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 give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken, I have reared and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, an offspring of evildoers, children that are corrupt; you have forsaken the LORD, you have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, you have gone away backward.

5 Why should you be stricken any more, and be chastised? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From 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, neither bound up, nor softened with oil.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 And 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.

9 Except the LORD of hosts had left to us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.

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

11 Of what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the LORD; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

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

13 Bring no more vain offerings to me; their savour 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.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a burden to me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And 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.

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

17 Learn to do good; seek justice, do good to the oppressed, plead for the fatherless, plead for the widows.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! For once it was full of justice; and righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

22 Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.

23 Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; every one of them loves a bribe and runs after rewards; they plead not the cause of the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.

24 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will avenge myself of my adversaries, I will take vengeance upon my enemies;

25 And I will turn my hand against you, and purge away your rebellious men, and remove all your iniquities;

26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning; afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her captivity with righteousness.

28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and those who have forsaken the LORD shill perish.

29 For they shall be ashamed of the idols which they have desired, and they shall be confounded by the witchcraft which they have chosen.

30 For they shall be like an oak whose leaves have fallen, and like a garden that has no water.

31 And their strength shall be like cotton, and their works like a spark, and they shall both burn together, and there shall be none to quench them.