The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel doesn’t know, and my people don’t understand.

“Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! “They’ve abandoned the Lord; they’ve despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they’ve walked away from me.

God’s Diagnosis

“Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land— they’ve brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

Stop bringing useless offerings! Incense is detestable to me, as are your New Moons, Sabbaths, and calling of convocations. I cannot stand iniquity within a solemn assembly.

Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow’s case.

but if you refuse and rebel, you’ll be devoured by the sword, because the Lord has spoken.”

Restoration and Redemption

Therefore this is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel’s Mighty One, declares: “Now I’ll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

They’ll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you’ll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with practices learned from the East and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They cut deals with foreigners.

“For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and do opposes the Lord; they keep defying him.

The Lord will go to court to oppose the elders and princes of his people: “You’re the ones who have been devouring the vineyard, the plunder of the poor is in your own houses!

How dare you crush my people as you grind down the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.

The Future Glory of Jerusalem

“At that time, the Lord’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel and Judah.

“Now, let me tell you, won’t you please, what I’m going to do to my vineyard. “I’m going to take away its protective hedge, and it will be devoured; I’ll break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

For the vineyard of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden in which he delights. He looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed; he searched for righteousness, but heard only an outcry!

The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great and beautiful houses, without occupants.

who say: ‘Let God be quick, let him speed up his work so we may see it! Let it happen! let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near, so we may recognize it!’”

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of justice!”

The Effects of Divine Judgment

Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw, as dry grass collapses in flames, so their root will be rotten, and their blossom will blow away like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Dull the mind of this people, deafen their ears, and blind their eyes. By doing so, they won’t see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.”

Then I asked, “For how long, Lord?” He replied: “Until cities lie waste, without inhabitants, and houses without people; and the land becomes utterly desolate.

The Message to Ahaz

During the reign of Jotham’s son Ahaz, Uzziah’s grandson, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem and waged war against it, but they could not mount an attack against it.

“Ask a sign from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven above.”

However, before the youth knows enough to reject what’s wrong and choose what’s right, the land whose two kings you dread will be devastated.”

Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he’ll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.