Isaiah

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.

1This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem. God showed it to him while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

2Hear, 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.

2Listen, sky. Pay attention, earth. The LORD has spoken: "I raised children and helped them grow up, but they have turned against me.

3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

3An ox knows who owns it. A donkey knows the feeding box its master fills. But Israel does not know me. My people do not understand."

4Ah 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.

4What a sinful nation! These people are weighed down with wrong. They come from evildoers, and they are children who ruin things. They have walked away from the LORD. They have insulted the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

5Why do you keep asking to be beaten? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head is covered with wounds, and your whole heart is sick.

6From 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.

6From the bottom of your foot to the top of your head, nothing is healthy. There are only cuts, bruises, and open sores. No one has cleaned them, wrapped them, or softened them with oil.

7Your 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.

7Your land is empty and ruined. Your cities are burned down. Strangers eat what your fields grow while you watch. Your land is wrecked, torn apart by outsiders.

8And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

8The city of Zion is left alone, like a small hut in a vineyard. It is like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city with an army camped around it.

Note"Daughter of Zion" is a way of speaking about the city of Jerusalem and its people as one person. The huts described here were small shelters left standing in a field after the harvest was over, with nothing around them.

9Except 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.

9If the LORD of Heaven's Armies had not left a few of us alive, we would have ended up like Sodom. We would have looked like Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

10Listen to the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom. Pay attention to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

11To 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.

11"What good to me are all your sacrifices?" says the LORD. "I have had enough of rams burned as offerings and the fat of well-fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.

12When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

12When you come to stand before me, who asked you to come tramping through my courtyards?

13Bring 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.

13Stop bringing me offerings that mean nothing. Your incense disgusts me. Your New Moon days, your Sabbath days, your gatherings: I cannot stand meetings full of evil.

Note"I cannot away with" is old English for "I cannot put up with." A New Moon day was a monthly festival; a Sabbath was the weekly day of rest.

14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

14I hate your New Moon days and your special feasts. They have become a heavy load to me. I am tired of carrying them.

15And 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.

15When you lift up your hands to pray, I will look away from you. Even if you pray again and again, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

16Wash yourselves and get clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong.

17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

17Learn to do good. Look for justice. Correct those who crush other people. Stand up for children with no father. Speak up in court for the widow."

18Come 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.

18"Come now, let us talk this out," says the LORD. "Even if your sins are bright red, they will turn as white as snow. Even if they are deep red, they will become white like wool.

19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

19If you are willing to listen and obey, you will eat the best food the land grows.

20But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

20But if you say no and fight against me, your enemies' swords will destroy you." The LORD himself has said it.

21How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

21Look how the faithful city has turned unfaithful. She was once full of fair judging, and doing right lived inside her. But now murderers live there.

22Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

22Your silver has turned to worthless scraps. Your good wine has been watered down.

NoteDross is the useless junk that floats to the top when metal is melted down. The KJV "tin" in verse 25 means the same thing: cheap metal mixed into the silver.

23Thy 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.

23Your leaders refuse to obey. They are friends with thieves. Every one of them loves bribes and chases after payoffs. They will not stand up for children with no father, and a widow's case never reaches them.

24Therefore 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:

24So the Lord, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says this: "I will get relief from those who fight me. I will pay back my enemies.

25And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

25I will turn my hand against you. I will burn away your worthless scraps and clean out everything cheap in you.

26And 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.

26I will give you good judges again, like the ones you had at the start, and wise advisers like those at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Right Living, the Faithful City."

27Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

27Zion will be bought back through fair judging, and those in her who turn back to God will be saved through right living.

28And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

28But rebels and sinners will be broken together, and those who walk away from the LORD will come to an end.

29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

29You will be ashamed of the sacred oak trees you loved so much. You will be embarrassed about the gardens you chose.

NoteThe oaks and gardens here were places where people worshipped other gods, which is why they are named as something to be ashamed of.

30For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

30You will be like an oak tree whose leaves are dried up. You will be like a garden with no water.

31And 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.

31The strong man will be like dry straw, and his work will be the spark. Both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire.