Isaiah 1-4

New American Standard Bible

Rebellion of God’s People

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning ^(A)Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the ^[a]reigns of ^(B)Uzziah, ^(C)Jotham, ^(D)Ahaz, and ^(E)Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²^(F)Listen, heavens, and hear, ^(G)earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“^(H)Sons I have raised and brought up,
But they have ^(I)revolted against Me.
³An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel ^(J)does not know,
My people ^(K)do not understand.”

⁴Oh, sinful nation,
People weighed down with guilt,
^[b]^(L)Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who ^(M)act corruptly!
They have ^(N)abandoned the Lord,
They have ^(O)despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away ^[c]from Him.

⁵Where will you be stricken again,
As you ^(P)continue in your rebellion?
The entire head is ^(Q)sick
And the entire heart is faint.
⁶^(R)From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is ^(S)nothing healthy in it,
Only bruises, slashes, and raw wounds;
^(T)Not pressed out nor bandaged,
Nor softened with oil.

⁷Your ^(U)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.
⁸The 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.
⁹^(V)If the Lord of armies
Had not left us a few ^(W)survivors,
We would be like ^(X)Sodom,
We would be like Gomorrah.

God Has Had Enough

¹⁰Hear ^(Y)the word of the Lord,
You rulers of ^(Z)Sodom;
Listen to the instruction of our God,
You people of Gomorrah!
¹¹“^(AA)What are your many sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I ^[d]have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fattened cattle;
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.
¹²When you come ^(AB)to appear before Me,
Who requires ^[e]of you this trampling of My courtyards?
¹³Do not go on bringing your worthless offerings,
^(AC)Incense is an abomination to Me.
^(AD)New moon and Sabbath, the ^(AE)proclamation of an assembly—
I cannot ^(AF)endure wrongdoing and the festive assembly.
¹⁴^[f]I hate your new moon festivals and your ^(AG)appointed feasts,
They have become a burden to Me;
I am ^(AH)tired of bearing them.
¹⁵So when you ^(AI)spread out your hands in prayer,
^(AJ)I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you ^(AK)offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
^(AL)Your hands are ^[g]covered with blood.

¹⁶“^(AM)Wash yourselves, ^(AN)make yourselves clean;
^(AO)Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
^(AP)Stop doing evil,
¹⁷Learn to do good;
^(AQ)Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor,
^(AR)Obtain justice for the orphan,
Plead for the widow’s case.

Invitation to Debate

¹⁸“Come now, and ^(AS)let us ^[h]debate your case,”
Says the Lord,
“^(AT)Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.
¹⁹^(AU)If you are willing and obedient,
You will ^(AV)eat the best of the land;
²⁰But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be ^(AW)devoured by the sword.”
For ^(AX)the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Zion Corrupted; Will Be Redeemed

²¹How the faithful city has become a ^(AY)prostitute,
She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once dwelt in her,
But now murderers.
²²Your silver has become ^[i]waste matter,
Your drink diluted with water.
²³Your ^(AZ)rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone ^(BA)loves a bribe
And chases after gifts.
They ^(BB)do not obtain justice for the ^[j]orphan,
Nor does the widow’s case come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord ^[k]God of armies,
The ^(BC)Mighty One of Israel, declares,
“Ah, I will have satisfaction against My adversaries,
And ^(BD)avenge Myself on My enemies.
²⁵I will also turn My hand against you,
And ^(BE)smelt away your impurities as with lye;
And I will remove all your slag.
²⁶Then I will restore your ^(BF)judges as at first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the ^(BG)city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”

²⁷Zion will be ^(BH)redeemed with justice
And her ^[l]repentant ones with righteousness.
²⁸But ^[m]wrongdoers and sinners together will be ^(BI)broken,
And those who abandon the Lord will come to an end.
²⁹^[n]You certainly will be ashamed of the ^[o]^(BJ)oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed by the ^(BK)gardens which you have chosen.
³⁰For you will be like an ^[p]oak whose ^(BL)leaf withers away,
Or like a garden that has no water.
³¹The strong man will become like ^[q]flax fiber,
And his work a spark.
So they shall both ^(BM)burn together
And there will be ^(BN)no one to extinguish them.

