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Isaiah 1

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Isaiah's Vision and God's Indictment Against Rebellious Israel 1–9

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 Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. ​
3
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward. ​
5
Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.
7
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
And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9
Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah. ​

Empty Rituals and the Call to Justice 10–17

10
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. ​
11
What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough 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 ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
13
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,—I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting.
14
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them.
15
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. ​
16
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17
learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ​

Invitation to Repentance and Forgiveness 18–20

18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: 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 ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20
but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

The Corrupt City and the Promise of Purification 21–31

21
How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. ​
22
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.
23
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
24
Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies;
25
and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin; ​
26
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, a faithful town. ​
27
Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. ​
28
But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.
29
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
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
31
And the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 1

Verse 1

The vision of Isaiah — Chazon, a vision seen; the verb chazah follows, 'which he saw'. The name Yeshayahu means 'Jah has saved'. His call came 'in the year that king Uzziah died' (6:1), and the vision runs through four reigns; Hezekiah's acts, 'written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet' (2 Chr 32:32), are in it.

Verse 2

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth — These are the two witnesses Moses summoned in his song, 'Give ear, O ye heavens… and hear, O earth' (Deut 32:1). The LORD speaks as a father: 'nourished' (gadal, to make great) and 'brought up' (rum, to raise high) are what he did for his children; 'rebelled' is pasha, to break away from rightful authority.

Verse 4

the Holy One of Israel — Isaiah's characteristic title for the LORD, in 25 verses of his book against six in all the rest of the Bible. The charge is a run of verbs: 'forsaken' (azab, to leave behind), 'provoked… unto anger' (na'ats, to scorn), and 'gone away backward'. 'Ah' (hoy) is the cry of woe.

Verse 7

strangers devour it — The land is 'desolate' (shemamah, twice in the verse), the fate Moses set out: 'a nation which thou knowest not eat up' the fruit of the land (Deut 28:33). Lamentations 5:2 takes up the same word zur, 'strangers': 'Our inheritance is turned to strangers'. The cities are 'burned with fire'.

Verse 9

a very small remnant — Sarid, a survivor, one left alive. Paul quotes the verse in Rom 9:29, 'Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma', and uses it for the remnant of Israel (Rom 11:5). 'Sabaoth' is the Hebrew for 'hosts', carried over into Greek.

Verse 10

ye rulers of Sodom — Judah's leaders are called by the name of the city destroyed in Gen 19:24. Ezekiel states Sodom's offence: 'pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness', and that 'neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy' (Ezek 16:49). Rev 11:8 uses the name for Jerusalem again. 'Law' is torah, instruction.

Verse 11

I am full of the burnt offerings — Saba', to be sated. The LORD himself commanded offerings 'of the herd, and of the flock' (Lev 1:2), so the refusal is of offerings brought with hands 'full of blood' (v.15). Samuel had said it before: 'to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams' (1 Sam 15:22).

Verse 15

when ye spread forth your hands — This is the posture of prayer, as when Solomon 'spread forth his hands toward heaven' (1 Kgs 8:22). The LORD will 'hide mine eyes' (alam, to veil) as 'your sins have hid his face from you' (Isa 59:2), and the reason is the same: 'your hands are defiled with blood' (59:3). 'Blood' is plural, bloodshed.

Verse 17

plead for the widow — The commands follow 'cease to do evil' (v.16) and answer v.23, where the princes 'judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them'. 'Relieve the oppressed' is ashar, to set straight; 'plead' is riv, to argue a cause. The Law forbade affliction of 'any widow, or fatherless child' (Ex 22:22); James names them in 'pure religion' (James 1:27).

Verse 18

let us reason together — Yakach, a court word: to argue a case, decide, convict. The LORD invites the matter to be set out before him. 'Scarlet' (shani) and 'crimson' (tola) are the two deep red dyes. Revelation says of the redeemed that they 'have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb' (Rev 7:14); cf. Ps 51:7.

Verse 21

the faithful city… an harlot — 'Faithful' (aman, the root of 'amen') frames the passage: 'the faithful city' is a harlot (zanah, to play the harlot, used also of idolatry) here and is 'the faithful city' again in v.26. Righteousness 'lodged' (lun, spent the night) in it once; now murderers do.

Verse 25

purge away thy dross — This is the refiner's work, which v.22 set up in the words 'Thy silver is become dross'. 'Purely' is bor, lye, a flux used to clear metal; 'tin' (bedil) is the alloy removed by smelting. The LORD does the work by turning his 'hand' upon the city, as Malachi's refiner who 'shall purify the sons of Levi' (Mal 3:3).

Verse 26

The city of righteousness — The restored judges and counsellors come first, and then the name: 'The city of righteousness, the faithful city'. Jeremiah gives Jerusalem a name of the same kind, 'The LORD our righteousness' (Jer 33:16). Shub, to turn back, is the verb of 'restore' here and of 'turn' (v.25).

Verse 27

her converts — Literally 'her returning ones', the participle of shub again: the verb of vv.25–26 is now the people. 'Redeemed' is padah, to ransom, the word in 'the ransomed of the LORD shall return' (Isa 35:10). Zion is redeemed 'with judgment' (mishpat), and those who return 'with righteousness'.

Verse 29

the oaks… the gardens — These are the places of idol worship: 'They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains… under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good' (Hos 4:13); 'a people that… sacrificeth in gardens' (Isa 65:3). The shame is answered in v.30: 'an oak whose leaf fadeth, and… a garden that hath no water'.