Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.

O nation full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.

The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.

What use to me is the number of the offerings which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings.

Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them.

Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool?

The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

Your silver is no longer true metal, your wine is mixed with water.

Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

And the strong will be as food for the fire, and his work as a flame; and they will be burned together, with no one to put out the fire.

And he will be the judge between the nations, and the peoples will be ruled by his decisions: and their swords will be turned into plough-blades, and their spears into vine-knives: no longer will the nations be turning their swords against one another, and the knowledge of war will be gone for ever.

And their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their stores; their land is full of horses, and there is no end to their carriages.

And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face: for this cause there will be no forgiveness for their sin.

Have no more to do with man, whose life is only a breath, for he is of no value.

Then he will say with an oath, I will not be a helper, for in my house there is no bread or clothing: I will not let you make me a ruler of the people.

And in that day seven women will put their hands on one man, saying, There will be no need for you to give us food or clothing, only let us go under your name, so that our shame may be taken away.

And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.

And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;

Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.

And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing.

For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel.

There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken.

The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands.

Then I said, Lord, how long? And he said in answer, Till the towns are waste and unpeopled, and the houses have no men, and the land becomes completely waste,

Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but were not able to overcome it.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out now, you and Shear-jashub, your son, and you will come across Ahaz at the end of the stream flowing from the higher pool, in the highway of the washerman's field;

And say to him, Take care and be quiet; have no fear, and do not let your heart be feeble, because of these two ends of smoking fire-wood, because of the bitter wrath of Rezin and Aram, and of the son of Remaliah.

For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin (and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be broken, and will no longer be a people):

And he said, Give ear now, O family of David: is it not enough that you are driving men to disgust? will you do the same to my God?

For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.

For before the child is old enough to make a decision between evil and good, the land whose two kings you are now fearing will have become waste.

Then say to them, Put your faith in the teaching and the witness. ... If they do not say such things. ... For him there is no dawn. ...

And he will be looking down on the earth, and there will be trouble and dark clouds, black night where there is no seeing.

Of the increase of his rule and of peace there will be no end, on the seat of David, and in his kingdom; to make it strong, supporting it with wise decision and righteousness, now and for ever. By the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.

But the heart of the people was not turned to him who sent punishment on them, and they made no prayer to the Lord of armies.

For this cause the Lord will have no pleasure in their young men, and no pity on their widows and the children without fathers: for they are all haters of God and evil-doers, and foolish words come from every mouth. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

On the right a man was cutting off bits and was still in need; on the left a man took a meal but had not enough; no man had pity on his brother; every man was making a meal of the flesh of his neighbour.

Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.

And it will be in that day that the rest of Israel, and those of Jacob who have come safely through these troubles, will no longer go for help to him whose rod was on their back, but their faith will be in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, says, O my people living in Zion, have no fear of the Assyrian, even if his rod comes on your back, and his stick is lifted up as in Egypt.

There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.

And the envy of Ephraim will be gone, and those who make trouble for Judah will come to an end: Ephraim will have no more envy of Judah, and there will be an end of Judah's hate for Ephraim.

See, I am driving the Medes against them, who put no value on silver and have no pleasure in gold.

In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body.

People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks.

Even the trees of the wood are glad over you, the trees of Lebanon, saying, From the time of your fall no wood-cutter has come up against us with an axe.

But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.

As for your fathers, you will not be united with them in their resting-place, because you have been the cause of destruction to your land, and of death to your people; the seed of the evil-doer will have no place in the memory of man.

For it is the purpose of the Lord of armies, and who will make it of no effect? when his hand is stretched out, by whom may it be turned back?

The word about Moab. For in a night Ar of Moab has become waste, and is seen no longer; for in a night Kir of Moab has become waste, and is seen no longer.

And all joy is gone; no longer are they glad for the fertile field; and in the vine-gardens there are no songs or sounds of joy: the crushing of grapes has come to an end, and its glad cry has been stopped.

And when Moab goes up to the high place, and makes prayer in the house of his god, it will have no effect.

But now the Lord has said, In three years, the years of a servant working for payment, the glory of Moab, all that great people, will be turned to shame, and the rest of Moab will be very small and without honour.

The word about Damascus. See, they have made Damascus a town no longer; it has become a waste place.

And in Egypt there will be no work for any man, head or tail, high or low, to do.

And they will be full of fear, and will no longer have faith in Ethiopia which was their hope, or in Egypt which was their glory.

And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.

But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

And I will give the key of the family of David into his care; and what he keeps open will be shut by no one, and what he keeps shut no one will make open.

Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour.

And he said, There is no more joy for you, O crushed virgin daughter of Zidon: up! go over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest.

The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief.

There is no more drinking of wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who take it.

The town is waste and broken down: every house is shut up, so that no man may come in.

O Lord, our God, other lords than you have had rule over us; but in you only is our salvation, and no other name will we take on our lips.

We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have given birth to wind; no salvation has come to the earth through us, and no children have come into the world.

For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.

To whom will he give knowledge? and to whom will he make clear the word? Will it be to those who have newly given up milk, and who have only now been taken from the breast?

No, but with broken talk, and with a strange tongue, he will give his word to this people:

To whom he said, This is the rest, give rest to him who is tired; and by this you may get new strength; but they would not give ear.

And now, take care that you do not make sport of him, or your bands will be made strong; for I have had word from the Lord, the Lord of armies, of an end, of a complete end, which is to come on all the land.

And they give it to one without learning, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I have no knowledge of writing.

For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.

You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?

For this reason the Lord, the saviour of Abraham, says about the family of Jacob, Jacob will not now be put to shame, or his face be clouded with fear.

For they have all come with offerings to a people of no use to them, in whom is no help or profit, but only shame and a bad name.

The word about the Beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and grief, the land of the she-lion and the voice of the lion, of the snake and the burning winged snake, they take their wealth on the backs of young asses, and their stores on camels, to a people in whom is no profit.

For there is no use or purpose in the help of Egypt: so I have said about her, She is Rahab, who has come to an end.

Now go, put it in writing before them on a board, and make a record of it in a book, so that it may be for the future, a witness for all time to come.

Saying, No, for we will go in flight on horses; so you will certainly go in flight: and, We will go on the backs of quick-running beasts; so those who go after you will be quick-footed.

And though the Lord will give you the bread of trouble and the water of grief, you will no longer put your teacher on one side, but you will see your teacher:

The foolish man will no longer be named noble, and they will not say of the false man that he is a man of honour.

Give ear to my voice, you women who are living in comfort; give attention to my words, you daughters who have no fear of danger.

In not much more than a year, you, who are not looking for evil, will be troubled: for the produce of the vine-gardens will be cut off, and there will be no getting in of the grapes.

Be shaking with fear, you women who are living in comfort; be troubled, you who have no fear of danger: take off your robes and put on clothing of grief.

For the fair houses will have no man living in them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place of food for the flocks;

And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.

And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth.

The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.

Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.

He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;

Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.

But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing.

It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever.

The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end.

No lion will be there, or any cruel beast; they will not be seen there; but those for whom the Lord has given a price,