to the nearest!
Listen up heaven and earth,
for the Eternal One has spoken.
He is not happy with the children He raised.
Eternal One: Despite all I’ve done,
My children have rebelled against Me.
3 Oxen know their owners;
even donkeys know where their master feeds them,
But Israel is ignorant.
My very own, they ignore Me.
4 Truly this is a wicked nation,
a people fat with wrongdoing,
Like a litter of miscreants,
a pack of wilding adolescents.
They’ve rejected the Eternal,
despised the Holy One of Israel;
they’ve turned their backs on Him.
5-6 Why do you insist on taking a beating?
Why do you persist in such reckless rebellion?
Your bodies already suffer head to toe—
your heads ache and hearts flutter;
Your skin is covered with bruises,
swollen with welts, and gaping with wounds,
with no tending, no healing, no soothing.
7 Your country is a waste.
Your cities are dead, sooty rubble.
Your farms and fields are consumed,
everything you worked for destroyed
by foreign armies as you look on—helplessly.
8 Zion, our portion of heaven on earth, is no longer protected;
Jerusalem stands like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a melon field,
like a city assaulted and besieged.
9 Except for the fraction of us who hang on
by the grace of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
We’d be destroyed and deserted
like Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly done in.[a]
10 Listen to the word of the Eternal One,
you rulers of Sodom!
Attend to God’s instructions,
citizens of Gomorrah!
11 Eternal One: What do I care for all of your slaughter-gifts?
I have had enough of your burnt offerings.
I’m not interested in any more ram meat or fat from your well-fed cattle.
The blood of bulls, lambs, or goats does not please Me.
12 When you come into My presence,
who told you to trample down the courtyard of My temple bringing all of this?
13 Just stop giving Me worthless offerings;
your incense reeks and offends Me!
Your feasts and fasts, your new moons and Sabbaths—
I cannot stand any more of your wicked gatherings.
14 Likewise, I deplore your holidays,
those calendar days marked specially for Me;
They weigh Me down.
I am sick and tired of them!
15 When you summon Me with your hands in the air, I will ignore you.
Even when you pray your whole litany, I won’t be listening
Because your hands are full of blood and violence.
16 Wash yourselves, clean up your lives;
remove every speck of evil in what you do before Me.
Put an end to all your evil.
17 Learn to do good;
commit yourselves to seeking justice.
Make right for the world’s most vulnerable—
the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow.
18 Come on now, let’s walk and talk; let’s work this out.
Your wrongdoings are bloodred,
But they can turn as white as snow.
Your sins are red like crimson,
But they can be made clean again like new wool.
19 If you pay attention now and change your ways,
you can eat good things from a healthy earth.
20 But if you refuse to listen and stubbornly persist,
then, by violence and war, you will be the one devoured.
These things were spoken by the very mouth of the Eternal.
21 O that city, once so loyal, has become a prostitute.
Where there had been perfect justice, equity and compassion,
Now there are murderers.
22 All that once made your community shine like silver is now tarnished,
your best drink watered down like a cheapskate’s wine.
23 Your leaders are liars, running around with thieves,
wheedling for bribes—greedy for “contributions.”
They don’t defend the needy and pay no attention to the weak.
24 Consequently, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, the Mighty One of Israel,
will not keep quiet.
Eternal One: Oh yes, I will get relief from my enemies
and settle the score with My foes!
25 I will take action against you, My sinful children,
burning off whatever is worthless, purging whatever is impure.
26 I will bring back legislators who have integrity,
people like your founding fathers—principled decision-makers.
Then your city will be called honorable and just,
a model of ethics, trustworthy, and strong.
27 In that way, this place Zion will pass the test:
the city restored by justice, her citizens delivered by repentance.
28 But those who arrogantly persist in doing wrong will be crushed.
Whoever abandons the Eternal will be done in.
29 You will be ashamed because you found pleasure in idols and oaks;
you will suffer disgrace because you bowed before images in gardens.
30 Like a tree that withers, like a garden without rain,
you will fall apart, fade, and dry up.
31 And those who seem strong among you will become dry straw,
their work the spark that sets it all ablaze,
Burning everything to the ground
and there won’t be anyone around to stop it.
Footnotes
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.