(A)Listen, heavens, and hear, (B)earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
(C)Sons I have raised and brought up,
But they have (D)revolted against Me.
An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel (E)does not know,
My people (F)do not understand.”

Oh, sinful nation,
People weighed down with guilt,
[a](G)Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who (H)act corruptly!
They have (I)abandoned the Lord,
They have (J)despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away [b]from Him.

Where will you be stricken again,
As you (K)continue in your rebellion?
The entire head is (L)sick
And the entire heart is faint.
(M)From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is (N)nothing healthy in it,
Only bruises, slashes, and raw wounds;
(O)Not pressed out nor bandaged,
Nor softened with oil.

Your (P)land is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
As for your fields, strangers are devouring them in front of you;
It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a city under watch.
(Q)If the Lord of armies
Had not left us a few (R)survivors,
We would be like (S)Sodom,
We would be like Gomorrah.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 1:4 Lit Seed
  2. Isaiah 1:4 Lit backward

A Message for Rebellious Judah

Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth!
    This is what the Lord says:
“The children I raised and cared for
    have rebelled against me.
Even an ox knows its owner,
    and a donkey recognizes its master’s care—
but Israel doesn’t know its master.
    My people don’t recognize my care for them.”
Oh, what a sinful nation they are—
    loaded down with a burden of guilt.
They are evil people,
    corrupt children who have rejected the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel
    and turned their backs on him.

Why do you continue to invite punishment?
    Must you rebel forever?
Your head is injured,
    and your heart is sick.
You are battered from head to foot—
    covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—
    without any soothing ointments or bandages.
Your country lies in ruins,
    and your towns are burned.
Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes
    and destroy everything they see.
Beautiful Jerusalem[a] stands abandoned
    like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,
like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest,
    like a helpless city under siege.
If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    had not spared a few of us,[b]
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
    destroyed like Gomorrah.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:8 Hebrew The daughter of Zion.
  2. 1:9 Greek version reads a few of our children. Compare Rom 9:29.