Isaiah 1:2-20 - Rebellious Judah

² Hear, heavens, and listen, earth, for Yahweh has spoken: "I reared children and I brought [them] up, but they rebelled against me. ³ An ox knows its owner and a donkey the manger of its master. Israel does not know; my people do not understand.

⁴ Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged [and gone] backward.

⁵ Why do you want to be beaten again? You continue [in] rebellion. [The] whole of [the] head [is] sick, and [the] whole of [the] heart [is] faint. ⁶ From the sole of the foot and up to [the] head there is no health in it; bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed, and they have not been bound up and not softened with the oil.

⁷ Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned [with] fire; [As for] your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, like devastation [by] foreigners. ⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged. ⁹ If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors, we would have been as few as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

¹⁰ Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom! Listen [to] the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah! ¹¹ What [is the] abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh. I have had enough [of] burnt offerings of rams and [the] fat [of] fattened animals and I do not delight in [the] blood of bulls and ram-lambs and goats. ¹² When you come to appear before me, who asked for this from your hand: you trampling my courts? ¹³ You must not {continue} to bring offerings of futility, incense--it [is] an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, [the] calling of a convocation-- I cannot endure iniquity with [solemn] assembly. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them]. ¹⁵ And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I [will] not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶ Wash! Make yourselves clean! Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes! Cease to do evil! ¹⁷ Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue [the] oppressed! Defend [the] orphan! Plead for [the] widow!

¹⁸ "Come now, and let us argue," says Yahweh. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow; even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and you are obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. ²⁰ But if you refuse and you rebel, you shall be devoured [by the] sword. For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."