Isaiah 1:2-9
Expanded Bible
God’s Case Against His Children
2 Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth [L witnesses of the covenant; Deut. 30:19],
because the Lord is speaking:
“I raised ·my children [or sons; C the nation Israel] and ·helped them grow [brought them] up,
but they have ·turned [rebelled] against me.
3 An ox knows its ·master [owner],
and a donkey knows ·where its owner feeds it [L the feeding trough/crib of its owner/master],
but the people of Israel do not know me;
my people do not understand.”
4 ·How terrible [Woe; Alas]! ·Israel is a nation of sin [L Sinful nation!],
a people ·loaded [weighed] down with guilt,
·a group of children [offspring; brood; seed] ·doing evil [or born from evildoers],
·children [or sons] who ·are full of evil [act corruptly; are depraved].
They have ·left [abandoned; forsaken] the Lord;
they ·hate [despise; or have rejected/spurned] the Holy One of Israel [C Isaiah’s favorite title for God],
and have ·turned away [become alienated/estranged] from him.
5 Why ·should you continue to be [or do you insist on being] ·punished [battered; struck down]?
Why do you continue to ·turn against him [rebel]?
Your whole head is ·hurt [bruised; wounded],
and your whole heart is ·sick [faint; weak].
6 There is no ·healthy spot [soundness]
from the ·bottom [sole] of your foot to the top of your head;
you are covered with ·wounds [bruises], ·hurts [sores; welts], and ·open sores [raw/infected wounds]
that are not ·cleaned [L pressed out] and ·covered [bandaged],
·and no medicine takes away the pain [L not soothed/softened with oil].
7 Your land is ·ruined [desolate];
your cities have been burned with fire.
·While you watch [Right in front of you],
·your enemies [L foreigners; strangers] ·are stealing everything from [destroy; devour] your ·land [fields; crops];
it is ruined like a country ·destroyed [overthrown] by ·enemies [L foreigners; strangers].
8 Jerusalem [L Daughter Zion; C the location of the Temple] is left alone
like an ·empty shelter [or watchman’s hut] in a vineyard,
like a ·hut [shelter] left in a field of ·melons [or cucumbers],
like a city ·surrounded by enemies [besieged].
9 If the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts]
had not ·allowed a few of our people to live [left us a few survivors],
we would have been like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [C completely destroyed; Gen. 19].
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
