Isaiah 1-6

Isaiah 1

¹The Visions of Isaiah son of Amoz, that he hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For Jehovah hath spoken: Sons I have nourished and brought up, And they -- they transgressed against Me.

³An ox hath known its owner, And an ass the crib of its master, Israel hath not known, My people hath not understood.

⁴Ah, sinning nation, a people heavy with iniquity, A seed of evil doers, sons -- corrupters! They have forsaken Jehovah, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have gone away backward.

⁵Wherefore are ye stricken any more? Ye do add apostacy! Every head is become diseased, and every heart is sick.

⁶From the sole of the foot -- unto the head, There is no soundness in it, Wound, and bruise, and fresh smiting! They have not been closed nor bound, Nor have they softened with ointment.

⁷Your land is a desolation, your cities burnt with fire, Your ground, before you strangers are consuming it, And a desolation as overthrown by strangers!

⁸And left hath been the daughter of Zion, As a booth in a vineyard, As a lodge in a place of cucumbers -- as a city besieged.

⁹Unless Jehovah of Hosts had left to us a remnant, Shortly -- as Sodom we had been, To Gomorrah we had been like!

¹⁰Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah,

¹¹‘Why to Me the abundance of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah, I have been satiated with burnt-offerings of rams, And fat of fatlings; And blood of bullocks, and lambs, And he-goats I have not desired.

¹²When ye come in to appear before Me, Who hath required this of your hand, To trample My courts?

¹³Add not to bring in a vain present, Incense -- an abomination it is to Me, New moon, and sabbath, calling of convocation! Rendure not iniquity -- and a restraint!

¹⁴Your new moons and your set seasons hath My soul hated, They have been upon me for a burden, I have been weary of bearing.

¹⁵And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.

¹⁶Wash ye, make ye pure, Turn aside the evil of your doings, from before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil, learn to do good.

¹⁷Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive for the widow.

¹⁸Come, I pray you, and we reason, saith Jehovah, If your sins are as scarlet, as snow they shall be white, If they are red as crimson, as wool they shall be!

¹⁹If ye are willing, and have hearkened, The good of the land ye consume,

²⁰And if ye refuse, and have rebelled, By the sword ye are consumed, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.

²¹How hath a faithful city become a harlot? I have filled it with judgment, Righteousness lodgeth in it -- now murderers.

²²Thy silver hath become dross, Thy drink polluted with water.

²³Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

²⁴Therefore -- the affirmation of the Lord -- Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I am eased of Mine adversaries, And I am avenged of Mine enemies,

²⁵And I turn back My hand upon thee, And I refine as purity thy dross, And I turn aside all thy tin,

²⁶And I give back thy judges as at the first, And thy counsellors as in the beginning, After this thou art called, ‘A city of righteousness -- a faithful city.'

²⁷Zion in judgment is redeemed, And her captivity in righteousness.

²⁸And the destruction of transgressors and sinners is together, And those forsaking Jehovah are consumed.

²⁹For men are ashamed because of the oaks That ye have desired, And ye are confounded because of the gardens That ye have chosen.

³⁰For ye are as an oak whose leaf is fading, And as a garden that hath no water.

³¹And the strong hath been for tow, And his work for a spark, And burned have both of them together, And there is none quenching!

Isaiah 2

¹The thing that Isaiah son of Amoz hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.

³And gone have many peoples and said, ‘Come, and we go up unto the mount of Jehovah, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we walk in His paths, For from Zion goeth forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

⁴And He hath judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples, And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they learn any more -- war.

⁵O house of Jacob, come, And we walk in the light of Jehovah.'

⁶For Thou hast left Thy people, the house of Jacob. For they have been filled from the east, And are sorcerers like the Philistines, And with the children of strangers strike hands.

⁷And its land is full of silver and gold, And there is no end to its treasures, And its land is full of horses, And there is no end to its chariots,

⁸And its land is full of idols, To the work of its hands it boweth itself, To that which its fingers have made,

⁹And the low boweth down, and the high is humbled, And Thou acceptest them not.

¹⁰Enter into a rock, and be hidden in dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency.

