Isaias

Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible, Isaias, Ottley, Cambridge, 1904

2 Hear, Ο heavens, and give ear, Ο earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his ’s crib: Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons that deal corruptly; they have forsaken the LORD, they have scorned the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away 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; wound, and weal, and putrefying sore: they have not been pressed out, neither bound up, neither is it mollified with oil.

7 Your country is a desolation, your cities are burned with ﬁre; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is a desolation, like an overthrow of strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a ’tent in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

[*](2. ‘nourished and brought up,’ cf. ch. xxiii. 4. Or, ‘made great and set on high.’ Cf. Ezek. xxxi.)[*](4 ﬁn. Lit. ‘they are estranged backward’: ‘abalienati sunt Vulg. Cf. xlii. 17.)[*](5. ‘revolt more and more,’ Heb. ‘add revolt.’ ‘the whole,’ head...every heart,’ as the Greek.)[*](8. ‘tent,’ or, ‘hut.’ Cf. xxiv. 20)

9 Except the LORD of Hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ye ear unto the law of our God, people of Gomorrah.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am sated with 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 (meal-) offerings; incense is an abomination unto me; new moons and sabbaths, callings of assemblies; I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meetings.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a cumbrance unto me: I am weary of bearing.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; remove the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil,

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, correct the oppressore judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us confer 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 ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be eaten (by) the sword for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

[*](9. Or (but ‘a remnant, almost as Sodom should we have been’ &)[*](13. Or, ‘incense of abomination is it to ’ Or, ‘new moons and sabbaths,...I cannot—! it is iniquity, even the c.’)[*](16. Wash ye, 1611.)

21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! she (that) was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in her; but now murderers: