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 1

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

2

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;

for the L ord has spoken:

I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

3

The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib;

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.

 

4

Ah, sinful nation,

people laden with iniquity,

offspring who do evil,

children who deal corruptly,

who have forsaken the L ord,

who have despised the Holy One of Israel,

who are utterly estranged!

 

5

Why do you seek further beatings?

Why do you continue to rebel?

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 bruises and sores

and bleeding wounds;

they have not been drained, or bound up,

or softened with oil.

 

7

Your country lies desolate,

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

aliens devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8

And daughter Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a shelter in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

9

If the L ord of hosts

had not left us a few survivors,

we would have been like Sodom,

and become like Gomorrah.

 

10

Hear the word of the L ord,

you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

11

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the L ord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

 

12

When you come to appear before me,

who asked this from your hand?

Trample my courts no more;

13

bringing offerings is futile;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—

I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.

14

Your new moons and your appointed festivals

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing them.

15

When you stretch out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

16

Wash yourselves; 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, let us argue it out,

says the L ord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be like snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become 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 by the sword;

for the mouth of the L ord has spoken.

 

The Degenerate City

21

How the faithful city

has become a whore!

She that was full of justice,

righteousness lodged in her—

but now murderers!

22

Your silver has become dross,

your wine is mixed with water.

23

Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the orphan,

and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

 

24

Therefore says the Sovereign, the L ord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:

Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,

and avenge myself on my foes!

25

I will turn my hand against you;

I will smelt away your dross as with lye

and remove all your alloy.

26

And I will restore your judges as at the first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,

the faithful city.

 

27

Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

28

But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,

and those who forsake the L ord shall be consumed.

29

For you shall be ashamed of the oaks

in which you delighted;

and you shall blush for the gardens

that you have chosen.

30

For you shall be like an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

31

The strong shall become like tinder,

and their work like a spark;

they and their work shall burn together,

with no one to quench them.

 


14. Your new-moons The Prophet adds nothing new to his former doctrine; but with respect to all ceremonies, in which there is no spiritual truth, but only the glare of a false pretense, he declares generally that they are not merely useless but wicked. Hence we ought to observe that we labor to no purpose, if we do not worship God in the right manner, and as God himself enjoins. In all things God delights in truth, but especially in the worship due to his majesty. Besides, not only do we lose our labor, but the worship of God (as we have already said) is perverted; and nothing can be more wicked than this. Now all superstitions are so many corruptions of the worship of God; it follows, therefore, that they are wicked and unlawful.

Superstition may be viewed, either in itself, or in the disposition of the mind. In itself when men have the audacity to contrive what God has not commanded. Such are those actions which spring from will-worship, (ἐθελοθρησκεία, Colossians 2:23,) Which is commonly called devotion. One man shall set up an idol, another shall build a chapels another shall appoint annual festivals, and innumerable things of the same nature. When men venture to take such liberties as to invent new modes of worship, that is superstition. In the disposition of the mind, when men imitate those services which are lawful and of which God approves, but keep their whole attention fixed on the outward form, and do not attend to their object or truth. In this manner the Jews earnestly adhered to the ceremonies which Moses had enjoined, but left out what was of the greatest importance; for they paid no regard to a pure conscience, never mentioned faith and repentance, had no knowledge of their guilt, and — what was still worse — separated Christ from them, and left no room for the truth. This plainly shows, as I have already stated, that it was a spurious and deceitful mask; so that their sacrifices did not at all differ from the sacrifices of the Gentiles. It is therefore not wonderful that the Lord calls them abomination

I shall not stay to notice the phrases here used, which are various; and yet they ought not to be lightly passed over. For the Lord perceives how great is the wantonness of men in contriving modes of worship; and therefore he heaps up a variety of expressions, that he may more powerfully restrain that wantonness, and again declares that those actions are hateful to him. Moreover, because men flatter themselves, and foolishly entertain the belief that the Lord will hold in some estimation the idle contrivances which they have framed, he declares, on the contrary, that he regards them with detestation and abhorrence.


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