¹¹The haughty eyes of man have been humbled, And bowed down hath been the loftiness of men, And set on high hath Jehovah alone been in that day.

¹²For a day is to Jehovah of Hosts, For every proud and high one, And for every lifted up and low one,

¹³And for all cedars of Lebanon, The high and the exalted ones, And for all oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴And for all the high mountains, And for all the exalted heights,

¹⁵And for every high tower, And for every fenced wall,

¹⁶And for all ships of Tarshish, And for all desirable pictures.

¹⁷And bowed down hath been the haughtiness of man, And humbled the loftiness of men, And set on high hath Jehovah alone been in that day.

¹⁸And the idols -- they completely pass away.

¹⁹And men have entered into caverns of rocks, And into caves of dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.

²⁰In that day doth man cast his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, That they have made for him to worship, To moles, and to bats,

²¹To enter into cavities of the rocks, And into clefts of the high places, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.

²²Cease for you from man, Whose breath is in his nostrils, For -- in what is he esteemed?

Isaiah 3

¹For, lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is turning aside from Jerusalem, And from Judah, stay and staff, Every stay of bread, and every stay of water.

²Hero and man of war, judge and prophet, And diviner and elder,

³Head of fifty, and accepted of faces, And counsellor, and the wise of artificers, And the intelligent of charmers.

⁴And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.

⁵And the people hath exacted -- man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.

⁶When one layeth hold on his brother, Of the house of his father, by the garment, ‘Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin is under thy hand.'

⁷He lifteth up, in that day, saying: ‘I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'

⁸For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen, For their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, To provoke the eyes of His glory.

⁹The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Wo to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.

¹⁰Say ye to the righteous, that it is good, Because the fruit of their doings they eat.

¹¹Wo to the wicked -- evil, Because the deed of his hand is done to him.

¹²My people -- its exactors are sucklings, And women have ruled over it. My people -- thy eulogists are causing to err, And the way of thy paths swallowed up.

¹³Jehovah hath stood up to plead, And He is standing to judge the peoples.

¹⁴Jehovah into judgment doth enter With elders of His people, and its heads: ‘And ye, ye have consumed the vineyard, Plunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:

¹⁶‘Because that daughters of Zion have been haughty, And they walk stretching out the neck, And deceiving with the eyes, Walking and mincing they go, And with their feet they make a tinkling,

¹⁷The Lord also hath scabbed The crown of the head of daughters of Zion, And Jehovah their simplicity exposeth.

¹⁸In that day doth the Lord turn aside The beauty of the tinkling ornaments, And of the embroidered works, And of the round tires like moons,

¹⁹Of the drops, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

²⁰Of the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, And of the bands, And of the perfume boxes, and the amulets,

²¹Of the seals, and of the nose-rings,

²²Of the costly apparel, and of the mantles, And of the coverings, and of the purses,

²³Of the mirrors, and of the linen garments, And of the hoods, and of the vails,

²⁴And it hath been, instead of spice is muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work, baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth.

²⁵For instead of glory, thy men by sword do fall, And thy might in battle.

²⁶And lamented and mourned have her openings, Yea, she hath been emptied, on the earth she sitteth!

Isaiah 4

¹And taken hold have seven women on one man, In that day, saying, ‘Our own bread we do eat, And our own raiment we put on, Only, let thy name be called over us, Remove thou our reproach.'

²In that day is the Shoot of Jehovah for desire and for honour, And the fruit of the earth For excellence and for beauty to the escaped of Israel.

³And it hath been, he who is left in Zion, And he who is remaining in Jerusalem, ‘Holy' is said of him, Of every one who is written for life in Jerusalem.

⁴If the Lord hath washed away The filth of daughters of Zion, And the blood of Jerusalem purgeth from her midst, By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

⁵Then hath Jehovah prepared Over every fixed place of Mount Zion, And over her convocations, A cloud by day, and smoke, And the shining of a flaming fire by night, That, over all honour a safe-guard,

⁶And a covering may be, For a shadow by day from drought, And for a refuge, and for a hiding place, From inundation and from rain!

