Isaiah 1:2-9

New International Reader's Version

The Nation Refuses to Obey the Lord

²Listen to me, you heavens! Pay attention to me, earth!
    The Lord has said,
“I raised children. I brought them up.
    But they have refused to obey me.
³The ox knows its master.
    The donkey knows where its owner feeds it.
But Israel does not know me.
    My people do not understand me.”

⁴How terrible it will be for this sinful nation!
    They are loaded down with guilt.
They are people who do nothing but evil.
    They are children who are always sinning.
They have deserted the Lord.
    They have turned against the Holy One of Israel.
    They have turned their backs on him.

⁵Israel, why do you want to be beaten all the time?
    Why do you always refuse to obey the Lord?
Your head is covered with wounds.
    Your whole heart is weak.
⁶There isn’t a healthy spot on your body.
    You are not healthy from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.
You have nothing but wounds, cuts
    and open sores.
They haven’t been cleaned up or bandaged
    or treated with olive oil.

⁷Your country has been deserted.
    Your cities have been burned down.
The food from your fields is being eaten up by outsiders.
    They are doing it right in front of you.
Your land has been completely destroyed.
    It looks as if strangers have taken it over.
⁸The city of Zion is left like a shed
    where someone stands guard in a vineyard.
It is left like a hut in a cucumber field.
    It’s like a city being attacked.
⁹The Lord who rules over all
    has let some people live through that time of trouble.
If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.
    We would have been like Gomorrah.