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¹THE 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: ²Hear, oh heavens, and give ear, oh earth; for Yahvah has spoken, I have reared and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. ³The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. ⁴Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, an offspring of evildoers, children that are corrupt; you have forsaken Yahvah, you have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, you have gone away backward.

⁵Why should you be struck any longer, and be chastised? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and swelling sores; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor softened with oil. ⁷Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. ⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. ⁹Except Yahvah of hosts had left to us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of Yahvah, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ¹¹Yahvah said, Of what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. ¹²When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts? ¹³Do not bring vain offerings to me any longer; their savor is an abomination to me; in the new moons and sabbaths, you call an assembly; I do not eat that which is obtained wrongfully, and taken by force. ¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a burden to me; I am weary to bear them. ¹⁵And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your actions from before my eyes; cease to do evil; ¹⁷Learn to do good; seek justice, do good to the oppressed, plead for the fatherless, plead for the widows. ¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, says Yahvah: though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be like wool. ¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; ²⁰But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahvah has spoken it.

²¹How is the faithful city become a prostitute. For once it was full of justice; and righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. ²²Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. ²³Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; each one of them loves a bribe and runs after rewards; they do not plead the cause of the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. ²⁴Therefore, thus says Yahvah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will avenge myself of my adversaries, I will take vengeance on my enemies;

²⁵And I will turn my hand against you, and purge away your rebellious men, and remove all your iniquities; ²⁶And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning; afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. ²⁷Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her captivity with righteousness.

²⁸And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners will be together, and those who have forsaken Yahvah will perish. ²⁹For they will be ashamed of the idols which they have desired, and they will be confounded by the witchcraft which they have chosen. ³⁰For they will be like an oak whose leaves have fallen, and like a garden that has no water. ³¹And their strength will be like cotton, and their works like a spark, and they will both burn together, and there will be no one to quench them.