Old/New Testament

The Sinful Nation of Judah

1 This is the special dream of Isaiah the son of Amoz, about Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the rule of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: “I have brought up and have taken care of sons, but they have turned against Me. ³ An ox knows its owner. A donkey knows where to find the food its owner gives it. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand.” ⁴ O sinful nation, people weighed down with sin, children of those who do wrong, sons who act in a sinful way! They have left the Lord. They have hated the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him.

⁵ Where will you be punished again, since you still fight against the Lord? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is weak. ⁶ From the bottom of the foot even to the head, there is no good part. There are only sores from beatings and open sores. They are not taken care of or covered or made soft with oil.

⁷ Your land lies waste. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers are eating the food of your fields in front of you. It lies waste, as destroyed by strangers. ⁸ The people of Zion are left like a tent in a grape-field, like a watchman’s house in a vegetable field, like a city closed in by armies. ⁹ If the Lord of All had not left some people, we would have all been destroyed like those who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

¹⁰ Hear the Word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ¹¹ “What are your many gifts given in worship to Me?” says the Lord. “I have had enough burnt gifts of rams and the fat of cattle. And I am not pleased with the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. ¹² When you come to show yourselves before Me, who says you must walk and walk around My open spaces? ¹³ Do not bring your gifts of no worth any more. Your special perfume is a hated thing to Me. The new moon and Day of Rest, this calling together of the people, I cannot put up with. I cannot put up with your sin and your meetings of worship. ¹⁴ I hate your new moons and your special suppers. They have become heavy upon Me. I am tired of carrying them. ¹⁵ So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you. Even if you pray many times, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶ “Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Take your sinful actions from My eyes. Stop doing sinful things. ¹⁷ Learn to do good. Look for what is right and fair. Speak strong words to those who make it hard for people. Stand up for the rights of those who have no parents. Help the woman whose husband has died. ¹⁸ “Come now, let us think about this together,” says the Lord. “Even though your sins are bright red, they will be as white as snow. Even though they are dark red, they will be like wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land. ²⁰ But if you are not willing and turn against Me, you will be destroyed by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The Sinful City

²¹ The faithful city has become like a woman who sells the use of her body. At one time she was full of what was right and fair! Those who are right and good lived in her, but now those who kill. ²² Your silver has lost its worth. Your wine is mixed with water. ²³ Your rulers have turned against what is right. They are the friends of robbers. Every one loves to get pay in secret for wrong-doing, and they run after gifts. They do not stand for the rights of those who have no parents. And they never hear the cry for help of the woman whose husband has died.

²⁴ So the Lord God of All, the Powerful One of Israel, says, “I will put an end to those who fight against Me. I will punish those who hate Me. ²⁵ I will turn My hand against you and burn what is of no worth in you. And I will take away from you all that is not pure. ²⁶ Then I will give you judges as at the first, and your wise men as at the beginning. After that you will be called the city that is right and good, a faithful city.”

²⁷ Zion will be saved by being fair. Those who are sorry for their sins and turn from them will be saved by being right and good. ²⁸ But wrong-doers and sinners will be crushed together. Those who turn away from the Lord will come to an end. ²⁹ For you will be ashamed of the oaks where you worshiped. You will be ashamed of the gardens you have chosen. ³⁰ For you will be like an oak tree whose leaf dries up, or like a garden that has no water. ³¹ The strong man will become easy to burn, and his work also a fire. They will burn together, and there will be no one to put the fire out.

The Mountain of the House of God

2 This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw about Judah and Jerusalem that was coming: ² In the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be the most important of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills. All the nations will come to it. ³ Many people 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 teach us about His ways, that we may walk in His paths. For the Law will go out from Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” ⁴ He will judge between the nations, and will decide for many people. And they will beat their swords into plows, and their spears into knives for cutting vines. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will not learn about war anymore.

The Day of the Lord

⁵ Come, people of Jacob. Let us walk in the light of the Lord. ⁶ For You have left Your people, the family of Jacob, because they are filled with the sinful ways of the East. They use secret ways to tell the future like the Philistines. And they make agreements with the children of strangers. ⁷ Their land is filled with silver and gold. There is no end to their riches. Their land is filled with horses also. And there is no end to their war-wagons. ⁸ Their land is filled with false gods. They worship the work of their hands, that which their fingers have made. ⁹ So pride has been taken away from the poor man, and important men have been put to shame. Do not forgive them. ¹⁰ Go into the rock and hide in the dust from the anger of the Lord and from the shining-greatness of His power. ¹¹ The proud look of man will be put to shame. The pride of men will be taken away. And the Lord alone will be honored in that day.

