1 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.
2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: "Sons I have reared and raised up high, and they have rebelled against me.
3 An ox knows its owner, and a donkey the feeding trough of its master; Israel does not know, my people give it no thought."
4 Woe to a nation that sins, a people heavy with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, sons who deal ruinously! They have abandoned the LORD, they have scorned the Holy One of Israel, they have become estranged and gone backward.
5 Why be struck again, that you go on adding rebellion? The entire head is given over to sickness, and the entire heart is faint.
6 From the sole of the foot up to the head there is no sound spot in it: wounds, welts and fresh open sores, not squeezed out, not bandaged, not soothed with oil.
7 Your land is a waste, your cities burned with fire; your fields, right in front of you strangers are eating them up, and it lies waste as if overturned by strangers.
8 The daughter of Zion is left behind like a shelter in a vineyard, like a night hut in a field of cucumbers, like a city under siege.
9 Had the LORD of hosts not left us a small remnant of survivors, we would have been as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.
10 Listen to the word of the LORD, rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah!
11 "What use to me is the abundance of your sacrifices?" says the LORD. "I am sated with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fatted cattle; the blood of bulls and lambs and goats gives me no pleasure.
12 When you come to show yourselves before me, who asked this of you, this tramping through my courts?
13 Stop bringing worthless grain offerings; your incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the summoning of assemblies: I cannot bear wickedness together with sacred assembly.
14 My soul hates your new moons and your appointed feasts; they have become a load on me that I am tired of carrying.
15 So when you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you; even if you pray and pray, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash, purify yourselves; take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing evil,
17 learn to do what is good. Pursue justice, put the oppressor right; give the fatherless their rights, take up the widow's case.
18 "Come now, and let us argue the matter out," says the LORD. "If your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow; if they are red as crimson, they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and listen, you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be consumed by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 See how she has turned prostitute, the faithful town! Once full of justice, where righteousness spent the night, and now murderers.
22 Your silver has turned to dross; your wine is cut with water.
23 Your rulers are rebellious and keep company with thieves; all of them love a bribe and chase after payoffs. They do not uphold the fatherless, and the widow's lawsuit never reaches them.
24 Therefore this is the declaration of the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Woe! I will be rid of my foes and take vengeance on my enemies.
25 I will bring my hand back upon you, refine away your dross as with potash, and take out all your impurities.
26 I will give you back judges like those of old and counselors like those at the start. After that you will be named City of Righteousness, Faithful Town."
27 Zion will be redeemed through justice, and her returning ones through righteousness.
28 Yet rebels and sinners alike will be shattered, and those who abandon the LORD will come to an end.
29 For they will be ashamed of the oaks you delighted in, and you will be disgraced over the gardens you chose.
30 You will be like an oak with withering leaves, like a garden that has no water.
31 The mighty man will turn into tow, and what he made into a spark; the two will burn up together, and no one will put it out.