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1 THE vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. | |
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. | |
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. | |
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. | |
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. | |
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. | |
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. | |
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. | |
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. | |
10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. | |
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. | |
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? | |
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. | |
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. | |
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. | |
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; | |
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. | |
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. | |
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: | |
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. | |
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. | |
22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: | |
23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. | |
24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: | |
25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: | |
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. | |
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. | |
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. | |
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. | |
30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. | |
31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. | |