¹² On that day the Lord of All will be against everyone who is proud and feels important, and against all who are honored. They will be put to shame. ¹³ He will be against all the cedar trees of Lebanon that are tall and honored, and against all the oak trees of Bashan. ¹⁴ He will be against all the high mountains, against all the high hills, ¹⁵ against every high tower, and against every strong wall. ¹⁶ He will be against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful boats. ¹⁷ The pride of man will be taken away. What men honor will be put to shame. The Lord alone will be honored in that day. ¹⁸ All the false gods will be gone. ¹⁹ Men will go into the caves of the rocks and into holes of the earth because of the anger of the Lord and the shining-greatness of His power when He rises up to shake the earth. ²⁰ In that day men will take their false gods of silver and gold which they made for themselves to worship and will throw them away to the moles and the bats. ²¹ They will go into the caves of the rocks and mountains. They will try to hide from the anger of the Lord and from the shining-greatness of His power, when He rises up to shake the earth. ²² Stop trusting in man. He has only a breath in his nose. Why should he be honored?

Christ Made Us Free

5 Christ made us free. Stay that way. Do not get chained all over again in the Law and its kind of religious worship.

² Listen to me! I, Paul, tell you that if you have the religious act of becoming a Jew done on you, Christ will be of no use to you at all. ³ I say it again. Every man who has the religious act of becoming a Jew done on him must obey every Law. ⁴ If you expect to be made right with God by obeying the Law, then you have turned away from Christ and His loving-favor. ⁵ We are waiting for the hope of being made right with God. This will come through the Holy Spirit and by faith. ⁶ If we belong to Jesus Christ, it means nothing to have or not to have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. But faith working through love is important.

⁷ You were doing well. Who stopped you from obeying the truth? ⁸ Whatever he used did not come from the One Who chose you to have life. ⁹ It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf of bread rise. ¹⁰ I feel I can trust you because of what the Lord has done in your life. I believe you will not follow another way. Whoever is trying to lead you in the wrong way will suffer for it. ¹¹ Christian brothers, if I would still preach that people must go through the religious act of becoming a Jew to be a Christian, I would not be suffering from those who are making it hard for me. If I preached like that, the Jews would have no reason to be against the cross of Christ. ¹² I wish those who are so willing to cut your bodies would complete the job by cutting themselves off from you.

¹³ Christian brother, you were chosen to be free. Be careful that you do not please your old selves by sinning because you are free. Live this free life by loving and helping others. ¹⁴ You obey the whole Law when you do this one thing, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ^{(A) 15} But if you hurt and make it hard for each other, watch out or you may be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ I say this to you: Let the Holy Spirit lead you in each step. Then you will not please your sinful old selves. ¹⁷ The things our old selves want to do are against what the Holy Spirit wants. The Holy Spirit does not agree with what our sinful old selves want. These two are against each other. So you cannot do what you want to do. ¹⁸ If you let the Holy Spirit lead you, the Law no longer has power over you. ¹⁹ The things your sinful old self wants to do are: sex sins, sinful desires, wild living, ²⁰ worshiping false gods, witchcraft, hating, fighting, being jealous, being angry, arguing, dividing into little groups and thinking the other groups are wrong, false teaching, ²¹ wanting something someone else has, killing other people, using strong drink, wild parties, and all things like these. I told you before and I am telling you again that those who do these things will have no place in the holy nation of God. ²² But the fruit that comes from having the Holy Spirit in our lives is: love, joy, peace, not giving up, being kind, being good, having faith, ²³ being gentle, and being the boss over our own desires. The Law is not against these things. ²⁴ Those of us who belong to Christ have nailed our sinful old selves on His cross. Our sinful desires are now dead.

²⁵ If the Holy Spirit is living in us, let us be led by Him in all things. ²⁶ Let us not become proud in ways in which we should not. We must not make hard feelings among ourselves as Christians or make anyone jealous.