God’s Universal Reign

2 The word which ^(BO)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²Now it will come about that
^(BP)In the last days
The ^(BQ)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established ^[r]as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And ^(BR)all the nations will stream to it.
³And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
So that He may teach us ^[s]about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For ^[t]the law will go out ^(BS)from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate for many peoples;
And ^(BT)they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives.
^(BU)Nation will not lift up a sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

⁵Come, ^(BV)house of Jacob, and let’s walk in the ^(BW)light of the Lord.
⁶For You have ^(BX)abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers ^(BY)like the Philistines.
They also ^[u]^(BZ)strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
⁷Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with ^(CA)horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
⁸Their land has also been ^(CB)filled with idols;
They worship the ^(CC)work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.
⁹So ^(CD)the common person has been humbled
And the person of importance has been brought low,
But ^(CE)do not forgive them.
¹⁰^(CF)Enter the rocky place and hide in the dust
^(CG)From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.
¹¹The ^[v]^(CH)proud look of humanity will be brought low,
And the ^(CI)arrogance of people will be humbled;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

¹²For the Lord of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against ^(CJ)everyone who is arrogant and haughty,
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be brought low.
¹³And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up,
Against all the ^(CK)oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴Against all the ^(CL)lofty mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up,
¹⁵Against every ^(CM)high tower,
Against every fortified wall,
¹⁶Against all the ^(CN)ships of Tarshish
And against all the delightful ships.
¹⁷And the pride of humanity will be humbled
And the arrogance of people will be brought low;
And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day,
¹⁸And the ^(CO)idols will completely vanish.
¹⁹People will ^(CP)go into caves of the rocks
And into holes in the ^[w]ground
Away from the terror of the Lord
And the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises ^(CQ)to terrify the earth.
²⁰On that day people will ^(CR)throw away to the moles and the ^(CS)bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves to worship,
²¹In order to ^(CT)go into the clefts of the rocks and the crannies of the cliffs
Before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth.
²²^[x]^(CU)Take no account of man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;
For ^[y]^(CV)why should he be esteemed?

God Will Remove the Leaders

3 For behold, the Lord ^[z]God of armies ^(CW)is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the entire supply of bread
And the entire supply of water;
²^(CX)The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
³The captain of fifty and the esteemed person,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
⁴And I will make mere ^(CY)boys their leaders,
And ^[aa]mischievous children will rule over them,
⁵And the people will be ^(CZ)oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his ^(DA)neighbor;
The youth will assault the elder,
And the contemptible person will assault the one honored.
⁶When a man ^(DB)lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler!
And these ruins will be under your ^[ab]authority,”
⁷He will ^[ac]protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be your ^[ad]^(DC)healer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”
⁸For ^(DD)Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their ^[ae]^(DE)speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To ^(DF)rebel against ^[af]His glorious presence.
⁹^[ag]The expression of their faces testifies against them,
And they ^[ah]display their sin like ^(DG)Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to ^[ai]them!
For they have ^(DH)done evil to themselves.
¹⁰Say to the ^(DI)righteous that it will go well for them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
¹¹Woe to the wicked! It will go badly for him,
For ^[aj]^(DJ)what he deserves will be done to him.
¹²My people! Their oppressors ^(DK)treat them violently,
And women rule over them.
My people! ^(DL)Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

¹³^(DM)The Lord arises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
¹⁴The Lord ^(DN)enters into judgment with the elders and leaders of His people,
“It is you who have ^[ak]^(DO)devoured the vineyard;
The ^(DP)goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
¹⁵What do you mean by ^(DQ)crushing My people
And ^[al]oppressing the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord ^[am]God of armies.

Judah’s Women Denounced

¹⁶Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the ^(DR)daughters of Zion are haughty
And walk with ^[an]heads held high and seductive eyes,
And go along with mincing steps
And jingle the anklets on their feet,
¹⁷The Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸On that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, ^(DS)crescent ornaments, ¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, ²⁰^(DT)headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, ²¹^[ao]finger rings, ^(DU)nose rings, ²²festive robes, outer garments, shawls, purses, ²³papyrus garments, undergarments, headbands, and veils.

²⁴Now it will come about that instead of ^(DV)balsam oil there will be a stench;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of ^(DW)well-set hair, a ^(DX)plucked-out scalp;
Instead of fine clothes, a ^(DY)robe of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
²⁵Your men will ^(DZ)fall by the sword
And your ^[ap]mighty ones in battle.
²⁶And her ^[aq]^(EA)gates will lament and mourn,
And she will ^(EB)sit deserted on the ground.

A Remnant Prepared

4 For seven women will take hold of ^(EC)one man on that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; ^(ED)take away our disgrace!”

²On that day the ^(EE)Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the ^(EF)fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of the ^(EG)survivors of Israel. ³And it will come about that the one who is ^(EH)left in Zion and remains behind in Jerusalem will be called ^(EI)holy—everyone who is ^(EJ)recorded for life in Jerusalem. ⁴When the Lord has washed away the filth of the ^(EK)daughters of Zion and ^[ar]purged the ^(EL)bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the ^(EM)spirit of judgment and the ^(EN)spirit of ^[as]burning, ⁵then the Lord will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies ^(EO)a cloud by day, and smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the ^(EP)glory will be a canopy. ⁶And there will be a ^(EQ)shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and ^[at]protection from the storm and the rain.