Isaiah 5

¹Let me sing, I pray you, for my beloved, A song of my beloved as to his vineyard: My beloved hath a vineyard in a fruitful hill,

²And he fenceth it, and casteth out its stones, And planteth it with a choice vine, And buildeth a tower in its midst, And also a wine press hath hewn out in it, And he waiteth for the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

³And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man of Judah, Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.

⁴What -- to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

⁵And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.

⁶And I make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.

⁷Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts Is the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, a cry.

⁸Wo to those joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!

⁹By the weapons of Jehovah of Hosts Do not many houses a desolation become? Great and good without inhabitant!

¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard do yield one bath, And an homer of seed yieldeth an ephah.

¹¹Wo to those rising early in the morning, Strong drink they pursue! Tarrying in twilight, wine inflameth them!

¹²And harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.

¹³Therefore my people removed without knowledge, And its honourable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of thirst.

¹⁴Therefore hath Sheol enlarged herself, And hath opened her mouth without limit. And gone down hath its honour, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one -- into her.

¹⁵And bowed down is the low, and humbled the high, And the eyes of the haughty become low,

¹⁶And Jehovah of Hosts is high in judgment, And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,

¹⁷And fed have lambs according to their leading, And waste places of the fat ones Do sojourners consume.

¹⁸Wo to those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as with thick ropes of the cart -- sin.

¹⁹Who are saying, ‘Let Him hurry, Let Him hasten His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.'

²⁰Wo to those saying to evil ‘good,' And to good ‘evil,' Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, Putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

²¹Wo to the wise in their own eyes, And -- before their own faces -- intelligent!

²²Wo to the mighty to drink wine, And men of strength to mingle strong drink.

²³Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside from him.

²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.

²⁵Therefore hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is stretched out!

²⁶And He lifted up an ensign to nations afar off, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And lo, with haste, swift it cometh.

²⁷There is none weary, nor stumbling in it, It doth not slumber, nor sleep, Nor opened hath been the girdle of its loins, Nor drawn away the latchet of its sandals.

²⁸Whose arrows are sharp, and all its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!

²⁹Its roaring is like a lioness, It roareth like young lions, And it howleth, and seizeth prey, And carrieth away safely, and there is none delivering.

³⁰And it howleth against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it hath looked attentively to the land, And lo, darkness -- distress, And light hath been darkened by its abundance!

Isaiah 6

¹In the year of the death of king Uzziah -- I see the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train is filling the temple.

²Seraphs are standing above it: six wings hath each one; with two each covereth its face, and with two each covereth its feet, and with two each flieth.

³And this one hath called unto that, and hath said: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is Jehovah of Hosts, The fulness of all the earth is His glory.'

⁴And the posts of the thresholds are moved by the voice of him who is calling, and the house is full of smoke.

⁵And I say, ‘Wo to me, for I have been silent, For a man -- unclean of lips am I, And in midst of a people unclean of lips I am dwelling, Because the King, Jehovah of Hosts, have my eyes seen.'

⁶And flee unto me doth one of the seraphs, and in his hand a burning coal, (with tongs he hath taken it from off the altar,)

⁷and he striketh against my mouth, and saith: ‘Lo, this hath stricken against thy lips, And turned aside is thine iniquity, And thy sin is covered.'

⁸And I hear the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom do I send? and who doth go for Us?' And I say, ‘Here am I, send me.'

⁹And He saith, ‘Go, and thou hast said to this people, Hear ye -- to hear, and ye do not understand, And see ye -- to see, and ye do not know.

¹⁰Declare fat the heart of this people, And its ears declare heavy, And its eyes declare dazzled, Lest it see with its eyes, And with its ears hear, and its heart consider, And it hath turned back, and hath health.'

¹¹And I say, ‘Till when, O Lord?' And He saith, ‘Surely till cities have been wasted without inhabitant, And houses without man, And the ground be wasted -- a desolation,

¹²And Jehovah hath put man far off, And great is the forsaken part in the heart of the land.

¹³And yet in it a tenth, and it hath turned, And hath been for a burning, As a teil-tree, and as an oak, that in falling, Have substance in them, The holy seed is its substance!'