Beginning
The Caption
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Warning to a Sinful Nation
2 Hear this, O heavens,
and listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.
I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey knows its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know.
My people do not understand.
4 How terrible it will be for that sinful nation,
for a people loaded with guilt,
offspring[a] who act wickedly,
children who are corrupt!
They have forsaken the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
They have deserted him and turned back.
5 Why do you keep earning more beatings?
Why do you continue to rebel?
Your whole head is wounded.
Your whole heart is weak.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is nothing healthy,
but only wounds, welts, and open sores.
Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your farmland right in front of your eyes,
and it is desolate, overthrown by foreigners.
8 The daughter of Zion[b] is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a melon[c] field,
like a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of Armies[d] had left us a small surviving remnant,
we would have been like Sodom;
we would have become just like Gomorrah.
The Lord’s Proclamation
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 What do your many sacrifices mean to me? says the Lord.
I have more than enough rams as burnt offerings
and enough fat from well-fed animals.
I am not pleased with the blood of bulls
or the blood of lambs and male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked for this from your hands:
this trampling on my courts?
13 Stop bringing worthless[e] offerings!
Your incense is an abomination to me.
I cannot stand your sinful assemblies
on the new moons, Sabbaths, and holy days.
14 Deep in my soul I hate your new moons and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to me.
I am tired of putting up with them.
15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Indeed, even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves. Purify yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
Stop doing evil. 17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed.[f]
Seek justice for the fatherless. Plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.
Though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat good things
from the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.
Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 Look how the faithful city has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice. Righteousness once lived in her,
but now murderers live there.
22 Your silver has become slag.[g]
Your drinks are mixed with water.
23 Your officials are rebellious.
They are partners with thieves.
Everyone loves bribes and chases payoffs.
They do not obtain justice for the fatherless,
and they do not take up the cause of the widow.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says:
I must certainly get relief from my adversaries.
I will avenge myself on my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you.
I will smelt away all your slag.
I will take away all your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges as they were at first,
and your advisors as they were in the beginning.
Afterward you will be called a righteous city, a faithful town.
27 Zion will be redeemed with justice,
and those who return to her will be redeemed with righteousness.
28 But the rebels and sinners will be destroyed all together,
and those who forsake the Lord will come to an end.
29 For you[h] will be ashamed of the oaks that you have desired,
and you will be embarrassed by the groves[i] that you have chosen.
30 For you will be like an oak whose leaves wilt,
and like a grove that has no water.
31 The strong will be like tinder,
and their work will be like a spark.
Both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
2 This is the message that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
The Glory of the Mountain of the Lord
2 This will take place in the latter days:
The mountain of the Lord’s house will be established
as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it like a river.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
Then he will instruct us about his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For from Zion the law[j] will go out,
and the Lord’s word will go out from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations,
and he will mediate for many peoples.
Then they will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into blades for trimming vines.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
nor will they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob, come,
and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
The Glory of the Lord Comes in Judgment
6 But you, Lord, have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,
because they are filled up with practices from the East
and with fortune tellers like the Philistines,
and they join themselves to the heathen.[k]
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is also full of horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of gods that are not gods.[l]
They worship the work made by their own hands,
things that their own fingers have made.
9 Mankind is humbled,
and man is brought low.
Do not forgive them.
10 Go into the rocks,
and hide in the dust,
from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty.
11 The proud eyes of mankind will be brought low,
the arrogance of man will be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 There is a day coming for the Lord of Armies,
a day against everyone who is proud and arrogant,
against everyone who is lifted up—
he will be pressed down—
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so tall and lofty,
against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the high mountains,
against all the hills that are lifted up,
15 against every tall tower,
against every fortified wall,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,[m]
and against all the beautiful ships.[n]
17 The pride of mankind will be humbled,
and the arrogance of man will be brought low.
Then the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 Those gods that are not gods will disappear completely.
19 People will flee into caves in the rocks
and into holes in the ground,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
20 In that day people will throw away to the moles[o] and bats
their worthless gods of silver
and their worthless gods of gold,
that they made for themselves to worship.
21 They will go into the clefts in the rocks
and into the crevices in the cliffs,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
22 Give up trusting in mankind.
All they have is breath in their nostrils.
What are they worth anyway?
Judgment on Jerusalem
3
Pay attention to this.
The Lord, the Lord of Armies, is about to remove from Jerusalem
and Judah
every kind of support:
the entire supply of bread,
and the entire supply of water,
2 the hero and the warrior,
the judge and the prophet,
the omen reader and the elder,
3 the commander of fifty and the respected leader,
the adviser and the clever practitioner of occult arts,
and the skillful caster of spells.[p]
4 I will give them young men as their officials,
and immature children[q] will rule over them.
5 The people will tyrannize each other,
man against man, neighbor against neighbor.
The young man will behave arrogantly against the elder,
and the dishonorable against the honorable.
6 Then a man will take hold of his brother in his father’s house and say, “You have fine clothing. You be our ruler. You take charge of these ruins.”
7 But in that day his brother will cry out, “I am not a healer.[r] In my house I have neither bread nor fine clothing. Don’t make me ruler of this people.”
8 Yes, Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their actions are against the Lord.
They defy his glorious presence.[s]
9 The look on their faces testifies against them.
They parade their sin like Sodom.
They do not bother to hide it.
How terrible it will be for them!
Look, they have brought disaster upon themselves.
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
and they will eat the fruit of their labors.
11 How terrible it will be for the wicked!
Disaster is coming upon them.
Yes, whatever they have done with their hands will be paid back to them.
12 As for my people, children will oppress them,[t]
and women will rule over them.
My people, your guides are leading you astray.
They are confusing you about the way you should go.
13 The Lord stands up to make his case.
He stands to judge the peoples.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and with their officials. He says, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard. The things you have stolen from the poor are in your houses. 15 What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor? declares the Lord, the Lord of Armies.”
Judgment on the Proud Women of Jerusalem
16 The Lord also says this. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and they walk with their heads held high,[u] flirting with their eyes, walking seductively with quick little steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles, 17 the Lord will crown the heads of the daughters of Zion with scabs. The Lord will make their scalps bald.[v] 18 In that day the Lord will take away the beautiful anklets, the headbands, the crescent ornaments, 19 the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, 20 the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the magic charms, 21 the signet rings, the nose rings, 22 the elegant dresses, the capes, the shawls, the purses, 23 the hand mirrors, the fine linen wraps, the tiaras, and the gowns.[w]
24 This is what will take place:
Instead of fragrant perfumes, there will be a stench,
instead of styled hair, baldness,
instead of a robe, a garment made of sackcloth,
and there will be branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
and your mighty warriors in battle.
26 Her gates will groan and grieve,
and she will sit on the ground, deserted.
4 On that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our shame.”
The Branch of the Lord Will Be Beautiful
2 On that day, the Branch[x] of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3 Then whoever is left in Zion and whoever remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, that is, everyone who is registered for life in Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will wash away the disgusting filth[y] of the daughters of Zion and cleanse the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the Spirit[z] of judgment and by the Spirit of burning. 5 Then over the entire site[aa] of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, the Lord will create a cloud of smoke by day and a bright flaming fire by night, so there will be a canopy over all the glory. 6 In the daytime there will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat and to provide refuge and a hiding place from the storm and the rain.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.