A Rebellious Nation
Study note
Isaiah served as a prophet during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, spanning roughly 740 to 680 BC. God uses the image of a parent whose children have turned against him. Even animals know who feeds them, but Israel has forgotten its God. The nation is described as beaten and bruised from head to toe, with cities burned and land taken over by foreigners. Only a small group of faithful people, called a remnant, kept the nation from being completely destroyed like the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
1 These are the things that God showed to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. God gave him messages about Judah and Jerusalem while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings. 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 Heaven and earth, pay attention! The Lord says, "I brought up my children and cared for them, but they have turned their backs on me." Hear, 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.
3 Even an ox knows who owns it, and a donkey knows where its owner keeps its food. But my people Israel have no idea who I am. They do not understand. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 What a sinful nation they are! Their guilt weighs them down. They come from a line of wicked people, and they themselves have become rotten to the core. They have walked away from the Lord and completely rejected the Holy One of Israel. Ah 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.
5 Why do you keep looking for more punishment? Why do you keep turning away from God? Your whole head is injured, and your heart has grown feeble. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 There is not a healthy spot on you, from head to toe. You are covered with cuts, bruises, and sores that have not been washed, wrapped up, or treated with oil. From 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.
7 Your whole country has been wrecked. Fire has destroyed your cities. Right before your eyes, strangers are eating everything your farms produce. The land is as ruined as if an army had marched through and torn it apart. Your 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.
8 Jerusalem stands alone, like a tiny shack in the middle of a vineyard or a little hut in a cucumber patch. It looks like a city surrounded by enemies. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 If the Lord who commands heaven's armies had not let a few of us survive, we would have been wiped out completely. We would have came to be just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Except 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.
God Rejects Empty Worship
Study note
In this section, God speaks directly to the leaders and people of Jerusalem, comparing them to the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people were still performing animal sacrifices, burning incense, observing holy days, and praying at the temple. But God tells them he is sick of their worship because they were living sinful lives the rest of the time. Their hands were 'full of blood,' meaning they were guilty of injustice and violence against the poor and helpless.
10 Listen to what the Lord has to say, you rulers who are just as wicked as the leaders of Sodom! Open your ears to God's teaching, you people who are as sinful as Gomorrah! Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 The Lord asks, "What good do all your animal sacrifices do for me? I have had far too many burnt offerings of rams and fat from your well-fed animals. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats means nothing to me." To 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.
12 "When you show up before me, who told you to stomp through my courts?" When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 "Quit bringing me these worthless offerings! The smell of your incense makes me sick. I cannot put up with your new moon celebrations, your Sabbath gatherings, or your special meetings. You are sinning even while you hold them." Bring 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.
14 "I despise your new moon festivals and your religious holidays. They drag me down like a heavy weight, and I am worn out from carrying them." Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 "When you lift up your hands to pray, I will refuse to look at you. You can pray as many prayers as you want, but I will not listen. Your hands are covered with the blood of others." And 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.
A Call to Repentance
Study note
This passage contains one of the most famous invitations in all of Scripture. God calls the people to stop doing evil and start doing good, especially by caring for orphans and widows. Then comes the incredible offer: no matter how deep their sin, God can make them clean again. The image of scarlet sins becoming white as snow shows that God's forgiveness is complete and total. But the offer has two sides: obedience brings blessing, and rebellion brings destruction.
16 "Clean yourselves up! Get rid of your wicked behavior. I can see what you are doing, so stop it right now! Quit doing evil!" Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 "Start doing what is good. Push for justice. Stand up for people who are being mistreated. Protect children who have no parents. Speak up for women who have lost their husbands." Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
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 as wool." Come 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.
19 "If you choose to obey me, you will enjoy the best the land has to offer." If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 "But if you refuse and fight against me, you will be destroyed by the sword." The Lord himself has made this promise. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Jerusalem's Fall and Future Restoration
Study note
Jerusalem is pictured as a once-faithful wife who has become unfaithful. The city's leaders are corrupt, taking bribes and ignoring the needs of orphans and widows. But God promises to purify the city like a metalworker removes impurities from silver. After the purging, Jerusalem will once again be called a city of righteousness. Those who continue in rebellion will be destroyed, compared to oak trees that wither and gardens without water.
21 Look at what has happened to this faithful city! She has become unfaithful, like a wife who left her husband. She used to be filled with fair treatment, and people who did right lived there. But now murderers live in her. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Your silver has turned into garbage. Your wine has been mixed with water until it is weak. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
23 Your leaders have become lawbreakers who hang out with thieves. Every one of them loves being bribed and chases after payoffs. They refuse to protect orphans, and they will not even listen to a widow's case. Thy 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.
24 Because of all this, the Lord speaks. He is the powerful Lord who commands heaven's armies, the Mighty One of Israel. He says, "I am going to deal with my enemies. I will get relief by paying back those who oppose me." Therefore 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:
25 "I will take action against you. I will melt away everything that is worthless in you, like fire burns away impurities." And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
26 "After that, I will give you honest judges like you used to have, and wise advisors like in the old days. Then people will call you the City That Does Right, the Faithful City." And 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.
27 God will rescue Zion by doing what is fair, and he will save those who come back to him by doing what is right. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 But people who rebel against God and keep on sinning will be completely destroyed. Everyone who turns away from the Lord will be wiped out. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29 You will feel ashamed about the sacred trees where you bowed down to false gods. You will be embarrassed by the special gardens where you practiced idol worship. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
30 You will end up like an oak tree with dying leaves, and like a garden that has run out of water. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
31 The strong and powerful person will become like dry tinder, and the things they do will be like a spark. Both will go up in flames together, and nobody will be able to put the fire out. And 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.